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FItOM    NATIVE    ANNALS,    AND    FKOM    THE    RESEARCHES    OP 

DR.  O'DONOVAN,  PROFESSOR  EUGENE  CURRY,  THE  REV.  C,  P.  MEEHAN, 

DR.  R.  R.  MADDEN, 

AND     OTUEE     EMINENT     SCnOLAES; 
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ALL  THE  RESOURCES  OF  IRISH  HISTORY  WW  AVAILABLE. 


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MARTIN    HAVERTY. 


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NEW  YORK: 
THOMAS     FARRELL     &-     SON, 

107    FULTON    STREET. 

1867. 


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Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867, 

By  Thomas  Farrell  &  Sox, 

In  the  aerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District 

of  New  York. 


JOHN  O.  SHEA, 

ETEREOTTrr.R   AND  KLECTROTrrKft, 

New  VonB. 


5299 


PUBLISHERS'    PREFACE. 


TN  presenting  to  their  countrymen  in  America  a  new  History  of 
Ireland,  the  publishers  desire  to  call  attention  to  its  marked  and 
superior  excellence  as  a  history,  and  the  number,  beauty,  and  ele- 
gance of  its  illustrations,  maps,  etc.  The  author  stands  prominent 
among  Irish  scholars  of  the  present  day,  and  he  has  devoted  to  his 
work  the  labors  of  years  in  searching  and  examining  into  the  archives 
of  Irish  history,  in  presenting  a  clear  and  reliable  narrative  of  events, 
and  in  arousing  and  sustaining  that  patriotic  love  of  their  native  land 
which  characterizes  Irishmen  wherever  they  may  dwell.  Mr.  Hav- 
erty  is  a  ripe  scholar ;  he  discusses  the  varied  topics  before  him  in  a 
philosophical  spirit.  Out  of  the  myths  and  romantic  traditions  of  early 
days,  he  extracts  the  essential,  important  truth ;  and  availing  himself 
of  the  valuable  researches  of  living  scholars  and  students  of  Irish 
history,  he  gives  his  readers  a  most  interesting  and  attractive  work 
in  a  style  of  eloquent  and  lofty-toned  love  for  his  native  country  and 
its  good  name  in  the  world. 

There  needs  no  commendation  for  such  a  work  as  this,  at  this  day. 
Irishmen  are  world-noted  as  patriots  and  lovers  of  the  soil  which  gave 
them  birth.  Irishmen  are  always  deeply  interested  in  the  story  of 
the  wrongs  which  their  land  has  suffered  from  foreign  oppression  and 
outrage,  as  well  as  in  the  glorious  record  which  Ireland's  annals  pre- 
sent of  noble  heroes,  statesmen,  poets,  and  philanthropists,  for  cen- 
tury upon  century  past. 


PUBLISHERS'  PREFACE. 


The  publishers,  therefore,  are  certain  that  they  have  done  a  good 
Avork  in  presenting  this  History  of  Ireland  to  their  countrymen  in  the 
attractive  dress  in  -which  it  now  appears.  They  haA'e  spared  no  ex- 
pense in  their  undertaking;  they  appeal  unhesitatingly  to  the  volume 
itself  in  proof  of  their  zeal  and  devotion  in  order  to  render  it  in  every 
respect  worthy  of  the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  And  they  confi- 
dently look  for  the  extensive  support  of  all  those  avIio  would  keep 
alive  the  flame  of  patriotism  in  their  children's  hearts,  and  would 
furnish  their  homes  and  their  firesides  with  the  latest,  best,  and  most 
complete  History  of  Ireland  which  is  to   be  found  in  the   English 

language. 

T.  FARRELL  &  SON. 

New  York,  May,  1867. 


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AUTHOR'S    PREFACE. 


nnHE  work*  here  brought  to  a  close  was  undertaken  with  a  view  to 
supply  an  impartial  History  of  Ireland,  according  to  the  present 
advanced  state  of  knowledge  on  the  subject.  The  labors  of  such 
eminent  Irish  scholars  as  Dr.  O'Donovan  and  Professor  Curry  have 
opened  to  us  new  sources  of  information,  and  the  reseai'ches  of  these 
and  other  learned  and  indefatigable  investigators  have,  of  late  years, 
shed  a  flood  of  light  upon  our  history  and  antiquities ;  but  the  knowl- 
edge thus  developed  was  still  unavailable  for  the  general  public ;  and 
it  remained  to  collect,  in  a  popular  form,  materials  scattered  through 
the  publications  of  learned  societies,  and  the  voluminous  pages  of  our 
native  annals ;  buried  in  collections  of  state  papers,  and  in  the  cor- 
respondence of  statesmen ;  or  concealed  from  the  Avorld  in  the  Gov- 
ernment archives.  We  have  been  enabled  to  avail  ourselves  of  a 
mass  of  important  original  documents  derived  from  the  last-mentioned 
source  ;  but  with  what  success  the  task  of  converting  all  these  copious 
materials  to  the  object  of  producing  a  popular  History  of  Ireland  has 
been  performed  in  the  present  volume,  the  reader  must  judge :  we 
can  only  say  that  no  pains  have  been  spared  to  accomplish  it  con- 
scientiously. 

To  identify  the  ancient  topography  of  the  country  with  the  events 
of  its  history  is  important  and  interesting ;  and  the  invaluable  in- 
formation accumulated  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  his  annotations  to  the 


AUTHOR'S  PREB'ACE. 


Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  and  collected  by  him  for  the  Ordnance 
Survey,  has  been  freely  employed  for  that  purpose  in  these  pages. 

The  narrative  has  been  interrupted  as  little  as  possible  with  discus- 
sions of  controverted  points,  and  the  space  has  not  been  unnecessarily 
encumbered  with  extraneous  matter.  The  authorities  relied  on  have 
been  sufficiently  indicated  in  the  marginal  references,  but  the  Author 
here  desires  to  express  his  deep  obligations  to  Dr.  O'Donovan,  Pro- 
fessor Eugene  Curry,  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Meehan,  Dr.  Wilde,  Dr.  R.  R. 
Madden,  and  J.  T.  Gilbert,  Esq.,  for  the  invaluable  infonnation  they 
have  kindly  afforded  him.  in  addition  to  that  which  he  derived  from 

their  published  works. 

MARTIN  HAVERTY. 

KlLBEIIi-MuiKKE,  ASKEATON. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

The  fiist  inhabitants  of  Ireland — Wtence  they  came — Supposed  date,  about  B.  C.  2500 — Colony  of  Partha- 
lon — "Whole  colony  perished  in  a  pestUencc,  about  B.  C.  2200 — Ireland  a  waste  for  thirty  years — Colony  of 
Nemedius — Occupied  Ireland  about  two  hundred  years — Great  Pestilence — The  Fomoriaii  pirates — Who 
were  the  Fomorians? — AVanderings  of  Nemedians — The  Firbolgs  arrive  from  Greece— Theory  as  to  tlie 
origin  of  the  Firbolgs  and  Damnonians- — New  invaders — The  Tuatha  de  Dananns — Conquer  the  Firbolgs — 
Nuad  of  the  "Silver  Hand" — KiUed  in  battle  by  Balor  of  the  "Mighty  Blows" — Another  version  of  the 
Tuatha  de  Dananns'  invasion — Lugh  Lamlifhada  reigns  forty  years — Public  games  and  fair — Dagda  Mor 
next  king — Reigned  eighty  years — Other  kings  of  this  race — Bardic  annals — The  Lia  Fail,  or  Stone  of 
Destinj- — Its  final  resting-place — Ogma,  inventor  of  occult  writing — Orbsen,  or  Mananan,  and  Maclir — Note 
from  Doctor  O'Donovan,  O'Flaherty,  etc 9 

CHAPTEE    II. 

The  Milesian  Colony — Opinions  of  modern  writers  respecting — The  Daan  Eireannach,  or  Poem  of  Ireland — 
Wanderings  of  the  Gadeliahs  under  Niul,  son  of  Fenius,  from  Scythia  into  Egypt,  etc. — Adventures  of  Sru, 
son  of  Esru — Reaches  Spain — Founds  a  city  called  Brigantia — ^Voyage  of  his  .son  Ith  to  Ireland — Ith's  death — 
Expedition  of  the  sons  of  Miledh  or  Milesius — Size  and  force  of  the  expedition — Date  of  their  arrival  in 
Ireland — Contests  with  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns — Battle  of  Teltown  in  Meath — Division  of  Ireland  by  Here- 
mon — His  wife.  Tea  Heremon,  reigns  fifteen  years — Visit  of  the  CruitUnians,  or  Picts,  to  Ireland,  at  this 
date — ^Venerable  Bede's  account  of  their  origin — The  traditions  of  very  little  value 16 

CHAPTEE    III. 

Questions  as  to  the  credit  of  the  Ancient  Irish  Annals — Tighernach  of  Clonmacnoise's  statements — How  far 
doubts  ought  really  to  exist-:-The  main  facts  reliable — Defective  and  improbable  Chronology — Difficult 
to  credit  it — The  test  of  Science  applied — Good  results — Theories  on  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  Ireland — 
Where  did  they  come  from  ?— Authorities  referred  to — Intellectual  qualities  of  the  Firbolgs  and  Tuatha  de 
Dananns — Superiority  of  the  latter — Movements  of  various  sorts  of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns — Workers  in 
mines,  builders  of  tumuli,  etc. — Keltic  origin  doubtful — O'Flaherty's  Ogygia  quoted — A  Scythian  origin 
claimed  in  the  Irish  traditions 21 

CHAPTEE    IV. 

The  Milesian  sovereigns  of  Ireland,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  in  number — Characteristics  of  their  reigns — 
Irial  or  Faidh  the  prophet — Struggles  with  the  Firbolg  tribes — Tiemmas,  B.  C.  1620 — Idol  worship — The 
Crom-Cruach  in  Magh-Slecht — Paganism  of  the  Ancient  Irish — Death  of  Tiernmas — Marks  of  his  reign — 
Social  progress  and  civilization — The  Feis  Teavrach  or  Triennial  Parliament  of  Tara — Instituted  about  B.  C. 
1300 — Members  of  this  assembly  or  parliament,  its  meetings,  etc. — Long  reigns  of  Irish  kings — Cimbaeth, 
B.  C.  716,  and  his  two  brothers — Queen  Macha — Curious  story — Foundation  of  Emania  palace — Ugony  the 
Great — New  division  of  Ireland — Famous  pagan  oath — Ugony's  death — Cattle  murrain,  B.  C.  200 — Eochy,  or 
Achy,  re-divides  the  country — Maeve  or  Maude,  queen  of  Connaught — Romantic  history — Wars  of  Connaught 
and  Ulster — Bardic  romances — Origin  of  some  of  the  worst  ills  of  Ireland 26 


Viu  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

Pagan  kings  of  Ireland,  continued — Creevan  Nianair — Incursions  into  Britain — Rich  spoils  obtained — Pro- 
jected Eomau  invasion  of  Ireland — Hard  lot  of  the  plebeian  races — Revolt  determined  on — The  Attacotti 
or  Aitheach-Tuatha  massacre  of  Milesian  nobles — Carbry,  the  Cat-Headed,  elected  king — His  son  Morann's 
course — New  troubles— Tuatlial  Teachtar,  the  legitimate — His  proceedings — Felimy  Rechtar,  or  the  Law- 
Maker — Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles — Wars  of  Conn  and  Owen  or  Eugene  the  Great — New  division  of 
Ireland — The  battle  of  Magh  Lcana — Defeat  and  death  of  Eugene — Conary  the  Second — The  three  Carbrys — 
The  Dalriads ;  first  Irish  settlement  in  Alba  or  Scotland — Oiliol  Olum,  king  of  Munster — Outbreak  of  Lewy, 
Eurnamed  MacCon — The  famous  Irish  Legion — Glorious  reign  of  Cormac  MacArt — Efforts  in  behalf  of  civili- 
zation— Loses  an  eye,  and  abdicates^Carbry  Liffechar — Bloody  battle  of  Gavra,  A.  D.  384 — Finn  MacCuail 
and  the  Fenian  Militia — Macpherson's  literary  forgeries — The  three  Collas— Destruction  of  Emania  palace — 
Domestic  tragedy — Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages — Inroads  of  the  Scots  or  Irish  into  Britain — Dathy  and  his 
exploits — Patrick,  son  of  Calphum,  brought  to  Ireland  as  a  captive  from  Gaul — Blessed  fruits 33 

CHAPTEE    VI. 

Civilization  of  the  pagan  Irish — Its  extent  and  value — Their  knowledge  of  letters — Superior  advancement 
and  preparation  for  Christianity — St.  Patrick  said  to  have  given  "alphabets"  to  some  of  his  converts — The 
Ogham  Craev,  or  secret  virgular  writing — Religion  of  the  pagan  Irish,  difficult  to  determine— Numerous 
theories — The  Brehon  Laws — The  Tanaisteacht  or  Tanistry,  the  Law  of  Succession — Its  provisions — Gavail- 
kinne  or  Gavel  kind,  law  in  regard  to  Inheritance  and  Division  of  property — Tenure  of  land,  a  tribe  or 
family  right — Rights  of  clanship — Reciprocal  privileges  of  the  Irish  kings — The  law  of  Eric  or  Mulct — 
Hereditary  offices — Fosterage — Its  obligations  and  sanctity 46 

CHAPTEE    VII. 

Social  and  intellectual  state  of  the  pagan  Irish,  continued — Weapons  and  implements  of  flint  and  stone — 
Celts  or  stone  dishes — Working  in  metals — Bronze  swords,  gold  ornaments,  etc. — Pursuits  of  the  Primitive 
Races — Agriculture,  extensively  carried  on — Houses  of  the  Ancient  Irish — Materials  of  building — Raths  or 
earthen  inclosures — Caliirs  or  stone  inclosures  and  forts — Cranoques  or  stockaded  islands  in  a  lake — Canoes 
and  Curachs — Sepulchral  monuments — Extensive  in  number  and  size — Cromlechs,  what  they  were — Games 
and  amusements — Music,  its  toucliing  character — Ornaments,  evidence  of  luxury,  etc. — Celebrated  pagan 
legislators  and  poets — The  Bearla  Feine,  etc — Language  of  Ancient  Ireland — Value  and  importance  of  its 
study,  etc , 53 

CHAPTEE    VIII. 

Christianity  in  Ireland  before  St.  Patrick's  days — Traditions — Pelagius  and  Celestius— St.  Palladius  sent  by 
Pope  Celestine — Doubts  as  to  St.  Patrick's  birth-place — His  parentage — His  captivity — His  escape— His 
vision — His  studies — His  consecration — How  Christianity  was  received  in  Ireland^Date  of  St.  Patrick's 
arrival — First  conversions — Unique  glory — Visits  Tara — Interviews  with  King  Laeghaire— Description  of 
the  scene — Invocation  Hymn — Effects  produced — Visits  Tailtin,  where  the  games  were  celebrated — Stays  a 
week — St.  Patrick's  journeys  in  Meath,  Connaught,  Ulster,  Leinster,  and  Munster— -Many  years  thus  occu- 
pied— Destruction  of  Crom-Cruach  and  other  idols — St.  Secundinus  or  Sechnail — St.  Fiech — King  .Sugus — 
Caroticus,  British  prince  and  pirate — Foundation  of  the  See  of  Armagh— Death  of  St.  Patrick — Length  of 
his  life  and  labors 59 

CHAPTEE    IX. 

Civil  History  of  Ireland  during  St.  Patrick's  life — The  Seanchus  Mor,  or  Great  Book  of  Laws,  A.  D.  438 — King 
Laeghaire's  oath  and  death — Reign  of  OUioll  Molt,  son  of  Dathi,  A.  D.  459 — Branches  and  greatness  of  the 
Hy-Niall  race — Reign  of  Lugaidh  or  Lewy — Foundation  of  the  Scottish  kingdom  in  North  Britain — Falsifi 
cation  of  the  Scottish  Annals  by  Macpherson  and  others — Progress  of  Christianity  and  absence  of  persecu 


CONTENTS.  ix 


tion — The  first  Order  of  Irish  saints — Great  Ecclesiastical  schools — Aran  of  the  saints,  or  lona  of  Ireland — 
St.  Brigid— Her  high  origin,  great  labors,  success,  humility,  etc. — Great  House  of  Kildare,  or  Church  of  the 
Oak — Death  of  St.  Brigid,  A.  D.  525 — Jlonastic  tendency  of  the  Primitive  Church— Muircheartach  MacEarca, 
the  first  Christian  king  of  Ireland,  A.  D.  504 — Succeeded  by  Tuathal  Maelgarbh,  grandson  of  Caurbre,  per 
secutor  of  St.  Patrick,  A.  D.  528 70 

CHAPTEE    X. 

First  Tisitation  of  the  Buidhe  Chonnaill,  or  Great  Pestilence,  A.  D.  543 — Terrible  effects  of  this  plague — Reign 
of  Diarmaid,  sou  of  Kerval — His  character  and  reign — Tara  cursed  and  deserted — Reasons  why — Account 
of  St.  ColumbkiUe's  education,  learning,  sanctity,  miracles,  etc. — Anoints  Aidan,  king  of  Scots — Animosity 
of  King  Diarmaid  towards  St.  Columbkille — Origin  of  Ms  ill-feeling — Battle  of  Cuil-Dremni,  or  Cooldrevny — • 
Death  of  Diarmaid,  A.  D.  505 — Reign  of  Hugh,  son  of  Ainmire — Foundation  of  lona,  tlirough  St.  Columb- 
kiUe's influence — The  Great  Convention  of  Drumceat,  or  meeting  of  the  States,  A.  D.  573 — Battle  of  Dun 
bolg — Curious  stratagem — Hugh  Ainmire  killed  by  Bran  Dubli,  king  of  Leinster — Deaths  of  Saints — Per- 
petual feuds  of  the  northern  and  southern  Hy-Nialls — Great  Battle  of  Magh  Rath  or  Moyra — Congal  and  his 
foreign  helpers  defeated,  A.  D.  G34 — Second  visitation  of  the  Buidhe  Chonnaill — Continued  ten  years,  and 
Bwept  away  two-thirds  of  the  people — Finnachta  Fleadhach,  the  Hospitable,  A.  D.  673 — Remits  to  Leinster 
the  Borumean  tribute — Egfrid,  the  Saxon,  invades  Ireland — Bede'o  account  quoted — St.  Adamnan's  pious 
labors 78 

CHAPTEE     XI. 

The  Priniitive  Church  in  Ireland — Its  monastic  schools  and  communities  celebrated — ^Vast  numbers  of  monks, 
anchorites,  etc. — Missionary  character  of  the  Irish  church — St.  Columbanus,  father  of  foreign  missions — His 
life  and  labors — Preaches  in  Gaul,  A.  D.  590— Enmity  of  Theodoric  and  Brunehault,  his  queen  dowager — 
Columbanus  founds  great  monastery  at  Bovium  or  Bobbio,  A.  D.  613 — Letter  to  Pope  Boniface — Its  tone, 
etc.— Death  at  Bobbio,  A.  D.  615,  aged  72— St.  Gallus,  or  Gall— Death,  A.  D.  645— The  Aidan  and  the  church 
of  Lindisfarne — St.  Colman — The  Paschal  or  Easter  Controversy — ^National  prejudices  of  the  Irish — Sectarian 
misrepresentation  as  to  St.  Patrick's  preaching — Synod  of  Old  Leighlin — Saint  Cummian — Letter  to  the 
Synod,  A.  D.  630 — The  famoxis  Conference  at  Whitby — St.  Colman  and  Island  of  Innisbofin — St.  Adamnan — 
Visits  the  court  of  Alfred  the  Great — "  The  Law  of  the  Innocents,"  or  the  law  not  to  kill  women — Cause 
which  led  to  passing  the  law — St.  Adamnan's  death,  A.  D.  704 — Irish  saints  on  the  Continent — The  Frigid- 
ian,  St.  Molua,  St.  Degan,  St.  Livinus,  St.  Fiacre,  St.  Fursey,  St.  Dicuil,  St.  Kilian— .St.  Cathaldus,  patron 
of  Tarentum — His  brother,  St.  Donatus — St.  Cuthbert,  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  died  A.  D.  687 — St.  Maccuthe- 
nus — St.  Sedulius,  the  Younger — At  Rome,  A.  D.  721 — St.  Virgilius — Saints  Foilan  and  Ultan — St.  Fridolin, 
the  Traveller — Clemens  and  Albinus — Dongal — St.  Donatus — -Irish  missions  to  Ireland — John  Scotus 
Erigena — His  character 87 

CHAPTEE    XII. 

Christian  Antiquities  of  Ireland — Testimonies  on  the  subject  of  Ireland's  pre-eminence  for  sanctity  and  learning — 
Authorities  given — The  Culdees  ;  who  were  they  ? — Professor  Curry's  note  quoted — The  Cele  De  or  Colidei — 
Hereditary  transmission  of  church  offices — Lay  bishops,  abbots,  priors,  etc. — Comhorbas  or  successors — 
Herenachs  or  Wardens — Tarmon  lands  of  the  monasteries — Doctrines,  practices,  etc.,  of  the  Irish  church  in 
accord  with  that  of  Rome — Peculiarities  in  discipline — Materials  used  in  building  churches — Damliags  or 
Btone  churches — Duirachs  or  oratories — Cyclopean  masonry — The  Round  Towers  of  Ireland — Remarkable 
structures — Beds  of  saints.  Holy  Wells  and  Penitential  Stations 103 

CHAPTEE    XIII. 

Character  of  Irish  History  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries — Internal  wars  and  feuds — Piety  of  some  Irish 
kings — Renewed  wars  for  the  Leinster  Tribute — Terrible  and  bloody  battles— Rumann,  called  the  Virgil  of 
Ireland— Death,  A.  D.  747— Foundation  of  monastery  of  Tallaght,  near  Dublin,  A.  D.  769,  by  St.  Maelruain— 
St,  Aengus  the  Culdac — St.  Colgu  and  Alcnin — Early  Irish  Prayer  Book — Signs  and  prodigies  at  this  period — 


CONTENTS. 


The  Lavcliomart  or  "  clapping  of  hands"  for  fear  and  terror — The  Larahchomart  or  fire  from  Heaven— First 
appearance  of  the  Danish  pirates — Charajter  of  these  sea-rovers — Their  barbarism  and  inhumanity — Their 
plmiderings  and  desecration — Heroic  resistance  of  the  Irish — Turgesius  goes  to  Ireland,  A.  D.  815 — Domestic 
wars — Fclim,  king  of  Cashel — Plunderer  and  robber — Died,  A.  D.  84o — Malachy  I.,  king  of  Meath — liills 
Turgesius — llassacre  of  the  Danes — Retaliation  of  the  Northmen,  A.  D.  851 — Danish  settlements  in  Water- 
ford  and  Limerick — Irish  allies  of  the  Danes — Hugh  Finnliath — Battle  of  Lough  Foyle — Cormac  MacCui- 
lenran,  king  and  archbishop  of  Cashel,  A.  D.  890 — Curious  history — Niall  Glundubli— Succeeds  Flann,  A.  D. 
914 — Muirkertach,  son  of  Niall,  succeeds  his  father — Callaghan  of  Cashel,  king  of  Munster— Muii-kertach's 
Circuit  of  Ireland — Killed,  A.  D.  diX  at  Ardee — Danish  power  in  Ireland Ill 

CHAPTEE    XIV. 

Sequel  of  the  Danish  wars — Limits  of  the  Danish  power  in  Ireland — Hibemo-Danish  alliances — Danish  expedi- 
tions from  Ireland  into  England,  A.  D.  91G,  935,  937 — Conversion  of  the  Danes  to  Christianity — Consecration 
of  Dano-Irish  bishops — Subdivision  of  territory  in  Ireland — Injurious  effects — Alternate  succession — Progress 
and  pretensions  of  the  kingdom  of  Munster — Brian  Borumha  or  Bora — Treacherous  murder  of  his  brother 
Mahon  at  a  banquet — Brian  avenges  his  death — Accession  of  Jlalachy  II.,  the  Great,  A.  D.  979 — His  victories 
over  the  Danes— Intestine  wars — Feuds  between  Brian  and  Malachy — Defeats  of  the  Danes — Deposition  of 
Malachy — Character  of  Brian's  reign — Defection  of  Brian  from  Malachy — ^Brian's  piety  and  wise  laws — 
Institution  of  Surnames — Preparations  for  war,  A.  D.  1014,  by  the  Danes,  who  detenuine  to  overrun  Ire- 
land— The  famous  Battle  of  Clontarf— Immense  preparation  and  power  of  the  Danish  force — Details  of 
the  battle — Fierce  and  bloody  contest— Brian  kiUed  in  battle — The  Danes  routed — Consequences  of  the 
battle — Danish  power  reduced  to  almost  nothing 135 

CHAPTEE    XV. 

state  of  Learning  in  Ireland  during  and  after  the  Danish  AYars — Eminent  Churchmen,  Poets,  and  Antiquaries— 
Tighernach  and  Marianus  Scotus — Irishmen  Abroad  in  the  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Centuries — The  Monks  of 
the  Middle  Ages — Causes  of  Ignorance  and  Disorganization — Donough  O'Brien  in  Rome — Turlough  O'Brien — 
Progress  of  Connaught — Wars  of  the  North  and  Soutli  of  Ireland — Destruction  of  the  Grianan  of  Aileach— 
The  Danes  after  Clontarf — Invasion  and  Fate  of  King  Magnus — Relations  with  England — Letter  ot  Pope 
Gregory  VII — Murtough  O'Brien  and  the  Church — Remarkable  Synods — Abuses  in  the  Irish  Church — Num- 
ber of  Bishops — St.  Bernard's  Denunciations — Palliations — St.  Malachy — Misrepresentations — Progress  of 
Turlough  O'Conor— Death  of  St.  Celsus 143 

CHAPTEE    XVI. 

St.  Malachy — His  Early  Career — His  Reforms  in  the  Diocese  of  Connor — His  Withdrawal  to  Kerry — His  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  of  Armagh — His  Retirement  to  Down — Struggle  of  Conor  O'Brien  and  Turlough 
O'Conor — Synod  at  Cashel — Cormac's  Chapel — Death  of  Cormac  MacCarthy — Turlough  O'Conor's  Rigor  to 
his  Sons — Crimes  and  Tyranny  of  Dei-mot  MacMurrough — St.  Malachy's  Journey  to  Rome— Building  of 
Mellifont — Synod  of  Inis-Padraig — The  Palliums— St.  Malachy's  Second  Journey  and  Death — Political  State 
of  Ireland — Arrival  of  Cardinal  Paparo — Synod  of  Kells — Misrepresentations  Corrected — The  Battle  of  Moin- 
Mor — Famine  arising  from  Civil  War  in  Mimster — Dismemberment  of  Meath — Elopement  of  Dervorgil — 
Battle  of  Rahin — A  Naval  Engagement — Death  of  Turlough  O'Conor,  and  Accession  of  Roderic — Synod  of 
Mellifont — Synod  of  Bri-Mic-Taidhg — Wars  and  Ambition  of  Roderic — St.  Laurence  O'Toole — Synod  of 
Clane — Zeal  of  the  Irish  Hierarchy — Death  of  O'Loughlin — Roderic  O'Conor  Monarch — Expulsion  of  Dermot 
MacMurrough — G  reat  Assembly  at  Athboy 156 


CHAPTEE    XVII. 


The  AiJGLO-NoEMAN  Invasion. — Dennot's  Appeal  to  Henry  II — His  Negotiations  with  Earl  Strongbow  and 
others — Landing  of  the  first  English  Adventurers  in  Ireland — Siege  of  Wexford — First  Rewards  of  the 
Adventurers — Apathy  of  the  Irish — Incursion  into  Ossory — Savage  Conduct  of  Dermot — His  Vindictiveness — 
Shameful  Feebleness  of  Roderic — The  Treaty  of  Ferns — Dermot  aspires  to  the  Sovereignty — Strongbow's 


CONTENTS.  XI 


Preparations  for  liis  Expedition — Landing  of  his  Precursor,  Raj-mond  le  Gros — Massacre  of  Prisoners  by  the 
English — Arrival  of  Strongbow,  and  Siege  of  Waterford — Marriage  of  Strongbow  and  Eva — March  on  Dub- 
lin—Surprise of  the  City — Brutal  Massacre — The  English  Garrison  of  Waterford  cut  off— Sacrilegious  Spolia- 
tions by  Dermot  and  the  English — Imbecility  of  Roderic^Execution  of  Dermot's  Hostages — Synod  of 
Armagh — English  Slaves,  nefarious  custom — Horrible  Death  of  Dermot  MacMurrough 170 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Reign  op  Henut  II. — DiiEculties  of  Strongbow — Order  of  Henry  against  the  Adventurers— Danish  attack  on 
Dublin — Patriotism  of  St.  Laurence — Siege  of  Dublin  by  Roderic — Desperate  state  of  the  Garrison — Their 
Bravery  and  Success— FitzStepheu  Captured  by  the  Wexford  People — Attack  on  Dublin  by  Tieruan 
O'Eourke — Henry's  Expedition  to  Ireland — His  Policy — The  Irish  Unprepared — Submission  of  several  Irish 
Princes — Henry  fixes  his  Court  in  Dublin — Bold  Attitude  of  Roderic — Independence  of  the  Northom  Princes- 
Synod  of  Cashel — History  of  the  Pope's  Grant  to  Henry — This  Grant  not  the  Cause  either  of  the  Invasion  or 
its  Success — Disorganized  State  of  Ireland — Report  of  Prelates  of  Cashel,  and  Letters  of  Alexander  III — 
English  Law  extended  to  Ireland — The  "  five  bloods" — Parallel  of  the  Normans  in  England  and  the  Anglo- 
Normans  in  Ireland — Fate  of  the  Irish  Church — Final  Arrangements  and  Departure  of  Henry 181 

CHAPTEE    XIX. 

Reign  op  Henry  II.,  contdtoed. — Death  of  Tiernan  O'Rourke  and  treachery  of  the  Invaders — Strongbow's 
Expedition  to  Offaly,  and  Defeat — The  Earl  called  to  Normandy — His  speedy  Return — Dissensions  among 
the  Anglo-Normans — Raymond's  Popularity  with  the  Army — His  Spoliations  in  Oflfaly  and  Lismore — His 
Ambition  and  Withdrawal  from  Ireland — -An  English  Army  cut  to  pieces  at  Thurlcs — Raymond's  B.etm-n 
and  Marriage — Roderic's  Expedition  to  Sleath — The  Bulls  Promulgated — Limerick  Captured  by  Raymond — 
Serious  Charges  against  him — His  Success  at  Cashel,  and  Submission  of  O'Brien — Treaty  between  Roderic 
and  Henry  II — Attempt  to  Murder  St.  Laurence  O'Toole — Death  of  St.  Gelasius — Episode  of  the  Blessed 
Cornehus — Raymond  lo  Gros  in  Desmond — Hostile  Proceedings  of  DonneU  O'Brien — Death  of  Strongbow^ 
His  Character — IMassacre  of  the  Invaders  at  Slane — De  Courcy's  Expedition  to  Ulster — Conduct  of  Cardinal 
'V^ivian — Battles  with  tho  Ulidians — Supposed  Fulfilment  of  Prophecies — The  Legate's  Proceedings  in  Dub- 
lin— De  Cogan's  Expedition  to  Connaught,  and  Retreat — John  made  King  of  Ireland — Grants  by  Henry  to 
the  Adventurers 194 


CHAPTEE    XX. 

Reign  op  Henkt  II.,  concluded.  Reign  or  Richard  I, — Reverses  of  De  Courcy  in  the  North — Feuds  of 
Desmond  and  Thomond — Unpopularitj-  of  Fitz.ldclm  with  the  Colonists — Irish  Bishops  at  the  Council  of 
Lateran — Death  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole — His  Chanty  and  Poverty — De  Lacy  suspected  by  Henry  II — 
Death  of  Milo  de  Cogan— Arrival  of  Cambrensis — Death  of  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice — Roderic  Abdicates 
and  Retires  to  Cong — Archbishop  Comyn — Exactions  of  PhUip  of  Worcester — Prince  John's  Expedition  to 
Ireland — His  Failure  and  Recall — English  Mercenaries  in  the  Irish  Service — Singular  Death  of  Hugh  de 
Lacy — Synod  in  Christ  Church — Translation  of  the  Relics  of  SS.  Patrick,  Columba,  and  Brigid  to  Down — 
Expedition  of  De  Courcy  to  Connaught — His  Retreat — Death  of  Henry  II. — Death  of  Conor  Moinmoy,  and 
Fresh  Tumults  in  Connaught — Last  Exploits  and  Death  of  DonneU  More  O'Brien — Dissensions  in  the  Eng- 
lish Colony — Successes  of  DonneU  MacCarthy — Death  of  Roderic  O'Conor — His  Character — Foundation  of 
Churches,  etc. — The  Anglo-Irish  and  the  "mere"  Irish 208 

CHAPTEE    XXI. 

Eeign  op  John. — Renewed  Wars  of  Catlml  Carragh  and  Cathal  Crovderg — Tergiversation  of  William  de  Burgo, 
and  Death  of  Cathal  Carragh  at  Boyle  Abbey — Massacre  of  the  English  Archers  in  Connaught — Wars  in 
Ulster — Fate  of  John  De  Courcy — Legends  of  the  Book  of  Howth — Death  and  Character  of  William  de  Bur- 
go — Tumults  and  Rebellions  of  the  English  Barons — Second  "Visit  of  King  John  to  Ireland — Alarm  of  the 
Barons — Submission  of  Irish  Princes — Independence  of  Hugh  O'Neill— Division  of  the  English  Pale  into 


xu  CONTENTS. 


Counties — Money  Coined — Departure  of  John — The  Bishop  of  Norwich  Lord  Justice — Exploits  of  Cormac 
O'Melaglilin  and  Hugh  O'Neill — War  in  tlie  South — Catastrophe  at  Athlone — Adventures  of  Murray  O'Daly, 
the  Poet  of  Lissadill — Ecclesiastical  Occurrences 220 

CHAPTEE    XXII. 

Reign  of  Hexht  III. — Extension  of  Magna  Charta  to  Ireland — Return  of  Hugh  do  Lacy — Wars  between  De 
Lacy  and  Earl  Marshall^Surrender  of  Territory  to  the  Crovni  by  Irish  Princes — Connaught  granted  by 
Henry  to  De  Burgo — Domestic  Wars  in  Connaught — Interference  of  the  English — Famine  and  Pestilence^ 
Hugh  O'Conor  Seized  in  Dublin  and  Rescued  by  Earl  Marshall — His  Retaliation  at  Athlone — Death  of  Hugh, 
and  Fresh  Wai-s  for  the  Succession  in  Connaught— Felini  O'Conor — English  Castles  in  Connaught  Demol- 
ished— The  Islands  of  Clew  Bay  Plundered — Melancholy  Fate  of  Earl  Slarsliall — Connaught  Occupied  by 
the  Anglo-Irish — Divisions  and  War  in  Ulster — Felim  O'Conor  Proceeds  to  England — Deaths  of  Remarkable 
Men — Expeditions  to  France  and  Wales — The  Geraldines  make  War  at  their  own  Discretion — Rising  of  the 
Young  Men  in  Connaught — Submission  of  Brian  O'Neill— Battle  of  Creadrankille  and  Defeat  of  the  Eng- 
lish— Death  of  FitzGerald  and  O'Donncll — Domestic  War  in  the  North — Battle  of  Downpatrick — Wars  of 
De  Burgo  and  FitzGerald — Defeat  of  the  English  near  Carrick-on-Shannon — General  View  of  this  Reign .  228 

CHAPTEE    XXIII. 

Reign  op  Edward  I. — State  of  Ireland  on  the  Accession  of  Edward  I. — Feuds  of  the  Barons — Exploits  of  Hugh 
O'Conor — Fearful  Confusion  in  Connaught — Incursion  from  Scotland,  and  Retaliation — Irish  Victory  of  Glen- 
delory — Horrible  Treachery  of  Thomas  De  Clare  in  Thomond — Contentions  of  the  Clann  Murtough  in  Con- 
naught— English  Policy  in  the  Irish  Feuds — Petition  for  English  Laws — Characteristic  Incidents — Victories 
of  Carbry  O'Melaghlin  over  the  English — Feuds  of  the  De  Burghs  and  Geraldines — The  Red  Earl — His  great 
Power — English  Laws  for  Ireland — Death  of  O'Melaghlin — Disputes  of  De  Vescy  and  FitzGerald  of  Offaly — 
Singular  Pleadings  before  the  King — A  Truce  between  the  Geraldines  and  De  Burghs — The  Kilkenny  Par- 
liament of  1295 — Continued  Tumults  in  Connaught — Expeditions  against  Scotland — Caivagh  O'Conor — 
Horrible  JIassacre  of  Irish  Chieftains  at  an  English  Dinner-table— More  Murders — Rising  of  the  O'Kellys — 
Foundation  of  Religious  Houses 243 

CHAPTEE    XXIV. 

Reign  op  Edward  II. — Piers  Gaveston  in  Ireland — Fresh  wars  in  Connaught — The  Clann  Murtough — Civil 
Broils  in  Thomond — Feud  of  De  Clare  and  De  Burgo — Growth  of  National  Feelings — Invitation  to  King 
Robert  Bruce — Memorial  of  the  Irish  Princes  to  Pope  John  XXII. — The  Pope's  Letter  to  the  English  King — 
The  Scottish  Expedition  to  Ireland — Landing  of  Edward  Bruce — First  Exploits  of  the  Scottish  Army — Pro- 
ceedings of  Felim  and  Rory  O'Connor — Disastrous  War  in  Connaught — The  Battle  of  Athenry — Siege  of 
Carrickfergus — General  Rising  of  the  Irish — Campaign  of  1317 — Arrival  of  Robert  Bruce — Arrest  of  the  Earl 
of  Ulster — Consternation  in  Dublin — The  Scots  at  Castlekuock — Their  March  to  the  South — Their  Retreat 
from  Limerick — Effects  of  the  Famine^Retreat  of  the  Scots  to  Ulster — Robert  Bruce  Returns  to  Scotland — 
Liberation  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster — Battle  of  Faughard,  and  Death  of  Edward  Bruce — National  Prejudices.  252 

CHAPTEE    XXV. 

Reign  op  Edward  III. — Position  of  the  different  Races — Great  Feuds  of  the  Anglo-Irish — Murder  of  Benning- 
ham.  Earl  of  Louth — Creation  of  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond — Counties  Palafme — Rigor  of  Sir  An- 
thony Lucy — Murder  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster — The  Burkes  of  Connaught  Abandon  the  English  Language  and 
Customs — Sacrilegious  Outrages — Traces  of  Piety — Wars  in  Connaught — Crime  and  Punishment  of  Tur- 
lough  O'Conor — Proceedings  in  the  Pale — English  by  Birth  and  by  Descent — Ordinances  against  the  Anglo- 
Irish  Aristocracy — Resistance  of  the  latter — Sir  Ralph  Ufford's  Harshness  and  Death — Change  of  Policy  and 
its  results — The  Black  Death — Administration  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence — His  Animosity  against  the  Irish — 
The  Statute  of  Kilkenny — Effects  of  that  Atrocious  Law — Exploits  of  Hugh  O'Conor — Crime  Punished  by 
the  Irish  Chieftains — Victories  of  Niall  O'Neill — Difficulties  of  the  Government  of  the  Pale — Manly  Conduct 
of  the  Bishops — General  Character  of  this  Reign 3G5 


CONTENTS.  xiii 


CHAPTEE    XXVI. 

Reign  op  Eichaud  II. — Law  against  Absentees — Events  ia  Ireland  at  the  Opening  of  tlie  Reign — Partition  of 
Connaugbt  between  O'Conor  Don  and  O'Conor  Roe— The  Earl  of  Oxford  made  Duke  of  Ireland— His  Fate — 
Battles  between  the  English  and  Irish — Richard  II.  Visits  Ireland  with  a  Powerful  Army — Submission  of 
Irish  Princes — Hard  Conditions — Henry  Castide's  Account  of  the  Irish — Knighting  of  Four  Irish  Kings — 
Departure  of  Richard  II.  and  Rising  of  the  Irish — Second  Visit  of  King  Richard — His  Attack  on  Art  MacMur- 
rough's  Stronghold— Disasters  of  the  English  Army — MacMurrongh'a  Heroism— Meeting  of  Art  MacMur- 
rough  and  the  Earl  of  Gloucester— Richard  Arrives  in  Dublin — Bad  News  from  England — The  King's 
Departure  from  Ireland — His  unhappy  Fate — Death  of  Niall  More  O'NeUl,  and  Succession  of  Niall  Oge— 
Pilgrimages  to  Rome — Events  Illustrating  the  Social  State  of  Ireland 277 

CHAPTEE    XXVII. 

Reigns  of  Henry  IV.  and  Henry  V.— State  of  the  English  Pale— The  Duke  of  Lancaster  in  Ireland— Defeats 
of  the  English — Retaliation — Lancaster  again  Lord  Lieutenant — His  Stipulations — Affairs  of  Tj-roue — Pri- 
vateering— Complaints  from  the  Pale — Accession  of  Henry  V. — Sir  Jolin  Stanley's  Government — Rhyming 
to  death — Exploits  of  Lord  Furnival — Reaction  of  the  Irish — Death  of  Art  MacMurrough  Kavanagh — Death 
of  Murrough  O'Conor,  or  Offaly — Defeat  of  the  O'Mores — Petition  against  the  Irish — Persecution  of  an  Irish 
Archbishop — Complaint  of  the  Anglo-Irish  Commons — State  of  Religion  and  Learning 286 

CHAPTEE    XXVIII. 

Reigns  op  Henry  VI.,  Edw.\kd  IV.,  Edward  V.,  and  Richard  III.— State  of  Ireland  on  the  Accession  of 
Henry  VI. — Liberation  of  Donough  MacMurrough — Incursions  of  Owen  O'Neill — His  Inauguration — Fam- 
ine— The  "  Summer  of  Slight  Acquaintance" — Distressing  State  of  Discord — Domestic  War  in  England  at 
this  Period — Dissensions  in  the  Pale — Complaints  against  the  Earl  of  Ormond — Proceedings  of  Lord  Furni- 
val— Pestilence — Devotedness  of  the  Clergy— The  Duke  of  Tork  in  Ireland — His  Popularity— Confesses  his 
Inability  to  Subdue  the  Irish — His  Subsequent  Fortunes  and  Death  in  England — Irish  Pilgrimages  to  Rome 
and  St.  James  of  Compostella — Munificence  of  Margaret  of  Offaly — Her  Banquets  to  the  Learned— The  But- 
lers and  Geraldines  take  opposite  sides  in  the  English  Wars— Popular  Government  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond — 
He  is  unj  ustly  Executed — Wretched  Condition  of  the  English  Pale — Fatal  Feuds  and  Indifference  of  the 
Irish,  and  Contemporary  Disorders  in  England — Atrocious  Laws  against  the  Irish 293 

CHAPTEE    XXIX. 

Reign  op  Hen-rt  VII. — Forbearance  of  Henry  VII.  towards  the  Yorkists  in  Ireland — The  Earl  of  Kildare  con- 
tinues Lord  Deputy — Arrival  of  Lambert  Simnel — His  Cause  Espoused  by  the  Lords  of  the  Pale — Coronation 
of  Simnel  in  Christ's  Church — His  Expedition  to  England — Defeat  of  Simnel's  Army  at  Stoke — Pardon  of 
his  Adherents — Loyalty  of  Waterford — First  use  of  Fire-arms  in  Ireland — Murder  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond- 
Arrival  of  Sir  Richard  Edgecomb — Another  Mock  Prince — Disgrace  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare — His  Quarrel  with 
Sir  James  Ormond — Perkiu  Warbeck  at  Cork — Sir  Edward  Poynings  Arrives  in  Ireland  as  Governor — The 
Parliament  of  Drogheda ;  Poynings'  Act — The  Earl  of  Kildare  Attainted  and  sent  Prisoner  to  England— His 
Vindication  before  Henry  VII. — Returns  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland — Further  Adventures  of  Warbeck — 
His  last  Visit  to  Ireland — His  Execution — Transactions  of  the  Native  Princes  during  this  period — The  battle 
of  Knocktow— Death  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Neill 303 

CHAPTEE    XXX. 

Reign  op  Henry  VIIL — Accession  of  Henry  VIII.— Gerald,  Earl  of  Kildare,  still  Lord  Deputy— His  last  Trans- 
actions and  Death — Hugh  O'DonneU  visits  Scotland  and  prevents  an  Invasion  of  Ireland — Wars  of  the 
Kinel-ConneU  and  KinelOweu — Proceedings  of  the  new  Earl  of  Kildare — The  Earl  of  Surrey  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant— His  Opinion  of  Irish  Warfare — His  Advice  to  the  King  about  Ireland — His  Return — The  Earl  of 
Ormond  succeeds,  and  is  made  Earl  of  Ossory — Wars  in  Ulster — Battle  of  Knockavoe — Triumph  of  Kildare — 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


A''ain  attempts  to  reconcile  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell — Treasonable  correspondence  of  Desmond — Kildare  again 
in  difficulties — Effect  of  his  Irish  popularity — Sir  AViUiam  Skeffington  Lord  Deputy — Discord  between  him 
and  Kildare — New  Irish  Alliance  of  Kildare — His  fall — Reports  of  the  Council  to  the  King — The  Schism  in 
England — Rebellion  of  Silken  Thomas — Murder  of  Archbishop  Allen— Siege  of  Maynooth — Surrender  of 
Silken  Thomas,  and  arrest  of  his  Uncles — Their  cruel  fate — Lord  Leonard  Gray  in  Ireland — Destruction  of 
O'Brien's  Bridge — Interesting  events  in  Offaly — Desolating  War  against  the  Irish — Confederation  of  Irish 
Chiefs — Fidelity  of  the  Irish  to  their  Faith — Rescue  of  young  Gerald  FitzGerald— Extension  of  the  Geraldine 
League — Desecration  of  sacred  things — Battle  of  Belahoe — Submission  of  Southern  Chiefs — Escape  of  young 
Gerald  to  France — EflFects  of  the  "  Reformation"  on  Ireland — Servility  of  Parliament — Henry's  insidious 
policy  in  Ireland — George  Brown,  first  Protestant  Archbishop  of  Dublin — Hia  character— Failure  of  the 
new  creed  iu  Ireland — Terrible  spoliation  of  the  Irish  by  the  Lord  Justice— Submission  of  Irish  Princes — 
Their  acceptance  of  English  titles  and  surrender  of  Irish  ones — Henry  VIII.  made  King  of  Ireland — Sub- 
mission of  Desmond — First  native  Irish  Lords  in  Parliament — Execution  of  Lord  Leonard  Gray — O'Neill 
surrenders  his  territory  and  is  made  Earl  of  Tyrone — Murrough  O'Brien  made  Earl  of  Thomond^ConGsca- 
tion  of  convent  lands — Effect  of  the  policy  of  concession  and  corruption 315 


CHAPTEE    XXXI. 

Reign  op  Edwaijd  VI.  akd  Mart. — Accession  of  Edward  VI. — Somerset's  government— War  of  Extermina- 
tion in  Leix  and  Offaly — Fate  of  O'More  and  O'Couor — Rising  of  O'CarroU — Successes  of  the  Lord  Deputy 
Bellingham — The  adventurers  Bryan  and  Fay — Rebellion  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell  against  his  father — Power 
of  the  Northern  Chiefs  curtailed — Instance  of  Bellingham's  firmness — Intrigues  and  changes  in  the  Irish 
Government — Exploits  of  the  Scots  in  Ulster — War  between  Fcrdoragh  and  Shane  O'Neill — French  emis- 
saries iu  Ulster — Failure  of  the  efforts  to  establish  the  new  religion  in  Ireland — Zeal  and  firmness  of  Arch- 
bishop Dowdall — Conference  at  St.  Slary's  Abbey — Plunder  of  Clonmacnoise — Accession  of  Queen  Mary — 
Her  efforts  to  restore  religion — Her  difficulties  in  England — Injustice  to  her  character — The  work  of  restora- 
tion easy  in  Ireland — Her  kind  disposition  to  Ireland  frustrated — Affecting  incident — Strife  in  Thomond — 
Continued  war  with  the  Scots  iu  Ulster — Shane  O'Neill  defeated  by  Calvagh  O'Donnell 341 


CHAPTEE    XXXII. 

Reign  of  ELiZAEETH.^Religious  pliancy  of  Statesmen  and  fidelity  of  the  jieople — Shane  O'Neill— Acts  of  the 
Parliament  of  l.j.'jS — Laws  against  the  Catholic  religion — Miserable  condition  of  the  Irish  Church — Discord 
in  Thomond — Machinations  of  Government  against  Shane  O'Neill — Capture  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell  by  the 
latter — War  with  Shane — Defeat  of  the  English — Plan  to  assassinate  the  Tyrone  Chief — Submission  of 
Shane,  and  his  visit  to  the  Court  of  Elizabeth — His  return,  further  misunderstanding,  and  renewed  peace 
with  the  Government — O'Neill  defeats  the  Scots  of  Claunaboy — Feud  between  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and 
.  Desmond — The  latter  wounded  and  captured  at  Affane — The  Earl  of  Sussex  succeeded  by  Sir  Henry  Sid- 
ney— Renewed  war  in  Ulster — O'Neill  invades  the  English  Pale — Defeated  at  Derry — Burning  of  Derry  and 
withdrawal  of  the  English  garrison — Death  of  Calvagh  O'DonncU — O'Neill  defeated  by  Calvagh 's  successor, 
Hugh — His  disastrous  flight,  appeal  to  the  Scots,  and  murder — His  character — Visitation  of  Munster  and 
Connaught  by  Sidney — Sidney's  description  of  the  State  of  the  country — His  character  of  the  great  nobles — 
Base  policy  of  the  Government  confessed  by  him — His  energy  and  severity — Arrest  of  Desmond — Commence- 
ment of  serious  troubles  in  the  South — Position  of  the  Catholics — Sir  James  FitzMaurice — Parliament  of 
1569 — Fraudulent  elections — Attainder  of  O'Neill — Claims  of  Sir  Peter  Carew — Rebellion  of  Sir  Edmund 
Butler— Sidney's  military  expedition  to  Munster — Sir  John  Perrott  Lord  President  of  Munster,  and  Sir 
Edward  Fitton  President  of  Connaught — Renewed  war  in  the  South — Rebellion  of  the  Earl  of  Thomond — 
Rebellion  of  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Clanrickard — Battle  of  Shrule — The  Castle  of  Aughnanure  taken — Siege 
and  Capture  of  Castlemaine— Submission  of  Sir  James  FitzMaurice — Attempted  English  settlements  in 
Ulster — Horrible  Massacre  of  the  Irish  in  Clannaboy — Failure  and  death  of  the  Earl  of  Essex — Sir  Henry 
Sidney  makes  another  visitation  of  the  South  and  West — Sir  William  Drury  President  of  Munster,  and  Sir 
Nicholas  Maiby  in  Connaught — Illegal  Tax,  difficulties  in  the  Pale — Career  and  death  of  Rory  Oge  O'More — 
The  massacre  of  Mullaghmast 350 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Beign  op  Elizabeth,  coxtlnukd. — Plans  of  James  FitzManrice  on  the  Continent — Projected  Italian  expe- 
dition to  Ireland — Its  singular  fate — FitzMaurice  lands  with  some  Spaniards  at  Smerwick — Conduct  of  the 
Earl  of  Desmond — Savage  treatment  of  a  bishop  and  priest — The  insurgents  scattered — Murder  of  Darells 
and  Carter — Tragical  death  of  James  FitzMaurice — Proceedings  of  Drury  and  Malby — Catholics  in  the  royal 
ranks — Defeat  of  the  royal  army  by  John  of  Desmond  at  Gort-na-Tiobrad — Death  of  Sir  William  Drury — 
Important  battle  at  Monasteranena — Defeat  of  the  Geraldines — Desmond  treated  as  a  rebel — Hostilities 
against  him — Sir  Nicholas  Malby  at  Askeaton — Desmond  at  length  driven  into  rebellion — He  plunders  and 
bums  Toughal — The  country  devastated  by  Ormond — Humanity  of  a  friar — James  of  Desmond  captured 
and  executed — Campaign  of  Pelham  and  Ormond  in  Desmond's  country — Capture  of  Carrigafoyle  castle — 
Other  castles  surrendered  to  the  Lord  Justice — Narrow  escape  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond — Insurrection  in 
Wicklow — Arrival  of  Lord  Gray — His  disaster  in  Glenmalure — Landing  of  a  large- Spanish  armament  at 
Smerwick  harbor — Lord  Gray  besieges  the  foreigners — Horrible  and  treacherous  slaughter  in  the  Fort  Del 
Ore — Savage  barbarity  of  Lord  Gray  and  his  captains — Butchery  of  women  and  children  near  Euldimo— 
Rumored  plot  in  Dublin — Arrest  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare  and  others — Premature  executions — Forays  of  the 
Earl  of  Desmond — Melancholy  end  of  John  of  Desmond — The  PitzMaurices  of  KeUy  in  rebellion — Battle  of 
Gort-na  Pisi — The  Glen  of  Aherlow — Desperate  state  of  Desmond — His  murder — His  character — Mild  policy 
of  Perrott — The  Parliament  of  1585 — Composition  in  Cormaught — Plantation  of  Munster — Brutal  severity 
of  Sir  Richard  Bingham  in  Connaught 377 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

Seign  op  Elizabeth,  continxied. — Affairs  of  Ulster— Hugh,  Earl  of  Tyrone— His  visit  to  Elizabeth— His 
growing  power — Complaints  against  him^Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell — Capture  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell ;  cunning 
device — Sir  WiUiam  FitzWilliam  Lord  Deputy — The  Spanish  Armada — The  wrecks  on  the  Irish  coast — 
Disappointed  avarice  of  the  Lord  Deputy — He  oppresses  the  Irish  chiefs — Murders  MacMahon — Hugh  Geimh- 
leach  hanged  by  Hugh  O'Neill,  who  then  revisits  London,  excuses  Mmself  to  Elizabeth,  and  signs  terms  of 
agreement — O'NeUl  returns  to  Ireland,  and  refuses  to  give  his  sureties  until  tho  government  should  fulfil  its 
engagements — Hugh  Boe's  first  escape  from  Dublin  Castle,  and  his  recapture — Fresh  charges  against  Hugh 
O'Neill — He  carries  off  and  man  ies  the  sister  of  Marshal  Bagnal — ^Brian  O'Rourke  hanged  in  London — Hugh 
Roe's  second  escape  —Affecting  incidents — His  adventures  and  return  to  Tirconnell — Drives  off  an  English 
party — ^His  father's  abdication,  and  liis  own  election  as  Chieftain — He  assails  Turlough  Luineach,  and  com- 
I>el8  him  to  resign  the  chieftaincy  of  Tyrone  to  Hugh  O'Neill — An  English  sheriff  hunted  out  of  Fermanagh — 
Rebellion  of  Maguire — EnniskUlen  taken  by  the  English — Irish  victory  at  the  Ford  of  the  Biscuits,  and 
recapture  of  Enniskillen — Sir  William  RusseU  Lord  Deputy — Hugh  O'Neill  visits  Dublin — Bagnal's  charges 
against  him — Vindication  of  his  policy — Fiagh  MacHugh  O'Byrne  and  Walter  Riavagh  FitzGerald — Arrival 
of  Sir  John  Norris — Hugh  O'Neill  rises  in  arms — Takes  the  Blackwater  Fort — Protracted  negotiations — 
War  in  Connaught ;  successes  of  O'Donnell — Bingham  foiled  at  Sligo,  and  retreats — Differences  between 
Norris  and  the  Deputy — Bingham  disgraced  and  recalled — Fresh  promises  from  Spain — Interesting  events 
in  Connaught — Proceedings  of  the  Leinster  insurgents — Ormond  appointed  Lord-Lieutenant — Last  truce 
with  O'Neill — Hostilities  resumed  in  Ulster — Desperate  plight  of  tho  Government — Great  Irish  victory  of  the 
Yellow  Ford — Ormond  repulsed  in  Leix — War  resumed  in  Munster,  etc 403 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

Reigst  op  Elizabeth,  concluded. — The  Earl  of  Essex  Viceroy — His  incapacity — His  fruitless  expedition  to 
Munster — O'Conor  Sligo  besieged  at  CoUoony — Sir  Conyers  Clifford  marches  against  O'DonneU — Total  defeat 
of  the  English  at  the  Curlieu  mountains,  and  death  of  Clifford — Essex  applies  for  reinforcements — His  march 
to  the  Lagan— His  interview  with  O'Neill- His  departure  from  Ireland,  and  unhappy  fate — O'NeUl's  expe- 
dition to  Munster — Combat  and  death  of  Hugh  Maguire  and  Sir  Warham  Sentleger — Arrival  of  Lord  Mount- 
joy  as  Deputy — O'NeUl  returns  to  Ulster — Presents  from  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain — Capture  of 
Ormond  by  Owny  O'More — Sir  George  Carew  president  of  Munster — His  subtlety — His  plots  against  the 
Sngane  Earl  and  his  brother — Capture  of  Glin  Castle,  and  general  submission  of  Desmond — Death  of  Owny 
O'More — Barbarous  desolation  of  the  country  by  the  Deputy — The  son  of  the  late  Earl  of  Desmond  sent  to 


XVI  CONTENTS. 


Ireland — Failure  of  his  mission— Retribution  on  a  traitor  {note) — Docwra's  expedition  to  Lough  Foyle — 
Defections  from  the  Irish  ranks — Predatory  excursions  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell— Mountjoy's  expeditions 
against  O'Neill — Complicated  misfortunes  of  the  Irish — Niall  Garv  besieged  in  the  monastery  of  Donegal  by 
Hugh  Roe— Arrival  of  the  Spaniards  at  Kiusale — They  are  besieged  by  Mountjoy  and  Carew — Extraordi- 
nary march  of  O'DonneU,  and  mustering  of  the  Irish  forces  to  assist  them — Battle  of  Kinsale,  and  total  rout 
of  the  Irish  army — Departure  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  for  Spain — Surrender  of  Kinsale,  and  departure  of  the 
Spaniards — Deplorable  state  of  the  Irish — Dreadful  famine — Siege  of  Dunboy  Castle — Flight  of  O'Sullevan — 
Submission  of  O'Neill— Death  of  Elizabeth 431 

CHAPTEE    XXXVI. 

Reign  of  James  I. — The  Irish  submit  to  James,  as  a  prince  of  the  Milesian  race,  and  suppose  him  to  be  friendly 
to  their  creed  and  country — They  discover  their  mistake — Revolt  of  the  Southern  towns — Hugh  O'Neill  and 
Rory  O'Donnell  accompany  Mountjoy  to  England — Title  of  Earl  of  TirconneU  created — Religious  character 
of  the  Irish  wars — Suspension  of  Penal  Laws  under  Elizabeth — Persecution  of  the  Catholics  by  James — 
Remonstrance  of  the  Anglo- Irish  Catholics — Abolition  of  Irish  laws  and  customs — O'Neill  persecuted — In- 
veigled into  a  sham  plot — Flight  of  Tyrone  and  TirconneU  to  Rome^Rising  of  Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty — His 
fate,  and  that  of  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell  and  others — The  confiscation  and  plantation  of  Ulster — The  Corpora- 
tion of  London  receives  a  large  share  of  the  spoils — A  Parliament  convened  after  twenty-seven  years — 
Creation  of  boroughs — Disgraceful  scene  in  the  election  of  Speaker — Secession  of  the  recusants — Prototype 
of  the  Catholic  Association — Treatment  of  the  Catholic  Delegates  by  the  king — Concessions — Act  of  Pardon 
and  Oblivion — Unanimity  of  the  new  Session  of  Parliament — Bill  of  attainder  against  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell 
passed — First  general  admission  of  the  Irish  under  English  law — Renewed  persecution  of  the  Catholics — 
Tlie  king's  rapacity — Wholesale  confiscations  in  Leinster — Inquiry  into  defective  titles — Extension  of  the 
inquiry  to  Connaught — Frightful  system  of  legal  oppression 455 

CHAPTEE    XXXVII. 

Reign  of  Chaeles  I. — Hopes  of  the  Catholics  on  the  accession  of  Charles,  and  corresponding  alarm  of  the 
Protestants — Intolerant  declaration  of  the  Protestant  bishops — The  "  graces" — The  royal  promise  broken — 
Renewed  persecution  of  the  Catholics — Outrage  on  a  Catholic  congregation  in  Cook-street — Confiscation  of 
Catholic  schools  and  chapels— Government  of  Lord  Wentworth  or  Strafibrd — He  summons  a  Parliament — 
His  shameful  duplicity— The  Commission  of  "  Defective  Titles"  for  Connaught — Atrocious  spoliation  in  the 
name  of  Law — Jury-packing — Noble  conduct  of  a  Gal  way  jury — Their  punishment — Plantation  of  Ormond, 
etc. — Fresh  subsidies  by  an  Irish  Parliament — Strafibrd  raises  an  army  of  Irish  Catholics — He  is  impeached 
by  Parliament — His  execution— Causes  of  the  great  insurrection  of  1641 — Threats  of  the  Puritans  to  extir- 
pate the  Catholic  rehgion  in  Ireland — The  Irish  abroad — Their  numbers  and  infiuence— First  movements 
among  the  Irish  gentry— Roger  O'More— Lord  Maguire— Sir  Phelim  O'NeUl— Promises  from  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu—Officers  in  the  king's  interest  combine  with  the  Irish  gentry — Discovery  of  the  conspiracy — Arrest  of 
Lord  Maguire  and  MacMahon— Alarm  in  Dublin— The  outbreak  in  Ulster— Its  first  successes— Proclamation 
of  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill— Feigned  commission  from  the  king— Gross  exaggeration  of  the  cruelties  of  the  Irish- 
Bishop  Bedell  and  the  remonstrance  from  Cavan— The  massacre  of  Island  Magee — The  fable  of  a  general 
massacre  by  the  Catholics  refuted— Proclamations  of  the  lords-justices— The  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  of 
the  Pale  insulted  and  repulsed — Scheme  of  a  general  confiscation — Approach  of  the  northern  Irish  to  the 
Pale— They  take  Mellifont  and  lay  siege  to  Drogheda — Sir  Charles  Coote's  atrocities  in  Wicklow— Efforts  of 
the  Catholic  gentry  to  communicate  with  the  king— Outrages  of  troopers— The  gentry  of  the  Pale  compelled 
to  stand  on  their  defence— Meeting  on  the  Hill  of  Crofty— The  lords  of  the  Pale  take  up  arms— The  insur- 
rection spreads  into  Munster  and  Connaught— Royal  proclamation— Conduct  of  the  English  Parliament — 
The  insurrection  general— Seige  of  Drogheda  raised- The  battle  of  Kilrush— The  general  Assembly,  etc. .  466 

CHAPTEE    XXXVIII. 

Eeign  of  CnAKliES  I.,  CONCLUDED. — The  arrival  of  Owen  Roe  O'Neill — He  assumes  the  command  of  the  Irish 
army  in  Ulster — Conduct  of  the  Scots  in  Ulster — Lord  Lieven's  opinion  of  Owen  Roe— Colonel  Preston's 
arrival  in  Wexford  with  officers  and  arms— Position  of  the  lords-justices— State  of  the  belligerents  in  Con- 
naught and  Munster— Opening  of  the  General  Assembly— Outline  of  their  proceedings — Constitution  of  the 


CONTENTS.  xvil 


Supreme  Council — Appointment  of  generals,  &c. — Levy  of  money  and  soldiers — Remittances  from  the  Con- 
tinent— Establishment  of  a  Mint — Progress  of  the  war — Overture  from  the  king  to  the  Confederates — Hos- 
tile conduct  of  Ormond — Gallant  defence  of  Ross — Preston  defeated  near  Ross — Conference  with  the  Royal 
Commissioners  at  Trim — Remonstrance  of  grievances — Obstacles  to  negotiation — Success  of  the  Confeder- 
ates— Death  of  Lord  Moore — Capture  of  Colonel  Vavasour — Foreign  envoys — Arrival  of  Father  Scarampi — 
Divisions  in  the  Supreme  Council — Disgrace  of  Parsons — Treaty  of  Cessation  signed — Its  rejection  by  the 
Puritans — The  Scots  in  Ulster  take  the  Covenant — Bravery  of  the  Irish  soldiers  sent  into  Scotland  for  the 
king — Ormond  appointed  Lord-Lieutenant — His  negotiations  with  the  Confederates — Catholic  and  Protestant 
deputations  to  the  king — Infringement  of  the  Cessation  of  the  Scots — Abortive  expedition  of  Castlehaven 
against  Monroe — The  king's  impatience  for  a  peace  in  Ireland — Ormond's  prevarication^Renewed  hostilities 
in  the  south  and  west — Death  of  Archbishop  O'Kealy — Mission  of  Glamorgan — His  secret  treaty  with  the 
Confederates — Slissiou  of  the  Nuncio  Rinuccini — His  arrival  in  Ireland — Reception  at  Kilkenny — Renewed 
discussion  of  the  peace  question — Arrest  of  Glamorgan — Division  among  the  Confederates — Treaty  of  peace 
signed  by  Ormond — Not  approved  by  the  Nuncio — Siege  of  Bunratty — Battle  of  Benbutb — Increasing  oppo 
sition  to  the  peace — Ormond's  visit  to  Munster — Glamorgan  joins  the  Nuncio's  party — Dublin  besieged  by 
the  Confederates— Given  up  to  the  Parliamentarians — Ormond  leaves  Ireland — Dissensions  in  the  Assembly — 
Battles  of  Dungan  Hill  and  Knocknonos — O'Neill  takes  arms  against  the  Confederates — Ormond  returns — 
The  peace  of  1649 — Departure  of  the  Nuncio^Prince  Rupert's  expedition 494 


CHAPTEE    XXXIX. 

Cromweix. — state  of  parties  after  the  death  of  Charles  I.^ — O'Neill's  services  sought  by  Ormond  and  by  the  Par- 
liamentarians— Ormond  and  Inchiquin  take  the  field — Drogheda  and  other  towns  surrender  to  the  latter — 
Siege  of  Dublin  by  Ormond — Great  defeat  of  the  royalists  at  Rathmines — Arrival  of  Cromwell — Siege  of 
Drogheda — Horrible  massacre — Wexford  betrayed  to  Cromwell — Frightful  massacre  of  the  inhabitants — 
Death  of  Owen  O'Neill — Ross  surrendered — Siege  of  Waterford — Courageous  conduct  of  the  citizens — The 
siege  raised — The  Southern  garrisons  revolt  to  Cromwell — Wretched  position  of  Ormond — Meeting  of  the 
bishops  at  Clonmacnoise — Their  declaration — KUkeimy  surrendered  to  Cromwell — Siege  of  Clonmel — Heroic 
self-devotion  of  the  Bishop  of  Ross — Surrender  of  Clonmel — Cromwell  embarks  for  England — Death  of  Heber 
MacMahon — Meeting  of  the  bishops  at  Jamestown — Ormond  excommunicated — The  king  subscribes  to  the 
covenant — New  general  assembly — Ormond  retires  to  France,  and  the  Marquis  of  Clanrickard  becomes  Lord 
Deputy — Negotiations  with  the  Duke  of  Lorraine — Limerick  besieged  by  Ireton — Valor  of  Henry  O'NeiU — 
Limerick  betrayed  to  the  besiegers — Barbarous  executions — Death  of  Ireton — Surrender  of  Galway — Clan- 
rickard accepts  terms  and  leaves  the  kingdom — Wholesale  confiscation  and  plunder — Horrible  attempts  to 
exterminate  the  people — Banishment  to  Connaught  and  the  West  Indies — Execution  of  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill — 
Atrocious  cruelties — Oliver  proclaimed  Lord  Protector — Henry  Cromwell  in  Ireland — Death  of  Oliver — ^Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Royalists — The  Restoration 537 


-     CHAPTER    XL. 

Reign  op  Chaeles  II. — Hopes  of  the  Irish  Catholics  at  the  Restoration — Their  grievous  disappointment — An 
Irish  Parliament  convoked  after  twenty  years — Discussions  on  the  Act  of  Settlement  in  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land— The  Act  passed — Establishment  of  the  Court  of  Claims — Partial  success  of  the  Irish  Catholics — Con- 
sequent indignation  and  alarm  of  the  Protestants — Rumored  conspiracies — Blood's  plot — The  Act  of  ex- 
planation— Provisions  of  the  Act  grossly  unjust  to  Catholics — The  Irish  Parliament  desire  to  make  them 
more  so — The  Irish  remonstrance — Synod  of  the  clergy  in  Dublin — English  prohibitory  laws  against  the 
importation  of  Irish  cattle — General  disaffection — Alarming  rumors — Oppression  of  the  Catholics — Recall  of 
Ormond — Lord  Berkley's  administration — Catholic  Petition  of  Grievances — Colonel  Richard  Talbot — Com- 
mission of  Inquiry — Great  alarm  produced  by  it  among  the  Protestants  and  New  Interest— Recall  of  Lord 
Berkley  and  appointment  of  Lord  Essex — Violent  address  of  the  English  Parliament — Increased  oppression 
of  the  Catholics— Restoration  of  Ormond— The  Popish  Plot — Arrest  of  Archbishop  Talbot— Proclamations 
against  the  Catholics — Puritan  attempts  to  raise  a  rebellion  in  Ireland — Arrest  of  Archbishop  Plunkett — 
Frightful  demoralization  and  peijury — Memoir  of  Dr.  Plunket  (noie) — His  martyrdom— Turn  in  tho  tide  of 
persecution — Irish  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century — State  of  the  Irish — Death  of  Charles  II 65.5 


xvui  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    XLI. 

Reign  of  Jajies  II.— Temper  of  parties  in  Ireland  at  tbe  Accession  of  James  11.— Hopes  of  tlie  Catholics  and 
alarm  of  the  Protestants— Clarendon  Lord-Lieutenant— Refusal  to  repeal  the  Acts  of  Settlement — Colonel 
Richard  Talbot  created  Earl  of  TirconneU,  and  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  Ireland — Succeeds 
Clarendon  as  Lord-Lieutenant — Numerous  Catholic  appointments — Alarming  rumors — Increased  disaflFection 
of  the  Protestants — Birth  of  the  Prince  of  Wales — William  Prince  of  Orange  invited  to  England — The  League 
of  Augsburg — William's  dissimulation — His  arrival  at  Torbay— James  deserted  by  his  English  subjects  and 
obliged  to  fly  to  France — Disloyal  Association  of  the  Protestants  of  Ulster — The  Protestants  in  general  refuse 
to  give  up  their  arms — The  Rapparees — Irish  troops  sent  to  England,  and  the  consequence — Closing  the  gates 
of  Derry — The  Irish  alone  faithful  to  King  James— He  lands  at  Kinsale  and  marches  to  Dublin— Siege  of 
Derry — The  town  relieved  and  the  siege  raised — Conduct  of  the  EnniskiUeners — James's  Parliament  in  Dub- 
lin— Act  of  Attainder — Large  levies  of  the  Irish — Landing  of  Schomberg — He  encamps  at  Dundalk  and 
declines  battle  -nith  James — Battle  of  Cavan — William  lands  at  Carrickfergus — Marches  to  the  Boyne— 
Disposition  of  the  hostile  forces — The  Battle  of  the  Boyne — Orderly  retreat  of  the  Irish — Flight  of  King 
James — He  escapes  to  France — William  marches  to  Dublin — Waterford  and  Duncannon  reduced — Gallant 
defence  of  Athlone  by  the  Irish — Retreat  of  the  W'illiamite  army  under  Douglass — William  besieges  Limer- 
ick— Noble  defence  of  the  garrison — The  English  ammunition  and  artillery  blown  up  by  Sarsfield — The  city 
stormed — Memorable  heroism  of  the  besieged — William  raises  the  siege  and  returns  to  England — AiTival 
of  St.  Ruth — Loss  of  Athlone — Battle  of  Aughrim  and  death  of  St.  Ruth — Siege  and  surrender  of  Galway — 
Second  siege  of  Limerick — Honorable  capitulation — The  Irish  army  embark  for  France 5G9 

CHAPTEE    XLII. 

FaoM  THE  TREATY  OF  LiMERiCK  TO  THE  Declakatiok  OF  INDEPENDENCE. — State  of  Ireland  after  the  de- 
parture of  the  brigades — The  Articles  of  Limerick  violated — The  Catholics  reduced  to  a  deplorable  condi- 
tion— Disposal  of  the  forfeited  estates — William  III.  and  his  Parliament  at  issue — Enactment  of  penal  laws 
in  Ireland — Molyneux's  "  case  stated" — Destruction  of  the  Irish  woollen  manufacture — Death  of  William — 
Intolerance  of  the  Protestant  colonists — Penal  laws  of  Queen  Anne's  reign — The  sacramental  test — Attempts 
to  extirpate  the  Catholics — The  Palatines  (note) — Accession  of  George  I. — Rebellion  in  Scotland  in  1715 — 
Profound  tranquillity  in  Ireland — Rigorous  execution  of  the  penal  laws — Contests  between  the  English  and 
Irish  Parliaments — The  latter  deprived  of  its  independence — Bill  for  more  eflTectuaUy  preventing  the  growth 
of  Popery — Rise  of  the  patriots  in  the  Irish  Parliament — Dean  Swift — Woods'  half-pence— Extraordinary 
excitement — Frightful  state  of  public  morals — Cardinal  Wiseman  on  the  fidelity  of  the  Irish  {note) — Acces- 
sion of  George  II. — An  address  from  the  Catholics  treated  with  contempt — Primate  Boulter — Charter  schools 
established  to  proselytize  the  Catholic  children — Converted  Papists  suspected — Distress  and  emigration — 
Fresh  rigors  against  the  Catholics — Proposed  massacre — The  great  Scottish  rebellion  of  1745 — Lord  Ches- 
terfield in  Ireland — Disputes  in  the  Irish  Parliament  about  the  surplus  revenue — The  patriots  weakened  by 
the  corrupting  policy  of  the  Government — First  movements  of  the  Cathohcs — First  Catholic  committee — 
Discountenanced  by  the  clergy  and  aristocracy — Thurot's  expedition — Accession  of  George  III. — The  Wliite- 
boys — The  Hearts-of  Oak  and  Hearts-of-Steel  Boys — Eiforts  of  the  patriots  against  the  pension  list — Execution 
of  Father  Sheehy — Lord  Townsend's  administration — The  Octennial  Bill — The  Irish  Parliament  struggles 
for  independence — Outbreak  of  the  American  war,  and  attempts  to  conciliate  Ireland — Refusal  to  receive 
foreign  troops — The  volunteers — Great  distress  and  popular  discontent — Mr.  Qrattan's  resolution  of  inde- 
pendence— Conduct  and  resolution  of  the  volunteers — The  Dungannon  resolutions — Legislative  independence 
of  Ireland  voted — New  measures  of  Catholic  relief — Influence  of  the  volunteers 623 


CHAPTEE    XLIII. 

From  the  DECliAHATiON  of  Independence  to  the  Union. — Shortcomings  of  the  volunteer  movement — 
Corruption  of  the  Irish  Parliament — The  national  convention  of  delegates  at  the  Rotunda — The  Bishop  of 
Derry — The  Convention's  Reform  Bill — Bill  rejected  by  Parliament — The  convention  dissolved  and  the  fate 
of  the  volunteers  sealed — The  Commercial  Relations  Bill — Orde's  propositions — Great  excitement  in  Parlia- 
ment— Mr.  Pitt's  project  abandoned — Popular  discontent — Disorders  in  the  South — The  Right-boys — The 
feud  of  the  Peep-o'-day-boys  and  Defenders — Frightful  atrocities  of  the  former — The  Orange  Society — The 


CONTENTS.  XIX 


regency  question — Political  clubs — Ferment  produced  by  the  French  Eevolution — The  Catholic  committee — 
Theobald  Wolfe  Tone — Formation  of  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen — Their  principles — Catholic  Relief 
Bill  of  1793 — Trial  of  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan — Mission  of  Jackson  from  the  French  Directory — His 
conviction  and  suicide — Administration  of  Earl  Fitz William — Great  excitement  at  his  recall — New  organiza- 
tion of  the  United  Irishmen — Their  revolutionary  plans — Wolfe  Tone's  mission  to  France — The  spy  system — 
Iniquitous  proceedings  of  the  Government — Efforts  to  accelerate  an  explosion — The  Insurrection  and  Indem- 
nity acts — The  Bantry  Bay  expedition — Reynolds  the  informer — Arrest  of  the  Executive  of  the  United 
Irishmen — Search  for  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald — His  arrest  and  death — The  insurrection  prematurely  forced 
to  an  explosion — Free  quarters,  torturings,  and  military  executions — ^Progress  of  the  insurrection — Battle  of 
Tara — Atrocities  of  the  military  and  the  magistrates — The  insurrection  in  KUdare,  Wexford,  and  Wicklow — 
Successes  of  the  insurgents — Outrages  of  runaway  troops — Siege  of  New  Boss — Retaliation  at  Scullabogue — 
Battle  of  Arklow — Battle  of  Vinegar  Hill — Lord  Comwallis  assumes  the  government — Dispersion  and  sur 
render  of  insurgents — The  French  at  Killala — Flight  of  the  English — The  insurrection  finally  extinguished — 
The  Union  proposed — Opposition  to  the  measure — Pitt's  perfidious  policy  successful — The  Union  carried .  663 


CHAPTEE    XLIV. 

Catholic  Emancipation — Two  Teaes  of  the  Union. — Influence  of  the  Union  measures  upon  politics — 
Deception  of  the  English  Government — ^William  Pitt  and  King  George  IH. — Course  of  Lord  Cornwallis — 
Michael  Dwyer  in  the  mountains  of  Wicklow — Alarm  as  to  French  invasion— Catholic  emancipation — Views 
of  the  King  and  William  Pitt — Pitt  resigns — Cornwallis  also — Addington  ministry — General  state  of  the 
country — Military  force  in  Ireland — Debates  in  Parliament  as  to  martial  law  and  suspension  of  Mbeas 
corpus — Peace  of  Amiens — Efforts  of  United  Irishmen  in  Paris — Lord  Redesdale  succeeds  Earl  of  Clare — 
Relief  of  disabilities  sought  by  Presbyterians  and  Catholics — Lord  Castlereagh's  statements  on  the  subject — 
Extracts  from  his  letter  to  Mr.  Addington — Apprehensions  of  a  renewed  invasion  by  the  French — Fears  as 
to  Ireland— Military  force  in  the  country — Outbreak  in  Limerick  and  Tipperary — Need  of  raising  militia  and 
yeomanry — Doubts  as  to  numbers  to  be  sent  by  the  French,  and  the  effect  produced 708 


CHAPTEE    XLV. 

InsukrecTion  under  Robert  Emmet. — Early  life,  family,  and  education  of  Robert  Emmet — Visits  the  con- 
tinent— Joins  the  United  Irishmen  in  Paris — Fate  of  Colonel  Despard's  conspiracy — Emmet  returns  to  Dub- 
lin— ^His  labors,  resources,  and  hopes — Contrivances  in  his  country-house  and  in  Dublin — His  confidants  and 
co-workers — Michael  Dwyer  and  his  adventures — Emmet's  expectations — Reasons  for  hastening  the  insur- 
rection—Plans of  Emmet — Remarkable  address  of  the  Provisional  Government  "  to  the  people  of  Ireland" — 
On  the  day  appointed,  few  come  forward  to  join  in  the  outbreak — Events  of  the  evening  of  July  23d — Cruel 
murder  of  Lord  KUwarden — Course  of  the  authorities — Emmet's  flight — Arrested — Russell  arrested  and 
executed — Trial  of  Emmet — Speech  of  Plunkett — The  prisoner's  eloquent  address  to  the  court — Executed 
the  next  day — Numerous  arrests  and  imprisonments 714 


CHAPTEE    XLVI. 

Lord  Hardwicke's  Administration— Policy  op  Pitt  and  Fox — Catholic  Petition. — Suspension  o{  habeas 
corpus  act — Martial  law — Investigation  into  the  state  of  Ireland  called  for — Pitt  again  in  power — Disap- 
pointment of  the  CathoBcs — Agitation  in  Ireland — Great  meeting  in  Dublin- Position  of  England — Debate 
on  renewing  habeas  corpus  suspension  act — Arguments  advanced — Catholics  determined  to  appeal  to  Parlia- 
ment— The  petition  in  full — Action  in  the  House  of  Lords — Fox  in  the  House  of  Commons — Strong  vote 
against  the  petition — State  of  affairs — Death  of  William  Pitt — "  The  ministry  of  all  the  talents" — Revival  of 
spirit  among  Catholics — Disputes  as  to  the  "  Catholic  committee" — Duke  of  Bedford  Lord-Lieutenant — Com- 
plaints as  to  his  administration — Disturbances  in  Ireland — "  The  Threshers,"  and  their  lawless  course — 
Death  of  Fox— Meetings  in  Dublin— Petition  drawn  up — The  Maynooth  grant— Course  of  the  ministry  in 
favor  of  the  Catholics — Ix)rd  Howick's  bill — Opposition  of  the  king — Bill  withdrawn — Ministers  dismissed — 
"No  Popery  cabinet"  formed — Prospect  in  the  future 733 


XX 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    XLVII. 

Progkess  op  Affairs — Duke  of  Richmond's  Administration. — Opposition  of  tlie  king — Presentation  of 
Catholic  petition  postponed — Dulie  of  Riclimond  Lord-Lieutenant — Insurrection  act — Sir  Arthur  Wellesley — 
State  of  Ireland — The  veto  question — Course  of  the  CathoBcs — Agitation  renewed — Meeting  in  Dublin — 
Orange  lodges  and  doings — English  Roman  Catholics  on  veto  question — Grattan's  efforts — Government 
policy — Question  of  the  veto  in  1810 — Catholic  committee's  circular — Extracts  from — Movement  fur  repeal  of 
the  Union — Meeting  in  Dublin— O'Connell's  speech — Convention  act  enforced  against  Catholic  committee — 
Proceedings  of  Government — "  Aggregate  meetings" — Petition  to  prince  regent  proposed — Catholic  board 
organized— Mr.  (Sir  Robert)  Peel,  chief  secretary  in  Ireland— His  policy  and  acts— Famous  Parliamentary 
debate  in  1813— Position  of  Ireland  at  this  date — Earrfest  working  for  the  cause— The  prince  regent  said  to 
be  in  favor  of  the  Roman  Catholic  claims — Hopes  and  expectations  excited— Jlinistry  denounced— Protestants 
roused— Feelings  and  views  manifested — "Various  acts  of  outrage  in  Ireland — The  state  of  things  adverse  to 
Catholic  claims— Mr.  Perceval  assassinated — Result  in  general 744 


CHAPTEE    XLVIII. 

Leadership  of  O'Connell — Emancipation  Effected. — State  of  affairs  at  this  date — Grattan's  emancipation 
bill — Canning's  clauses — Opinions  in  Ireland  as  to  the  veto— O'Connell's  course — Speech  at  aggregate  meeting 
in  Dublin — Prosecution  of  Maghee — Outrages  in  Ireland — Severe  measures  resorted  to — Petitions — Veto 
question — Inquiries  into  the  state  of  Ireland — Distress,  discontent,  etc. — O'Connell's  statement  as  to  veto 
question— George  IV.  and  his  queen — Plunkett's  motion — The  king's  visit  to  Ireland — Welleslcy  Lord- 
Lieutenant — Whiteboys  and  Captain  Rock's  men— Thoir  excesses  and  cruelties — Famine  and  its  terrors — 
Help  afforded  by  England— "Wellesley  insulted  in  Dublin  Theatre— Moral  degradation  of  witnesses— Tithe 
composition  act— State  of  education  in  Ireland— Use  of  the  Bible  in  schools — The  Catholic  association  in 

1823 Its   power    and  influence — Catholic    rent — Association    suppressed — New  one  formed — O'Connell's 

threat — Sir  F.  Burdett's  resolution — O'Connell's  activity  and  influence — Canning's  ministry  and  death — 
March  of  events- O'Connell  elected  for  County  Clare— Test  and  corporation  acts  repealed — Wellington's 
and  Peel's  policy — Measures  adopted— Emancipation  carried — O'Connell  in  the  House — Seat  denied  him — 
Re-elected,  and  victory  at  last  complete 756 


CHAPTEE    XLIX. 

Ireland's  Intellectual  and  Moral  Position.— Ireland  distinguished  for  brilliant  orators,  poets,  writers, 

etc. Her  contributions  to  literature  and  science— Her  Burkes,  Grattans,  Currans,  Edgeworths,  etc. — Thomas 

Moore,  the  poet  par  excellence  of  Ireland— Birth  and  education— Visits  America — Duel  with  Jeffrey — Mar- 
riage  His  •'  Irish  Melodies" — "  Lalla  Rookh,"  and  biograjihical  and  historical  works — Receives  a  pension  of 

£300— Death,  in  1853,  and  character— Thomas  Davis,  a  poet  and  prose  writer  of  note— Connected  with  the 
"Nation"— Object  of  this  journal— Davis's  labors— Death  in  1845— Extracts  from  his  literary  and  historical 
essays— Father  Mathew— Birth  and  education— Becomes  a  priest— Labors  among  the  poor  in  and  around 
the  city  of  Cork— Enters  on  the  temperance  movement— Marvellous  effects  of  his  labors— Visits  other  cities 
with  great  success— Goes  to  England— Thence  visits  the  United  States— Returns  to  Ireland,  and  dies  in 
1850— Beneficial  results  of  his  life  and  career— Statements  of  Mr.  Smyth  on  Father  Matthew's  devotion  to 
temperance — All  honor  to  his  name ! 7G9 


CHAPTEE    L. 


O'Connell  in  Parliament,  and  Ireland's  Struggles. — Position  and  influence  of  O'Connell  in  Parliament- 
Death  of  George  IV.— Succeeded  by  William  IV.— Excitement  about  reform— Change  of  ministry— Marquis 
of  Ano-lesea  Lord-Lieutenant— Decides  against  public  meetings  for  repeal- O'Connell  and  others  arrested, 
tried,  and  convicted,  but  not  sentenced — Reform-Bill  introduced  into  Parliament — O'Connell's  activity,  popu- 
larity, and  demands— Reform-Bill  carried  in  1833— Not  much  satisfaction  to  Ireland— Agitation  on  the 
subject  of  tithes— Abolition  of  ten  bishoprics,  etc.— Earl  Grey's  coercion  bill— Agitation  not  stopped- Dis 


CONTENTS. 


XXI 


cussion  in  Parliament  on  tbe  Repeal  question — The  "  Experiment"  proposed  and  attempted  to  be  carried 
out — Of  no  real  benefit — Orange  lodges  and  other  societies  suppressed — Bills  for  reform  of  municipal  corpora- 
tions, for  poor-laws,  for  abolition  of  tithes,  etc.,  183G — Mr.  Nichols'  Report  on  the  condition  of  the  poor  in 
Ireland — Lord  John  Russell's  bill — Passed  in  1838 — Result — O'Connell's  labors  for  years — Death  of  William 
rv. — Accession  of  Queen  Victoria — Exp'ectations— Demands  in  behalf  of  Ireland — Reform  in  Irish  corpora- 
lions — Good  results— Lord  Fortescue  Lord-Lieutenant — His  policy — Repeal  Association  formed  in  1840 — 
O'Connell  Lord-Mayor  of  Dublin — Petition  of  city  corporation  for  repeal  of  the  Union — "Monster  meetings" — 
Immense  gatherings — Bold  language  of  O'Connell  and  Bishop  Higgius — Government  preparations — Meeting 
at  Mullaghmast— One  appointed  to  be  held  at  Clontarf— Forbidden  by  the  Lord-Lieutenant — O'Connell  and 
Bix  others  arrested,  tried,  and  convicted — Sentence  and  imprisonment,  1844 — 111  effects  upon  O'Connell — His 
views  as  to  usmg  force  in  carrying  forward  repeal — The  "  Young  Ireland"  party — O'Connell's  sickness  and 
death,  1847— Estimate  of  his  character  and  career — Determination  of  the  British  Government — Macaulay's 
expressions — Eulogy  on  O'Connell — The  potato  rot  or  disea,se — Terrible  famine  in  Ireland — Maynooth 
endowment,  184.5 — Queen's  Colleges — Denounced  by  the  Catholic  hierarchy — Catholic  University  founded- 
Government  efforts  to  relieve  distress — Bill  for  constructing  public  works  so  as  to  employ  the  poor — The 
famine  of  1846-7 — Poor-law  amended — Large  contributions  for  relief — Private  benevolence — Sad  picture  of 
the  state  of  the  country — Places  for  relief — Extensive  emigration — Increased  for  years — Diminution  of  popu 
latlon  between  1841  and  1851 777 


CHAPTER    LI. 

Smith  O'Brien's  Insurrection — More  recent  Histoet  and  Progress. — The  "  Young  Ireland"  party  and 
the  "  Irish  Confederation" — William  Smith  O'Brien — His  co-workers,  Meagher,  Mitchell,  and  others — The 
year  1848  a  year  of  revolutions — O'Brien  in  Parliament — Goes  to  Paris — Sympathy  of  the  French — O'Brien 
prosecuted  for  sedition — Jury  not  agreed — Set  at  liberty — Mitcliell  transported — Condition  of  the  country — 
Affray  at  Dolly's  Brae — Action  now  resolved  upon  by  O'Brien,  Duffy,  O'Gorman,  etc. — Measures  of  Govern- 
ment— O'Brien's  movements — March  from  Enniscorthy — Encounter  with  the  police  near  Ballingar — The 
conflict,  and  result — O'Brien  and  others  arrested,  tried,  and  condemned — Sent  to  Australia^Proposal 
to  abolish  lord-lieutenancy — Friction  of  small  farmers  and  tenant-rights — Mr.  Crawford's  bills — "Irish 
Tenant-league" — Further  attempts  at  legislative  settlement  of  the  question — General  face  of  the  country 
improved — Ireland's  share  in  the  Great  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park  in  1851 — Exhibition  in  Cork  in  1853 — Earl 
of  Eglintoun  Lord-Lieutenant — Political  excitement— Aggregate  meeting  in  Dublin — Right  Rev.  Dr.  CuUen 
presides — Resolutions  adopted — Proposal  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  to  impose  the  income- 
tax  on  Ireland — His  statements  and  views— Two  weeks'  debate— Speeches  and  arguments  of  the  opposition — 
The  Government  plan  supported  by  a  majority  of  71 — The  result — Ecclesiastical  affairs  brought  under  dis- 
cussion— Opposition  to,  and  complaints  of,  the  establishment — National  system  of  education — Discvission  in 
Parliament— Earl  Derby's  speech — Testimony  of  a  Catholic  writer  respecting  the  schools,  the  books  used, 
etc. — Mr.  Dargan's  public-spirited  efforts  to  inaugurate  the  Industrial  Exhibition  of  lS5o — The  building, 
contents,  etc. — Opening  of  the  Exhibition  by  Earl  St.  Germans — Visit  of  her  majesty  Queen  Victoria  to 
Ireland — Her  presence  at  the  Exhibition — Results  hoped  for 796 


CHAPTER    LII. 


The  Feni.\.n  Brotherhood — Ireland's  Present  Position  and  Prospects — Hope  for  the  Futttre. — 
Activity  and  zeal  of  the  Irish  patriots — The  Fenian  Brotherhood — Origin  and  purpose  of  this  association— Its 
scientific  organization — First  Fenian  Congress  at  Chicago,  1863 — Second  Congress  at  Cincinnati,  January, 
1865 — Third  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  September,  1863 — Reorganization,  steps  taken  of  various  kinds,  etc. — 
Course  of  the  British  Government — Martial  law  proclaimed  in  Ireland — James  Stephens,  the  Head  Centre 
of  the  whole  Brotherhood,  arrested — His  escape  from  prison — Visits  the  United  States — The  Queen's  speech, 
February,  1866 — Suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act — John  Bright's  views — S.  Mill's  remarks — Fenian 
invasion  of  Canada — Mortifying  failure — Course  pursued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States — Criticized 
by  the  Irish  patriots — Lord  Derby's  thanks  to  the  United  States  Government — Fenians  tried  and  condemned 
in  Canada — McMahon  and  Lynch  sentenced  to  be  hung — Mr.  Seward's  interposition — Excitement  among 
the  Irish — Stephen's  speech  at  meeting  held  at  Jones's  'Wood,  New  York — His  bold  announcement^ 
Opposition  to  the  Fenian  movement  by  bishops  and  priests  of  the  Catholic  Church — Extracts  from  a  Cath- 


xxu  CONTENTS. 


olic  ijaper  on  this  subject — Meeting  of  Fenians  in  Xew  York,  November,  18G6 — Resolution  and  appeal 
adopted — Father  Vauglian's  spirited  review  of  "  English  misrule  in  Ireland" — The  rising  in  Ireland  re- 
ported as  having  been  entered  upon  at  the  close  of  November,  186G — Spirit  and  tone  of  the  English  press — 
Threats  of  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  Fenians — Fixed  resolve  of  tlie  British  Government — Force  under 
Stephens  in  Iri?land — Sympathy  in  various  quarters — Warren's  address  to  Irishmen  in  America — Extracts 
fi-om  an  Irish  New  York  journal  on  the  position  of  aflfiiirs  and  the  prospects  of  success — Condition  of  things 
at  the  close  of  1866 — Views  and  opinions  of  eminent  Irishmen  and  Englishmen  on  the  questions  at  issue — 
What  has  been  done  for  the  people's  good — What  remains  to  be  done — Nil  desperandum — Ireland  must 
be  free , 809 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  IRELAND, 


■^«  ♦  »fr- 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Tlie  First  Inhabitants  of  Ireland. — The  Colonies  of  Parthalon  and  Nemedius. — The  Fomorians. — The  Firbclgs 
or  Belgians. — The  Tuatha  de  Dananns. — The  Legend  of  Mananan  Mac  Lir,  &c. 


ACCORDING  to  the  ancient  chroni- 
cles of  Ireland,  the  first  inhabitants 
of  this  country  was  a  colony  who  ar- 
rived here  from  Migdonia,  supposed  to 
be  Macedonia,  in  Greece,  under  a  lead- 
er whose  name  was  Parthalon,  about 
300  years  after  the  Deluge,  or,  according 
to  the  chronology  adopted  by  the  Four 
Masters,  in  the  year  of  the  world  2520. 
Some  fiibles  are  related  of  persons  hav- 
ing found  theii"  way  to  Ireland  before 
the  Flood,  and  also  of  a  race  of  people, 
who  lived  by  fishing  and  hunting,  having 
been  found  here  by  Parthalon  (or  Par- 
rnlauu,  as  the  name  is  pronounced) ;  but 
these  are  rejected  by  our  ancient  annal- 
ists as  unworthy  of  credit,  and  merit  no 
attention.  It  is  said  of  Parthalon  that 
he  fled  from  his  own  country,  where  he 
had  been  guilty  of  parricide;  that  he 
landed  at  Fuver  Scene,  now  the  Ken- 

*  Or,  as  some  think,  the  river  Corrane,  in  Kerry, 
t  The  place  in  which  this  catastrophe  happened  was 
cUled  Scan-IPiagh-EaUa-Edair,  or  "  The  Old  Plain  of  the 
2 


mare  river,*  accompanied  by  his  three 
sons,  their  wives,  and  a  thousand  fol- 
lowers ;  that  he  was  the  first  who  clear- 
ed any  part  of  Ireland  of  the  primeval 
woods  which  covered  it  ;  that  certain 
lakes,  namely.  Lough  Con  and  Lough 
Mask,  in  Mayo,  Lough  Gara,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Roscommon  and  Slicfo,  two 
others  which  cannot  now  be  identified 
by  their  ancient  names,  and  Lough  Cuau, 
or  Strangford  Lough,  in  the  county  of 
Down,  were  first  formed  during  the 
period  of  his  colony;  that  he  died  in 
the  plain  in  which  Dublin  now  stands, 
thirty  years  after  his  lauding ;  and  that, 
in  the  same  plaiu,  in  a.  jr.  2820,  that  is, 
300  years  after  their  arrival,  his  entire 
colony,  then  numbering  9,000  persons, 
perished  by  a  pestilence,  in  one  week, 
leaving  the  country  once  more  without 
inhabitants,  f 

Flocks  of  Edair,"  a  name  which  it  received  in  ofter-tlmeg 
from  an  Irish  chieftain,  from  whom  the  Hill  of  Howth  was 
called  Ben-Edair ;  and  it  extended  from  that  hill  to  the 


10 


THE  EIRST  INHABITANTS. 


It  is  said  that  Ireland  remained  waste 
for  thirty  years,  until  the  next  colony, 
which  also  came  from  the  southeastern 
part  of  Europe,  or  the  vicinity  of  the 
Euxine  Sea,  led  by  a  chief  called  Neme- 
dius,  or  Neimhidh  (pronounced  Nevy)^ 
arrived  here,  and  occupied  the  country 
for  about  200  years.  The  annals  record 
the  names  of  the  raths  or  forts  which 
were  constructed,  and  of  the  plains 
which  were  cleared  of  wood  during  this 
I^eriod ;  and  they  also  mention  the  erup- 
tion, during  the  same  time,  of  four  lakes, 
namely.  Lakes  Derryvarragh  and  Eonell 
in  Westmeath,  and  two  others  not  iden- 
tified. Nemedius,  with  2,000  of  his  fol- 
lowers, were  carried  off  by  a  pestilence 
in  the  island  of  Ard-Neimhidh,  now  the 
Great  Island  of  Barrj'more,  near  Cork; 
and  the  remnant  of  his  people,  who  ap- 
pear to  have  been  engaged  in  constant 
conflicts  with  a  race  of  pirates  called 
Fomorians,  who  infested  the  coast,  were 
at  length  nearly  annihilated  in  a  great 
battle  with  these  formidable  enemies, 
A.  M.  3066.  They  attacked  and  demol- 
ished the  principal  Fomorian  strong- 
hold, called  Tor-Conainn,  or  Conaug's 


base  of  the  Dublin  mountains,  and  along  tlie  banks  of 
tlie  Liffey. 

The  memory  of  this  event  is  preserved  in  the  name  of 
the  village  of  Tallaght  (Tamleacht),  which  signifies  "tlie 
plague  monument,"  from  Tamh,  a  plague,  and  LcacTit,  a 
monument ;  and  in  Irish  books  this  place  is  sometimes 
called  Tamleacht  Muintir  Partludoin,  or  "the  plague 
monument  of  Partholan's  people,"  to  distinguish  it  from 
other  plague  monuments,  P.lso  called  Tamleachts,  in 
other  parts  of  Ireland.  (See  O'Donovan's  "Four  Mas- 
ters," and  Doctor  Wilde's  "Report  on  Tables  of  Deaths," 
in  theCensusof  1851.)  The  pestOcnce  which  swept  away 
Parthalon's  colony  was  the  first  that  \'isited  Ireland,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  caused  by  the  corrupting  bodies 


Towei-,  in  Tory  island,  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  Donegal ;  but  succor  hav 
ing  arrived  by  sea  to  the  pirates,  the 
battle  was  renewed  on  the  strand,  and 
became  so  fierce  that  the  combatants 
suffered  themselves  to  be  surrounded  by 
the  rising  tide,  so  that  most  of  those 
who  did  not  fall  in  the  mutual  slaucjhter 
were  ingulphed  in  the  waves.*  Three 
captains  of  the  Nemedians,  with  a  hand- 
ful of  their  men,  survived,  and,  in  a  few 
years  after,  made  their  escape  from  Ire- 
land, with  such  of  their  countrymen  as 
chose  to  follow  their  fortunes.  One 
party,  under  Briotan  Maol,  a  grandson 
of  Nemedius,  sought  refuge  in  the  neigh- 
boring island  of  Albion,  in  the  north- 
ern pai't  of  which  their  posterity  remain- 
ed until  the  invasion  of  the  Picts,  many 
centuries  after ;  and  that  island,  as  some 
will  have  it,  took  the  name  of  Britain 
from  their  leader,  and  not  from  the  fab- 
ulous Brutus.  Another  portion  of  the 
refugees  passed,  after  many  wanderings, 
into  the  northern  parts  of  Europe, 
where  they  became  the  Tuatha  de  Da-, 
nann  of  a  subsequent  age  ;  and  finally, 
the  third  party  of  the  scattered  Neme- 


of  the  dead  slain  in  a  battle  with  the  people  called 
Fomorians. 

*^Vho  these  Fomorians  were,  who  are  so  often  men- 
tioned in  Ii'ish  history,  is  a  matter  of  speculation.  They 
are  said  by  some  of  the  old  annalists  to  have  been  Afri- 
can pirates  of  the  race  of  Ham  ;  but  O'Flaherty  thinks 
they  were  Northmen,  or  Scandinavians.  Some  modern 
writers  will  have  it  that  they  were  Phoenicians;  but 
their  name  implies  in  L'ish  that  they  were  searrobbers, 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  their  memory  is  preserved  in 
the  Irish  name  of  the  Giant'sCauseway,  which  is  Cloghan- 
na-Fomharaigh,  or  the  causeway  or  stepping-stones  of 
the  Fomorians.  (See  O'Brien's  Diet.)  The  Fomorians 
are  by  some  called  the  aborigines  of  Ireland. 


THE  FIRBOLGS. 


11 


diaus  made  their  way,  under  theiz*  chief, 
Simon  Breac,  another  grandson  of  Ne- 
medius,  to  Greece,  where  they  were 
kept  in  bondage,  and  com2>elled  to  carry 
burdens  in  leathern  bags,  whence  they 
obtained  the  name  of  Firbolgs  or  Bag- 
men.* 

For  a  long  interval — 200  years,  say 
the  bards — after  the  great  battle  of 
Tory  island,  we  are  told  that  Ireland 
remained  almost  a  wilderness,  the  few 
Nemedians  who  were  left  behind  hav- 
inof  I'etired  into  the  interior  of  the  coun- 
try,  where  they,  nevertheless,  were 
made  to  feel  the  galling  yoke  of  the 
Fomorians,  who  were  now  the  undis- 
puted masters  of  the  coast ;  but  at  the 
end  of  the  interval  just  mentioned,  the 
island  was  restored  to  the  former  race, 
although  under  a  diflferent  name.  The 
Firbolgs  having  multiplied  considerably 
in  Greece,  resolved  to  escape  from  the 
bondage  under  which  they  groaned,  and 
for  that  purpose  seized  the  ships  of  their 
masters,  and  proceeding  to  sea,  succeeded 
in  making  their  way  to  Ireland,  where 
they  landed  without  oi^jDosition  (a.  jr. 
3266),  and  divided  the  country  between 
their  five  leaders,  the  fiye  sons  of  Deala, 
each  of  whom  ruled  in  turn  over  the 
entire  island.  The  names  of  these  bro- 
thers were,  Slainghe,  Rury,  Gann,  Gea- 
nann,  and  Seangann ;  and  from  the  first 
of  them  the  river  Slaney,  in  Wexford, 
is  said  to  have  derived  its  name.  It 
would  appear  that  there  were  several 

*From  Fir,  "men,"  and  holg,  wliicli  in  Irish  means  a 
"leathern  bag." 
f  The  Irish  name  of  Leinster  was  sometimes  written 


tribes  engaged  in  this  expedition,  al- 
though all  belonged  to  the  same  race. 
Thus,  one  section  of  them,  called  Fir- 
Domhnau,  or  Damnonians,  landed  on 
the  coast  of  Erris,  in  Mayo,  where  they 
became  very  powerful,  giving  their 
name  to  the  district,  which  has  been 
called,  in  Irish,  larras-Domhnan,  that  is, 
the  western  promontory  or  peninsula  of 
the  Damnonians;  while  another  tribe, 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Fir-Gail- 
lian,  or  Spearmen,  landed  on  the  eastern 
coast,  and  from  them  some  will  have  it 
that  the  province  of  Leinster  has  been 
so  named,  f 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  orisjin  of 
the  Firbolgs  and  Damnonians,  given  by 
the  bardic  annalists ;  and  of  this  and 
similar  relations,  which  we  find  in  our 
primeval  history,  we  may  remark  in 
general  that,  however  they  may  be  en- 
veloped in  fable,  we  have  sufficient  rea- 
son for  believing  them  to  be  founded  in 
historic  truth ;  and  that  they  are  not 
lightly  to  be  set  aside,  where  nothing 
better  than  conjecture  can  be  substitu- 
ted. The  favorite  modern  theory  is, 
that  the  Firbolg  colony  came  into  this 
country  from  the  neighboring  coasts  of 
Britain,  and  that  they  were  identical  in 
race  with  the  peojile  of  Belgic  Gaul,  and 
with  the  Belgffi  and  Dumnonii  of  South- 
ern Britain.  Then  arises  the  question, 
were  these  Belgae  Celts,  or  were  they  of 
Tuetonic  or  Gothic  origin?  To  this  we 
can  onlyanswer  that  the  Irish  authorities 

Coige  GaUlian  ;  Coige  being  the  word  for  a  fifth  part,  oi 
one  of  the  five  provinces  ;  but  it  is  more  generally  called 
Laightn,  a  word  which  signifies  a  spear  or  javelin. 


12 


THE   FIRBOLGS. 


are  explicit  "in  stating  that  the  Fii'bolgs 
were  of  the  same  race  with  subsequent 
colonies,  who  were  confessedly  Celtic, 
and  this  seems  to  be  the  generally  re- 
ceived opinion.* 

The  Belgse,  or  Firbolgs,  had  only  en- 
joyed possession  of  the  country  for 
thirty-seven  years,  according  to  the 
chronology  of  the  Four  Masters,  or  for 
eighty  years,  according  to  that  of 
O'Flaherty,  when  their  dominion  was 
disputed  by  a  formidable  enemy.  The 
new  invaders  were  the  celebrated  Tua- 
tha  de  Dananns,  a  people  of  whom  such 
stransre  thinojs  are  recounted,  that 
modern  writers  Avere  lomj  iincertain 
whether  they  should  regard  them  as  a 
purely  mythical  race,  or  concede  to 
them  a  real  existence,  all  Irish  anti- 
quaries, however,  adopting  at  present 
the  latter  alternative.  The  arrival  of 
the  Tuatha  de  Dananns  took  place  in 
the  year  of  the  world  3303,  the  tenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  the  ninth  and  last 
of  the  Firbolgic  kings,  Eochy,  son  of 
Ere.  The  leader  of  the  invaders  ^vas 
Nuadhat-Airgetlamh,  or  Nuad  of  the 
SiU'er  Hand,  and  their  first  proceeding 
on  landing  was  to  burn  their  own  fleet, 


*In  the  Irisli  version  of  Nennius,  published  for  the 
Irish  Archa?ological  Society,  the  Firbolgs  are  termed 
Viri  Bullorum,  which,  as  the  learned  editor.  Dr.  Todd, 
remarks,  might  aiford  a  derivation  for  the  name  not 
previously  noticed ;  the  word  Bullum,  in  the  Latinity 
of  the  midtlle  ages,  signifying,  according  to  Du  Cange, 
7?acuZumpa«ioW«,  a  shepherd's  staff.  In  the  additional 
notes  to  that  publication,  by  the  Hon.  Algernon  Herbert, 
many  curious  suggestions  are  made  about  these  and  the 
other  ancient  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  all  which  specula- 
tions show  how  exceedingly  vague  and  meagre  is  the 
information  that  can  be  gleaned  about  these  primitive 
fscw;,  and  Low  uncertain  are  the  theories  which  have 


in  order  to  render  all  retreat  impossi- 
ble. According  to  the  sujterstitious 
ideas  of  the  bards,  these  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nanns were  profoundly  skilled  in  magic, 
and  rendered  themselves  invisible  to 
the  inhabitants  until  they  had  penetra- 
ted into  the  heart  of  the  country.  In 
other  words,  they  lauded  under  cover 
of  a  fog  or  mist ;  and  the  Firbolgs,  at 
first  taken  by  surprise,  made  no  regular 
stand,  until  the  new-comers  had  march- 
ed almost  across  Ireland,  when  the  two 
armies  met  face  to  face  on  the  plain  oi 
Moyturey,  near  the  shore  of  Lougli 
Corrib,  in  part  of  the  ancient  tei'ritoi'y 
of  Partry.  Here  a  battle  was  fought 
in  which  the  Firbolgs  were  overthrown, 
with  "the  greatest  slaughter,"  says  an 
old  writer, f  "that  w'as  ever  heard  of  in 
Ireland  at  one  meeting."  Eochy,  tho 
Firbolg  king,  fled,  and  was  overtaken 
at  a  place  in  the  present  county  of  Sligo, 
where  he  was  slain,  and  where  his  cairn, 
or  the  stone-heap  raised  over  his  grave, 
is  still  to  be  seen  on  the  sea-shore ; 
while  the  scattered  fra2;ments  of  his 
army  took  refuge  in  the  northern  isle  of 
Aran,  Rathlin  island,  the  Hebrides,  the 
Isle  of  Man,  and  Britain.  J 

been  formed  about  them.  Of  the  Firbolgs,  however,  as 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  we  find  frequent  mention  in  what 
all  admit  to  be  authentic  periods  of  Irish  history  ;  and 
their  monuments,  and  even  their  race,  still  exist 
among  us. 

f  Connell  Mageoghegan's  "Annals  of  Clonmacnoise." 
%  Book  of  Leacan,  fol.  277 ;  quoted  in  the  Ogygia,  Part 
iii.,  c.  9. 

Tlie  site  of  this  battle  is  sometimes  called  Moyturej'  of 
Cong,  from  its  proximity  to  that  town,  and  "  it  is  still 
jxiinted  out,"  says  Dr.  O'Donovan  (Four  Masters,  vol.  i, 
p.  IG),  "in  the  parish  of  Cong,  barony  of  Kilmaiue, 
and  county  of  Mayo,  to  the  right  of  the  road  as  you  go 


THE    TUATHA   DE   DANANNS. 


13 


The  victorious  Nuadliat  lost  Ms  hand 
iu  this  battle,  and  a  silver  hand  was 
made  for  him  by  Credne  Cerd,  the  artifi- 
cer, and  fitted  on  him  by  the  physician, 
Dieucecht,  Avhose  son,  Miach,  improved 
the  work,  according  to  the  legend,  by 
infusing  feeling  and  motion  into  every 
joint  of  the  artificial  hand  as  if  it  had 
been  a  natural  one.  Hence  the  surname 
which  the  king  received.  The  story 
may  be  taken  as  an  illustration  of  the 
surgical  and  mechanical  skill  which  the 
Tuatha  de  Dananns  were  believed  to 
possess:  and  we  are  further  told,  that 
for  the  seven  years  during  which  the 
operation  was  in  progress,  a  temporary 
king  was  elected,  Breas,  whose  father 
was  a  Fomorian,  and  whose  mother  was 
of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  having  been 
chosen  for  the  purpose.  At  the  end  of 
that  period  Nuadhat  resumed  the  au- 
thority ;  and  in  the  twentieth  year  of 
his  reign,  counting  from  this  resumption, 
he  fell  in  a  battle  foitght  with  the  Fo- 
morians,  who  took  the  field  at  the  insti- 
gation of  their  countryman,  the  deposed 
king,  Breas,  and  were  aided  also,  we 
may  suppose,  by  the  Firbolg  refugees. 
This  battle  was  fought  at  a  place  called 
Northern  Moyturey,  or  Moyturey  of  the 
Fomorians;  and  its  name  is  still  pre- 
served in  that  of  a  townland  in  the 
barony  of  Tirerrill,  in  the  county  of  Sli- 
go,  where  several  sepulchral  monuments 


from  Cong  to  the  village  of  the  Neal.  From  the  monu- 
ments of  tliis  battle  still  remaining,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
great  numbers  were  slain."  The  cairn  of  the  Firbolg 
king,  Eochy,  is  on  the  shore  near  Ballysadare,  in  the 
county  of   Sligo;    and,  although    not   high  above  the 


still  mark  the  site  of  the  ancient  battle- 
field. Nuadhat  was  killed  in  this  con- 
flict by  Balor  "of  the  mighty  blows," 
the  leader  of  the  Fomorians,  who  is  de- 
scribed iu  old  traditions  as  a  monster 
both  in  barbarity  and  strength,  and  as 
having  but  one  eye.  Balor  himself  was 
killed  in  the  same  battle  by  a  stone  cast 
from  a  sliug  by  his  daughter's  son,  Lugh 
Lauihfhada,  or  Lewy  of  the  long  hand, 
in  revenge  for  some  of  his  crimes. 

We  have  here  followed  the  genei'ally 
received  account  of  the  fate  of  the  Fir- 
bolgs  in  the  Tuatha  de  Dauaun  invasion ; 
but  there  is  another  version  of  it  given 
in  an  ancient  Irish  manuscript""  which 
is  much  more  consistent  with  subse- 
quent history.  According  to  this  latter 
account,  the  battle  of  Southern  Moytu- 
rey resulted  in  a  compromise,  rather  than 
in  such  a  defeat  as.that mentioned  above; 
and  althousrh  the  Firbolcr  kiua:  was  slain, 
another  leader  of  the  same  peojjle,  named 
Srang,  was  still  at  the  head  of  a  con- 
siderable force ;  and,  after  some  nego- 
tiations, a  pai-tition  of-  the  country  Avas 
agreed  to,  Srang  and  his  people  retain- 
ing Connaught,  and  the  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nanns taking  all  the  remainder.  Mac- 
Firbis,  in  his  tract  on  the  Firbolgs, 
seems  to  say  that  an  account  of  the 
aftair  to  some  such  eftect  existed ;  aud 
unless  it  be  admitted,  it  is  impossible 
to  account  for  the  firm  footing  whicli 


strand,  it  is  the  popular  belief  that  the  tide  can  never 
cover  it. 

*  The  author  is  indebted  to  Professor  Eugene  Curry 
for  the  purport  of  this  tract,  which  appears  to  liave 
escaped  the  attention  of  our  other  Irish  scholars. 


THE  TUATHA  DE  DANANNS. 


we  find  these  ^leople  all  aloug  holding 
in  Ireland,  and  for  their  position  at  the 
Milesian  epoch,  Mdien  they  were  at  first 
received  as  allies  by  the  invaders,  and 
■were  afterwards,  for  centuries,  able  to 
resist  them  in  war.  Nor  is  this  account 
inconsistent  with  the  statement  that 
many  of  the  Firbolgs  i-epaired,  on  the 
arrival  of  the  Tuatlia  de  Dananus,  to 
the  islands  mentioned  above. 

Lugh  Lamhf  hada,  the  slayer  of  Balor, 
succeeded  Nuadhat  as  king  of  Ireland  ; 
and  the  fact  that  he  was  of  Fomorian 
oriffin,  on  his  mother's  side,  and  a 
Tuatha  de  Danann  on  that  of  his  father, 
as  w^ell  as  a  like  mingling  of  races  in 
the  person  of  Breas,  the  first  king  of 
the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  an  aiBnity  existed  between 
the  two  races,  and  afford  an  argument 
to  O'Flaherty,  who  held  that  both  ra- 
c.e3  were  Northmen,  or  Danes.*  Lugh 
reigned  forty  years,  and  instituted  the 
public  games,  or  fair,  of  the  hill  of  Taill- 
tean,  now  Teltown,  near  the  Blackwater, 
in  INIeath,  in  commemoration  of  his 
foster-mother,  Taillte,  the  daughter  of 
Maghmor,  a  Spanish  or  Iberian  "king, 
and  wife  of  Eochy,  son  of  Ere,  the  last 
of  the  Firbolg  kings,  after  whose  deatli, 
in  the  battle  of  Southern  Moyturey,  she 
married  a  Tuatha  de  Danann  chief,  and 
undertook  the  fostering,  or  education,  of 
the  infant  Lewy.  This  celebrated  fail', 
at  which  various  sports  took  place,  con- 
tinued to  be  held  until  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, on  the  1st  of  August,  which  day 


*  Ogygia,  part  i.,  p.  13. 


is  still  called,  in  Irish,  Lugh-Nasadh,  or 
Lugh's  fair ;  and  vivid  traditions  are  yet 
preserved  of  the  pagan  form  of  marriage, 
and  ancient  sports,  of  which  the  old  rath 
of  Teltown  was  the  scene.f 

Lewy,  having  been  killed  by  Mac- 
Cuill  at  Caendruim,  now  the  hill  of  Uis- 
neach,  in  Westmeath,  was  succeeded  by 
Eochy  Ollathair,  who  was  surnamed  the 
Dagda  Mor  (the  Great-good-fire),  the 
son  of  Ealathan.  The  Dagda  reigned 
eighty  years,  and  having  died  from  the 
effects  of  a  wound  inflicted  120  years 
before  at  the  battle  of  Northern  Moy- 
turey, with  a  poisoned  javelin,  by  Kath- 
len,  the  wife  of  the  Fomorian  Balor,  he 
was  interred  at  the  Brugh,  on  the  Boyne, 
the  great  cemetery  of  the  east  of  Ireland 
in  the  jiagan  times.  His  monument  is 
mentioned  in  ancient  Irish  manuscripts 
as  one  of  those  vast  sepulchral  mounds 
which  are  at  this  day  objects  of  wonder 
and  interest  on  the  banks  of  the  Boyne, 
between  Droirheda  and  Slane. 

A.  M.  3451. — Dealboeth,  the  son  of 
Ogma,  succeeded,  and  was  followed 
by  Fiacha ;  after  whom  three  brothers, 
named  MacCuill,  MacCeacht,  and  Mac- 
Greine,  the  last  of  the  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nann kings,  reigned  conjointly  for  thir- 
ty years,  each  exercising  sovereign  au- 
thority in  succession  for  the  space  of 
one  year.  The  real  names  of  the 
three  brothers,  according  to  an  old  po- 
em quoted  by  Keating,  were,  Eathui-, 
Teathur,  and  Ceathur,  and  they  were 
called,  the  fii'st,  MacCuill,  because  he 

t  See  Wilde's  Boyne  and  Blackwater,  p.  150.    Ogygia, 
part  iii.,  c.  13  and  50. 


THE  TUATHA  DE  DANANNS. 


15 


worshipped  the  hazel-tree  ;  the  second, 
MacCeacht,  because  he  worshipped  the 
plough,  or  rather,  encouraged  agricul- 
ture ;  and  the  third,  MacGreine,  because 
he  made  the  sun  the  object  of  his  devo- 
tions. The  old  bardic  annalists,  who, 
with  a  gallantry  peculiar  to  their  coun- 
try, derive  most  of  the  names  of  places 
from  celebrated  women,  tell  us  that  the 
wives  of  these  three  kings  were  Eire, 
Banba,  and  Fodhla,  three  sisters  who 
have  given  their  names  to  Ireland ;  and 
they  add  that  the  country  was  called 
after  each  queen  during  the  year  of  her 
husband's  administration;  and  that  if 
the  name  of  Eire  has  been  since  more 
generally  applied,  it  was  because  the 
husband  of  queen  Eire  was  the  reigning 
king  when  the  Milesians  arrived  and 
conquered  the  island.  The  names  of 
Baiiba  and  Fodhla  are  fi-equently  giv- 
en to  Ireland  in  all  the  ancient  Irish 
writings. 

Before  we  leave  the  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nanns,  Avhose  sway  continued  for  197 
years — from  a.  m.  3303  to  a.  m.  3500 — 
we  may  mention  two  or  three  remark- 
able circumstances  connected  wdtli  the 
accounts  of  that  ancient  peoj^le.  By 
them  the  Lia  Fail,  or  Stone  of  Destiny, 
on  which  the  Irish  kings  were  crowmed 
in  subsequent  ages,  was  brought  into 
Ireland.  This  stone  was  said  to  emit 
mysterious  sounds  when  touched  by  the 

*  Dr.  Petrio,  in  liis  History  and  Antiquities  of  Tara 
Hill,  controverts  tliis  account  of  tUe  Lia  Fail,  and  employs 
some  learned,  thougli  not  conclusive,  arguments  to  show 
that  that  celebrated  relic  of  pagan  antiquity  is  the  pres- 
ent piUar-stone  over  the  "Croppies'  Grave"  in  one  of 
the  great  raths  of  Tara.    O'Flahcrty  (Ogygia,  p.  45.) 


rightful  heir  to  the  crown ;  and  when 
an  Irish  colony  invaded  North  Britain, 
and  founded  the  Scottish  monarchy 
there  in  the  sixth  century,  the  Lia  Fail 
was  carried  thither  to  give  more  solem- 
nity to  the  coronation  of  the  king,  and 
more  security  to  his  dynasty.  It  was 
afterwards  preserved  for  several  ages  iu 
the  monastery  of  Scone,  but  was  carried 
into  England  by  Edward  I.,  in  the  year 
1300,  and  deposited  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  is  believed  to  be  identical 
with  the  large  block  of  stone  now  to  be 
seen  under  the  coronation  chair.* 

Ogma,  one  of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananii 
princes,  is  said  to  have  invented  the 
Ogam  Craove,  or  occult  mode  of  wi-iting 
by  notches  on  the  edges  of  sticks  or 
stones;  and  Orbsen,  another  of  them, 
is  celebrated  as  tlie  mythical  protector 
of  commerce  and  navisration.  He  was 
commonly  called  Manancm,  from  the 
Isle  of  Man,  of  which  he  waS'  king,  and 
Maclir,  son  of  the  sea,  from  his  knowl- 
edge of  nautical  affairs.  lie  was  killed 
in  a  battle  in  the  west  of  Ireland  by 
UUin,  grandson  of  King  Nuad  of  the 
Silver  Hand, ,  and  was'  buried  in  an 
island  in  the  large  lake,  Avhich  from  him 
was  called  Lough  Orbsen,  since  cor- 
rupted into  Lough  Corrib,  the  place 
where  the  battle  was  fought  being 
still  called  Moycullen,  or  the  plain  of 
Ullin.f 

tliinlvs  the  Stone  of  Destiny  was  not  carried  to  Scot- 
land until  A.  D.  850,  when  it  was  sent  by  Hugh  Finnliath, 
king  of  Ireland,  to  his  father-in-law,  Keneth  MacAlpino, 
who  finally  subjugated  the  Picts. 

f  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  a  note  on  the  Tuatha  du  Dananns 
(Four Masters,  vol.  1.,  p.  24),  says: — "In  Mageogh'egan's 


IG 


THE  MILESIAN   COLONY. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  MOesian  Colony. — Wanderings  of  tlie  Gadclians. — Voyage  of  Itli  to  Ireland. — Expedition  of  tlie  Sons  of 
MUedh,  or  Milesius. — Contests  ■\\itli  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns. — Division  of  Ireland  by  Ileremon. — The  Cruith- 
nians,  or  Picts. 


THE  old  annalists  preface  the  account 
of  the  Milesian  invasion  of  Ireland 
by  a  long  story  of  the  origin  of  that 
colony,  and  of  its  many  wanderings,  by 
land  and  sea,  for  several  hundred  years, 
until  it  arrived  in  Ireland  from  Spain. 
There  is  no  part  of  our  primitive  history 
that  has  been  so  frequently  questioned, 
or  which  modern  writers  so  generally 
reject  as  fabulous,,as  these  fii'st  accounts 
of  the  Milesian  or  Gadeliau  race ;  yet 


translation  of  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise  it  is  stated 
that  '  this  people,  Tuathy  DeDanan,  ruled  Ireland  for 
197  years ;  that  they  were  most  notable  magicians,  and 
would  work  wonderful  things  by  magick  and  other  dia- 
bolicale  arts,  wherein  they  were  exceedingly  well  skilled, 
and  in  these  days  accompted  the  chiefest  in  the  world  in 
that  profession.'  From  the  many  monuments  ascribed 
to  this  colony  by  tradition,  and  in  ancient  Irish  histori- 
cal tales,  it  is  quite  evident  that  they  were  a  real  people ; 
and  from  their  having  been  considered  gOds  and  magi- 
cians by  the  Gaodhil,  or  Sdbti,  who  subdued  them,  it 
maybe  inferred  that  they  were  skilled  in  arts  which  the 
latter  did  not  understand.  Among  them  was  Danann, 
tlie  mother  of  the  gods,  from  whom  Da  chich  Danaitme, 
a  mountain  in  Kerry  (the  Pap  Mountain),  was  called  ; 
Cnanann,  the  goddess  that  instructed  the  heroes  in  mili- 
tary exercises,  the  Minerva  of  the  ancient  Irish  ;  Badhbh, 
the  BeUonaof  the  ancient  Irish ;  Abhortach,  god  of  music ; 
Noel,  the  god  of  war  ;  Nemon,  his  wife  ;  Manannan,  the 
god  of  the  sea ;  Diancecht,  the  god  of  physic ;  Brioghit,  the 
goddess  of  poets  and  smiths,  i'c.  It  appears  from  a  very 
curious  and  ancient  Irish  tract,  written  in  the  shape  of 
a  dialogue  between  St.  Patrick  and  Caoilte  MacEonain^ 
that  there  were  very  many  places  in  Ireland  where  the 
Tuatha  dc  Dananns  were  then  supposed  to  live  as  sprites 
or  fairies,  with  corporeal  and  material  forms,  but  endued 
with  immortality.     The  inference  naturally  to  be  drawn 


they  are  so  mixed  up  with  our  authen- 
tic history,  and  so  frequently  referred 
to,  that  they  cannot  be  passed  over  in 
silence.  We,  therefore,  give  an  outline 
of  the  narrative,  chiefly  as  we  find  it  re- 
lated in  the  Duan  Eireannach,  or  Poem 
of  Ireland,  written  by  Maelmura  of 
Othain,  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  our 
authorities  for  the  Milesian  tradition.* 
We  are  told  in  this  poem  that  Feui- 
us  Farsaidh  came    out    of  Scythia   to 


from  these  stories  is,  that  the  Tuatha  do  Dananns  lin- 
gered in  the  conntry  for  many  centuries  after  their  sub- 
jugation by  the  GaedhU,  and  that  they  lived  in  retired 
situations,  where  they  practised  abstruse  arts,  which  in- 
duced the  others  to  regard  them  as  magicians It 

looks  very  strange  that  our  genealogists  trace  the  pedi- 
gree of  no  family  living  for  the  last  thousand  years  to 
any  of  the  kings  or  chieftains  of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns, 
while  several  families  of  Firbolgic  descent  are  mentioned, 
as  in  lly-Many,  and  other  parts  of  Connaught.  (See  Tribes 
and  Customs  of  Hy-Many,  pp.  85-90 ;  and  O'Flaherty's 
Ogygia,  part  iii.,  c.  11.") 

Manannan  MacLir  is  described  in  Cormac's  Glossary  as 
"a  famous  merchant  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  the  best 
navigator  in  the  western  world."  Dr.  O'Donovan  (Four 
Masters,  vol.  iii.,  p.  533,  note)  says :  "  There  exists  a  tra- 
dition in  the  county  of  Londonderry  that  the  spirit  of 
this  celebrated  navigator  Bves  in  an  enchanted  castle  in 
the  tuns  or  waves  of  Magilligan,  opposite  Inishowen,  and 
that  his  magical  ship  is  seen  there  once  every  seventh 
year." 

*  Maelmura  of  Othain  (now  Fahan,  in  Donegal)  died 
A.  D.  884,  and  the  historical  poem  referred  to  above  was 
printed,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  Irish  version  of  Nennius, 
published  in  1843  by  the  Irish  Archa;ological  Society, 
with  copious  notes  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Todd,  S.  F.  T.  C.  D., 
and  by  the  Hon.  Algernon  Herbert. 


WAXDERINGS   OF  THE   GADELIANS. 


17 


Nembroth  (Nimrod),  and  that,  some 
time  after  "the  buUdino;  of  the  tower 
(of  Babel)  by  the  men  of  the  world," 
Nel,  or  Niul,  the  son  of  Feuius,  who 
possessed  a  knowledge  of  all  the  lan- 
guages then  spoken  hj  mankind,  left  his 
father  and  travelled  into  Egypt,  where 
the  fame  of  his  leai'nins:  came  to  the 
ears  of  Foraun  (Pharaoh),  who  gave  him 
his  dauQ^hter  Scota  in  marriasre.  Niul 
had  a  son  named  Gaedhuil  Glas,  or 
Green  Gael ;  and  we  are  told  that  it  is 
from  him  the  Irish  have  been  called 
Gaedhil  (Gael),  or  Gadeliaus,  while 
from  his  mother  is  derived  the  name  of 
Scoti,  or  Scots,  and  from  Feuius  that  of 
Feni,  or  Fenians.  The  poem  goes  on  to 
say  that  after  Forann,  pursuing  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  was  drowned  in  the  sea 
Romhuir  (Red  sea)  the  people  of  Egypt 
were  angry  with  the  children  of  Niul 
for  having  declined  to  render  any  assist- 
ance in  the  pui'suit ;  and  that  the  latter, 
through  fear  of  beinor  enslaved  as  the 
Israelites  had  been,  seized  the  deserted 
ships  of  Pharaoh,  and  in  the  night-time 
passed  over  the  Red  sea,  "  the  way  they 
knew,"  by  India  and  Asia,  to  Scythia, 
their  own  country,  over  the  surface  of 
the  Caspian  sea,  leaving  Glas,  dead,  at 
Coronis  (probably  Cyrene,  in  the  Lybian 
sea),  where  they  halted  for  a  period. 


*  This  name  is  j  ust  before  Tvritten  Gaedhuil  Glas ;  and, 
in  general,  there  appears  to  be  no  fixed  orthography  for 
those  ancient  Irish  names. 

f  Sometimes  Trritten,  in  Irish  MSS.,  Tipradfane,  that 
is,  the  Well  of  Fenius. 

i  The  Slieve  Rlffi,  so  often  mentioned  in  Irish  MSS., 
were  the  Eiphean  mountains,  but  it  is  by  no  means  easy 
to  determine  ivhat  was  the  position  of  these.  That  they 
3 


After  some  time,  and  with  some  vari- 
ations in  the  different  accounts,  we  find 
Si'u,  son  ofEsru,  or  Asruth,  sou  of  Gadheal 
Glas,*  acting  as  leader  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Niul,  and  proceeding  to  the  isl- 
and of  Taprabana  (Ceylon)f  and  Slieve 
Riffi,t  until  he  settled  in  "fiery  Gol- 
gatha,"  or  Gaethligh,  a  jjlace  which  is 
variously  supposed  to  be  Gothia,  or  Ga- 
latia,  or  Gethulia;  and  again,  in  two 
hundred  years  after,  that  is,  according  to 
O'Flaherty,  about  the  time  of  the  de- 
struction of  Troj',  Brath,  the  son  of  Dea- 
gath,  or  Deatha,  and  nineteenth  in  de- 
scent from  Fenius,  led  a  fresh  expedition 
from  this  last-named  place  to  "the  north 
of  the  world,  to  the  islands,  ploughing 
the  Tarrian  sea  (Mediterranean  or  Tyr- 
rhenian) with  his  fleet."  He  passed  by 
Creid  (Crete),  Sicil  (Sicily),  and  the 
columns  of  Hercules,  to  "  Esj^aiu,  the  pe- 
ninsular ;"  and  here  he  couquei'ed  a  cer- 
tain territory,  his  son,  Breogau,  or  Bre- 
gond,  succeeding  him  in  the  command. 
The  city  which  our  wanderers  built  in 
Spain  was  called  Brigantia,  believed  to 
be  Betanzos,  in  Gallicia;  and,  from  a 
lofty  tower  erected  on  the  coast,  by 
Breogan,  it  is  said  that  his  son,  Ith,  dis- 
covered Eri,  or  Irelaud,  "  as  far  as  the 
land  of  Luimnech  (as  the  country  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Shannon  was  called),  on  a 


were  sitnated  in  some  part  of  the  vast  region  anciently 
called  Scythia  is  tolerably  certain,  and  the  probable 
opinion  is  that  they  were  the  Ural  mountains  in  Russia ; 
but  they  are  sometimes  set  down  in  old  maps  as  occupy- 
ing the  place  of  the  Carpathian  mountains,  and  even  of 
the  Alps,  and  the  vague  accounts  we  have  of  them 
would  answer  for  any  range  of  mountains  in  northern 
Europe. 


18 


THE   VOYAGE   OF   ITH. 


winter's  evening."*  Itli  appears  to 
have  been  of  an  adventurous  spirit,  and 
no  doubt  discovered  the  coast  of  Ireland, 
not  from  the  tower  of  Breogan,  which 
was  impossible,  but  after  having  sailed 
thither  in  search  of  the  land,  which, 
according  to  the  traditions  of  his  race, 
the  children  of  Niul  were  destined  to 
possess.  He  landed  at  a  place  since 
called  Magh  Ithe,  or  the  Plain  of  Ith, 
near  Laggan,  in  the  county  of  Donegal ; 
and  having  been  taken  for  a  spy  or 
pirate,  by  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  was 
attacked  and  mortally  wounded,  when 
he  escaped  to  his  ship  and  died  at  sea.-f- 
The  remains  of  Ith  -were  carried  to 
Spain  by  his  crew,  now  commanded  by 
his  son  Lugaitl,  who  stimulated  his  kins- 

*  The  Hon.  Algernon  Hurbert,  in  one  of  the  additional 
notes  to  the  Irish  Nennius,  shows  how  this  legend  of 
Ireland  having  been  seen  from  the  tower  of  Betanzos  (the 
ancient  Flavium  Brigantium)  may  have  arisen  from  pas- 
sages of  Orosius,  the  geographer,  where  mention  is  made 
01  a  lofty  Pharos  erected  on  the  coast  of  Spain,  "  ad  specu- 
lum Britannia;,"  "for  a  watch-tower  in  the  direction  of 
Britain  ;"  and  where  again,  describing  the  coasts  of  Ire- 
land, the  writer  says  "procid  spectant  Brigantiam,  Gal- 
licia)  civitatem,"  &c. — "  they  lie  at  a  distance  opposite 
Brigantiam,  a  city  of  Qallicia,"  &c  ;  the  words  "  specu- 
lum" and  "  spectant"  having  apparently  led  to  the  ab- 
surd notion  that  the  coast  of  Ireland  was  visible  from 
the  tower.  See  also  Dr.  WUde's  communication  to  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  on  the  remains  of  the  Pharos  of 
Corunna,  which  he  believes  to  have  been  the  tower  of 
Breogan. 

f  AVlioever  attempts  to  trace  on  the  map  of  the  world 
the  route  ascribed  in  the  text  to  the  ancestors  of  Milesius, 
will  find  himself  seriously  puzzled.  In  aU  the  accounts 
of  these  peregrinations  two  distinct  expeditions  are  al- 
1  uded  to,  one  by  the  east  and  north,  and  the  other  westcrlj', 
that  is,  through  the  Mediterranean  sea  and  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules.  The  latter  is  intelligible  enough,  but  the 
former  would  imply  a  passage  by  water,  from  south  to 
north,  through  the  c^'ntral  countries  of  Europe.  The 
Neraedians  and  Tuatha  de  Dananns  would  also  appear 
to  have  passed  freely  in  their  ships  between  Greece,  or 
Scythia,  and  the  northern  ecas,  without  going  through 


men  to  avenge  his  death  ;  and  such,  ac- 
cording to  the  chroniclers,  was  the  prov- 
ocation for  the  expedition  which  fol- 
lowed. Accordingly,  the  sons  of  Gol- 
1am  (who  is  more  generally  known  by 
his  surname  of  Miledh,  or  Milesius),  the 
son  of  Bile,  son  of  Breogan,  and  hencethe 
nephew  of  Ith,  manned  thirty  ships,  and 
prepared  to  set  out  for  luis  Ealga,  as 
Ireland  was  at  that  time  called.  Mile- 
sius himself,  who  was  king  of  Spain,  or 
at  least  of  the  Gadelian  province  of  it, 
and  who  in  his  earlier  life  had  travelled 
into  Scythia,  and  performed  sundry  ex- 
ploits there,  had  died  before  the  news 
of  the  death  of  Ith  arrived ;  and  his 
wife  Scota,  the  second  of  the  name  we 
have  yet  met  in  these  annals,  went  with 

the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  Some  get  rid  of  this  difficulty 
by  treating  the  whole  story  as  a  fable  foimded  on  the 
Argonautic  expedition  and  its  river-ocean  ;  but  even 
that  famous  legend  of  classic  antiquity  stands  itself  in 
need  of  explanation ;  and  with  that  view  it  has  been 
suggested  that  the  Baltic  and  Euxine  seas  were  at  some 
remote  period  connected,  and  that  the  vast,  swampy 
plains  of  Poland  were  covered  with  water.  A  connected 
series  of  lakes  may  thus  have  extended  across  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  from  north  to  south ;  and  the  lagunes 
along  the  present  northern  coast  of  the  Black  sea  may 
indicate  what  their  appearance  had  been.  Traditions  of  . 
many  of  the  physical  changes  which  have  taken  place 
from  time  to  time  in  the  surface  of  Ireland,  since  the 
universal  Deluge,  such  as  the  eruption  of  rivers,  and  the ' 
formation  of  new  lakes  and  inlets  of  the  sea,  are  pre- 
served in  the  Irish  annals ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
Greek  traditions  of  Deucalion's  Deluge,  and  the  theories 
respecting  the  eruption  of  the  Euxine  into  the  Archi- 
pelago, and  of  a  channel  between  the  ocean  and  the 
Mediterranean  through  ancient  Aquitaine,  may  refer  to 
a  period  when  the  ship  Argo,  and  the  barques  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Niul,  might  have  passed  from  the  shores 
of  Greece  to  the  Ilj-jicrborean  seas  through  the  heart  of 
Sarmatia,  as  indicated  above. — (See  "  A  Vindication  of 
the  Bardic  Accounts  of  the  Early  Invasions  of  Ireland, 
and  a  Verification  of  the  Eiver-ocean  of  the  Greeks." 
Dublin,  1853.  Also  the  Dublin  University  Magazine  for 
March,  18o2.) 


LAXDIXG   OF  THE   MILESIANS. 


19 


her  six  sous  at  tlie  head  of  the  expedi- 
tiou.  Some  of  the  accounts  mentiou 
eight  sons  of  Milesius,  but  the  names 
given  in  Maelmura's  poem  are  Donn,  or 
Heber  Donn,  Colj^a,  Amergin,  L",  Heber 
(that  is,  Heber  Finn,  or  the  fair),  and 
Hei-emon.  Lugaid,  the  son  of  Ith,  Avas 
also  a  leader  of  the  expedition,  and  the 
names  of  several  other  chiefs  are  given; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  principal 
portion  of  the  Gadelian  colony  in  Spain 
sailed  on  the  occasion. 

A.  M.  3500. — It  was  in  the  year  of  the 
world  3500,  and  1700  years  before 
Christ,  according  to  the  Four  Masters,  or 
A.  M.  2934,  and  b.  c.  1015,  according  to 
O'Flaherty's  chronology,  that  the  Mile- 
sian colony  arrived  in  Ireland.  The 
bardic  legends  say  the  island  was  at  first 
made  invisible  to  them  by  the  necro- 
mancy of  the  inhabitants ;  and  that 
when  they  at  length  effected  a  landing 
and  marched  into  the  country,  the  Tua- 
tlia  de  Dananns  confessed  that  they 
were  not  pi'epared  to  resist  them,  having 
no  standing  army,  but  that  if  they 
again  embarked,  and  could  make  good 
a  landing  according  to  the  rules  of  war, 
the  country  should  be  theirs.  Amergin, 
who  was  the  ollav  or  learned  man  and 
judge  of  the  expedition,  having  been 
appealed  to,  decided  against  his  own 
people,  and  they  accordingly  re-em- 
barked at  the  southern  extremity  of 
Ireland,  and  withdrew  "the  distance  of 
nine  waves"  from  the  shore.  No  sooner 
had  they  done  so  than  a  terrific  storm 
commenced,  raised  by  the  magic  arts  of 
the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  and  the  Mile- 


sian fleet  was  completely  scattered. 
Several  of  the  ships,  among  them  those 
of  Donn  and  Ir,  were  lost  off  different 
parts  of  the  coast.  Heremon  sailed 
round  by  the  northeast,  and  landed  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Boyne  (called  luver 
Colpa,  from  one  of  the  brothers  who 
was  drowned  there),  and  others  landed 
at  Inver  Scene,  so  called  from  Scene 
Dubsaine,  the  wdfe  of  Amergin,  who  per- 
ished in  that  river.  In  the  first  battle 
fought  with  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  at 
Slieve  Mish,  near  Ti-alee,  the  latter  were 
defeated;  but  among  the  killed  were 
Scota,  the  wife  of  Milesius,  who  was 
buried  in  the  place  since  called  from 
her,  Gleu-Scoheen,  and  Fas,  the  wife  of 
Un,  another  of  the  Milesians,  from  whom 
Glenofaush  in  the  same  neighborhood 
has  its  name.  After  this  the  sons  of 
Milesius  fought  a  battle  at  Tailtinu,  or 
Teltown,  in  Meath,  where  the  three 
kings  of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns  were 
killed  and  their  people  completely 
routed.  The  three  queens,  Eire,  Fodhla, 
and  Banba,  were  also  slain;  women 
ha\T.ug  been  accustomed  during  the 
pagan  times  in  Ireland  to  take  part  per- 
sonally in  battles,  and  in  many  instances 
to  lead  the  hostile  armies  to  the  fight. 
Among  the  Milesians  killed  in  this  bat- 
tle, or  rather  in  the  j)ursuits  of  the  Tua- 
tha de  Dananns,  were  Fuad  (from  whom 
Slieve  Fuad  in  Armagh,  a  place  much 
celebrated  in  Irish  history,  has  derived 
its  name),  and  Cuailgne,  who  was  killed 
at  Slieve  Cuailgne,  now  the  Cooley 
mountains,  near  Carlingford,  in  the 
county  of  Louth. 


20 


HEREMON'S  DIVISION  OF  IRELAND. 


After  the  battle  of  Teltown  tlie  Mile- 
sians enjoyed  tbe  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  the  country,  and  formed  alliances 
with  the  Firbolgs,  the  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nanns,  and  other  primitive  races,  but 
more  esj^ecially  with  the  first,  who 
aided  them  Avillingly  in  the  subjugation 
of  their  late  masters,  and  "were  allowed 
to  retain  possession  of  certain  territories, 
where  some  of  their  posterity  still  re- 
main. Heremon  and  Heber  Finn  di- 
vided Ireland  between  them ;  but  a  dis- 
pute arising,  owing  to  the  covetousness 
of  the  wife  of  Heber,  who  desired  to 
have  all  the  finest  vales  in  Erin  for  her- 
self, a  battle  Avas  fought  at  Geashill,  in 
the  present  Kings  county,  in  which 
Heremon  killed  his  brother  Heber.  In 
the  division  of  Ireland  which  followed, 
Heremon,  who  retained  the  sovereignty 
himself,  gave  Ulster  to  Heber,  the  son 
of  Ir;  Munster  to  the  four  sons  of  Heber 
Finn ;  Connaught  to  Uu  and  Eadan ; 
and  Leinster  to  Crivann  Sciavel,  a 
Damnonian  or  Firbolg.  The  people  of 
the  south  of  Ii-eland  in  general  are 
looked  upon  as  the  descendants  of  He- 
ber; while  the  families  of  Leinster,  many 
of  those  of  Connauofht,  the  Hi  Nialls  of 
Ulster,  tfec,  trace  their  pedigree  to 
Heremon.  Families  sprung  from  the 
sons  of  Ir  are  to  be  found  in  different 
parts  of  Ireland ;  but  of  Amergin,  the 
poet  and  ollav,  little  is  said  iu  this  dis- 
tribution of  the  land.  He  is  mentioned 
as  having  constructed  the  causeway  or 


*  The  above  etymology  of  Taia  is  evidently  legendary ; 
and  according  to  Cormac's  Glossary,  quoted  by  O'Dono- 
Ttai  (Four  Masters,  vol.  i.,  p.  31),  the  name,  which  in 


tochar  of  Inver  Mor,  or  the  mouth  of 
the  Ovoca  in  Wicklow. 

The  wife  of  Heremon  was  Tea,  the 
daughter  of  Lugald,  the  son  of  Ith,  for 
whom  he  repudiated  his  former  wife 
Ovey,  who  followed  the  expedition  to 
Ireland,  and  died  of  grief  on  finding 
herself  deserted ;  and  it  was  Tea  who 
selected  for  the  royal  residence  the  hill 
of  Druim  Caein,  called  from  her  Tea- 
mur  or  Tara — that  is,  the  mound  of 
Tea.*  In  the  second  year  of  his  reign 
Heremon  slew  his  brother  Amergin  iu 
battle,  and  in  subsequent  conflicts  others 
of  his  kinsmen  fell  by  his  hands ;  and 
having  reigned  fifteen  years,  he  died  at 
Rath-Beothaigh,  now  Rathveagh  on  the 
Nore,  in  Kilkenny. 

About  the  period  of  the  Milesian  in- 
vasion the  Cruithnigh,  Cruithnians,  or 
Picts,  so  called,  according  to  the  gener- 
ally received  opinion,  from  having  their 
bodies  tattooed,  or  painted,  are  said  to 
have  paid  a  visit  to  Ireland  previous  to 
their  final  settlement  in  Alba,  or  Scot- 
land. Having  no  wives,  they  obtained 
Milesian  women  in  marriage ;  that  is, 
according  to  some  accounts,  they  mar- 
ried the  widows  of  those  who  had  been 
drowned  with  Heber  Donn  in  the  expe- 
dition from  Spain,  making  a  solemn 
compact  that,  should  they  succeed  in 
conquering  the  country  they  were  about 
to  invade,  the  bovereignty  should'  de- 
scend in  the  female  line.  The  Cruith- 
nians were  of  a  kindred  I'ace  with  the 


Irish  is  Tearahair,  merely  signifies  a  liill  commanding 
a  pleasant  prospect. 


CREDIT  OF  THE  ANCIENT  IRISH  ANNALS. 


21 


Scots  or  Irisla,  and  for  lUiiny  centuries 
dwelt  as  a  distinct  people  in  the  eastern 
part  of  Ulster,  where  some  of  their  di3- 
scendants  were  to  be  found  at  the  time 
of  the  confiscations  under  James  I. ;  but 


the  confused  traditions  about  the  visit 
of  a  Pictish  colony  at  the  same  time 
with  the  children  of  Milesius  are  pro- 
perly treated  as  apocryphal.* 


CHAPTER  III. 

Questions  as  to  the  Credit  of  tlie  Ancient  Irish  Annals. — Defective  Chronology. — The  Test  of  Science  applied. — 
Theories  on  the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  Ireland. — Intellectual  Qualities  of  Firboigs  and  Tuatha  de  Dauanns  — 
Monuments  of  the  latter  People. — Celts. 


TTAVING  thus  far  followed  the 
-■— L  bardic  chroniclers,  or  seanachie?, 
it  is  right  to  pause  awhile  to  consider 
what  amount  of  credit  we  may  place  in 
them ;  and  in  the  nest  place,  what  are 
the  oiDinions  of  those  who  reject  their 
authority.  A  judicious  and  accomplish- 
ed Irish  annalist,  Tighernach,  Abbot 
of  Clonmacnoise,  who  died  so  early  as 
A.  D.  1088,  has  said  that  all  the  Scottish, 
that  is,  Irish,  records  previous  to  the 
reign  of  Cimbaeth,  M'hich  he  fixed  at  the 
3-ear  e.  c.  305,  are  doubtful;  and  wo 
have,  therefore,  good  authority,  inde- 
pendent of  internal  evidence  or  of  the 
opinions  of  modern  writers,  for  placing 
on  them  but  a  modified  reliance.     We 


*  Bede  (Hist.  Eccl.,  lib.  i.,  c.  1)  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  Picts : — "  When  the  Britons, 
beginning  at  the  south,  had  made  themselves  masters  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  island,  it  happened  that  the  nation 
of  the  Picts,  from  Scythia,  as  is  reported,  putting  to  sea 
in  a  few  long  ships,  were  driven  by  the  winds  beyond 
the  shores  of  Britain,-  and  arrived  on  the  northern  coast 
of  Ireland,  where,  finding  the  nation  of  the  Scots,  they 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  settle  among  them,  but  could 

not  succeed  in  obtaining  their  request The  Picts, 

accordingly,  sailing  over  into  Britain,  began  to  inhabit 


must  be  careful,  however,  not  to  carry 
our  doubts  too  far.  These  ancient  rec- 
ords claim  our  veneration  for  their  great 
antiquity,  and  are  themselves  but  the 
channels  of  still  older  traditions.  Wri- 
ting's which  date  from  the  first  aa-es  of 
Christianity  in  Ireland  refer  to  facts 
upon  which  all  our  pre-Christian  his- 
tory hinges,  as  the  then  fixed  historical 
tradition  of  the  country ;  and  the  closest 
study  of  the  history  of  Ireland  shows 
the  impossibility  of  fixing  a  period  pre- 
vious to  which  the  main  facts  related 
by  the  annalists  should  be  rejected  as 
utterly  fabulous.  There  is  no  more 
reason  to  deny  the  existence  of  such 
men  as  Heber  and  Heremon,  and,  there- 

the  northern  parts  thereof Now  the  Picts  had  no 

■wives,  and  asked  them  of  the  Scots,  who  would  not  con- 
sent to  grant  them  on  any  terms  than  that,  when  any 
difficulty  should  arise,  they  should  choose  a  king  from 
the  female  royal  race,  rather  than  from  the  male  ;  which 
custom,  as  is  well  known,  has  been  observed  among  the 
Picts  to  this  day."  See,  for  amjjle  details  about  tho 
Cruithnians  or  Picts,  and  for  all  the  traditions  relative 
to  their  intercourse  with  Ireland,  the  annotations  to  the 
Irish  Nennius. 


0.1 


DEFECTIVE   CHRONOLOGY. 


fu'.e,  of  a  jMilesian  or  Scottish  colony, 
than  there  is  to  question  the  occur- 
rence of  the  battle  of  Clontarf ;  and  the 
traditions  of  the  Firbolgs  and  Tuatha 
de  Danauns  are  so  mixed  up  Avith  our 
■written  history,  so  impressed  on  the 
monuments  and  topography  of  the 
countiy,  and  so  illustrated  in  the  char- 
acteristics of  its  population,  that  no  man 
of  learning  who  had  thoroughly  studied 
the  subject  would  now  think  of  doubting 
their  existence.  But,  as  we  have  said, 
it  is  for  the  main  facts  that  we  claim 
this  credence.  These  fixcts  are,  of 
course,  mixed  up  with  the  quaint  ro- 
mance characteristic  of  the  remote  aa;es 
in  which  they  were  recorded,  and  the 
(rhief  difSculty,  as  in  the  ancient  history 
of  most  countries,  is  to  trace  out  the 
substratum  of  truth  beneath  the  super- 
incumbent mass  of  fable. 

The  chronology  of  the  pre-Christian 
Irish  annals  is  obviously  erroneous,  but 
that  does  not  affect  their  general  au- 
thenticity. They  were  compiled  for  the 
most  jiart  from  such  materials  as  gen- 
ealogical lists  of  kings,  to  whose  reigus 
disputed  periods  of  duration  were  at- 
tributed ;  and  those  who,  in  subsequent 
ages,  endeavored  to  form  regular  series 
of  annals  out  of  such  data,  and  to  make 
them  synchronize  with  the  history  of 
other  countries,  were  unavoidably  liable 
to  ei'ror.  The  Four  Masters,  adopting 
the  chronology  of  the  Septuagint  and 
the    Greeks,    according   to   which    the 


*  Charles  O'Connor,  of  Balenagar,  says,  in  liis  Disser- 
If.tions  on  the  Ilistory  of  Ireland,  that  the  Milesian  inva- 


world  was  5,200  years  old  at  the  birth 
of  our  Savioui',  refer  the  occurrences 
of  Irish  history,  previous  to  the  Chris- 
tian era,  to  epochs  so  remote  as  to  ex- 
pose the  whole  history  to  ridicule ; 
while  O'FIaherty,  endeavoring  to  arrive 
at  a  more  reasonable  computation,  and 
taking  for  his  standard  the  system  of 
Sealiger,  which  makes  the  age  of  the. 
world  before  Christ  some  1250  years 
less,  reduces  the  dates  given  by  the 
Four  Masters  by  many  hundreds  of 
years ;  but  the  degree  of  antiquity 
which  even  he  allows  to  them  surpasses 
credibilit}'.  Thus,  according  to  the  au- 
thor of  the  Ogygia,  the  arrival  of  the 
Milesian  colony  took  place  1015  years 
before  the  Christian  era ;  that  is,  about 
2 GO  years  before  the  building  of  Rome, 
making  it  synchronize  Avith  the  reign  of 
Saul  in  Israel ;  while,  according  to  the 
Four  Masters,  that  event  occurred  more 
than  six  hundred  years  earlier;  that  is, 
many  centui-ies  before  the  foundation 
of  Troy,  or  the  Argonautic  expedition ; 
and  yet,  at  that  remote  period — sixteen 
hundred  years,  according  to  one  compu- 
tation, and  at  least  a  thousand,  accord- 
ing to  another,  before  Julius  Caesar 
found  Britain  still  occupied  by  half-sav- 
age and  half-naked  inhabitants — we  are 
asked  to  believe  that  a  regular  mon- 
archy was  established  in  Ireland,  and 
was  continued  throuo;h  a  known  succes- 
sion  of  kings,  to  the  twelfth  century  !* 
A    chronology    so    improbable    has 


sion  cannot  have  been  much  earlier  or  later  than  the 
year  b.  c.  7G0. 


THE    TEST    OF    SCIENCE    APPLIED. 


23 


naturally  weakened  the  credibility  of 
our  older  annals ;  but  neither  bardic 
legends  nor  erroneous  computations 
can  destroy  the  groundwork  of  truth 
which  we  must  recognize  beneath  them. 

The  ancient  Irish  attributed  the  ut- 
most importance  to  the  truth  of  their 
historic  compositions,  for  social  reasons. 
Their  whole  system  of  society — every 
question  as  to  the  rights  of  property — 
turned  upon  the  descent  of  families  and 
the  principle  of  clanshij') ;  so  that  it  can- 
not be  supposed  that  mere  fables  would 
lie  tolerated  instead  of  f:icts,  where 
v'vei-y  social  claim  was  to  be  decided 
on  their  authority.  A  man's  name  is 
scarcely  mentioned  in  our  annals  with- 
out the  addition  of  his  forefathers  for 
several  generations,  a  thing  which  rarel}' 
occurs  in  those  of  other  countries. 

Again,  when  we  arrive  at  the  era  of 
Christianity  in  Ireland,  we  find  that  our 
ancient  annals  stand  the  test  of  verifica- 
tion by  science  with  a  success  which  not 
only  establishes  their  character  for  truth- 
fulness at  that  period,  but  vindicates  the 
records  of  preceding  dates  involved  in 
it.  Thus,  in  some  of  the  annals,  natural 
phenomena,  such  as  eclipses,  are  record- 
ed, and  these  are  found  to  agree  so  ex- 
actly with  the  calculations  of  astronomy, 

*  For  observations  on  the  comparison  of  the  entries  of 
eclipses  in  the  Irish  annals  with  the  calculations  in  the 
great  French  -svork,  I' Art  de  verifier  les  Dates,  as  a  test 
and  correction  of  the  former,  see  -O'Donovan's  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  and  Doctor 
Wilde's  Report  on  the  Tables  of  Deaths  in  the  Census  of 
1851,  ■where  the  idea  of  the  comparison  has  been  fully 
carried  out.  Thus,  in  the  Annals  of  Innisfallen  we  find, 
"  A.  D.  445,  a  solar  eclipse  at  the  nijith  hour."  This  is 
the  first  eclipse  mentioned  in  the  Irish  annals,  and  it 


as  to  leave  no  room  whatever  to  doubt 
the  general  accuracy  of  documents  found 
in  these  particulars  to  be  so  cori-ect,  at 
least  for  periods  after  the  Christian  era.* 
Now,  comiug  to  the  theories  of  Irish 
origins  entertained  by  those  who  reject 
the  authority  of  the  old  annalists  either 
wholly  or  on  this  particular  point ;  it  is 
certain,  according  to  them,  that  Ireland 
has  invariably  derived  her  population 
from  the  neighboring  shores  of  Britain, 
in  the  same  way  as  Britain  itself  had 
been  jDeopled  from  those  of  Gaul.  It 
was  thus,  they  tell  us,  that  the  Belgae, 
or  Firbolgs,  the  Damnonians,  and  the 
Dananns  came  successively  into  Erin,  as 
well  as,  in  after  times,  that  other  race 
called  Scots,  whose  origin  seems  to  set 
speculation  at  defiance.  Navigation 
was  so  imperfectly  understood  in  those 
ages,  that  such  a  voj-age  as  that  from 
Spain  to  Ireland,  especially  for  a  numer- 
ous squadron  of  small  craft,  is  treated 
with  ridicule.  The  knowledge  of  navi- 
gation,  which  all  admit  the  Greeks,  and 
Trojans,  and  Phoenicians  to  have  pos- 
sessed, is  not  acceded  to  the  early  col- 
onies of  Ireland ;  but  it  is  argued  that 
as  people  spread  naturally  into  adjoin- 
ing countries  visible  from  those  whence 
they  jiroceeded,  so  it  is  only  reasonable 

agrees  with  the  calculated  date  in  I'Art  de  venficr  Ics 
Dates,  where  the  corresponding  entry  is,  "  A  solar  eclipse 
visible  in  northwestern  Europe,  July  20th,  at  half-past 
five,  A.  M."  And  again,  in  the  Annals  of  Tigcrnach, 
"  A.  D.  664.  Darkness  at  the  ninth  hour  on  the  Calends  ol 
May  ;"  while  in  the  French  astronomical  work  already 
quoted,  there  is  noticed  for  that  year, "  A  total  eclipse  of 
the  sun,  visible  to  Europe  and  Africa,  at  half  past  three, 
p.  M.,  1st  of  May." 


24 


THEORIES  OF  ETHNOLOGISTS. 


to  suppose  that  Ireland  received  inhabit- 
ants from  the  coasts  of  Wales  or  Scot- 
land, from  which  her  shores  could  be 
plainly  seen,  rather  than  from  Thrace  or 
Macedou,  or  even  from  Spain.  Similar- 
ity of  names,  also,  comes  to  the  aid  of 
this  theory;  for  it  seems  probable 
enough  that  the  Belgae  and  Dumnonii 
of  Southern  Britain  -n-ere  the  same  race 
with  those  bearing  almost  identically 
the  same  names  in  Ireland.  As  to  the 
name  of  Scots,  it  was  never  heard  of 
before  the  second  or  third  century  of 
the  Christian  era,  when  it  was  given  to 
the  tribes  who  aided  the  Picts  in  har- 
assing the  people  of  South  Britain,  and 
their  masters,  the  Romans.  There  is  no 
Irish  or  any  other  authority  of  an  older 
date  for  the  application  of  the  name  of 
Scots  to  the  people  of  Erin.  Irish  wri- 
ters themselves  su2r2rest  that  sciot,  a  dart 
or  arrow,  may  have  been  the  origin  of 
the  word  Scythia ;  and  with  more  prob- 
ability might  it  have  been  that  of  the 
name  Scoti,  or  Scots,  as  applied  to  men 
ai'med  with  weapons  so  called ;  and 
once  the  name,  from  this  or  any  other 
cause,  came  to  be  applied  to  the  natives 
of  Ireland,  it  is  easy,  we  are  told,  to  im- 
agine how  the  Irish  bards  built  upon  it 


*  Fiacli's  liymn,  admitted  to  be  tlie  composition  of  a 
disciple  of  St.  Patricli,  refers  to  tlie  INIilesian  traditions  of 
the  Irish ;  and  among  the  authorities  most  frequently 
quoted  by  Keating,  O'Flahertj,  and  other  old  writers,  on 
the  period  of  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  Firbolgs,  and  the 
Milesian  colony,  on  account  of  their  -n-orks  being  still 
preserved,  are  Maelmura  of  Fathan,  who  died  A.  D.  884  ; 
Eochy  O'Flyun,  who  died  A.  D.  984  ;  Flan  Mainistreach, 
who  died  A.  D.  10.50  ;  and  GioUa  Kevin,  who  died  A.  D. 
1073 ;  all  of  whom  related  in  verse  the  written  and  oral 
traditions  received  by  themselves  from  preceding:  ages. 


a  fine  romance,  deriving  it  from  an  im- 
aginary daughter  of  King  Pharaoh,  and 
perhaps  borrowing  from  it  also  the  idea 
of  claiminc:  for  their  nation  descent  from 
Scythia,  the  region,  at  that  time,  of  fabu- 
lous heroism.  These  theories  give  wide 
scope  to  the  imagination,  and  would  sub- 
stitute for  the  traditions  of  the  old  annal- 
ists conjectures  quite  as  vague  and  in- 
conclusive, however  ingenious  and  learn- 
ed they  may  be.* 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  Fir- 
bolgs, or  Belgians,  were  a  pastoral  peo- 
ple, inferior  in  knowledge  to  the  Tuatha 
de  Dananns,  by  whom,  although  the 
latter  were  less  numerous,  they  were 
kept  in  subjection.  It  is  also  admitted 
that  the  Tuatha  de  Danann  race  were 
superior  in  their  knowledge  of  the  use- 
ful arts  and  in  sreneral  information  to 
the  Gadelian,  or  Scottish  colony,  who, 
however,  excelled  them  in  energy,  cour- 
age, and  probably  in  most  physical  qual- 
ities. To  their  intellectual  superiority 
the  Danann  colony  owed  their  character 
of  necromancei's,  as  it  was  natural  that 
a  rude  and  ignorant  people  at  that  age 
should  look  upon  skilled  ■workmanship 
and  abstruse  studies  as  associated  with 
the  supernatural. 

Shortly  after  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in  Ireland, 
the  chronicles  of  the  bards  were  replaced  by  regular  an 
nals,  kept  in  several  of  the  monasteries,  and  from  this 
period  we  may  look  upon  the  record  of  events  in  our  liis- 
tory  as,  morally  speaking,  accurate.  The  statement  of 
Mr.  Moore,  and  of  others  of  his  school,  that  the  primitive 
traditions  of  Irish  history  were  fabricated  to  please  a  fall- 
en nation  with  delusions  of  past  glories,  is  monstrously 
absurd.  They  were  in  existence,  and  were  cherished  by 
the  people,  ages  before  the  fallen  circiunstances  which 
Mr.  Moore  contemplates. 


MOm^MENTS   OF  THE   EARLY   RACES. 


9^1 


It  is  probable  tbat  by  the  Tuatha  de 
Dananns  mines  were  first  worked  in  Ire- 
land ;  and  it  is  generally  believed  tbat 
tliey  were  the  artificers  of  those  beauti- 
fullj-  sbaped  bi'onze  swords  and  spear- 
heads that  have  lieen  found  in  Ireland, 
and  of  which  so  many  fine  specimens 
may  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  the  Iloj'al 
Irish  Academy.  The  sepulchral  monu- 
ments, also,  of  tbis  people  evince  extra- 
ordinary powers  of  mind  on  the  part  oi" 
those  by  wbom  they  were  erected. 
There  is  evidence  to  show  tbat  the  vast 
mounds,  or  artificial  bills,  of  Drogbeda, 
Knowtb,  Dowtb,  and  New  Grange, 
along  tlie  banks  of  the  Boyne,  witb  sev- 
eral minor  tumuli  in  tbe  same  neighbor- 
hood, were  erected  as  tbe  tombs  of  Tua- 
tha de  Dauann  kings  and  chieftains;  and 
as  such  they  only  rank  after  the  pyra- 
mids of  Egypt  for  the  stupendous  eiforts 
which  were  required  to  raise  them.* 

As  to  the  Firbolgs,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  there  are  any  monuments  re- 
maining of  their  first  sway  iu  Ireland ; 
but  the  famous  Dun  Aengus  and  other 
great  stone  forts  iu  the  islands  of  Aran 
are  well-authenticated  remnants  of  their 
•  militarj^  structures  of  the  period  of  the 


*  See  Dr.  Petrie's  "  History  of  Tara  Hill,  "  and  Dr. 
Wilde's  "  Beauties  of  the  BojTie  and  Blackwater." 

f  In  the  Book  of  MacFirbis,  written  about  the  year 
1650,  it  is  said  that  "  every  one  who  is  black,  loquacious, 
lying,  tale-telling,  or  of  low  and  grovelling  mind,  is  of  the 
Firbolg  descent ;"  and  that  "  every  one  who  is  fair-haired, 
of  large  size,  fond  of  music  and  horse-riding,  and  practises 
the  art  of  magic,  is  of  Tuatha  de  Danann  descent."  See 
these  passages  quoted  by  Dr.  WUde  in  an  ethnological 
disquisition  on  these  ancient  races,  founded  on  the 
peculiarities  of  human  crania  discovered  under  circum- 
Btances  that  identify  them  as  belonging  to  the  two  races 
4 


Christian  era,  or  thereabouts.  That  the 
Tuatha  de  Dananns  were  not  a  warlike 
people  appears  from  the  tradition  of 
their  remonstrance  asrainst  the  first  land- 
ing  of  the  Milesians,  when  they  admitted 
that  they  had  no  standing  ai'my  to  resist 
invasion. f 

Again  the  question  is  raised,  were 
these  Firbolgs,  and  Tuatha  de  Dananns, 
and  Gadelians,  all  Celts?  And,  in  re- 
ply, it  must  be  said  that  the  term  Celt, 
or  Kelt,  as  it  is  more  correctly  jiro- 
nounced,  was  unknown  to  the  Irish 
themselves ;  that  the  word  is  of  classic 
origin,  and  was  probably  as  indefinite 
as  most  geographical  names  and  dis- 
tinctions at  that  period  appear  to  have 
been.  Finally,  it  is  suggested  that  in 
all  probability  none  of  the  immigra- 
tions into  Ireland  were  unmixed,  and 
that  the  first  population  of  the  isl- 
and was  composed  of  Celtic,  Slavonic, 
and  Teutonic  races,  mixed  up  iu  dif- 
ferent proportions.  A  Scythian  origin 
is  claimed  for  all  in  the  Irish  tradi- 
tions, in  which  all  are  traced  to  Japhet, 
the  son  who  received  the  blessing,  and 
thi'ough  him  to  the  cradle  of  our 
race.;}: 


respectively.    "  Beauties  of  the  Boyne  and  Blackwater," 

pp.  213,  239. 

i  O'Flaherty,  in  the  first  part  of  the  Ogygia,  gives  the 
following  as  the  results  of  his  researches  about  the  origi- 
nal inhabitants  of  Ireland : — That  the  first  four  colonies 
came  into  Ireland  from  Great  Britain ;  that  Partholan 
and  Nemedius,  descendants  of  Gomar  by  Riphat,  came 
from  Northern,  and  the  Firbolg  colony  from  Southern 
Britain  ;  that  these  races  spoke  different  languages ;  that 
the  Tuatha  de  Dananns  were  the  descendants  of  the  Ne. 
medians,  who,  after  sojourning  in  Scandinavia,  retm'ned 
into  North  Britain,  and  thence,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  into 


26 


THE  MILESIAN  KINGS   OF  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Milesian  Kings  of  Ireland. — Ixial  the  Prophet. — Tiemmas. — Crom-Cruach  ;  the  Paganism  of  the  Ancient 
Irish. — Social  Progress. — The  Triennial  Assembly  or  Parliament  of  Tara. — Cimbaeth. — Queen  Macha. — 
Foundation  of  Emania. — Ugony  the  Great. — New  Division  of  Ireland.— Pagan  Oath. — A  Murrain. — Maeve, 
Queen  of  Connaught. — ^Wars  of  Connaught  and  Ulster. — Bardic  Romances. 


FROM  the  conquest  of  Ireland  (b.  c. 
1700*)  by  the  sons  of  Gollamh,  or 
Milesius,  to  its  conversion  to  Christian- 
ity by  St.  Patrick  (a.  d.  432),  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  sovereigns  are  enu- 
merated, whose  sway  extended  over  the 
whole  island,  independent  of  the  petty 
kings  and  chieftains  of  provinces  and 
particular  districts.  Of  this  number, 
sixty  were  of  the  race  of  Heremon, 
twenty-nine  of  the  posterity  of  Heber 
Finn,  twenty-four  of  the  line  of  Ir,  three 
were  descended  from  Lugaid,  the  son 
of  Ith,  one  was  a  plebeian,  or  Firbolg, 
and  one  was  a  woman.  The  history  of 
their  reigns  is,  to  a  great  extent,  made 
up  of  wars  either  among  different 
branches  of  theii'  own  race  or  against 
the  Firbolgs  and  othera ;  but  numerous 
events  are  also  recorded  which  mark 
the  progress  of  civilization,  such  as  the 

the  north  of  Ireland ;  that  tho  Dsknanns  being  subdued 
by  the  Scots,  the  Firbolgs,  under  the  latter,  again  flour- 
ished in  Ireland,  and  enjoyed  the  sovereignty  of  Con- 
naught for  several  ages ;  that  the  Fomorians,  whether  the 
aborigines  of  Ireland  or  not,  were  not  descendants  of 
Cham,  nor  from  the  sliores  of  Africa,  but  from  that  coun- 
try whence  the  Danes,  in  afterages,  invaded  Ireland ;  and 
finally,  that  the  Firbolgs  and  Tuatlia  de  Dananns  had 
frequent  intercourse  with  each  other  before  the  conquest 
of  Ireland  by  the  latter. 


clearing  of  plains  from  woods,  the  enact- 
ment of  laws,  the  erection  of  palaces, 
&c.  The  breaking  forth  of  several 
rivers  and  other  natural  phenomena  are 
mentioned,  and  a  great  number  of  le- 
gends are  related,  many  of  them  curious 
specimens  of  ancient  romance. 

Irial,  sui-named  Faidh,  or  the  Proph 
et,  son  of  Heremon,  began  the  struggle 
against  the  Fomorians  and  Firbolgs,  the 
latter  of  whom  kept  the  Milesian  armies 
occasionally  occupied  for  centuries  after. 
The  tribes  of  Firbolgs  most  frequently 
mentioned  are  the  Ernai  and  the  Mar- 
tinei,  the  former  of  whom  are  described 
in  one  place  as  holding  the  present 
county  of  Kerry,  and  the  latter  the 
southern  portion  of  the  county  of  Lim- 
erick ;  and  in  the  reign  of  Fiacha  Lav- 
rainne,  who  was  killed  in  the  year  B.  c. 
1449,  the  Ernai  are  stated  to  have  been 


*  We  continue  to  employ  the  chronology  of  the  Four 
Masters,  simply  turning  the  years  of  the  world  into  the 
corresponding  years  before  Christ,  as  being  more  intel- 
ligible ;  but  the  reader  wiU  observe  that,  as  already 
stated,  no  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  these  dates  until 
we  arrive  -(rithin  a  few  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 
All  the  computations  at  this  early  period  are  equally 
uncertain  ;  and  we  insert  the  dates  merely  for  the  sake 
of  method,  to  mark  the  order  of  events,  the  relative  dura, 
tion  of  reigns,  &c. 


THE   IDOL   CROM   CRUACH. 


27 


routed  in  battle  on  a  plain  where  Lough 
Erne,  so  called  from  them,  subsequently^ 
flowed  over  the  slain.  Irial  Faidh  died 
on  Magh  Muai,  which  is  supposed  to  be 
the  plain  near  Knock  Moy,  a  few  miles 
from  Tuam,  after  clearing  a  great  many 
extensive  plains  and  erecting  several 
forts  during  the  ten  years  of  his  reign. 

B.  c.  1620. — Among  the  early  Mile- 
sian kings  a  prominent  place  is  assigned 
to  Tiernmas,  who  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  to  institute  the  public  worshijj 
of  idols  in  Ireland.  The  notion  which 
we  can  form  of  the  paganism  of  the 
ancient  Irish  is  extremely  obscure.  Ow- 
ing to  the  scanty  information  which  the 
old  manuscripts  afford  us  on  the  subject, 
eveiy  one  who  has  written  about  it  has 
had  ample  scope  for  his  own  favorite 
theory,  and  some  of  these  theories  have 
been  advanced  with  scarcely  a  shadow 
of  foundation.  We  shall  revert  to  this 
subject  again,  and  for  the  present  shall 
refer  only  to  the  worship  of  Crom- 
Cruach,  the  chief  idol  of  the  Irish,  which 
stood  in  Magh-Slecht,  or  the  Plain  of 
Adoration,  in  the  ancient  territory  of 
Breifny.*  This  idol,  which  was  covered 
with  gold,  was  said  to  represent  a  hide- 
ous monster,  and  its  name  implies  that 
it  was  stooped,  or  crooked,  and  also 
that  it  was  black,  for  it  is  sometimes 
called  Crom-Duv.  It  was  surrounded 
by  twelve  smaller  idols,  and  was  de- 
stroyed  by   St.    Patrick,    who   merely 


*  The  village  of  Ballymagaiiran  and  tlie  island  of 
Port,  in  tlie  present  county  of  Cavan,  are  situated  in  the 
plain  anciently  called  Magh-Slecht.  The  idol  stood  near 
«  river  called  (3»thard,  and  St.  Patrick  erected  a  church 


stretched  forth  towards  it,  from  a  dis- 
tance, his  crozier,  which  was  called  the 
Staff  of  Jesus.  It  is  probable  that  Tiern- 
mas only  erected  the  rude  statue,  and 
that  he  found  the  worship  prevailing  in 
the  country,  and  handed  down,  it  may 
be,  from  the  earliest  Milesians ;  but,  at 
all  events,  he  was  punished  for  his  idol- 
atry by  .a  teriible  judgment,  having 
been  struck  dead,  with  a  great  multi- 
tude of  his  people,  while  prostrate  be- 
■fore  Crora-Cruach,  on  the  Night  of  Sa- 
vain,  or  All  Hallow  Eve.  Tiernmas 
reigned  seventy-seven,  or,  according  to 
others,  eighty  years ;  and  it  was  under 
him  that  gold  was  first  smelted  in  Ire- 
land, in  the  district  of  Foharta,  east  of 
the  river  Lifi'ey,  and  that  goblets  and 
brooches  were  first  covered  with  gold. 
According  to  Keating,  it  was  he  who 
first  ordered  that  the  rank  of  persons 
should  be  distinguished  by  the  number 
of  colors  in  their  garments :  thus,  the 
slave  should  have  but  one  color,  the 
peasant  two,  the  soldier  three,  the 
keeper  of  a  house  of  hospitality  four, 
the  chieftain  of  a  territory  five,  the 
oUav,  or  man  of  learning,  six;  and  in 
the  clothes  of  kings  and  queens  seven 
colors  were  allowed.  This  rea;ulation  is 
attributed  by  the  Four  Masters  to  the 
successor  of  Tiernmas,  and  the  rule  is 
also  somewhat  differently  stated.f 

In  the  reign  of  Enna  Airgeach,  b.  c. 
1383,  silver  shields  were  first  made  at 

called  Donoghmore  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
place.  (See  O'Donovan's  notes  at  reign  of  Tighemmas, 
Four  Masters,  A.  M.  3G56.) 

f  The  Scottish  plaid  is  traced  to  this  early  origin. 


SOCIAL  PROGRESS. 


Ail-get-Ross,  or  tlie  Silver  Wood,  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Nore.  They  were 
given,  together  with  horses  and  chariots, 
to  the  heroes  and  nobility.  King  Mone- 
mon,  who  died  of  plague,  b.  c.  1328,  first 
caused  the  nobility  to  wear  chains  of 
gold  on  their  necks,  and  rings  of  the 
same  metal  on  their  fingers.  Deep 
wells  were  first  dusj  in  the  reitSfn  of  Fia- 
cha  Finailches,  by  whom  the  town  of 
Ceanannus,  or  Kells,  was  founded,  b.  c. 
1200.  Four-horsed  chariots  were  first 
used  in  the  time  of  Roiachty,  who  was 
killed  by  lightning  at  Dun  Severick, 
near  the  Giant's  Causeway,  b.  c.  1024. 
Stipends,  or  wages,  were  first  paid  to 
soldiers,  and  probably  to  other  persons 
in  public  employments,  in  the  reign  of 
Sedna  Innarry,  b.  c.  910 ;  and  silver 
coin  is  stated  to  have  been  first  struck 
in  Ireland,  at  the  silver  works  of  Air- 
get-Ross,  in  the  reign  of  Enda  Dearg, 
who,  with  many  others,  died  of  plague, 
at  Slieve  Mish,  b.  c.  881. 

But  the  greatest  step  in  social  prog- 
ress at  that  remote  period  of  Irish  his- 
tory was  the  institution  of  the  Feis 
Teavrach,  or  ti-iennial  assembly  of  Tara, 
by  Ollav  Fola  (Ollamh  Fodhla),  the 
beginning  of  whose  reign  is  fixed  by  the 
Four  Masters  at  the  year  of  the  world 
3883,  corresponding  with  the  year  b.  c. 
131Y.  If  we  supj^ose  the  event  ante- 
dated even  by  several  centuries,  this  as- 
sembly would,  nevertheless,  appear  to 
be  one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  a 
national  convocation  or  parliament  in 
any  country.  All  the  chieftains  or 
heads   of  septs,,  bards,  historians,  and 


military  leaders  throughout  the  country 
were  regularly  summoned,  and  M'ere 
required  to  attend  under  the  penalty 
of  being  treated  as  the  king's  enemies. 
The  meeting  Avas  held  in  a  larcre  oblons? 
hall,  and  the  first  three  days  were  spent 
in  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  the  king, 
who  entertained  the  entire  assembly 
during;  its  sittins^s.  The  bards  give  lonw 
and  glowing  accounts  of  the  magnifi- 
cence displayed  on  these  occasions,  of 
the  formalities  employed,  and  of  the 
business  transacted.  Tables  Avere  ar- 
ranged along  the  centre  of  the  hall,  and 
on  the  walls  at  either  side  were  suspend- 
ed the  banners  or  arms  of  the  chiefs,  so 
that  each  chief  on  entering;  mii^ht  take 
his  seat  under  his  own  escutcheon.  Or- 
ders Avei'e  issued  by  sound  of  trumpet, 
and  all  the  forms  were  characterized  by 
great  solemnity.  "What  may  have  l^eeu 
the  authority  of  this  assembly,  or 
Avhether  it  had  any  power  to  enact  laAvs, 
is  not  clear ;  but  it  would  appear  that 
one  of  its  principal  functions  was  the 
inspection  of  the  national  records,  the 
AATiters  of  Avhich  were  obligred  to  the 
strictest  accuracy  under  the  Aveightiest 
p^enalties.  These  accounts  of  the  Feis 
of  Tara  must  be  taken  with  due  alloAv- 
ance  for  the  coloring  which  the  more 
ancient  traditions  on  the  subject  re- 
ceived from  the  later  writers  Avho  have 
delivered  them  to  us ;  but  hoAvever 
cautiously  we  regard  them — and  no 
student  of  antiquity  Avill  now-a-days 
venture  wholly  to  reject  them — they 
should  satisfy  us  that  the  pagan  Irish 
were  acquainted  with  the  art  of  writing. 


CIMBAETH. 


29 


notwitlistandiug  the  opinion  to  the  con- 
traiy  of  so  many  moderns,  ■who  hold 
that  letters  were  not  inti'oduced  into 
Ireland  before  ihe  time  of  St.  Patrick. 

Besides  the  establishment  of  the  trien- 
nial assembly',  OUav  Fola  appears  to 
have  instituted  other  wise  regulations 
for  the  government  of  the  countrj^ 
Over  every  cantred,  or  hundred,  he  ap- 
pointed a  chieftain,  and  over  each  town- 
land  a  kind  of  prefect  or  secondary 
chief,  all  being  the  servants  of  the  king 
of  Ireland.  He  constructed  a  rath  on 
Tara,  called  from  him  Mur-OUavan,  and 
died  there,  after  a  useful  reign  of  forty 
years.* 

A  few  of  the  Irish  monarchs  enjayed 
very  long  reigns.  Thus,  Sirna  Selach 
governed  Ireland  for  150  yeai's;  and  in 
a  battle  which  he  fought  against  the 
race  of  Heber,  the  Fomoriaus  having 
been  brought  iu  to  aid  the  latter,  a 
plague  fell  upon  them  during  the  tight, 
and  many  thousands  of  his  enemies 
perished  on  the  spot.  And  of  king  Sla- 
noll  (that  is,  all  health)  it  is  related 
that  there  was  no  sickness  iu  Ireland 
during  his  reign ;  that  he  himself  died 
without  any  apparent  cause ;  and  that 
his  body  remained  uncorruj)ted  and 
without  changing  color  for  several  years 
after  his  death. 

B.  c.  Vl6. — The   reigu    of    Cimbaeth 


*  The  real  name  of  this  king  ■was  Eochy  (pronounced 
Achy),  but  he  is  only  known  by  his  surname  of  Ollav 
Fola,  that  is,  the  chief  poet  or  learned  man  (Ollav)  of 
Ireland  (Fola). 

f  The  Four  Masters  assign  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
to  A.  M.  4484,  corresponding  with  the  year  B.  c.  716. 


brings  us  to  the  commencement  of  what, 
according  to  Tigernach,  may  be  consid- 
ered as  the  authentic  period  of  the 
Irish  annals.f  It  is  also  a  remarkable 
epoch  for  other  reasons,  and  especially 
for  the  foundation  of  Emania,  the  royal 
palace  of  Ulster.  The  story  of  this 
palace  is  curious.  About  this  period 
there  lived  three  princes,  Hugh  Roe,  or 
the  Ked ;  Dihorba,  and  Cimbaeth  (pro- 
nounced Kimbahe),  the  sons  of  three 
brothers,  and  all  three-  claimed  equal 
right  to  the  crown.  A  contest  conse- 
quently arose,  which  was  finally  adjust- 
ed by  a  solemn  engagement  that  they 
should  reign  in  turn  for  seven  years 
each  ;  and  this  agreement  was  strictly 
carried  out,  until,  at  the  end  of  his  third 
period  of  seven  years,  Hugh  Roe  was 
drowned  at  Easroe,  or  Red  Hugh's  Cat- 
aract,!}; and  left  a  daughter,  Macha,  sur- 
named  Mongroe,  or  the  Red-haired,  who, 
when  her  father's  turn  to  rule  came 
round  again,  claimed  it  in  his  stead,  and 
made  war  on  the  other  two  competitors 
to  assert  her  right.  A  battle  was  fought, 
in  which  the  red-haired  lady  was  victori- 
ous; and  Dihorba  having  been  slain, 
Macha  arranged  the  dispute  with  the 
survivor,  Cimbaeth,  by  marrying  him 
and  making  him  king.  She  then,  as  the 
legend  goes,  followed  the  five  sous  of 
Dihorba  into  Connaught,  captured  them 


O'Flaherty  fixed  it  at  the  year  B.  c.  353  ;  Keating  about 
B.  C.  4G0  ;  and  Tigernach  at  B.  c.  305.  This  diversity 
exemplifies  the  uncertainty  of  early  Irish  chronology. 

i  Now  Assaroe,  or  the  Salmon  Leap,  on  the  river  Erne 
at  Ballvshannon,  where  Hugh  Roe  was  buried  in  th« 
mound  now  called  Mullaghshee. 


80 


UGONY  THE  GREAT. 


by  stratagem  among  tlie  rocks  of  Burrin, 
and  compelled  them  to  build  lier  a 
palace,  the  site  of  which  she  herself 
marked  out  with  the  bodkin  or  pin  of 
her  cloak,  whence  the  name  of  the  new 
palace,  Eamhuiii^  which  signifies  a  ueck- 
pin.  At  all  events,  it  was  at  the  desire 
of  Macha,  and  in  the  reign  of  her  hus- 
band, Cimbaeth,  that  the  i:)alace  of  Ema- 
nia,  so  celebrated  in  the  history  of  Ire- 
laud  for  many  centuries  after,  was  con- 
structed. This  Avas  the  resort  of  the 
Red-branch  Knights,  and  the  palace  of 
the  kings  of  Ulster  for  855  years,*  until 
finally  destroyed,  as  we  shall  see,  by 
the  three  Collas.  After  the  death  of 
Cimbaeth,  Macha  reigned  as  absolute 
(jueen  of  Ireland  for  seven  years,  when 
she  was  slain  by  her  successor,  Rachty 
Uidearg,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  slain  by 
L'gaine  Mor,  or  Ugony  the  Great,  who 
had  ])een  fostered  by  Cimbaeth  and 
Macha,  and  thus  avenged  the  death  of 
his  royal  foster-mother. 

B.  c.  633. — Ugony,  who  reigned  forty 
years,  is  said  to  have  carried  his  vic- 
torious arms  far  out  of  Ireland,  so  that 
his  power  was  acknowledged  "  all  over 
the  west  of  Europe,  as  far  as  Muir-Toir- 
riau,"  or  the  Mediterranean  sea.  He 
divided  Ireland  among  his  twenty-five 
children,  and  exacted  from  the  people 
an  oath,  according  to  the  ancient  Irish 


*  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise.  The  remainB  of  the  palace 
of  Eamhuin,  or  Emania,  is  now  a  very  large  rath,  cor- 
ruptly called  the  Navan  fort,  situated  about  two  miles 
west  of  Armagh.  Near  the  hill  is  a  townland  which 
still  bears,  in  its  name  of  Creeveroe  (Craobh-ruadh),  or 
the  Red-branch,  a  memorial   of  the  ancient  glory  of 


pagan  form,  "  by  the  sun  and  moon,  the 
sea,  the  dew,  and  colors,  and  all  the 
elements  visible  and  invisible,"  that  the 
sovereignty  of  Erin  should  not  be  ta- 
ken from  his  descendants  forever.  This 
mode  of  binding  posterity  appears  to 
have  been  a  favorite  one,  as  we  find  it 
again  adopted,  in  the  same  precise  form, 
by  Tuathal  Techtmar,  one  of  Ugony's 
descendants.  The  subdivision  of  Ireland 
into  twenty-five  parts  was  preserved  for 
300  years.f 

Ugony  the  Great  experienced  the 
same  fate  as  nearly  all  these  ancient 
sovereigns,  who,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, were  slain  each  by  his  successor ; 
and  amonor  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
succeeding  princes  we  find  one  named 
Maen,  better  known  as  Lavry  Long- 
seach,  or  Lowry  of  the  Ships,  who, 
having  been  driven  into  exile  by  his 
uncle,  Covagh,  son  of  Ugony,  lived  some 
time  in  Gaul,  and  returning  thence  with 
2,000  foreigners,  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Wexford,  and  marched  rapidly  to  the 
royal  residence  at  Dinrye,  on  the  river 
Barrow,  which  he  attacked  at  night, 
killing  "the  king,  his  uncle,  and  thirty 
of  the  nobles,  and  setting  fire  to  the 
palace,  which  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
He  then  seized  the  crown,  and  having 
reigned  nineteen  years,  was,  according 
to  the  customary  rule,  killed  by  his 


the  place. — (See  Stuart's  "  Historical  Memoirs  of   Ar- 
magh.") 

f  Of  Ugony's  children  twenty-two  were  sons,  and  of 
these  only  two  left  issue,  all  who  claim  to  be  of  the  race 
ofHeremon  tracing  their  descent  through  these  two  sons 
of  Ugony. 


MAEVE,  QUEEN  OF  CONNAUGHT. 


31 


successor  (b.  c.  523).  Many  legends  are 
related  of  this  Lowry  of  tlie  Ships; 
and  it  is  said  that  the  foreigners  who 
came  with  him  from  Gaul  were  armed 
with  broad-headed  lances  or  javelins 
(called  in  Irish  laiffJme),  whence  the 
province  of  Leinster  has  derived  its 
name.* 

For  some  centuries,  about  this  period, 
few  events  of  note  are  recorded.  In 
the  reign  of  Bresail  Bodivo  (b.  c.  200) 
tliere  was  a  mortality  of  kine,  so  great 
that,  accordins:  to  the  Annals  of  Clon- 
macnoise,  "there  were  no  more  then 
left  alive  but  one  bull  and  one  heifer 
m  the  whole  kingdom,  which  bull  and 
heifer  lived  in  a  place  called  Gleann 
Sawasge,"  that  is,  the  Glen  of  the  Heifer, 
the  name  of  a  remarkable  vallej^  in  the 
county  of  Kerry,  where  the  tradition  is 
still  preserved. 

B.  c.  142. — Eochy,  or  Achy,  surnamed 
Feyleach  (Feidhleach),  from  a  habit  of 
constantly  sighing,  rescinded  Ugony 
More's  division  of  Ireland  into  twenty- 
five  parts,  and  divided  the  island  into 


*  Tliis  origin  of  tlie  name  is  more  generally  received 
tlian  the  similar  one  mentioned  above,  when  treating  of 
the  Firbolg  immigration. 

f  The  return  of  a  number  of  the  Firbolgs  to  Ireland, 
in  the  time  of  Queen  Maeve,  is  an  interesting  fact  in  our 
history.  It  is  stated  in  a  MS.  account  of  the  Firbolgs,  by 
MacFiibis  (for  the  translation  of  a  portion  of  which,  as 
well  as  for  the  ideutiScation  of  the  names  that  follow,  we 
are  indebted  to  Professor  Eugene  Curry),  that  the  rem- 
nant of  that  people  who  continued  in  the  Danish  islands 
(the  Hebrides)  were  about  tliis  period  banished  by  the 
Picts,  and  that  they  passed  over  to  Ireland,  where  they 
obtained,  upon  rent,  the  lands  of  Rath-Cealtchair,  Rath- 
Courach,  Rath  Comar,  &c.,  in  Meath.  The  rent,  however, 
was  too  heav)',  and  they  eloped  with  all  their  movables 
over  the  Shannon,  and  received  from  Aible  (as  lie  is  here 
soiled)  and  Meabli,  the  king  and  queen  of  that  country 


five  provinces,  over  each  of  which  he 
appointed  a  minor  king,  tributary  to 
himself.  To  one  of  these,  Tinne,  the 
king  of  Connaught,  he  gave  in  marriage 
his  daughter  Maeve  (Meadhbh)  or  Mab, 
or  Maude,  celebrated  in  the  old  poetic 
chronicles  for  her  beauty  and  masculine 
bravery,  with  which,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, she  did  not  combine  the  quality 
of  feminine  modesty.  She  figures  as  the 
heroine  in  many  of  the  strange  romances 
of  the  period ;  among  the  peasantry  her 
memory  has  descended  to  the  present 
day  as  that  of  the  queen  of  the  Fairies 
of  Connau2;ht,  and  in  her  elfin  charactei', 
although  greatly  metamorphosed,  she 
is  immortalized  as  the  queen  Mab  of 
English  fairy  mythology. 

After  the  death  of  Tinne,  Maeve 
reigned  alone  as  queen  of  Connaught 
for  ten  years,  and  then  married  Oilioll, 
commander  of  the  martial  tribe  of  the 
Gamanradians,  or  Damuonian  knights 
of  lorras,  a  Firbolgic  sept,  also  cele- 
brated bj'^  the  bards  as  the  Clauna 
Morna.f     She  made  him  king  of  Con- 


(Connanght),  lands  running  along  the  coast  from  Cruach 
Patrick  to  Loop  Head,  and  embracing  the  southern  parts 
of  Galway  and  Roscommon,  and  all  Clare.  They  were 
called  the  Clann  Umoir  on  their  coming  into  Ireland  on 
this  occasion,  from  Aengus,  the  son  of  Umor,  who  was 
their  king.  The  lands  which  they  received  in  the  west, 
chiefly  on  the  seaboard,  continued  to  beai  their  names. 
Here  are  a  few  of  them  : — "  Aengus,  the  son  of  Umor,  at 
Ihm  Aengusa,  in  Arann ;  Cutra,  at  Loch  Cutra  (near 
Gort) ;  Cime,  at  Loch  Cime  (now  Lough  Hacket) ;  Adhar. 
son  of  Umor,  at  Magh  Adhair  (poetically  for  Thomond) ; 
Slil,  at  Muirbheach  5Iil  (now  Murvagh,  near  Oranmore) ; 
Doolach,  at  Daoil  (?) ;  and  Endach,  his  brother,  at  Teachan- 
Eandaigh  (?) ;  Bir,  at  Rinn  Beara  West  (now  Rinnbar- 
row,  in  Lough  Dergart,  in  the  Shannon) ;  Mogli,  at  Inn- 
sibh  Mogh  (Clew  Bay  islands) ;  lorgus,  at  Ceann  Boirne 
(Black  Head) ;  Banne  Badanbel,  at  Laighlinne  (?) ;  Con 


82 


B.UIDIC  ROMANCES. 


naught,  and  survived  him,  although  he 
lived  to  an  advanced  age.  The  Con- 
naught  palace  of  Cruachan  was  erected 
by  her;  and  in  her  time  a  war  which 
lasted  for  seven  years  broke  out  between 
Ulster  and  Connaught,  when  the  Ga- 
manradians  of  lorras  Domnan,  and  the 
knights  of  the  Craev  Roe,  or  Red 
Branch  of  Emania,*  were  arrayed 
against  each  other,  and  performed  won- 
derful exploits  of  valor,  queen  Maeve 
herself,  at  the  head  of  her  heroes,  dash- 
ing into  Ulster  with  her  war-chariots, 
and  sweeping  the  cattle  of  the  rich  fields 
of  Louth  before  her  across  the  Shannon. 
This  deed  has  been  celebrated  in  the 
ancient  historic  tale  of  the  Tain  ho 
Cnailgne^  or  Cattle-spoil  of  ■  Cooley. 
The  bards  have  indeed  involved  the 
whole  of  this  period  in  the  wildest  ro- 
mance, tainted,  as  might  be  expected, 
by  pagan  immorality,  and  darkened  by 
deeds  of  cruelty  in  warfare. f  They 
relate  as  the  cause  of  this  war  a  moving 
tale  about  the  fair  Deardry  and  the  three 
sons  of  Uisneach,  and    the  cruelty  of 


dium  (not  Concliubliar)  on  tlie  Sea,  in  Inis  Meadhain 
(one  of  the  Arran  islands) ;  Lothracli,  at  Tulaigli  Lotli- 
raigli  (?) ;  Taman,  son  of  Umor,  at  Rinn  Tamain,  in  Mcad- 
raidhu  (near  Galway) ;  Conall  Caol,  son  of  Aengiis,  son 
of  Um(;r,at  Carnconciill, in  Aidline(now  the  barony  ofKU- 
tartan  in  Galway);  Measca,  at  Loch  Measca  (Lough 
llasl;);  Asal,  the  sou  of  Umor,  at  Magh  Asail,  in  Mun- 
stur  (plain  round  Tory  Hill,  near  Croom);  Beus  Beanu, 
sou  of  Umor,  the  poet,  &c." 

*  That  the  ancient  Irish  in  very  remote  times  had 
certain  local  orders  of  knighthood,  cannot  be  denied ; 
and  the  statement  that  Cuchiillainn,  was  admitted 
among  the  Red-branch  Knights  of  Emania  at  the  age  of 
seven,  receives  a  carious  illustration  from  an  incident 
recorded  Ijy  Froissart,  ■who  relates  that  when  four  Irish 
kings  were  offered  the  honor  of  knighthood  by  Richard, 


Connor  MacNessa,  king  of  Ulster ;  but 
the  more  probable  account  of  the  mat- 
ter is,  that  Feargus  Rogy,  who  -was 
driven  from  Ulster  by  Connor  in  one  of 
their  intestine  broils,  fled  into  Con- 
naught,  and  engaged  the  interest, 
together  with  the  affections,  of  Queen 
Maeve,  and  by  her  assistance  made  in- 
cursions into  the  territory  of  Connor 
MacNessa.  Among  the  champions  of 
Emania  in  this  war  were  Cuchullainn, 
and  Conall  Cearnach ;  and  among  tlip 
Connaught  heroes  were  Ceat  MacMa 
gach,  the  brother  of  King  Oilioll,  and 
Ferdia  MacDamaiu,  all  names  of  Os- 
sianic  celebrity. 

When  Maeve  was  considerably  more 
than  100  years  old  she  was  treacherously 
killed  by  the  sou  of  Connor,  in  revenge 
for  the  death  of,  his  father,  who  was 
slain  by  Maeve's  people ;  and  among 
her  numerous  children  were  three,  ot 
whom  Feargus  Rogy  was  the  father, 
named  Kiai-,  Conmac,  and  Core,  the 
progenitors  of  many  of  the  families  of 
the  west  and  south  of  Ireland.     Maeve 


king  of  England,  they  stated  that  it  had  been  already 
conferred  on  them,  according  to  the  custom  of  their  own 
country,  when  they  were  but  seven  years  of  age. — (Frois- 
sart, vol.  iv.,  chap.  Ixiv.) 

t  About  this  period  popular  resentment  rose  so  high 
throughout  Ireland  against  the  fileas  or  bards,  for  their 
abuse  of  the  numerous  privOeges  which  they  enjoyed, 
and  their  perversion  of  the  laws,  that  a  general  outbreak 
against  them  took  place,  and  they  were  expelled,  indis- 
criminately, from  a  great  part  of  the  coimtry  ;  but  the 
tide  of  excitement  was  stayed  by  Connor  MacNessa,  who 
prevailed  on  both  parties  to  agree  to  certain  reforms, 
and  set  the  principal  fileas  to  work  upon  a  codification 
of  the  laws,  which  was  accepted  by  the  country  at  large, 
together  with  the  reinstatement  of  the  expeDed  fileas. — 
(O'Conor's  Dissertations,  p.  131,  ed.  of  1812.) 


PAGAN   KINGS  OF  IRELAND. 


33 


lived  about  the  commeuoemeut  of  the 
Christian  era,  her  death,  according  to 
Tigernach,  having  taken  place  in  a.  d. 
70,  although,  according  to  the  Four 
Mastei-s,  she  flourished  more  than  a 
century  before  the  birtli  of  Christ. 

This  epoch  is  known  in  Irish  history 
as  that  of  the  provincial  kings  ;  and 
strange  though  it  .may  seem,  we  have 


to  trace  to  that  remote  date  the  origin 
of  the  Avorst  ills  of  Ireland — namely, 
the  subdivision  of  territory,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  system  of  petty  inde- 
pendent toparchs,  which  involved  the 
country  in  perpetual  local  wars,  and 
gradually  extinguished  every  trace  of  a 
controlling  power  or  central  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Pagan  kings  of  Ireland,  continued.— Creevan  brings  home  rich  spoils  from  Britian. — Insurrections  of  the  Attacotti. 
— Massacre  of  the  Milesian  Nobles. — King  Carbry  the  Cat-headed. —  Reign  of  Tuathal  Teachtar. — Felimy  the 
Lawgiver. — Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles. — Wars  of  Conn  and^ugene  the  Great. — New  Division  of  Ireland. 
— Battle  of  Moylena. — Conary  the  Second. — The  three  Carbrys. — The  Dalriads  ;  first  Irish  Settlement  in  Alba 
or  Scotland. — OUiol  Olum,  king  of  Munster. — Lewy  MacCon. — Glorious  Reign  of  Cormac  MacArt. — His  Abdi- 
cation.— Carbry  Liffechar. — The  Battle  of  Qavra. — Finn  MacCuail  and  the  Fenian  Militia. — The  three  Collas 
—Fall  of  Emania. — Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  &c. 

[Feoii  the  Birth  op  Cmtisx  to  a.  d.  400] 


THERE  is  a  difference  of  oj^iuion  as 
to  what  Irish  king  reigned  at  the 
birth  of  Christ ;  for  while  the  Four 
Masters,  O'Flaherty,  and  others  assign 
that  date  to  the  reign  of  Creevan  Nia- 
nair,  the  hundred  and  eleventh  mon- 
arch of  Ireland  in  O'Flaherty's  list,  other 
calculations  push  forward  the  reign  of 
Conary  the  Great,  the  fourth  preced- 
ing king,  to  the  Christian  era,  and  make 
Creevan  a  contemporary  of  Agricola,  the 
Roman  governor  of  Britain.  The  latter 
king  has  been  famous  for  his  predato- 
ry excursions  against  the  Britons,  from 
one  of  which  he  brought  home  several 

*  Dr.  Petrie  and  Dr.  O'Donovan  think  that  the  Dun 
Crimhthain,  or  Fort  of  Creevan,  was  situated  on  the 
5 


"jewels,"  or  precious  objects;  among 
the  rest,  "  a  golden  chariot ;  a  golden 
chess-board,  inlaid  with  a  hundred 
transparent  gems ;  a  cloak  embroidered 
with  gold;  a  conquering  sword,  with 
many  serpents  of  refined,  massy  gold 
inlaid  thereon ;  a  shield  with  bosses  of 
bright  silver ;  a  spear,  from  the  wound 
inflicted  by  which  no  one  recovered ;  a 
sling,  from  which  no  erring  shot  was 
discharged,  <fec. ;"  and  after  depositing 
these  spoils  in  Dun  Creevan,*  at  Bin 
Edar,  he  died,  As  the  Four  Masters  have 
it,  in  the  ninth  year  of  Christ. 

It  is  thoiight  to  have  been  about  this 

jutting  rock  where  the  Bailey  lighthouse  now  standi, 
at  Howth. 


34 


A  PROJECTED  ROMAN  INVASION. 


time  that  a  certain  recreant  Irish  chief 
waited  on  Agricola,  in  Britain,  and  in- 
vited him  to  inA'ade  Ireland,  stating 
that  one  Roman  legion  and  a  few  aux- 
iliaries would  be  sufficient  to  conquer 
and  retain  the  island.  Agricola  saw 
the  importance  of  occupying  a  country 
so  favorably  situated,  and  prepared  an 
expedition  for  the  purpose ;  but  the 
project  was  abandoned  for  some  cause 
not  known,  probably  owing  to  the 
formidable  military  character  of  the 
people  of  Ireland;  and  although  Brit- 
ain remained  a  province  of  the  Roman 
empire  for  centuries  after,  and  the 
natural  wealth  of  Hibernia  was  well 
known,  foi'eign  merchants  being  even 
more  familiar  with  her  ports  than  with 
those  of  Britain,  still  a  Roman  soldier 
never  set  hostile  foot  on  her  much- 
coveted  shores.  The  Scots  of  Ireland, 
and  their  neighbors,  the  Picts,  gave  the 
Roman  legions  quite  enough  to  do  to 
defend  Britain  against  them  from  be- 
hind the  ramparts  of  Adrian  and  Anto- 
ninus.* 

While  the  Milesians  were  exhausting: 
their  strength  in  internecine  wai-s  at 
home,  or  with  incursions  beyond  the 
seas,  a  large  portion  of  the  population 
of  Ireland,  composed  of  various  races, 


*  Tlie  passage  of  Tacitas  in  which  the  meditated 
Roman  invasion  of  Ireland  is  mentioned  is  extremely 
interesting.  Describing  the  proceedings  of  Agricola  in 
the  fifth  year  of  his  compaigus  in  Britain,  he  says ; — 
"  Eam  partem  Britannise  quae  Hiberniam  aspicit  caepiis 
instruxif,  in  spem  magis  quam  ob  formidinem  ;  siquidem 
Hibernia  medio  inter  Britanniam  atque  Hispaniam  sita, 
et  Qallico  quaeque  man  opportuna,  valentissimam  imperii 
partem  magnis  invicem  uabus  miscuerit.     Spatium  ejus, 


and  with  different  sympathies,  was  en- 
gaged upon  more  peaceable  pursuits. 
Those  who  boasted  of  a  descent  from 
the  Scytho-Spanish  hero,  would  have 
considered  themselves  deccraded  were 
they  to  devote  themselves  to  any  less 
honorable  profession  than  those  of  sol- 
diers, ollavs,  or  physicians;  and  hence 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  mechanic  arts,  were  left 
almost  exclusively  to  the  Firbolgs  and 
the  Tuatha  de  Djinanns;  the  former  peo- 
ple in  particular  being  still  very  numer- 
ous, and  forming  the  great  mass  of  the 
population  in  the  west.  These  were 
ground  down  by  high  rents,  and  the 
exorbitant  exactions  of  the  dominant 
race,  in  order  to  support  their  un- 
bounded hospitality,  and  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  their  costly  assemblies ;  but 
this  oppression  must  have  caused  per- 
petual discontent,  and  the  hard-working 
plebeians,  as  they  were  called,  must 
have  easily  perceived  that  their  Gade- 
lian  master^  were  running  headlong  to 
destruction,  and  that  it  only  required  a 
bold  effort  to  shake  off  their  yoke.  It 
would  be  curious  to  know  how  this 
feeling  developed  itself,  until  it  was 
finally  acted  upon ;  or  whether  the 
popular  discontent  had  any  connection 


si  Britannise  comparetur,  augustins,  nostri  maris  insulas 
Buperat.  Solum,  cselumque  et  ingenia,  cultusqne  homi- 
num,  haud  multum  "a  Britannia  difFerunt.  Melius  aditus 
portusque  per  commercia  et  negotiatores  cogniti.  Agri- 
cola expulsum  seditione  domestica  unum  ex  regnlis  gen- 
tis  exceperat,  ac  specie  amicitise  in  occasionem  retinoba-t. 
Saepe  ex  eo  audivi,  legione  una  et  maedicis  auxiliis  de- 
bellari  obtinerique  Hiberniam  posse." — ^Vita  Julii  Agric, 
c.  24. 


INSURRECTION   OF  THE   ATTACOTTI. 


35 


with  the  invitation  to  the  Roman  gen- 
eral just  referred  to.  Of  the  siugular 
and  successful  revolution  which  was  the 
result  we  have  no  accounts  but  such  as 
reach  us  from  a  hostile  source,  and  are 
colored  by  undisguised  prejudice.  Ac- 
cording to  these  statements,  the  Ait- 
heach-Tuatha,  or  Attacotti,  as  they  are 
called  in  Latin,  that  is,  the  plebeians 
and  helots  of  the  conquered  races,  with 
many  also  of  the  impoveiished  Milesians, 
conspired  to  seize  the  country  for  them- 
selves.* For  this  pui'pose  they  invited 
all  the  kings  and  nobles,  and  other 
leading  Milesians,  to  a  grand  feast  at 
Magh  Cro,  the  great  plain  near  Knock- 
ma,  in  the  county  of  Gal  way ;  and  to 
provide  for  a  banquet  on  such  a  scale, 
the  plebeians  spent  three.  3'ears  in  prep- 
arations, during  which  time  they  saved 
one-third  of  their  earnings,  and  of  the 
produce  of  the  land.  A  gi*eat  meeting 
and  a  feast  seem  to  have  had  an  irresist- 
ible atti-action  for  the  Mil§sians,  who 
accordingly  repaired  to  Magh  Cro  from 
every  part  of  Erin,  and  there,  after 
being  feasted  for  nine  days,  they  were 
set  upon  by  the  Attacotti,  and  massacred 
to  a  man.  Only  three  chieftains,  say 
the  seanachies,  escaped,  and  these  were 
still  unborn ;  their  mothers,  who  were 
the  daughters  of  the  kings  of  Alba,  Brit- 
ain, and   Saxony,  having  been  spared 


*  Several  races  were  mixed  up  iu  tlie  population  of 
Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  Altheach-Tuatha.  Some  say 
that  their  king,  Carbry  Cinnceat,  was  a  Scandinavian. 
The  Tuatha-Eoluirg  who  lived  at  that  time  in  Tyrone 
were  a  Scandinavian  race. 

f  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters. 

X  Flan  of  Monasterboice  synchronizes  the  reigns  of 


in  the  general  butcheiy,  and  having 
found  means  to  escape  into  Albion, 
where  the  three  young  princes  were 
born  and  educated.  It  is  plain,  how- 
ever, that  many  others  aLso  survived,  as 
several  Milesian  families,  not  descended 
from  these,  are  subsequently  found  in 
Ireland.  The  annals  do  not  say  how 
the  conspiracy  was  hatched,  and  so 
effectively  concealed  during  the  many 
years  required  to  bring  it  to  maturity ; 
but  after  the  massacre  the  Attacotti 
elected  as  their  king,  Carbry,  one  of 
their  three  leadei-s,  who  through  con- 
tempt is  called  Carbry  Ciuncait,  or  the 
cat-headed,  from  having  ears  like  those 
of  a  cat.  Carbry  reigned  five  years, 
during  which  time  there  was  no  rule  or 
order,  and  the  country  was  a  prey  to 
eveiy  misfortune.  "  Evil  was  the  state 
of  Ireland  during,  his  I'eign ;  fruitless 
her  corn,  for  there  used  to  be  but  one 
grain  on  the  stalk;  fruitless  her  riv- 
ers ;  her  cattle  without  milk ;  her  fruit 
without  i^lenty,  for  there  used  to  be  but 
one  acorn  on  the  oak."f  In  fact,  the 
civil  war  was  followed  by  one  of  its  nat- 
ural consequences,  a  famine.^ 

A.  D.  14. — After  the  death  of  Carbry, 
his  son,  the  wise  and  prudent  Morann, 
refused  the  crown,  and  advised  those 
who  pressed  it  on  him  to  bring  back  the 
rightful  heirs.     The  young  princes  were 


Carbry  Cinncait  and  his  immediate  successor  with  the 
emperors  Titus  and  Domitian.  Fifty  years  before  the  - 
insurrection  of  the  Attacotti,  Conaire  Mor,  monarch  of 
Ireland,  was  kUled  by  insurgents  at  Bruighean-da- 
Dhearg,  on  the  Dothair,  or  Dodder,  a  name  which  Dr. 
O'Donovan  believes  to  be  preserved  in  that  of  Boher-na- 
Breena,  the  road  of  the  Bruighean  or  fort. 


36 


INSURRECTION  OF  THE  ATTACOTTI. 


accordingly  invited  Lome  from  their 
exile ;  Faradacli  Finnfeachtnach,  or  tbe 
Righteous,  the  son  of  Creevan,  was 
elected  king  of  Ireland ;  and  Morann, 
the  Just,  administered  the  law  during 
his  reign,  so  that  peace  and  happiness 
were  once  more  restored  to  Erin.  "  The 
seasons  were  tranquil,  and  the  earth 
once  more  brought  forth  its  fruit."  It 
was  Morann  who  made  the  famous  col- 
lar or  chain  which  judges  after  him 
were  compelled  to  wear  on  their  necks, 
and  which,  according  to  the  legends, 
contracted,  and  threatened  to  choke 
them  when  they  were  about  pronoun- 
cing an  unjust  judgment.  This  collar  is 
mentioned,  in  several  commentaries  on 
the  Brehon  laws,  among  the  ordeals  of 
the  ancient  Irish,  and  was  used  to  test 
the  guilt   or  innocence  of  accused  per- 


sons. 


The  Attacotti  were  now  subjected  to 
more  grievous  oppression  than  ever; 
and  on  the  death  of  Faradach  a  fresh 
rebellion  broke  forth.  This  time  the 
provincial  kings  were  induced  to  join  in 
the  outbreak,  which  resulted  (a.  d.  56) 
in  a  desperate  battle  at  Maghbolg,  on 
the  bounds  of  the  present  counties  of 
Cavan  and  Meath,  where  the  monarch 
Fiacha  Finfolay  was  killed.  Elim,  king 
of  Ulster,  Avho  had  joined  the  plebeians, 
was  chosen  monarch,  and  had  a  troubled 
reign  of  twenty  years,  the  people  lead- 
ing lawless  lives,  and  the  very  elements, 
as  in  the  former  case,  being  at  war  with 
the  usurper ;  but  at  the  end  of  this  in- 
terval TPuathal  Teachtar,  or  the  Legiti- 
mate, the  son  of  Fiacha  Finfolay,  and 


born  in  exile,  returned  on  the  invitation 
of  a  sufficiently  powerful  party,  and 
slew  Elim  in  battle  at  Aichill,  or  the 
hill  of  Skreen,  in  Meath,  and  once  more 
brought  back  prosperity  and  order  to 
the  land.     (a.  d.  76.) 

A.  D.  106. — Tuathal  Teachtar  reigned 
thirty  years,  during  which  time  he  car- 
ried on  a  war  of  extermination  against 
the  ill-fated  plebeians,  no  fewer  than 
133  battles  having  been  fought  with 
them  in  the  different  provinces.  He 
established  himself  more  firmly  on  the 
throne  by  exacting  from  the  people  a 
similar  oath  to  that  of  Ugony  Mor, 
"  by  the  sun,  moon,  and  elements,"  that 
his  posterity  should  not  be  deprived  of 
the  sovereignty.  He  cut  of  from  each 
of  the  other  four  provinces  a  portion  of 
territory,  of  which  he  formed  the  sepa- 
rate province  of  Meath,  as  the  meusal 
lands  of  the  chief  king ;  he  celebrated 
the  Feis  of  Tara  with  great  state,  and 
held  provincial  conventions  at  Tlachta, 
Uisneach,  and  Tailltinn,  in  the  Momo- 
nian,  Connacian,  and  Ultonian  portions 
of  Meath,  and  he  imposed  on  the  prov- 
ince of  Leinster  the  degrading  Boruwa, 
or  cow-ti'ibute,  which  continued  during 
the  reigns  of  forty  succeeding  monarchs 
of  Ireland,  being  inflicted  as  an  eric,  or 
fine,  on  the  kin":  of  Leinster,  for  havina: 
taken  Tuathal's  two  daughters  as  wives, 
on  the  pretence,  when  he  asked  the 
second  one,  that  the  former  wife  was 
dead,  the  death  of  both  being  the  con- 
sequence.*    Tuathal's  great  power,  or 

*  The  Boruwa,  or  Leinster  cow-tribute,  whicli  was 
tlie  cauBC  of  innumerable  wais,  was  levied  every  second 


CONN    OF  TILE   HUNDRED    BATTLES. 


37 


the  oatli  he  exacted  from  his  subjects, 
did  not  save  him  from  the  usual  fate  of 
the  Irish  kings,  as  he  was  killed  in  bat- 
tle by  his  successor,  Mai,  who,  in  his 
turn,  was  slain  by  Tuathal's  son,  Felimy 
Rechtar,  or  the  Law-maker.  Felimy, 
who  died  a.  d.  119,  was  the  son  of  a 
Scandinavian  princess,  named  Baine,  the 
daughter  of  Seal,  king  of  Finland,  and 
this  connection  shows  the  intercourse 
that  existed  between  the  Scots  of  Ire- 
land and  the  Northmen  at  this  early 
period.  The  great  rath  of  Magh  Leav- 
na,  in  the  present  county  of  Tyrone,  was 
erected  by  this  princess.  Felimy,  the 
Lawgiver,  substituted  for  the  principle 
of  retaliation  the  law  of  eric,  or  fine. 

A.  D.  123-157.— The  reign  of  Conn  of 
the  Hundred  Battles  forms  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  epochs  in  the  ancient 
history  of  Ireland.  His  surname  suf- 
ficiently indicates  the  military  charac- 
ter of  his  career,  and  his  heroism  and 
exploits  are  a  favorite  theme  of  the 
bards;  but  Conn  found  a  formidable 
antagonist  in  the  brave  and  adventur- 
ous Moh  Nuad  (Mogh  Nuadhat),  other- 
wise  called  Owen  or  Eugene  the  Great 
(Eoghan  Mor),  son  of  Mogh  Neit,  king 


year.  Its  amount  is  differently  stated,  but  according  to 
Mageogliegan's  Annals  of  C'lonmacnoise,  it  consisted  of 
the  following  items  ;  "  150  cows,  100  hogs ;  150  coverlets, 
or  pieces  of  cloth  to  cover  beds  ■n-ithal ;  150  caldrons 
with  two  passing-great  caldrons,  consisting  in  breadth 
and. deepness  five  fists,  for  the  liing's  own  brewing;  150 
couples  of  men  and  women  in  servitude,  to  draw  water 
on  their  backs  for  the  said  brewing  ;  together  with  150 
maids,  with  the  king  of  Leinster's  own  daughter,  in  like 
bondage  and  servitude."  The  tribute  was  enforced  for 
500  years.  According  to  Tigernach,  Tuathal  was  killed 
in  the  last  year  of  Antoninus  Pius,  that  is,  about  A.  D. 


of  Munster,  and  the  most  distinguished 
hero  of  the  race  of  Heber  Finn.  It 
would  appear  that  tribes  of  the  race  of 
Ir,*  called  Erneans,  and  of  the  line  of 
Ith,f  gradually  encroached  on  the  ter- 
ritory of  Heber's  posterity,  the  legiti- 
mate possessors  of  the  southern  province, 
until  they  were  able  to  seize  the  regal 
power,  which  they  continued  for  some 
time  to  hold  alternately  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  line  of  Heber.  When  Eugene  was 
still  in  his  youth  he  was  comj^elled  to  fly 
from  his  own  country,  the  sovereignty 
of  which  Avas  claimed  by  three  princes 
of  the  hostile  races,  all  of  whom  he  re- 
garded as  usurpers;  and  having  repaired 
to  his  fosterer,  Daire  Barrach,  son  of 
Cathaire  Mor,  king  of  Leinster,  from 
whom  he  obtained  such  aid  as  enabled 
him  to  take  the  field  in  the  assertion  of 
his  rights ;  and  in  a  short  time  he  drove 
those  of  the  Erneans  as  would  not  ac- 
knowledge his  authority  out  of  Munster, 
and  struck  up  a  temporary  alliance  M^ith 
the  chiefs  of  the  race  of  Ith.  The  Er- 
neans appealed  to  Conn,  who  embraced 
their  cause,  and  thus  a  desperate  war 
broke  out  between  Eugene  and  the 
monarch  of  Ireland,  in  the  course  of 


160,  showing,  as  usual,  an  error  of  the  Foxir  Masters  in 
antedating. 

*  It,  who  was  brother  of  Heber  and  Heremon,  was 
ancestor  of  the  old  kings  of  Ulster,  whose  descendants 
settled  in  various  parts  of  Ireland,  as  the  Magennises  of 
Iveagh,  O'Connors  of  Corcomroe  and  Kerry,  O'Loughlins 
of  Burren,  O'Farrells  of  Longford,  MacRannalls  of  Lei- 
trim  ;  the  O'Mores  and  their  correlatives,  the  seven  septs 
of  Leis,  now  the  Queen's  county  ;  and  all  the  Connaught 
septs  called  Conmaicne. — Dn.  O'Donovan. 

f  Ith,  the  uncle  of  Milesius,  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
O'DriscoUs,  and  all  their  correlatives  in  the  terri  tory  of 


38 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MAGH  LEANA. 


wbicli  the  latter  was  defeated  in  ten 
pitched  battles,  and  was  so  hard  pressed 
as  to  be  compelled  to  divide  L'eland 
equally  with  the  victorious  Eugene; 
the  line  of  division  beinsf  the  chain  of 
sand-hills  called  the  Esker  Kiada,  one 
extremity  of  which  is  the  eminence  on 
the  declivity  of  which  Dublin  Castle 
stands,  while  its  western  terminus  is  at 
the  peninsula  of  Marey,  at  the  head  of 
Gal  way  bay.  The  country  to  the  north 
of  this  line  was  called  Leath  Cuiun,  or 
Conn's  half;  and  all  to  the  south,  Leath 
Mogha,  or  Moh  Nuad's  half;  and  al- 
though this  division  held  in  reality  only 
for  a  very  short  time,  some  say  for  one 
year,  it  has  ever  since  been  preserved 
by  Irish  writers,  who  frequently  em- 
ploy these  names  for  the  northern  and 
southern  halves  of  Ireland. 

Eugene's  ambition  increased  with  his 
success,  and  he  hastened  to  pick  another 
quarrel  wdth  Conn,  complaining  that  the 
princii^al  resort  of  shii"iping  was  on  the 
northern  side  of  Dublin  bay,  in  Conn's 
half,  and  insisting  on  an  equal  division  of 
the  advantages  of  the  port.  This  demand 
was  indignantlj''  rejected  by  Conn,  and 
both  parties  again  took  the  field.  A 
vivid,  but  fabulous,  account  of  the  brief 
campaign  which  ensued  is  given  in  the 
Irish  historical  romance 'of  the  battle  of 

C«rca-Liiiglie  (originally  coextensive  with  the  diocese  of 
Ross  in  Cork),  the  MacClancys  of  Dartry,  in  Leitrim,  and 
other  families. — Ibid. 

*  This  curious  tract,  which  affords  much  interesting 
information  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  ancient 
pagan  Irish,  although  its  own  antiquity  is  not  very  great, 
has  been  translated  by  Eugene  Curry,  Esq.,  M.  K.  I.  A., 
and,  with  a  valuable  Introduction  from  that  learned  Irish 
tlUiT,  published  by  the  Celtic  Society.    Magh  Leana, 


Magh  Leana.*  Eugene  in  his  youth 
had  been  obliged  to  fly  to  Spain,  where 
he  obtained  Bera,  the  king's  daughter, 
in  marriage,  and  he  was  now,  as  the 
story  just  mentioned  relates,  aided  by 
an  army  of  Spaniards,  commanded  by 
his  brother-in-law,  tlie  Spanish  prince 
Frejus.  The  hostile  armies  were  drawn 
up  in  view  of  each  other  on  Magh  Lea- 
na; but  while  an  overweening  confi- 
dence had  made  Eugene  careless,  a 
sense  of  inferiority  in  point  of  numbers 
rendered  his  foe  doubly  wary.  An  at- 
tack was  made  by  the  army  of  the  north 
at  the  dawn  of  day,  M'hile  the  southerns 
were  yet  buried  in  sleep,  and  an  utter 
defeat  and  slaughter  followed  ;  Eugene 
and  his  Spanish  ally  being  killed  while 
slumbering  in  their  tents  by  Goll,  the 
son  of  Morna,  one  of  the  Belo^ic  cham- 
pions  of  Connaught.  Two  small  hil- 
locks are  shown  to  the  present  day, 
which  are  said  to  cover  the  ashes  of 
the  brave  and  ill-fated  Moha  Nuad,  and 
his  Iberian  friend.f 

After  a  reign  of  thirty-five  years,  and 
in  the  hundredth  year  of  his  age  (a.  b. 
151),  while  engaged  in  making  prepa- 
rations for  the  triennial  convention  or 
Feis  of  Tara,  Con  of  the  Hundred  Bat- 
tles was  murdered  by  Tibraid  Tirach, 
king  of  Ulster,  whose  grandfather  had 


where  the  battle  was  fought,  is  the  present  parish  of 
Moylona,  or  Kilbride,  contauiing  the  town  of  Tulla^ 
more  in  the  King's  county.  Tigemach  places  the  divi- 
sion of  Ireland  between  Conn  and  Eoghan  Mor  under 
the  date  A.  D.  1G6. 

f  One  of  the  acts  which  have  rendered  the  memory  of 
Moha  Nnad  famous  in  our  annals,  was  the  saving  of  liis 
kingdom  of  Muustcr  from  a  famine  by  his  foresight  in 
providing  com  during  years  of  abnndnnce. 


OILIOL  OLUM. 


39 


been  slain  by  Conn's  father  *  His  suc- 
cessor and  son-in-law,  Conary  II.,  is  re- 
markable as  the  father  of  the  three  Car- 
bi-vs,  the  progenitors  of  several  impor- 
tant tribes.  Thus,  from  Carbry  Muse, 
six  districts  in  Munster  received  the 
name  of  Muskery,  one  of  these  being 
the  present  baronies  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Ormond,  in  Tipperary ;  and  an- 
other, the  baronj-  of  Muskery  in  Cork. 
Carbry  Bascain  the  second,  gave  his 
name  to  the  territory  of  Corcabaiscinn, 
in  the  southwest  of  Clare ;  and  thirdly, 
from  Carbry  Riada  (Roigh-fhada,  i.  e., 
of  the  long  wrist),  were  descended  the 
Dalriads  of  Antrim,  and  the  famous 
tiibe  of  the  same  name  iu  Scotland.f 
This  Carbry  Riada  is  mentioned  under 
the  name  of  Reuda,  by  Venerable  Bede, 
as  the  leader  of  the  Scots,  who,  coming 
from  Hiberuia  into  Alba,  or  Scotland, 


*  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles  was  tlie  ancestor  of  the 
most  powerful  families  of  Ireland,  as  the  O'Neills,  O'Don- 
nc-lls,  O'Melaghlins,  Mageoghegans,  Maguires,  Mac- 
Malions,  O'KeUjs,  O'Conors  of  Connaught,  O'Dowdas, 
O'Malleys,  O'Flahertys,  &c. 

Cathaire  Mor,  king  of  Leinster,  and  Conn's  immediate 
predecessor  as  monarch  of  Ireland,  was  the  ancestor  of 
the  great  Leinster  families  of  MacMurrough,  Kavanagh, 
O'Conor  Fair,  O'Dempsey,  O'Dunu,  MacGorman,  O'Mur- 
roughou  (Murphy),  O'Toolc,  O'Brj-ne,  &c.  The  Leinster 
fumily  of  JlacGiUapatrick,  or  Fitzpatrick,  of  Ossory,  do 
not  trac'.'  their  descent  to  Cathair  Mor,  but  they  and  all 
thu  families  mentioned  in  this  note  are  of  the  race  of 
HcTemon.  through  Ugony  Mor. 

f  The  territory  called  DaMada  comprised  the  northern 
portion  of  the  present  county  of  Antrim,  and  it  is  proba- 
bie  that  the  name  Route,  applied  to  a  part  of  the  district, 
is  a  corruption  of  the  ancient  word.  The  name  of  Dal- 
riada  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that  of  Dalaradia,  also 
aiUed  Ulidia,  and  comprising  the  southern  portion  of 
Antrim  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  of  Down 
Dalaradia,  or  Dalaraidh,  takes  its  name  from  Fiacha 
Araid,  a  king  of  Ulster  of  the  Irian  race,  and  was  peopled 
by  tribes  of  the  line  of  Ir,  or  Rudricians  (Clanna  Rory), 


obtained,  either  by  alliance  or  by  con- 
quest, from  the  Picts,  the  territory 
which  they  continued  in  his  time  to 
hold ;  and  as  we  shall  hei-eafter  see,  it 
was  about  thi'ee  centuries  from  this 
migration  that  a  fresh  colony  from  the 
Dalriada  of  Ireland,  under  Fergus,  the 
son  of  Ere,  invaded  Scotland,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  Scottish  mou- 
archy.J 

In  the  reign  of  Oiliol  Olum,  who  was 
at  this  time  king  of  Munster,  a  war 
raged,  in  which  this  king's  step-son, 
Lewy,  suruamed  MacCon,  was  the  ag- 
gressor. MacCon  was  the  head  of  the 
descendants  of  Ith,§  and  with  him  were 
leagued  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Er- 
neans  of  Munster,  and  Dadera,  the 
Druid  of  the  Ithian  tribe  of  Dairinni ; 
while  on  the  other  side  were  the  King 
Oiliol,  his  numerous  sons,  and  the  three 

as  they  are  frequently  called  from  Rury,  a  king  of  Ulster 
of  that  race ;  whereas  Dalriada  belonged  to  the  race  of 
Heremon.  A  Pictish  colony  from  Scotland  settled  iu 
Dalaradia  about  a  century  before  the  Christian  era. 

I  The  earliest  mention  of  the  name  of  Scots  is  by 
PorphjTy,  in  the  third  century ;  and  the  first  mention  of 
the  Picts  is  by  Eumenius,  about  the  close  of  the  same 
century.  The  words  of  Porphyry  are  quoted  by  St. 
Jerome — (Epist.  ad  Ctcsiphontcm  contra  Pclagium.) 
Both  Scots  and  Picts  are  referred  to  as  nations  well 
known  at  that  time  ;  but  then,  and  for  many  centuries 
after,  the  name  of  Scots  was  only  given  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Ireland.  Some  modern  writers  insist  that  even 
in  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  the  Scots  were  only  a  tribe  or 
section  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  and  that  the  people 
who  composed  the  bulk  of  the  population  were  those 
called  by  the  Apostle  "  Hiberionaces."  The  territory 
first  acquired  by  the  Gaels,  or  Scots,  from  the  Picts,  is 
the  present  cotmty  of  Argyle,  the  name  of  which  is  con- 
tracted, says  O'Donovan,  from  Airer-Gaeidheal,  that  is, 
the  region  or  district  of  the  GaeidhU. 

§  From  this  MacCon  are  descended  the  O'DriacollB, 
and  others  not  reckoned  among  the  Milesian  families,  as 
they  belong  to  the  collateral  line  of  Ith. 


40 


IRISH   MILITIA. 


Carbiys,  sons  of  Conarj,  monarch  of 
Ireland.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Ceann- 
favrat,*  in  Tvliich  several  of  the  leadei's 
on  both  sides  were  slain,  and  MacCou 
having  been  worsted  fled  to  Britain, 
whence  he  returned  in  a  few  years,  Avith 
an  array  of  foreigners,  and  again  gave 
battle  to  his  foes  on  the  plain  then  call- 
ed Magh  Mucrive  near  Athenry,  where 
he  gained  a  decided  victory,  the  then 
monarch  of  Ireland,  Art  the  Melan- 
choly, son  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred 
Battles,  together  with  seven  sons  of 
Oiliol  Olum,  falling  in  the  conflict.f 
Thus  MacCon  obtained  for  himself  the 
crown  of  Ardrigh,  or  chief  king  of  Ire- 
land. 

At  this  jieriod  flourished  Cual,  or 
Cumhal,  father  of  the  hero  Finn  Mac- 
Cuail,  and  captain  of  the  renowned 
Irish  legion,  called  the  Fianna  Eirion, 
or  Irish  Militia,  about  which  marvellous 
stories  are  related  by  the  bards  and 
seanachies.  This  famous  corps  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  organized  after  the 
model  of  a  Romau  legion,  and  to  have 
been  intended  as  a  bulwark  against 
Roman  or  other  invasion.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  it  was  admirably 
trained,  and  composed  of  the    picked 


*  It  is  probable  that  Ceann-ablirat,  or  Kenfebrat,  was 
the  mountain  now  called  Seefm,  one  of  the  SUeve  Riach 
or  Castle  Oliver  groui)  of  monntaina,  on  the  borders  of 
the  counties  of  Cork  and  Limerick.  It  is  frequently 
•referred  to  in  the  most  ancient  Irish  records,  and  its 
position  is  indicated  in  the  Book  of  Lismore,  fol.  207 ; 
and  the  Tripartite  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  lib.  iii.,  c.  48. 

f  Oiliol  Olum,  king  of  Munster,  was  the  son  of  Mogh 
Nuadhat,  or  Eoghan  Mor,  and  son-in-law  of  Conn  of  the 
Hundred  Battles.  Of  his  numerous  progeny  of  children, 
three  are  particularly  remarkable  in  Irish  family  history ; 


men  of  Erin  ;  but  for  its  discipline  and 
loyalty  much  cannot  be  said  ;  for  after 
frequent  acts  of  treason  and  insubordi- 
nation, the  monarch  was  finally  obliged, 
as  M'e  shall  presently  see,  to  disband  it, 
and  to  call  in  the  aid  of  other  troops  to 
eft'ect  that  object.  To  the  treachery  of 
the  Fianna  Eirinn  Keating  attributes 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Art  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Magh  Mucrive. 

.\.  D.  227. — Cormac  Ulfadha,  the  son 
of  Art  and  grandson  of  Conn  of  the 
Hundred  Battles,  having  removed  the 
usurper  MacCon,  and  also  another 
usurper  of  lesser  note,  named  Fergus, 
ascended  the  throne  of  Tara ;  and  his 
reign  is  generally  regarded  as  the 
brightest  epoch  in  the  entire  history  of 
pagan  Ireland.  He  set  in  earnest  about 
the  task  of  reducing  the  several  provin- 
ces  to  a  due  submission  to  the  sover- 
eign ;  beginning  with  the  Ulidians,  next 
proceeding  to  Connaught,  and  subse- 
quently to  Munster,  with  occasional  in- 
cursions into  all  the  provinces,  gaining 
many  victories  (although  he  had  some 
reverses  in  the  early  part  of  his  career), 
and  establishing  his  authority  and  laws 
everywhere  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 
In  that  rude  age,  means  so  desperate 


first,  Eoghan  Mor,  or  Eugene  the  Great,  who  must  not 
be  confounded  with  his  grandfather  bearing  the  same 
title.  He  was  the  progenitor  of  the  great  old  South 
Munster  families  called  by  the  genealogists  Eoghanachts 
or  Eugenians,  as  the  M'Carthys,  O'Donohoes,  O'Keefs, 
&c. ;  secondly,  Cormac  Cas,  king  of  Munster,  and  pro- 
genitor of  the  Dal  Cassians  or  Thomond  famOies,  as  the 
O'Brieusj  M'Mahons,  M'Namaras,  &c. ;  and  thirdly.  Clan, 
the  ancestor  of  the  families  comprised  under  the  tribe 
name  of  Cianachta,  as  the  O'Carrols  of  Ely  O'Carrol, 
O'Meagher,  O'Connor  of  Glengiven,  &c. 


CORMAC  ULFADHA. 


41 


may  have  been  necessary  to  sustain  any 
authority  at  all ;  but  when  Cormac  es- 
tablished his  sway,  he  made  it  subserve 
the  cause  of  civilization  and  order  in  a 
manner  never  attempted  by  any  of  his 
predecessors. 

It  is  genei'ally  admitted  that  Chris- 
tianity had  even  then  penetrated  into 
Ireland,  and  that  its  benign  influence 
had  reached  this  monarch's  mind.  Cor- 
mac, it  is  said,  at  the  close  of  his  life, 
adored  the  true  God,  and  attempted  to 
put  down  druidism  and  idol  worship. 
It  is  at  all  events  certain  that  he  en- 
deavored to  promote  education.  He 
established  three  colleges,  one  for  war, 
another  for  history,  and  the  third  for 
jurisprudence.  He  collected  and  re- 
modelled the  laws,  and  published  the 
code  which  remained  in  force  until  the 
English  invasion,  and  outside  the  Eng- 
lish Pale  for  many  centuries  after.  He 
assembled  the  bards  and  chroniclers  at 
Tara,  and  directed,  them  to  collect  the 
annals  of  Ireland,  and  to  continue  the 
records  of  the  country  from  year  to 
year,  making  them  synchronize  with 
the  history  of  other  countries, — Cormac 
himself,  it  is  said,  having  been  the  in- 
ventor of  this  kind  of  chronology. 
These  annals  formed  what  was  called 
the  Psalter  of  Tara,  which  also  contain- 
ed a  description  of  the  boundaries  of 
provinces,  canthreds,  and  smaller  divi- 
sions of  land  throughout  Ireland ;  but 
unfortunately  this  great  record  has  been 
lost,  no  vestige  of  it  being  now,  it  is 
believed,  in  existence. 

The  magnificence  of  Cormac's  palace 


at  Tara  was  commensurate  with  the 
greatness  of  his  power  and  the  brillian- 
cy of  his  actions ;  and  he  fitted  out  a 
fleet,  which  he  sent  to  harass  the  shores 
of  Alba,  or  Scotland,  until  that  country 
also  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  him 
as  sovereign.  In  his  old  age  he  wrote 
a  book  or  tract  called  Teagusc-na-Ri,  or 
the  Institutions  of  a  Prince,  which  is 
still  in  existence,  and  which  contains 
admirable  maxims  on  manners,  morals, 
and  government.  There  are  blemishes 
on  his  character  in  the  early  part  of  his 
life,  such  as  the  employment  of  assassins 
to  free  himself  from  his  enemies,  and 
some  shameful  breaches  of  his  engage- 
ments ;  but  he  nevertheless  stands  forth 
as  the  most  accomplished  of  the  pagan 
monai'chs  of  Ireland.  As  an  instance 
of  the  barbarous  manners  against  which 
he  had  to  struggle,  we  read  that  (most 
probably  during  one  of  Cormac's  expe- 
ditions to  a  distant  locality)  his  own 
father-in-law,  Dunlong,  king  of  Leinster, 
made  a  descent  upon  Tara,  and  for  some 
cause  which  is  not  mentioned,  massa- 
cred all  the  inmates  of  a  female  college 
or  boarding-school,  consisting  of  thirty 
young  ladies  of  noble  rank,  whom  some 
writers  suppose  to  have  been  druidesses, 
with  their  three  hundred  maids  and  at- 
tendants. Cormac  avenged  this  atro- 
city by  causing  twelve  dynasts  or  nobles 
of  Leinster,  who  had  been  engaged  in 
the  massacre,  to  be  executed,  and  by 
exacting  Tuathal's  Boarian  tribute,  with 
an  additional  mulct,  from  the  province. 
Cormac,  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of 
his  reign,  having  had  his   eye   thrust 


42 


THE   BATTLE   OF  GAVRA. 


out  with  a  spear  by  Aeugus,  son  of 
Fiacha  Suilie,  brother  of  Conn  of  "the 
Hundred  Battles,  abdicated,  in  com- 
pliance with  a  law  which  required  that 
the  king  should  have  no  personal  blem- 
ish, and  retired  to  a  philosojihical  re- 
treat ;  but  not  until  he  had  inflicted 
chastisement  on  the  tribe  whose  head 
had  thus  maimed'him.*  He  died  (a.  d. 
266)  at  Cleiteach  (near  Stackallan 
Bridge,  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
Boyne),  the  bone  of  a  salmon  having 
choked  him,  through  the  contrivances 
of  the  Druids,  as  it  was  thought,  for  his 
having  abandoned  their  superstitious 
for  the  adoration  of  the  true  God. 

A.  B.  268. — Carbry,  son  of  Cormac 
MacArt,  and  surnamed  Liffechar,  from 
having  been  fostered  on  the  banks  of 
the  Liffey,  was  engaged  during  his 
reign  in  a  desperate  war  with  Munster 
"  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  Leinster," 
and  it  was  this  quai-rel  which  led  to  the 
battle  of  Gavra  Aichill,  celebrated  in 
Irish  bardic  story. 

Finn  MacCuail,  and  his  Clanna  Ba- 
iscne,  or  legion  of  Finian  Militia,  were, 
as  we  have  said,  but  unsteady  supporters 
of  the  sovereign ;  and  that  illustrious 
warrior  having  been  assassinated  by  a 
fisherman  on  the  banks  of  the  Boyne, 
whither  he  had  retired  in  his  old  age. 


*  It  Tvas  on  tliis  occasion  that  Connac  expelled  the 
tribe  of  the  Deisi,  the  descendanta  of  Fiacha  Suihe,  bro- 
ther of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  from  the  territory 
which  they  held  near  Tara,  now  the  barony  of  Deece,  in 
the  county  of  Meath  ;  and  it  was  only  after  a  lapse  of 
some  years  that  these  people,  afterwards  so  frequently 
mentioned  in  Irish  liistory,  settled  down  in  that  territory 
of  Munster,  part  of  which  has  since  borne  their  name, 
viz.,  the  present  baronies  of  Decies  in  the  county  of  Wa- 


the  king  took  the  opportunity  to  dis- 
band the  Finian  Militia,  while  the  lat- 
ter, instead  of  submitting  to  the  mon- 
arch's commands,  repaired  to  his  enemy, 
Mocorb,  son  of  Cormac  Cas,  king  of 
Munster,  and  made  an  offer  of  their 
services,  Avhich  was  readily  accepted. 
Carbry,  upon  this,  applied  for  succor  to 
Aedh,  the  last  of  the  Domnouian  kings 
of  Connaught,  who  sent  a  battalion  of 
his  heroic  pailitia,  the  Clanna  Morna, 
the  deadly  enemies  both  of  the  Clanna 
Baiscne  and  of  the  Munster  princes. 
Such  were  the  rival  military  tribes  who 
fought  to  mutual  extermination  in  the 
bloody  battle  of  Gavra  (a.  d.  284). 
Oisin,  the  warrior-poet,  son  of  Finn 
MacCuail,  celebrated  the  deeds  per- 
formed on  the  occasion  in  verses  which 
ti-adition  has  preserved  for  more  than 
fifteen  hundred  years.  Oscar,  the  son 
of  Oisin,  met  Carbry  in  the  fight,  and 
fell  in  the  terrific  single  combat  which 
ensued  between  them.  But  Carbry  did 
not  fare  better;  for,  while  exhausted 
with  fatigue  and  covered  with  wounds, 
he  was  met  by  his  own  kinsman, 
Semeou,  one  of  the  tribe  of  Foharta 
which  had  been  expelled  into  Leinster, 
and  fell  an  easy  prey  to  his  ven- 
geance.f  Thus  ended  the  wild  hero- 
ism   of   Finn,    the    son    of   Cual,    and 


terford.  The  principal  families  of  this  tribe  are  the 
O'Brics,  O'Phelans,  O'Mearas,  and  O'Keans  of  Hy- 
Folay,  &c. 

f  The  tribe  of  the  Foharta  were  the  descendants  of 
Eochy  Finnfothart,  uncle  of  Art,  son  of  Corm  of  the  Hun- 
dred Battles,  and  who  liad  been  expelled  by  Art  from 
Meath.  They  obtained  lands  in  Leinster,  and  gave  their 
name  to  the  territories  forming  the  baronies  of  Forth 
in  Wexford  and  Carlow. 


FALL   OF   EMANIA. 


43 


of  his  companions  in  arms,  whose  ex- 
ploits were  long  the  favorite  theme  of 
the  Irish  bards,  by  whom  they  were 
embellished  with  such  fables  and  exag- 
gerations, as  have  removed  them  al- 
most wholly  into  the  region  of  mythol- 
ogy and  romance.* 

A.  D.  32-2. — Fiacha  Sravtinne,  son  of 
Carbry  Liffechar,  after  reigning  thirty- 
seven  years,  was  slain  by  the  three  Col- 
las,  the  sons  of  his  brother,  Eochy  Doiv- 
len  ;  but  when  the  eldest  brother,  Colla 
Uais,  had  occupied  the  throne  four 
years  he  was  deposed  and  expelled,  to- 
gether with  his  brothers  and  a  few  fol- 
lowers, into  Scotland,  by  Muirfeach 
Tirach,  King  Fiacha's  son,  who  subse- 
quently reigned  as  Ardrigh  thirty  years. 
In  a  short  time  the  three  Collas  return- 
ed, and  were  reconciled  to  their  cousin. 
King  Muireach  Tirach,  who  supplied 
them  with  means  to  gratify  their  rest- 
less ambition ;  whereupon  they  entered 
Ulster  with  an  army  composed  j)artly 
of  auxiliaries  from  Connaught,  and  de- 

*  The  reader  will  at  once  be  reminded  by  the  names 
in  the  test  of  Macpherson's  famous  literary  forgeries,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  rob  Ireland  of  her  Ossianic  heroes 
and  transfer  them  to  th»  soil  of  Scotland.  The  cheat, 
however,  was  exploded  a  great  many  years  ago.  It  is 
well  known  that  Macphersou  merely  collected  some  of  the 
traditional  poems,  which  had  been  preserved  by  the 
Gaelic  peasantry  of  the  Scottish  Highlands  as  well  as  in 
Ireland ;  and  that  partly  by  translation  and  partly  by 
imitation  of  these  remains,  and  without  any  attention  to 
chronological  order  or  correctness,  but  with  innumerable 
perversions  of  sense,  he  composed  those  pretended  trans- 
lations of  the  poems  of  Ossian,  which,  for  some  time, 
enjoyed  such  wonderful  celebrity,  and  which  might 
always  interest  the  world  as  curious  and  beautiful  pro- 
ductions, if  they  had  not  been  utterly  spoiled  by  the  taint 
of  forgery  and  falsehood.  Finn  MacCuaU  was  married 
successively  to  two  daughters  of  the  monarch  Cormac 
MacArt ;  Ailve,  the  second,  having  been  given  to  him 


feating  the  Ulster  kin2;  in  battle,  in  the 
present  barony  of  Farney,  in  Monaghan, 
sacked  and  burned  his  palace  of  Emania, 
— the  Emania  of  Queen  Macha,  and  of 
the  Red-branch  knights — and  seizing  a 
large  territory  for  themselves,  circum- 
scribed the  kingdom  of  Ulster  within 
much  narrower  limits  than  before.  This 
event  took  place  in  the  year  331 ;  and 
the  territory  thus  seized  by  the  three 
Collas,  and  from  which  they  expelled 
the  old  possessors,  that  is,  the  Clanna 
Rory,  or  descendants  of  Ir,  was  called 
Orgialla,  or  Oriel,  and  comprised  the 
present  counties  of  Louth,  Monaghan, 
and  Armagh.f 

A.  D.  378. — Under  this  date  we  read 
of  one  of  those  domestic  tragedies  which 
savor  of  a  somewhat  more  advanced 
age  of  civilization  and  intrigue.  Eochy 
Muivone,  the  son  of  Muireach  Tirach, 
had  two  queens,  one  of  whom,  Mongfinn, 
or  the  Fair-haired,  of  the  race  of  Heber, 
had  four  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Brian,  the  ancestor  of  the  O'Conors  of 

after  Graine,  the  former,  had  eloped  with  his  lieuten- 
ant, Diarmod  O'Duivne.  Gavra  Aichill,  where  the 
battle  was  fought,  is  believed  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  (Ann. 
Four  Mast.,  vol  i.,  p.  120,  n.  b),  to  have  been  contiguous 
to  the  hill  of  Skreen,  near  Tara,  in  Meath.  The  name 
is  preserved  in  that  of  Go\vra,  a  stream  in  the  parish  of 
Skreen,  which  receives  a  tribute  from  the  well  of  Neam- 
hnach,  on  Tara  Hill,  and  flows  into  the  Boyne  at  Ardsal- 
lagh.  The  publications  of  the  Ossianic  Society  have 
lately  made  the  world  familiar  with  many  of  the 
poeijis  and  legends  about  Finn  MacCuail  and  his 
times. 

f  Colla  Uais,  the  oldest  of  the  brothers,  was  the  ances- 
tor of  the  MacDonneUs,  MacAUisters,  and  MacDugalds 
of  Scotland ;  CoUa  Mean,  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  present  district  of  Cremorne,  in  Monaghan;  and 
CoUa  Dachrich,  the  youngest,  of  the  MacMahona  of 
Monaghan,  the  Maguires  of  Fermanagh,  the  O'Hanlona 
and  MacCanns  of  Armagh,  &c. 


44 


NIALL   OF  THE   NINE   HOSTAGES. 


ConnaugLt,  was  her  favorite,  and,  in 
order  to  hasten  his  elevation  to  the 
throne,  she  poisoned  her  brother  Cree- 
van,  who  had  succeeded  Eochy ;  but,  as 
the  annalists  observe,  her  crime  did  not 
avail  her,  for  Creevan  was  succeeded, 
not  by  her  son  Brian,  but  by  Niall  of 
the  Nine  Hostages,  the  son  of  her  hus- 
band Eochy  by  his  former  wife ;  and 
none  of  her  descendants  attained  the  sov- 
ereignty, except  Turlough  More  O'Con- 
nor, and  his  son  Roderick,  the  unhaj^py 
king  who  witnessed  the  Anglo-Nor- 
nMn  invasion  of  Ireland.  The  wretched 
Mougfinn  tasted  of  the  poisoned  cup 
herself,  to  remove  her  brother's  suspi- 
cions, and  thus  sacrificed  her  own  life  as 
well  as  his.* 

A.  D.  379. — Niall,  surnamied  Naoi 
Ghiallach,  or  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  the 
ancestor  of  the  illustrious  tribe  of  Hy- 
Niall,  or  O'Neill,  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  pagan  monarchs  of  Ire- 
land, but  his  energies  appear  to  have 
been  wholly  devoted  to  his  hostile  ex- 
peditions against  Albion  or  Britain,  and 
Gaul.  In  the  history  of  those  countries 
we  find  evidence  enough  of  the  fearful 
ravages  inflicted  in  these  expeditions. 
The  Scots  (or  Irish)  were  as  formidable 
at  that  time  as  the  Northmen  were  in  a 
subsequent  age.  Their  incursions  were 
the  scourge  of  all  western  Europe.  Ac- 
cording as  Rome,  in  her  decay,  became 
unable  to  protect  her  outlaying  prov- 
inces, these  terrible  Scots,  with  their 


*  Creevan  died  in  the  Sliev  OigUdb-an-rigli,  or 
"mountain  of  the  king's  deatli,"  now  the  Cratloe 
mountains  in  the  county  of  Clare  near  Limerick. 


Pictish  allies,  plundered  and  laid  waste 
the  rich  countries  thus  abandoned  by 
the  Roman  eagle.     The  Britons  were 
unable  to  make  any  stand  against  them. 
The  Roman  walls,  when   the   Roman 
garrisons  were  removed,  ceased  to  be 
any  barrier;  and  while  the   Dalriadic 
and  Pictish  armies  poured  into  Britain 
throufjh  the  wide  breaches  made  in  the 
walls   of  Antoninus   and   Severus,  the 
seas  from  north  to  south  swarmed  with 
the  fleets  of  the  Irish  invadei-s.     For  a 
while  Britain  was  wholly  subdued,  and 
we  know  from  the  Britons'  own  account, 
in  their  sad  petition  to  Rome  for  aid,  to 
what  a  miserable  plight  they  were  re- 
duced, flying  for  shelter  to  woods  and 
morasses,  and  fearing  even  to  seek  for 
food,  lest  their  hiding-places  should  be 
discovered  by  the  ruthless  foe.     It  was 
to  resist  these  Irish  invaders  that  Brit-  , 
ain  was  obliged  to  become  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  nation.     Yet,  of  the  transactions 
of  that  eventful  period  our  Celtic  annals 
contain  only  the  most  meagre  record. 
We  know  from  other  sources  that  Chris- 
tian missionaries  had  at  that  time  al- 
ready penetrated  into  Ireland,  but  our 
annals    pass    over    their    presence    in 
silence ;  and  it  is  to  the  verses  of  the 
Latin  poet  Claudian  that  we  must  refer 
for  the  fact  that  troops  were  sent  by 
Stilicho,  the  general  of  Theodosius  the 
Great,  to  repel  the  Scottish  hosts,  led 
by  the  brave  and  adventurous  Niall.  f 
During  the  three  successive  reigns  of 

f  At  the  time  of  the  Scottish  incursions  into  the  Ro- 
man provinces,  an  important  part  was  played  by  th? 
people  called  Attacotti,  a  word  which  is  believed  to  be  a 


ST.   PATRICK'S   CAPTIVITY. 


45 


Creevan,  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages, 
and  Dathy,  our  annals  record  no  re- 
markable domestic  wars;  but  of  the 
first  of  these  three  kings  we  are  told 
that  in  his  short  reign  he  brought  over 
numerous  prisoners  and  hostages  from 
Scotland,  Britain,  and  Gaul;  of  the 
second,  it  is  recorded  that  he  was  slain 
by  Eochy,  the  son  of  Enna  Kinsellagh, 
"  at  Muir-n-Icht,  the  sea  between  France 
and  England,"  supposed  to  be  so  called 
from  the  Portus  Iccius  of  Caesar,  near 
the  modern  Boulogne ;  while  Keating 
says  that  it  was  on  the  banks  of  the 
Loire  he  •  was  treacherously  killed  by 
the  above-named  domestic  enemy,  who 
had  found  his  way  thither  in  the  ranks 
of  Niall's  Dalriadic  allies  from  Scot- 
land.* Finally,  of  Dathy  it  is  related 
that  he  was  killed  by  lightning,  at 
Sliev  Ealpa,  or  the  Alps,  and  that  his 
body  was  carried  home  by  his  soldiers, 


corruption  of  tlieir  Irisli  name  of  Aitlieacli-Tuatlia. 
Some  tribes  of  tMs  great  Firbolg  race,  in  the  course  of 
the  frequent  wars  waged  against  them  in  Ireland,  settled 
in  Scotland,  not  far  from  the  Roman  wall,  and  became 
active  participators  in  the  depredations  of  the  Scots  and 
Picts.  Numerous  bodies  of  them,  who  are  supposed  to 
have  deserted  from  their  allies,  were  incorporated  in 
the  Boman  legions,  and  figured  in  the  Roman  wars  on 
the  continent  at  that  period. 

One  of  the  passages  of  Claudian,  referred  to  above  is 
that  in  which  the  poet  says  : 

"  Totam  cum  Scotus  lernem 
Movit,  et  infesto  spumavit  remige  Tethys." 
That  is,  as  translated  in  Gibson's  Camden  : 
"  When  Scots  came  thundering  from  the  Irish  shores, 
i       And  the  ocean  trembled,  struck  with  hostile  oars." 

I  *  This  great  monarch  (NiaU)  had  fourteen  sons,  of 
whom  eight  left  issue,  who  are  set  down  in  the  following 
order  by  O'Flaherty  (Ogygia,  iii.  8.5): — 1.  Leaghaire, 
from  whom  are  descended  the'0'Coindhealbhains,  or 
Kendellans,  of  Ui  Leaghaire  ;  2.  ConaU  Crimhthainne, 
ancestor  of  the  O'Melaghlins ;    3.    Fiacha,   d  quo,  the 


and  interred  at  Rathcroghan,  in  Con- 
naught,  under  a  red  pillar  stone.  How 
this  Irish  king,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
428,  penetrated  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps 
with  his  armed  bands,  traversing  Eu- 
rope, as  Rollo  did  long  after  him,  his- 
tory does  not  particularly  tell  us,  but 
it  records  enough  about  the  devastating 
inroads  of  the  Scots  to  satisfy  us  of  its 
possibility.f 

Dathy,  although  not  the  last  pagan 
king,  was  the  last  king  of  pagan  Ire- 
land, and  after  him  we  read  no  more 
in  the  Irish  annals  of  plundering  expe- 
ditions into  foreign  countries.  It  was 
probably  in  the  last  descent  of  his  pre- 
decessor, Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages, 
upon  Armoric  Gaul,  that  the  youth 
Patrick,  son  of  Calphurn,  was,  together 
with  his  sisters  Darerca  and  Lupita,  first 
carried,  among  other  cajitives,  to  Ire- 
land.    Holy  prize  !  thrice  happy  expe- 


Mageoghegans  and  O'MoIloys  ;  4.  Maine,  a  quo,  O'Cah- 
arny,  now  Fox,  O'Breen,  and  Magawly,  and  their  correla- 
tives in  Teffia.  All  these  remained  in  Meath.  The 
other  four  settled  in  Ulster,  where  they  acquired  exten- 
sive territories, — viz.,  1.  Eoghan,  the  ancestor  of  O'Neill, 
aud  various  correlative  families  ;  3.  Conell  Qulban,  the 
ancestor  of  O'Donnell,  &c. ;  3.  Cairbre,  whose  posterity 
settled  in  the  barony  of  Carbery,  in  the  now  county  of 
Sligo,  and  in  the  barony  of  Granard,  in  the  county  of 
Longford  ;  4.  Enda  Finn,  whose  race  settled  in  Tir  Enda, 
in  Tirconnell,  and  in  Kenel-Enda,  near  the  hill  of  Uis- 
neach,  in  Westmeath. — O'Donovan. 

f  Abbe  M'Geoghegan  mentions  a  curious  corrobora- 
tion of  this  event.  He  says  (page  94,  Duffy's  ed.) ; — "  The 
relation  of  this  expedition  of  Dathy  agrees  with  the 
Piedmontese  tradition,  and  a  very  ancient  registry  in  th 
archives  of  the  house  of  Sales,  in  which  it  is  said  that 
the  king  of  Ireland  remained  some  time  in  the  Castle  of 
Sales.  I  received  this  account  from  Daniel  O'Mulryan, 
a  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Mountcashel,  who  assured 
me  that  he  was  told  it  by  the  Marquis  de  Sales,  at  the 
table  of  Lord  Mountcashel,  who  had  taken  him  prisoner 
at  the  battle  of  Marseilles." 


46 


CIVILIZATION   OF  THE   PAGAN   IRISH. 


dition !  Irishmen  may  well  exclaim  ;  for 
although  the  conversion  of  their  coun- 
try to  Christianity,  in  common  with  the 
rest  of  Europe,  was  an  e"\4ent  that  could 
not  have  been  delayed  much  beyond 
the  time  at  which  it  took  place,  who- 
ever had  been  its  apostle,  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  any  one  who  has  considered, 
with  Catholic  feelings,  the  history  of 
religion  in  Ireland,  not  to  be  impressed 


with  the  conviction  that  this  country 
has  been  indebted  in  a  special  manner, 
under  God,  to  blessed  Patrick,  not  only 
for  the  mode  in  which  she  was  con- 
verted, but  for  the  glorious  harvest  of 
sanctity  which  her  soil  was  made  to  pro- 
duce, and  for  the  influence  of  his  inter- 
cession in  heaven  from  that  day  to  the 
present. 


CHAPTEK  VI. 

Civilization  of  the  Pagan  Irish. — Their  Knowledge  of  Letters. — The  Ogham  Craev. — Their  Religion. — Tlie  Brehon 
Laws. — Tanistry . — Qavel-kind.—  Tenure  of  Land. — Rights  of  Clanship. — Reciprocal  Privileges  of  the  Irish 
Kings. — The  Law  of  Eric. — Hereditary  Offices. — Fosterage. 


WE  have  thus  succinctly,  but  care- 
fully, analyzed  the  entire  pagan 
history  of  Ireland ;  and  before  we  pro- 
ceed further,  it  is  right  to  consider  some 
interesting  questions  which  must  have 
suargested  themselves  to  the  reader,  as 
we  went  along.  As,  for  instance,  what 
kind  of  civilization  did  the  pagan  Irish 
enjoy?  what  knowledge  of  arts  and 
literature  did  they  possess  ?  what  was 
the  nature  of  their  religion?  what  is 
known  of  their  laws  and  customs  ? 
what  monuments  have  they  left  to  us  ? 

That  the  first  migrations  brought 
with  them  into  this  island  at  least  the 
germs  of  social  knowledge,  appears  to  be 
indisputable ;  and  although  these  were 
not  developed  into  a  civilization  of  arts 
and  literature,  like  that  of  Rome  or 
Greece,  still,  the  social  state  which  they 


did  produce  was  far  removed  from  bar- 
barism, in  the  sense  in  which  that  term 
is  usually  understood.  We  have  ample 
reason  to  believe,  not  merely  that  Ire- 
land in  her  days  of  paganism  had  reach- 
ed a  point  relatively  advanced  in  the 
social  scale,  but  that  Christianity  found 
her  in  a  state  of  intellectual  and  moral 
pre2")aration  superior  to  that  of  most 
other  countries.  How  otherwise  indeed 
should  we  account  for  the  sudden  lustre 
of  learning  and  sanctity,  by  which  it  is 
confessed  she  became  distinguished,  al- 
most as  soon  as  she  received  the  Gospel, 
and  which  surely  could  not  have  been 
so  rapidly  produced  among  a  people  so 
barbarous  as  some  writers  would  have 
us  believe  the  Irish  to  have  been  before 
their  conversion  to  Christianity  ? 

While  Ireland,  isolated  and  indepen- 


EARLY  IRISH   CIVILIZATION. 


47 


dent,  had  her  own  indigenous  institu- 
tions, and  her  own  patriarchal  system 
of  society,  Britain  and  Gaul  lay  in  sub- 
jection at  the  feet  of  Rome,  of  whose 
arts  and  matured  organization  they  thus 
imbibed  a  knowledge.  It  is  true,  that 
what  Celtic  Britain  thus  learned  she 
subsequently  lost  in  the  invasions  of 
Saxons  and  Scandinavians,  and  that  it 
was  Roman  missionaries  and  a  Norman 
conquest  that  again  restored  to  her  the 
arts  of  civilization ;  but  this  civilization 
it  was,  derived  from  Rome  in  the  daj's 
of  her  decline,  and  modified  by  the  bar- 
baric elements  on  which  it  was  ingraft- 
ed, that  created  the  centralized  power, 
and  sent  out  the  mailed  warriors,  of  the 
feudal  ages,  and  that  gave  to  Anglo- 
Norman  England  the  advantages  which 
she  enjoyed,  in  point  of  arms  and  disci- 
pline, in  her  contest  with  a  country 
which  had  derived  none  of  her  military 
art  or  of  her  political  organization  from 
Rome.  This  connection  with  Imperial 
Rome,  on  the  one  side,  and  its  absence 
on  the  other,  were  quite  sufficient  to 
determine  the  destinies  of  the  two  coun- 
tries. But  the  state  of  a  people  seclu- 
ded from  the  rest  of  the  world,  whose 
curious  and  interesting  history  we  have 
been  tracing  for  a  thousand  years  or 
more  before  the  history  of  Britain  com- 
mences, and  whose  copious  and  expres- 
sive language,  and  domestic  and  mili- 


*  See  the  remarks  on  this  subject  in  Dr.  O'Donovan's 
elaborate  Introduction  to  his  Irish  Grammar ;  in  which, 
by  quoting  the  opinions  of  Father  Innes  and  Dr.  O'Brien, 
without  expressing  dissent,  he  seems  to  grant  that  the 
Irish  had  no  writing  before  St.  Patrick's  time.    He  also 


tary  arts,  and  costume,  and  laws,  were 
not  borrowed  from  any  exotic  source,  is 
not  to  be  held  in  contempt,  although 
unlike  what  had  been  built  up  else- 
where on  the  substructure  of  Roman 
civilization.  Hence,  if  it  be  idle  to 
speculate  on  what  Ireland,  with  her 
physical  and  moral  advantages,  might 
have  risen  to  ere  this  in  the  career  of 
mankind,  had  her  fate  never  been  link- 
ed with  that  of  England,  it  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  unjust  to  argue  as  English 
writers  do,  as  to  her  foi'tunes  and  her 
progress,  from  the  defects  of  her  primi- 
tive and  unmatured  institutions,  or  from 
the  prostrate  state  of  desolation  to 
which  centuries  of  Avarfare  in  her  strug- 
gle with  England  and  her  own  intestine 
broils  had  reduced  her.  But  here  we 
are  anticipating. 

St.  Patrick,  according  to  the  old 
biographers,  gave  "  alphabets"  to  some 
of  those  whom  he  converted,  and  this 
statement,  coupled  with  the  facts  that 
we  have  no  existing  Irish  manuscript 
older  than  his  time — nor  indeed  any  so 
old — and  that  our  ordinary  Irish  char- 
acters, although  unlike  Roman  printed 
letters,  are  only  those  of  Latin  MSS.  of 
the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  have  led 
some  Irish  scholars  to  concede  too  easily 
the  disputed  point,  that  the  pagan  Irish 
were  unacquainted  with  alphabetic 
writincr.*     The  Oo:ham  Craev,  or  secret 


quotes,  without  comment,  Charles  O'Conor  of  Belanagar, 
who,  in  his  introductory  disquisition  to  the  Ogygia  Vin- 
dicated, abandons  the  whole  story  of  the  Milesian  colony, 
&c.,  but  holds  that  the  pagan  Irish  had  the  Ogham,  or 
virgular  writing. 


48 


RELIGION    OF  THE   PAGAN   IRISH. 


virgular  writing,  formed  by  notches  or 
mai'ks  along  the  arras  edges  of  stones, 
or  pieces  of  timber,  or  on  either  side  of 
any  stem  line  on  a  plane  surface,  was 
only  applicable  to  brief  inscriptions, 
such  as  a  name  on  the  head-stone  of  a 
grave :  and  the  pagan  antiquity  of  even 
this  rude  style  of  alphabet  has  been  dis- 
puted by  some  ;*  but  innumerable  pas- 
sages in  our  most  ancient  annals  and 
historic  poems  show  that  not  only  the 
Ogham,  which  was  considered  to  be  an 
occult  mode  of  writing,  but  a  style  of 
alphabetic  characters  suited  for  the 
preservation  of  public  records,  and  for 
general  literary  purposes,  was  known  in 
Ireland  many  centuries  before  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity.  This  fact  is  so 
blended  with  the  old  historic  traditions 
of  the  country,  that  it  is  hard  to  see 
how  the  one  can  be  given  up  without 
abandoning  the  other  also.  There  are 
indisputable  authorities  to  j^rove  that 
the  Latin  mode  of  writing  was  known 
in  Ireland  some  time  before  St.  Patrick's 
arrival,  as  there  were  unquestionably 
Christians  in  the  country  before  that 
time,  and  as  Celestius,  the  Irish  disciple 
of  the  heresiarch  Pelagius,  is  stated  to 
have  written  epistles  to  his  family  in 
Ireland,  at  least  thirty  years  before  the 
preaching  of  St.  Patrick;   but  we  go 


*  Tlie  Ogham  inscriptions  found  in  the  cave  of  Dunloe, 
in  Kerry,  decidedly  of  a  date  anterior  to  Christianity, 
ought  to  be  conclusive  on  this  point. 

f  The  passage  from  Cuan  O'Lochain's  poem  referring 
to  the  "  Psalter  of  Tara,"  wU]  be  found  in  Petrie's  "  His- 
tory of  Tara  Hill." 

t  The  cloeh-oir,  or  golden  stone,  from  whicli  Clogher 
in  Tyrone  is  said  to  take  its  name,  would  appear  to  have 


further,  for  we  hold,  on  the  authority 
of  Cuan  O'Lochain,  who  held  a  distin- 
guished position  in  this  country  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  that 
the  Psalter  of  Tara  did  exist,  and  was 
compiled  by  Cormac  MacArt  in  the 
third  century,  and  consequently  that 
the  pagan  Irish  possessed  a  knowledge 
of  alphabetic  writing  at  least  in  that 
age.f 

One  of  the  questions  with  reference 
to  the  pagan  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  on 
which  it  is  most  difficult  to  arrive  at  a 
satisfactory  conclusion,  is  the  nature  of 
their  religion.  The  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nanns  are  said  to  have  had  divinities 
who  presided  over  different  arts  and 
professions.  We  have  seen  that  Tiern- 
mas,  a  Milesian  king  (a.  m.  3580),  was 
the  first  who  publicly  practised  the  wor- 
ship of  Crom  Cruach.  It  is  quite  prob- 
able that  he  was  the  first  who  set  up 
rude  idols  for  adoration  in  Ireland,  but 
Crom  Cruach  is  referred  to  as  a  divinity 
which  the  Milesians  had  always  wor- 
shipped.ij:  That  a  superstitious  venera- 
tion was  paid  to  the  sun,  wind,  and  ele- 
ments, is  obvious  from  the  solemn  forms 
of  oath  which  some  of  the  Irish  kings 
took  and  administered ;  and  that  fires 
were  lighted,  on  certain  occasions,  for 
religious  purposes,  is  also  certain ;  but 


been  another  of  the  ancient  Irish  idols.  Cathal  Maguire, 
compiler  of  the  "Annals  of  Ulster"  (A.  D.  1490),  is  quoted 
in  the  "Ogygia,"  part  iii.,  c.  23,  as  stating  that  a  stone 
covered  with  gold  was  preserved  at  Clogher,  at  the 
right  side  of  the  church  entrance,  and  that  in  that  stone 
Kermand  Kelstacli,  the  principal  idol  of  the  northern 
parts,  was  worshipped. 


THE  BREHON   LAWS. 


49 


beyond  these  and  a  few  other  facts,  we 
have  nothing  on  Irish  authority  to 
define  the  religious  system  of  our  pagan 
ancestors.  They  had  topical  divinities 
who  presided  over  hills,  rivers,  and  par- 
ticular localities,  but  tliere  is  no  men- 
tion of  any  general  deity  recognized  by 
the  whole  people,  unless  the  obscure, 
and  not  very  old  references  to  a  god 
Beall,  or  Bel,  be  understood  in  that 
sense ;  nor  is  there  any  trace  of  a  pro- 
pitiatory sacrifice  used  l^y  them.  Their 
druids  combined  the  offices  of  philoso- 
phers, judges,  and  magicians,  but  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  sacrificing 
priests,  so  far  as  the  mention  of  them 
to  be  found  in  purely  Irish  authorities 
would  lead  us  to  conjecture.*  The 
writings  transmitted  to  us  by  the 
ancient  Irish  were  not  composed  for 
the  use  of  strangers,  and  hence  the 
scantiness  of  their  information  on  sub- 
jects which  must  have  been  well  known 
to  those  for  whom  'they  were  written. 
The  religion  and  customs  of  the  Celts 
of  Gaul  were  minutely  described  by 
Ctesar;  but  whether  his  description  of 
the  druidical  religion  of  that  country 
was  applicable  to  the  Irish  druids  and 
their  form  of  worship,  we  have  no  cer- 


*  From  drat,  or  draoidh,  a  druid,  comes  tlie  word 
draoidheacht  (pronounced  dreeacht),  the  ordinary  Irisli 
term  for  magic  or  sorcery.  O'Eeilly  says  ("  Irisli  Wri- 
ters," p.  Ixsis.)  that  druidism  cannot  be  proved  to  have 
been  the  religion  of  the  pagan  Irish,  from  the  use  of  the 
word  drai,  which  means  only  a  sage,  a  magician,  or  a  sor- 
cerer ;  and  he  shows  that  Morogh  O'Cairthe,  a  Connaught 
writer,  who  died  A.  D.  1067,  is  called  by  Tigernach  "  Ard 
draei  agua  ard  Ollamh,"  "chief  druid  and  ollav."  The 
word  may  come  from  the  Gfreek  Apuj,  or  the  Irish  dair, 
an  oak. 

7 


tain  authority  to  enable  us  to  judge. 
On  this  subject  a  great  deal  is  left  to 
conjecture,  and  the  result  is  that  we 
have  had  the  wildest  theories  pro- 
pounded, with  the  most  positive  asser- 
tions about  fire  Avorship,  pillar  temples, 
budhism,  druids'  altars,  human  sacrifi- 
ces, and  sundry  strange  mysteries,  as  if 
these  things  had  been  accurately  set 
forth  in  some  authentic  descrijition  of 
ancient  Ireland;  whereas  the  fact  is 
that  not  one  word  about  them  can  be 
discovered  in  any  of  the  numerous  Irish 
manuscripts  that  have  been  so  fully 
elucidated  uj)  to  the  present  da)^ 

The  laws  of  the  ancient  Irish  formed 
a  vast  body  of  jurisjDrudeuce,  of  which 
only  recent  researches  have  enabled  the 
world  to  appreciate  the  merits.  Several 
collections  and  revisions  of  these  laws 
were  made  by  successive  kings,  from 
the  decisions  of  eminent  judges,  and 
these  are  what  are  now  known  as  the 
Brehon  laws.f 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  of  the 
ancient  native  laws  of  Ireland  was  that 
of  succession,  called  tanaisteacht,  or  tan- 
istry.  This  law  was  a  compound  of 
the  hereditary  and  the  elective  princi- 
ples, and  is  thus  briefly  explained  by 


f  The  labors  of  the  Brehon  Law  Commission  are  stUl 
in  progress  as  this  History  is  going  to  press,  and  their 
result  wUl  throw,  no  doubt,  a  great  deal  of  light  upon 
the  ancient  customs  and  manners  of  Ireland.  To  the 
enlightened  views  and  persevering  exertions  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Graves,  F.  T.  C.  D.,  so  ably  sustained  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Todd,  the  country  is  indebted  for  obtaining  this  com- 
mission from  the  government ;  and  to  the  great  Irish 
learning  of  Dr.  O'Donoran  and  Professor  Eugene  Curry, 
for  carrying  out  its  object  successfully. 


50 


THE  LAW    OF  TANISTRY. 


Professor  Curry  :* — "  There  was  no  in- 
variable rule  of  succession  in  the  Mile- 
sian times,  but  according  to  the  general 
tenor  of  our  ancient  accounts  the  eldest 
son  succeeded  the  father  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  collateral  claimants,  unless  it 
happened  that  he  was  disqualified  by 
some  personal  deformity,  or  blemish,  or 
by  natural  imbecility,  or  crime ;  or  un- 
less (as  happened  in  after  ages),  by 
parental  testament,  or  mutual  compact, 
the  succession  was  made  alternate  in 
two  or  more  families.  The  eldest  son, 
being  thus  recognized  as  the  presump- 
tive heir  and  successor  to  the  dignity, 
was  denominated  tanaiste,  that  is,  minor 
or  second,  while  all  the  other  sons,  or 
persons  that  were  eligible  in  case  of  his 
failure,  were  simply  called  righdhamhna, 
that  is,  king-material,  or  king-makings. 
This  was  the  origin  of  tanaiste,  a  success- 
or, and  tanaisteacht,  successorship.  The 
tanaiste,  had  a  separate  maintenance 
and  establishment,  as  well  as  distinct 
pri\aleges  and  liabilities.  He  was  in- 
ferior to  the  king  or  chief,  but  above 
all  the  other  dignitai'ies  of  the  State. 
From  all  this  it  will  be  seen  that  tanis- 
try,  in  the  Anglo-Norman  sense,  was 
not  an  original,  essential  element  of  the 
law  of  succession,  but  a  condition  that 
might  be  adopted  or  abandoned  at  any 
time  by  the  parties  concerned ;  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  it  was  at  any  time 
universal  in  Erinn,  although  it  prevailed 
in  many  parts  of  it.     It  is  to  be  noticed 


*  Introduciion  to  the  battle  of  IvIagU  Leana,  printed 
ior  the  Celtic  Society,  Dublin,  1850. 


also,  that  alternate  tanaisteacht  did  not 
involve  any  disturbance  of  property,  or 
of  the  people,  but  only  effected  the 
position  of  the  person  himself,  whether 
king,  chief,  or  professor  of  any  of  the 
liberal  arts,  as  the  case  might  be ;  and 
that  it  was  often  set  aside  by  force." 

The  primitive  intention  was,  that  the 
inheritance  should  descend  "  to  the  old- 
est and  most  worthy  man  of  the  same 
name  and  blood,"  but  practically  this 
was  giving  it  to  the  strongest,  and  fam- 
ily feuds  and  intestine  wars  Avere  the 
inevitable  consequence. 

As  tanistry  regulated  the  transmission 
of  titles,  offices,  and  authority,  so  the 
custom  of  gavel-kind  (or  gavail-kinne), 
another  of  the  ancient  institutions  of 
Ireland,  but  which  was  also  common  to 
the  Britons,  Anglo-Saxons,  Franks,  and 
other  primitive  people,  adjusted  the 
partition  and  inheritance  of  landed  pro- 
perty. By  gavel-kind  the  property  was 
divided  equally  between  all  the  sons, 
Avhether  legitimate  or  otherwise,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  daughters ;  but  in  addi- 
tion to  his  own  equal  share,  which  the 
eldest  son  obtained  in  common  with  his 
brothers,  lie  received  the  dwelling-house 
and  other  buildings,  which  would  have 
been  I'etained  by  the  father  or  kenfine, 
if  the  division  were  made,  as  it  fre- 
quently was,  in  his  own  lifetime.  This 
extra  share  was  given  to  the  eldest  bro- 
ther as  head  of  the  family,  and  in  con- 
sideration of  certain  liabilities  whicli  he 
incurred  for  the  security  of  the  family 
in  general.  If  there  were  no  sons,  the 
property   was   divided  equally   among 


TENURE   OF   LAND. 


51 


the  next  male  lieirs  of  the  deceased, 
whether  uncles,  brothers,  ne2:)hews,  or 
cousins ;  but  the  female  line,  as  in  the 
Salic  law,  was  excluded  from  the  inher- 
itance. Sometimes  a  repartition  of  the 
lands  of  a  whole  tribe,  or  family  of  sev- 
eral branches,  became  necessary,  owing 
to  the  extinction  of  some  of  the 
branches;  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  such  confusion  or  injustice  resulted 
from  the  law,  as  is  represented  by  Sir 
John  Davies  and  by  other  English 
lawyere  who  have  adopted  his  account 
of  it.* 

The  tenure  of  land  in  Ireland  was  es- 
sentially a  tribe  or  family  right.  In 
contradistinction  to  the  Teutonic,  or 
feudal  system,  which  vested  the  land  in 
a  single  person,  Avho  was  lord  of  the 
soil,  all  the  members  of  a  tribe  or  fam- 
ily in  Ireland  had  an  equal  right  to 
their  proportionate  share  of  the  laud 
occupied  by  the  whole.  The  equality 
of  title  and  blood  thus  enjoyed  by  all 
must  have  created  a  sense  of  individual 
self-respect  and  mutual  dependence, 
that  could  not  have  existed  under  the 
Germanic  and  Anglo-Norman  system  of 
vassalage.  The  tenures  of  whole  tribes 
were  of  course  frequentlj'  disturbed  by 
war;  and  whenever  a  tribe  was  driven 
or  emicjrated  into  a  district  where  it 
had  no  hereditary  claim,  if  it  obtained 


*  See  Dissertation  on  tlie  Laves  of  tlie  ancient  Irisli, 
written  by  Pr.  O'Brien,  author  of  tlie  Dictionary,  but 
publislied  anonymously  by  Vallencey  in  tlie  third  num- 
ber of  the  "  Collectanea  de  Eeb.  Hib."  In  correction  of 
what  is  stated  above,  vre  may  mention,  on  the  authority 
of  Mr.  Curry,  that  in  default  of  any  male  issue  daughters 
■were  allowed  a  life-interest  in  property.     The  term  Ken- 


laud  it  was  on  the  payment  of  a  rent  to 
the  king  of  the  district;  thqse  rents 
being  in  some  instances  so  heavy  as  to 
compel  the  strangers  to  seek  for  a  home 
elsewhere.f  It  is  within  the  memory 
of  the  present  generation  how  the  popu- 
lation of  a  large  territory  in  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland  continued  to  hold  by 
the  ancient  Irish  clannish  tenure,  and 
were  dispossessed  and  swept  from  the 
land,  on  the  ground  that  the  English 
system  gave  the  owner  the  right  to  re- 
move them. 

The  dignity  of  Ardrigh,  or  monarch 
of  Ireland,  was  one  rather  of  title  and 
position  than  of  actual  j^ower;  and  was 
always  supported  by  alliances  witi 
some  of  the  provincial  kings  to  secure 
the  respect  of  the  others.  It  was  thus 
that  the  chief  king  was  enabled  to  as- 
sert his  will  outside  his  own  mensal 
province  or  kingdom  of  Meath ;  but,  in 
process  of  time,  the  kings  of  other  pro- 
vinces as  well  as  Meath  became  the 
monarchs.  There  was  a  reciprocity  of 
oblic^ations  between  the  several  kings 
and  their  subordinate  chieftains;  the 
superiors  granting  certain  subsidies  or 
stipends  to  the  inferiors,  while  the  latter 
paid  tributes  to  support  the  magnifi- 
cence or  the  military  power  of  the  for- 
mer.;}; It  sometimes  happened  that  the 
succession  to  the  sovereignty  was  alter- 


fine,  or  Cean-fine,  used  above,  was  only  applied  to  the 
heads  of  minor  families,  and  never  to  any  kind  of  chief- 
tains.—See  Four  Mast.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1147,  note  f. 

f  Vide  supra,  page  31,  note. 

I  These  mutual  privileges  and  restrictions,  tributes 
and  stipends,  whether  consisting  of  bondmen  or  bond- 
maids, cattle,  silver  shields,  weapons,  embroidered  doaka. 


52 


FOSTERAGE. 


Date  between  two  families,  as  that  of 
Munster  was  between  tlie  Dalcassians 
and  the  Eugeuiaus,  both  the  posterity 
of  Oiliol  Olum ;  but  this  kind  of  suc- 
cession almost  always  led  to  war. 

None  of  the  ancient  Irish  laws  has 
been  so  much  decried  by  English  wri- 
ters as  that  of  eric,  or  mulct,  by  which 
crimes,  including  that  of  murder,  were 
punished  by  fines;  these  writers  for- 
getting that  a  similar  law  existed  among 
their  own  British  and  Anglo-Saxon  an- 
cestors. Punishment  of  murder  by  fine 
also  prevailed  under  the  Salic  law ;  so 
that  if  the  principle  be  abhorrent  to  our 
ideas  at  the  present  day,  we  know,  at 
least,  that  it  existed  in  other  countries 
at  the  same  remote  period  in  which  it 
was  acted  upon  in  Ireland.*  It  is  not 
generally  known  that  in  cases  of  mur- 
der the  eric  might  be  refused  by  the 
friends  of  the  deceased,  and  punishment 
by  death  insisted  on ;  yet  such  was  the 


refections  on  visitations,  drinlting-liorns,  com  or  con- 
tributions in  any  otlier  shape,  will  be  found  set  down  in 
tbe  Leabliar  na  g-Ceart,  or  Book  of  Rights,  edited  for 
the  Celtic  Society  by  Dr.  O'Donovan.  Altliougli  a  com- 
pilation of  Christian  times,  being  attributed  to  St.  Benig- 
nus,  the  disciple  and  successor  of  St.  Patrick,  it  describes 
the  customs  of  the  kings  of  Ireland  as  they  existed  in 
the  ages  of  paganism. 

*  See  the  laws  of  Athelstan  ;  Howell  Dda's  Leges  Wal- 
liecB  ;  the  Salic  law,  and  other  authorities  quoted  in  Dr. 
O'Brien's  Dissertation,  already  referred  to,  pp.  394,  &c. 
The  law  of  eric  was  abrogated  before  the  English  inva- 
sion, in  the  senate  held  by  the  Irish  clergy,  and  Mor- 
tough  More  O'Brien,  king  of  Munster  and  monarch  of 
Ireland,  A.  D.  1111. 


case.     Tlie  law  of  eric  was,  therefoi'e, 
conditional. 

All  ofiices  and  professions,  such  as 
those  of  druid,  brehon,  bard,  physician, 
tfec,  were  hereditary ;  yet  not  absolutely 
so,  as  others  might  also  be  introduced 
into  these  professions.  Among  the  re- 
markable customs  of  the«  ancient  Irish 
those  concerning  fosterage  prevailed,  up 
to  a  comparatively  recent  period,  and 
the  English  government  frequently 
made  stringent  laws  against  them,  to 
prevent  the  intimate  friendships  Avhich 
sprung  up  between  the  Anglo-Irish 
families  and  their  "mere"  Irish  fos- 
terers.f  It  was  usual  for  families  of 
high  rank  among  the  ancient  Ii'ish  to 
undertake  the  nursing  and  education 
of  the  children  of  their  chiefs,  one  royal 
family  sometimes  fostering  the  children 
of  another ;  and  the  bonds  which  uni- 
ted the  fosterers  and  the  fostered  were 
held  to  be  as  sacred  as  those  of  blood.;}; 


\  Fosterage  and  gossipred,  as  well  as  intermarriages, 
with  the  native  Irish,  was  declared  to  be  treason  by  the 
Statute  of  KUkenny,  40th  Ed.  III.,  A.  D.  1367. 

X  Qiraldus  Cambrensis,  who  rarely  says  a  kind  word 
of  the  Irish,  observes,  with  an  il-natured  reservation, 
"  That  if  any  lovo  or  faith  is  to  be  found  among  them, 
you  mxist  look  for  it  among  the  fosterers  and  their  foster- 
clJldreB.,"— r,,^.  Bib.  Dint.  3,  oh.  23.  Stanihurst  says, 
the  Irish  loved  and  confided  In  their  foster-brothers 
more  than  their  brothers  by  blood :  "  Singula  illis  cro 
dunt ;  in  eoruni  spo  requiescunt ;  omnium  conciliorum 
simt  masimci  conscii.  CoUactanei  etiam  eos  fidelissime 
et  amantissime  observant." — He,  Sel .  Hib.,  p.  49.  See 
also  Harris's  Ware,  vol.  ii.,  p.  73. 


^s^ia. 


iiiRiL-fe)M  .Ai^Tiio^nnniESo 


WEAPONS   AND   IMPLEMENTS. 


53 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Social  and  Intellectual  State  of  the  Pagan  Irish,  continued. — Weapons  and  Implements  of  Flint  and  Stone. — Celts. 
— Working  in  Metal. — Bronze  Swords,  &c. — Pursuits  of  the  Primitive  Races. — Agriculture. — Houses.— Eaths. 
— Caliirs. — Cranogues. — Canoes  and  Curaclis. — Sepulchres. — Cromlechs. — Games  and  Amusements. — Music. 
— Ornaments,  &c. — Celehrated  Pagan  Legislators  and  Poets. — The  Bearla  Feinfe,  &c. 


IN  some  comj^artments  of  the  Museum 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academj^  the  vis- 
itor will  see  beautifully  shaped  swords, 
sjoear-heads,  and  javelins  of  bronze;  and 
in  others  he  will  find  a  great  variety  of 
weapons  and  tools  composed  of  flint  and 
stone,  from  the  rudely  formed  stone  celt 
and  hammer,  and  the  small  chip  of  flint 
that  served  for  an  arrow-head,  to  the 
finely  fashioned  barbed  spear-head  of 
the  latter  material,  and  the  highly  pol- 
ished and  well-shaped  celt  of  hard  stone. 
Both  classes  of  objects  belong  to  the 
pre-Christian  ages  of  Irish  history ;  and 
the  questions  arise — what  time  elapsed 
between  the  use  of  the  one  and  of  the 
other  ?  or  what  races  employed  each  ? 
or  were  both  kinds  of  materials  in  use 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  simul- 
taneously, and  fi'om  their  first  arrival  in 
the  island  ?  The  ancient  annalists  as- 
sure us  that  at  least  the  Tuatha  de  Da- 
nann  colony  were  acquainted  with  the 
use  of  metal  when  they  first  came  to 
Ireland;  and  this  account  is  now  so 
generally  received,  that  wherever  bronze 
weapons  are  found  in  sepulchral  moimds 
with   human   remains,   the    latter   are 


looked  upon  as  those  of  the  Tuatha  de 
Danann  race.  Making  every  allowance, 
however,  for  the  amplifications  of  the 
bards,  and  for  the  gradual  progress 
which  the  arts  must  have  made  amons; 
all  primitive  races,  we  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Ireland  employed  such  materials  as  flint 
flakes  and  stone  in  the  construction  of 
their  weapons  and  instruments  for  cut- 
ting ;  and  stone,  timber,  and  sun-baked 
earthenware,  for  domestic  uses ;  first, 
perhaps,  exclusively,  and  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  for  a  long  time  after  the 
use  of  metals  became  familiar, — as  the 
latter  material  must  have  been  scarce 
for  many  ages,  while  the  former  were 
always  at  hand,  and  requii'ed  compara- 
tively little  skill  in  their  adaptation. 

That  the  Irish  became  expert  woik- 
ers  in  metal  at  a  very  early  period  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  several  specimess  of 
their  skill,  besides  bronze  Aveapons,  be- 
ing preserved  in  the  great  national  col- 
lection of  antiquities  just  referred  to. 
The  occupation  of  smith,  which  includ- 
ed that  of  armorer,-  ranked  next  to  the 
learned  professions  among  them ;  and  at 


-^4 


AGRICULTURE. 


Aiigati'os  or  the  Silverwood*  forges  and 
sineltiug  works  for  the  precious  metals 
were  established,  where  silver  shields, 
which  an  Irish  king  presented  to  his 
chieftains  or  nobles,  long  before  the 
Christian  era,  were  made ;  and  where,  no 
doubt,  some  of  those  costly  gold  torques, 
and  other  ornaments  of  the  same  metal 
that  enrich  our  museum,  and  that  Avere 
worn  by  the  pagan  Irish  princes  and 
judges,  were  so  skilfully  manufxcrtured.f 
The  early  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were, 
like  most  primitive  races,  more  devoted 
at  first  to  nomadic  than  to  agricultural 
jDursuits ;  but  Avhile  they  contented 
themselves  in  the  latter,  for  a  long  time, 
Avith  the  cultivation  of  only  so  much 
grain  as  served  for  their  immediate 
Avants,  in  the  former  they  were  restrain- 
ed within  certain  bounds,  as  each  tribe 
and  family  had  only  an  allotted  portion 
of  land  over  which  they  could  allow 
their  flocks  and  herds  to  range.  In 
process  of  time  the  j)023ulatiou  became 
so  multiplied,  and  the  resources  of  agri- 
culture so  important,  that  almost  every 
available  s2)ot  would  appear  to  have 
been  cultivated  ;  and  Ave  now  see  traces 


*  Now  Ratliveagli,  on  the  River  Nore,  ia  Kilkomiy. 

f  The  quantity  of  gold  ornaments  that  have  been  dis- 
covered m  Ireland  is  almost  incredible.  In  digging  for 
a  railway  cutting  in  Clare,  in  the  year  1855,  a  hoard  of 
these  ancient  treasm-es  was  found,  worth,  it  is  said, 
about  £3,000  as  bullion.  They  are  frequently  found  in 
almost  every  part  of  Ireland,  and  besides  the  nimiber 
accumulated  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
many  are  also  to  be  seen  in  the  windows  of  goldsmiths' 
shops,  and  unknown  quantities  of  them  have  found  their 
■way  into  the  crucible.  "  We  know  enough,"  observed 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Todd,  in  his  inaugural  address  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  in  1856,  "  to  be  assured 
that  the  use  of  gold  rings,  and  torques,  and  circlets,  must 


of  the  husbandman's  labor  on  the  tops 
of  hills,  and  in  other  places  in  Ireland 
that  have  ceased  to  be  under  cultivation 
beyond  the  range  of  the  oldest  tradi- 
tion. Between  the  periods  Avheu  those 
mountain  tracts,  now  co\-ered  Avith 
heath  or  moss,  were  made  to  produce 
the  annual  grain-crop,  and  those  far 
remoter  ages  when  the  first  colony  be- 
gan to  clear  some  of  the  impenetrable 
forests  coA-ering  the  surface  of  the  then 
nameless  island  of  Erin,  there  must  have 
been  a  A'ast  interval  and  many  phases 
of  society — pastoral  Firbolg,  mechan- 
ical Tuatha  de  Danann,  and  warlike  Scot 
or  Gael,  occupied  the  stage ;  yet  to  all 
of  these  our  old  annals,  with  the  ancient 
historical  poems  which  serve  to  illus- 
trate them,  seem  to  be  tolerably  faith- 
ful guides,  showing  us  the  hosts  of  rude 
warriors  going  to  battle  with  slings, 
■and  AA'ith  stone  disks  for  casting,  as  Avell 
as  the  serried  array  of  glittering  spears, 
and  the  gold  and  silver  breastplates, 
and  the  embroidered  and  many-colored 
cloaks  of  the  later,  yet  still  pagan, 
times.;}; 

The  houses  of  the  ancient  Irish  Avere 


have  been  a  characteristic  of  some  of  the  aboriginal  set- 
tlers of  Ireland.  AATiere  did  this  gold  come  from? 
There  is  no  e\-idence  of  any  trade  at  so  early  a  period 
between  the  natives  of  Ireland  and  any  gold-producing 
clime.  Geology  assures  us  that  there  are  no  auriferous 
streams  or  veins  in  Ireland  capable  of  supplying  so  very 
large  a  mass  of  gold.  It  follows,  then,  that  some  tribe 
or  colony  who  migrated  into  this  coimtry  must  have  car- 
ried these  ornaments  on  their  persons." 

I  See  a  minute  description  of  the  weapons  and  do- 
mestic implements  used  by  the  ancient  Irish,  so  far  as 
they  were  composed  of  stone,  earthen,  or  vegetable 
materials,  in  the  first  part  of  the  Catalogue  of  Antiqui 
ties  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  by  W 


HOUSES,  RATHS,   AND   CAHIES. 


55 


constructed  for  tlae  most  part  of  wood, 
or  of  hurdles  and  wicker-work  plastered 
with  tempered  clay,  and  thatched  with 
rushes.  This  use  of  timber  for  building 
was  so  general,  that  even  the  churches 
for  a  Ions:  time  after  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  were  usually  constructed 
of  planed  boards,  which  was  described 
by  Venerable  Bede,  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, as  a  peculiar  Scottish  (that  is, 
Irish)  fashion  ;*  building  with  stone  and 
cement  being  regarded  as  a  Roman  cus- 
tom, and  too  ex23ensive  to  be  Tinder- 
takeu  by  the  first  Christian  monks  in 
Ireland. 

These  wooden  or  hurdle  houses  were 
surrounded  by.  strong  fences  of  earth 
or  stone,  of  which  great  numbers  are 
yet  to  be  found  in  every  part  of  the 
island ;  although  all  traces  of  the  actual 


R.  Wilde,  Esq.  Those  peculiar  objects,  called  Celts — 
not  from  the  name  of  tlie  people,  liut  from  the  Latin 
word  celtis,  a  cliisel — still  puzzle  the  antiquaries  to  de- 
fine their  use.  Professor  Cuiry  has  communicated,  from 
tlie  Book  of  BalljTnote  and  other  ancient  Irish  manu- 
scripts, an  account  (published  at  pp.  73,  74,  of  the  Cata- 
logue) of  the  manner  in  which  the  Lia  lliledh  or  "  war- 
rior's stone" — whether  that  be  the  celt,  or  the  round,  flat, 
sharp-edged  disk,  of  which  there  are  some  specimens  in 
the  Museum — was  used  in  battle.  The  following  legend- 
ary account  is  one  of  the  three  or  four  examples  given  : 
"  In  the  record  of  the  battle  of  the  Ford  of  Comar,  near 
Wore,  in  the  county  of  Westmeath,  and  which'  is  sup- 
posed to  have  occurred  in  the  century  before  the  Cliris- 
tian  era,  it  is  said  that, '  there  came  not  a  man  of  Lohar's 
people  without  a  broad,  green  spear,  nor  without  a 
dazzling  shield,  nor  without  a  Liaglo-lairJia-laich  (a 
ohampion's  hand  stone),  stowed  away  in  the  hollow  cav- 
ity of  his  shield.  .  .  .  And  Lobar  carried  his  stone  like 
each  of  his  men ;  and  seeing  the  monarch,  his  father, 
standing  in  the  ford  with  Ceat,  son  of  Magach,  at  one 
side,  and  ConnaU  Ceamach  at  the  other,  to  guard  him, 
he  grasped  his  battle-stone  quickly  and  dexterously,  and 
threw  it  with  aU  his  strength,  and  with  unerring  aim,  at 
the  king,  his. father;  and  the  massive  stone  passed  with 
a  swift  rotatory  motion  towards  the  king,  and  despite 


dwellings  have  disajjpeared,  owing  to 
the  perishable  nature  of  the  materials 
of  which  they  consisted  ;  unless  in  some 
few  places,  where  small  stone  houses, 
now  called  cloghauns,  with  beehive 
roofs,  are  still  preserved.  The^inclo- 
sures  were  generally  circular,  but  some- 
times oval  or  polygonal ;  and  when  they 
surrounded  the  habitations  of  chiefs  or 
other  important  persons,  or  were  sit- 
uate.d  in  places  exj^osed  to  hostile  incur- 
sions, they  were  double  or  triple,  the 
concentric  lines  of  defence  being  sepa- 
rated by  dikes.  An  earthen  inclosure 
of  this  kind  is  usually  called  a  rath, 
or  lios ;  and  one  of  stone,  a  cathair  (pr. 
cahir),  or  caishal ;  both  being  vulgarly 
called  Danish  forts,  or  simply  forts. 
The  stone  forts  are  attributed  by  some 
antiquaries  to  the  Firbolgs,  at  least  in 

the  efforts  of  his  two  brave  guardians,  it  struck  bim  on 
the  breast,  and  laid  him  prostrate  in  the  ford.  The 
king,  however,  recovered  from  the  shock,  arose,  and 
placing  his  foot  upon  the  foimidable  stone,  pressed  it 
into  the  earth,  where  it  remains  to  this  day,  with  a  third 
part  of  it  over  ground,  and  the  print  of  the  king's  foot 
visible  on  it.'  " 

*  Thus,  when  St.  Fiman  of  lona  becaiue  bishop  of 
Lindisfarne,  he  "  built  a  church  fit  for  his  episcopal  see, 
not  of  stone,  but  altogether  of  sawn  wood,  covered  with 
reeds,  after  the  Scotic  fashion  (More  Scottortim.)"  Bede, 
Eccl.  Hist,  iii.,  c.  25.  The  extensive  use  of  timber  for 
building  can  be  no  matter  of  surprise  when  we  lecoUect 
that  Ireland  was,  at  the  time,  abundantly  supplied  with 
primeval  forests  ;  and  among  the  trees  which  seem  to 
have  been  most  numerous,  and  of  course  indigenous, 
were  the  oak,  pine,  fir,  birch,  and  yew.  It  is  not  long 
since  a  large  portion  of  some  old  English  and  continental 
towns  consisted  of  wooden  houses ;  and  it  will  be  long  ere 
the  method  of  constructing  houses  of  wood  bo  abandoned 
in  America.  There  is  mention  of  a  "pUlared  house"  (tuire- 
adoig)  in  a  jroem  quoted  by  Tigernach,  under  the  year 
GOl,  and  attributed  by  him  to  Caillach  Laighneach, 
who  wrote  in  the  time  of  Hugh  Allan,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  8th  century.  (See  Four  Masters,  vol.  i.,  p 
230.) 


56 


SEPULCHRAL   MONUMENTS. 


those  parts  of  Ireland  wliere  that  people 
were  lonofest  to  he  found  as  a  distinct 
I'ace,  as  in  tlie  western  province ;  and 
the  earthen  forts  are  supposed  to  have 
been  the  work  of  the  Milesians.  Most 
probably  both  races  employed  indiffer- 
ently such  materials  as  were  most  con- 
venient to  their  hand.  Of  the  earthen 
intrenchments,  the  walls  have,  in  the 
lapse  of  centuries,  been  so  washed  into 
the  dikes  as  partly  to  efi'ace  both;  while 
in  innumerable  cases  the  hand  of  the 
ao;riculturist  has  been  more  ruthless 
than  that  of  time,  in  obliterating  these 
vestiges  of  our  ancestors.* 

Another  kind  of  fortified  retreat  or 
dwelling  used  by  the  ancient  Irish  was 
that  called  a  armogue,  or  stockaded 
island,  generally  situated  in  some  small 
lake,  where  a  little  islet  or  bank  of 
gi-avel  was  taken  advantage  of,  and  by 
being  surrounded  with  stakes  or  other 
defences,  was  made  a  safe  retreat  for 
either  the  lawless  or  timid.  In  the  vicin- 
ity of  these  cranogues  are  often  found 
the  remains  of  canoes,  or  shallow  flat- 
bottomed  boats,  cut  out  of  a  single  tree. 
The  boats  used  by  the  Irish  on  the  sea- 
coast  were  chiefly  those  called  curraghs 
or  coracles,  which  were  composed  of  a 
frame  of  wicker-work,  covered  with 
skins.  Boats  of  this  type,  save  that 
pitched  canvas  has  been  substituted 
for    the   hides,    are  still   used    on   the 


*  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  caishels  or 
stone  forts,  are  Dun  Aengus,  Dun  Conchurn,  and  other 
duns  of  the  Isles  of  Aran,  Staigue  Fort  in  Kerry,  and 
the  Grianan  of  Aileach,  in  Donegal ;  and  of  the  earthen 
forts,  some  of  tlie  most  celebrated  are  the  royal  raths  of 


coast  of  Clare,  in  the'  islands  of  Aran, 
and  in  some  few  other  places  in  Ire 
land. 

From  the  dwellings  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  Ave  naturally  turn  to  their 
sepulchral  remains,  of  which  there  are 
diflferent  kinds.  The  most  frequent  are 
the  mounds  or  tumuli,  called  barrows  in 
England,  which  were  common  to  all 
ancient  nations  who  interred  their  dead. 
They  varied  iu  size  according  to  the 
importance  of  the  individual  over  whose 
remains  they  were  raised,  and  in  some 
instances  they  assumed  the  dimensions 
of  considerable  hills ;  as  those  of  New 
Grange  and  Dowth  on  the  banks  of  the 
Boyne.  Of  these  vast,  tumuli,  which 
there  are  good  grounds  for  regarding 
as  the  tombs  of  the  Tuatha  de  Danann 
kings,  the  most  famous  is  that  of  New 
Grange,  with  its  long  gallery,  and  lofty, 
dome-shaped  chamber ;  and  it  may  be 
observed  that  in  any  of  those  mounds 
that  have  been  examined,  sepulchral 
chambers,  or  kists,  have  been  invariably 
found,  and  frequently  human  remains. 
Monuments  composed  of  stone-heaps 
are  called  leachts  or  earns,  but  many  of 
these  latter  are  modern,  and  are  mere 
cenotaphs  or  memorials  of  an  accidental 
or  violent  death. 

The  monuments  called  cromlechs, 
which  are  '  met  in  Wales  and  Brittany 
as  well  as  in  Ireland,  and  which  belong 


Tara  Hill,  Emania,  Croghan,  and  Tailtin,  and  the  great 
rath  of  Mullaghmast ;  but  there  are  few  districts  of  Ire 
land  in  which  several  remains  of  this  character  are  not 
to  be  found. 


GAMES  AXD   MUSIC. 


57 


unquestionably  to  pagan  times,  have 
been  populady  regarded  as  druids'  al- 
tars ;  but  the  correct  opinion,  founded 
on  ancient  Irish  authorities,  that  they 
were  intended  for  sepulchral  purposes, 
is  now  generally  received ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  they  may  have  been  in 
some  cases  the  chambers  of  sepulchral 
mounds,  from  Avhich  the  covering  of 
earth  has  been  removed.  The  examina- 
tion of  a  tumulus,  ojjened  in  May,  1838, 
in  the  Phoenix  Park,  near  Dublin,  would 
seem  to  confirm  this  opinion  ;  as  fhe 
internal  chamber,  in  which  two  human 
skeletons  were  found,  was  covered  with 
a  large,  flat  stone,  in  every  respect  like 
a  cromlech.* 

Chess  was  a  favorite  game  of  the 
Irish  from  very  early  times,  but  it  is 
uncertain  whether  the  rules  of  the  play 
wei'e  the  same  as  those  known  to 
moderns.  In  all  ages  the  Irish  were 
passionately  fond  of  their  own  sweet, 
heart-touching,   and    expressive    music, 


*  These  monuments  are  invariably  referred  to  in  old 
Irish  writings  as  sepulchres ;  and  in  later  ages  they 
■were  called  leniacha  nafcinne,  or  the  beds  (i.  e.,  graves) 
of  the  Fenians — the  term  cromlech  being  a  recent  impor- 
tation into  the  Irish  language,  and  still  quite  unknown 
to  the  Irish-speaking  population.  It  is  not  unusual  at 
present  to  combine  the  two  hypotheses  by  calling  these 
mysterious  remains  altar-graves.  For  a  great  deal  of 
valuable  research  about  the  cemeteries  and  sepulchres 
of  the  pagan  Irish,  and  in  particular  about  the  hUl-mon- 
uments  near  the  Boyne ;  and  also  for  important  and 
authentic  information  touching  the  manners  of  the 
primitive  races  of  Ireland,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Dr. 
Petrie's  learned  Essay  on  Tara  Hill. 

f  Giraldus  Cambrensis  (Top.  Bib.,  dist.  iii.,  c.  11),  de- 
scribing the  performance  of  the  Irish  harpers,  pays  them 
the  following  tribute  : — "  In  musicis  iustrumentis  com- 
mendabilem  invenio  istius  gentis  diligentiam  ;  in  quibus 
prse  omni  natione  quam  vidimus,  incomparabiliter  est 
instructa."  "  The  attention  of  this  people  to  musical 
8 


and  possessed  both  stringed  and  wind 
instruments ;  and  a  number  of  bards  or 
musicians,  who  sometimes  played  in 
harmon)^,  but  generally  accompanied 
their  sonjjs  Avith  instrumental  music 
singlj',  were  always  in  attendance  at 
the  feasts  of  the  chiefs  and  public  en- 
tertainraents.f  The  gold  ornaments 
which  are  still  preserved,  the  crowns  of 
gold,  worn,  at  least  in  some  instances, 
by  the  Irish  kings,  and  the  accounts 
given  by  the  bards  of  their  "  high 
drinking-cups  of  gold,"  and  other  ob- 
jects of  luxury,  would  show  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  splendor  had  been  at- 
tained in  the  rude  society  of  even  the 
pagan  ages  of  Ireland. 

The  names  of  several  persons  who 
had  distinguished  themselves  as  poets 
or  legislators  in  Ireland,  in  the  time  of 
paganism,  are  still  preserved,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  compositions  attributed  to 
them.  Among  those  most  remarkable 
in  the  latter  class  were  Ollav  Fola,  by 


instruments  I  find  worthy  of  commendation ;  their  skill 
in  these  matters  being  incomparably  superior  to  that  of 
any  other  nation  I  have  seen."  He  then  goes  on  to  com- 
pare the  Irish  music  with  that  of  the  Welsh,  to  which 
he  was  accustomed,  describing  the  former  as  rapid  and 
precipitate,  yet  sweet  and  pleasing,  while  the  latter  is 
slow  and  solemn.  He  was  amazed  at  "  the  rapidity  of 
execution,"  "the  intricate  arrangement  of  the  notes," 
and  "  the  melody  so  harmonious  and  perfect"  which 
Irish  music  displayed ;  and  was  struck  with  the  per- 
formance of  the  Irish  musicians,  who  knew  how  "  to 
delight  with  so  much  delicacy,  and  soSlhe  so  softly,  that 
the  excellence  of  their  art  seemed  to  lie  in  concealing 
it."  Such  was  the  impression  which  the  music  of  Ire- 
land could  produce  on  the  soul  even  of  an  enemy  seven 
himdred  years  ago.  Warton  (History  of  English  Poe- 
try) says : — "  Even  so  late  as  the  eleventh  century  the 
practice  was  continued  among  the  Welsh  bards  of 
receiving  instructions  in  the  bardic  profession  from  Ire- 
land." 


%'■ 


58 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  ANCIENT  IRELAND. 


whom  the  Feis  of  Tara  was  instituted  ; 
Cimbaetb,  and  other  kings  of  his  period ; 
Moran,  the  chief  judge  of  Ferach,  the 
Fair  and  Just,  at  the  close  of  the  first 
century;  and,  above  all,  Cormac,  son  of 
Art,  who  has  left  us  a  tract  or  book  of 
"Eoyal  Precepts,"  and  who,  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century,  caused  the 
Psalter  of  Tara  to  be  compiled. 

Of  the  pre-Christian  bards  or  poets 
we  have  a  tolerably  large  list,  in  which, 
selecting  the  most  remarkable  names, 
we  find  Amergin,  brother  of  Heberand 
Heremon,  to  whom  three  poems  still 
existing  are  attributed  ;  Congal,  the  son 
and  poet  of  King  Eochy  Feilach,  who 
flourished  a.  m.  5058;  and  just  before 
the  Christian  era  a  whole  group  of  poets, 
among  whom  were  Adhua,  chief  poet 
of  Ireland,  Forchern,  and  Fercirtne,  the 
author  of  the  UraicacM  na  n-JEigeas,  or 


*  Vide  O'Eeilly's  Irisli  Writers. 

f  Of  the  social  and  political  system  -whiicli  prevailed 
among  tlie  ancient  Irish,  a  distinguished  authority  on 
Irish  historical  matters,  thus  writes : — "  Of  our  society, 
the  type  was  not  an  army  (as  in  the  feudal  system)  but 
a  family.  Such  a  system,  doubtless,  was  subject  to 
many  inconveniences.  The  breaking  up  of  all  general 
authority,  and  the  multiplication  of  jietty  independent 
principalities,  was  an  abuse  incident  to  the  feudal  system ; 
it  was  inherent  in  the  very  essence  of  the  patriarchal  or 
family  system.    That  system  began  as  the  feudal  system 


primer  of  the  learned ;  ^hile  towards 
the  close  of  the  third  century  flourished 
Oisin,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
century  Torna  Eigeas,  or  Torna  the 
Learned.*  Men  like  these  would  not 
have  been  produced  in  an  entirely  un- 
civilized state  of  society.  The  noble 
language  of  ancient  Ireland  had  alreadj^ 
in  their  time  attained  a  hic^h  deOTee  of 
j)erfection,  being  most  copious  in  primi- 
tive roots  and  expressive  compounds; 
and  the  productions  that  are  attributed 
to  the  writers  enumerated  above,  are 
written  in  a  dialect  which  would  be  al 
most  wholly  unintelligible  to  the  best 
Irish  scholars  for  centuries  past,  were 
it  not  for  the  very  ancient  glosses  that 
accompany  them,  which  glosses  can 
themselves  be  understood  by  those  few 
only  who  are  profoundly  skilled  in  the 
Irish  manuscripts.f 


ended,  with  small  independent  societies,  each  with  its 
own  separate  centre  of  attraction  ;  each  clustering  round 
the  lord  or  the  chief ;  and  each  rather  repelling  than  at- 
tracting all  similar  societies.  Tet  the  patriarchal  system 
was  not  without  its  advantages.  If  the  feudal  system 
gave  more  strength  to  attack  a  foreign  enemy,  the  pat- 
riarchal system  secured  more  happiness  at  home.  The 
one  system  implied  inequality  among  the  few,  and 
slavery  among  the  many :  the  other  system  gave  a  feel- 
ing of  equality  to  all." — (The  Very  Rev.  Dean  Butler's 
Introduction  to  Clyn's  Annals,  p.  17). 


IRISH   CHRISTIANS  BEFORE  ST.  PATRICK. 


59 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Irisli  Ctristians  before  St.  Patrick.— Pelagius  and  Celestius.— The  Mission  of  St.  Palladius.— St.  Patrick's 
birth-place — his  parentage — his  captivity — his  escape — his  vision— his  studies — his  consecration. — How 
Cliristianity  was  received  in  Ireland. — St.  Patrick's  arrival. — The  first  conversions. — Interviews  with  King 
Laeghaire. — Visits  Tailtin. — The  Apostle's  journeys  in  Meath,  Connaught,  Ulster,  Leinster,  and  Munster. — 
Destruction  of  Crom  Cruach. — St.  Secundinus. — St.  Fiach.— Caroticus. — Foundation  of  Armagh. — Death  of 
St.  Patrick. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes  :  St.  Celestine  and  St.  Sixtiis  HI. — Theodosius  the  Great,  Emperor  of  tho 
East. — Valentinian  III.,  Emperor  of  the  West. — Attila,  Kinj  of  the  Huas.— Geuserio,  King  of  the  Vandals. — Clovis,  son  of 
Pharamond,  Ring  of  the  Frauks. — Brit.aiu  abandoned  by  the  Eomaus  (a.  d.  423),  and  the  aid  of  the  Saxons  invited. — Gen- 
eral Council  of  Ephesus  (a.  d.  431).    St.  Augustin  died  (a.  d.  431). 


(A.  D.  400  TO  A.  D.  500.) 


THAT  Christianity  bad  found  its 
way  into  Ireland  shortly  iDefore 
the  preaching  of  St.  Patrick  appears  to 
be  beyond  doubt,  although  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  introduced,  and  the  ex- 
tent to  which  it  had  spread,  are  matters 
of  mere  conjecture.  The  neighboring 
island  of  Britain  had,  long  before  this 
period,  received  the  light  of  faith 
through  its  Roman  masters ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  there  was  sufficient  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries  to 
enable  some  few  of  the  natives  of  Ire- 
land to  become  acquainted  with  the 
Christian  religion.  It  is,  moreover,  pro- 
bable that  these  few  isolated  Chris- 
tains  were  confined  to  the  south  of  Ire- 
land, and  that  there  was  no  bishop  in 
the    country   until   St.    Palladius   was 


*  Dr.  Lanagan  (Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  ch.ip.  i.)  has 
controverted  with  his  usual  leainiug  the  received  iio- 


sent  there  by  St.  Celestine.  Frequent 
mention  is  made  in  Irish  records  and 
Lives  of  saints  of  four  bishops  having 
been  in  Ireland  before  St.  Patrick's  ar- 
rival, namely,  St.  Ailbe  of  Emly,  St. 
Declan  of  Ardmore,  St.  Ibar  of  Begery, 
and  St.  Kieran  of  Saigir ;  but  it  never- 
theless appears  extremely  probable  that 
these  holy  prelates  were  not  the  pre- 
decessors of  St.  Patrick  in  the  Irish 
mission,  although  they  may  not  have 
been  his  disciples,  or  have  derived  their 
authority  from  him.* 

It  is  not  denied  that  some  Irishmen 
eminent  for  holiness,  and  who  flourished 
on  the  continent  about  this  time,  had 
received  the  light  of  Christianity  either 
at  home  or  abroad,  before  St.  Patrick's 
preaching.      St.    Mansuetus,    the    first 


tion  of  the  above-named  four  bishops  having  preceded 
St.  Patrick's  mission. 


60 


MISSION"   OF   ST.   PALLADIUS. 


bishop  of  Toul,  ill  Lorraine,  and  St. 
Seduiius,  or  Sbiel,  tlie  author  of  some 
beautiful  church  hymns  still  extant, 
were  of  this  number.  The  fact  that 
Celestius,  the  chief  disciple  of  the  here- 
siarch  Pelagjius,  was  a  Scot  or  Irishman, 
shows  that  Christianity  was  known  in 
this  island  previous  to  St.  Patrick.  Be- 
fore falling  into  heresy,  Celestius  resided 
in  a  monaster}^  either  in  Britain  or  on 
the  continent,  and  tlience,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  addressed  to  his  friends 
in  Ireland  some  religions  essays  or  epis- 
tles that  Avere  highly  lauded  at  the 
time.'"  As  to  Pelagius,  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  he  was  a  Briton,  and  that 
the  Latin  form  of  his  name  was  but  the 
translation  of  his  Britisb  name  of  Mor- 
gan. He  was  a  lay  monk,  taught  school 
at  Rome,  and  imbibed  from  Kufinus,  a 
Syi-iau  priest,  and  disciple  of  Theodoras 
of  Mopsuesta,  the  errors  of  that  here- 
siarch  on  grace  and  original  sin. 

While  the  great  apostle  of  Ireland 
was  yet  preparing  himself  foi'  the  mis- 
sion to  which  tended  all  the  aspirations 
of  bis  heart,  his  friend  St.  Germain  of 
Auxerre,  under  whose  guidance  and  in- 
struction he  had  placed  himself  for 
some  years  before  his  consecration, 
was  sent,  together  with  Lupus,  another 
missionary,  by  Pope  Celestine  into  Brit- 
ain, to  expel  the  Pelagian  heresy  from 
the  church  in  that  country,  and  it  is 
conjectured  that  St.  Patrick  accom- 
panied  them    on   that   mission.     It   is 


*  Gennadius  de  Script.  Eccl.,  c.  44.     The  native  coun- 
try of  Celestius  is  alluded  to  by  St.  Jerome  in  tlie  Pro- 


also  supposed,  that  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  information  obtained  during 
that  British  mission  on  the  destitute 
state  of  Ireland  for  want  of  Christian 
preachers,  that  St.  Palladius,  archdeacon 
of  Rome,  was  immediately  after  (a.  d. 
431)  sent  by  St.  Celestine  to  Ireland  as 
a  bishop  "  to  those  believing  in  Christ ;" 
namely,  to  the  few  scattered  Christians 
we  have  alluded  to ;  and  to  propagate 
the  faith  in  that  country.  This  mission, 
however,  was  imsuccessful.  Palladius 
was  repulsed  by  the  people  o£  Leinster 
and  their  king  Nathi,  and  after  erecting 
three  small  wooden  churches,  he  em- 
barked to  return  to  Rome,  and  was 
driven  by  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Scot- 
land, where  he  died  after  having  made 
his  way  as  far  as  Fordun. 

In  entering  upon  an  account  of  St. 
Patrick's  life  and  mission,  we  are  met 
at  the  threshold  by  a  controversy  about 
his  birth-place.  St.  Fiech,  a  disciple  of 
St.  Patrick,  and  bishop  of  Sletty,  wrote 
a  metrical  account  of  the  apostle's  life, 
known  as  Fiech's  hymn,  in  Avhicli  he 
states  that  the  saint  was  born  at  Nera- 
thur,  which  name  a  scholiast,  who  is 
believed  to  have  been  nearly  contempo- 
rary with  Fiech  himself,  explains  by  the 
name  Alcluith,  a  place  well  known  to 
the  ancient  Irish,  and  which  became 
the  Dunbritton  or  Dunbarton  of  mod- 
ern times.  The  old  traditions  of  Ire- 
land point  to  this  locality,  or  to  some 
spot  in  its  vicinity,  as  the  birth-place 


legomeua  to  the  first  and  the  third  hooks  of  his  Com- 
mentaries on  Jeremias. 


ST.   PATRICK'S   BIRTH-PLACE. 


61 


of  St.  Patrick,  and  such  was  the  idea 
received  by  Ussher,  Colgan,  "Ware,  and 
other  eminent  antiquaries  of  their  times. 
Alcluith,  at  the  time  of  St.  Patrick's 
birth,  was  within  the  territory  of  Brit- 
ain, the  Picts  beinc^  then  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Clyde,  and  by  all  the  old 
authorities  we  find  the  saint  called  a 
Briton.  Some  statements  assigning 
Wales  or  Cornwall  as  the  birth-place  of 
the  Irish  apostle,  and  others  calling  him 
a  Scot,  that  is,  an  Irishman,  are  easily 
shown  to  have  been  erroneous ;  but 
another  old  tradition,  which  makes  him 
a  native  of  Armorica,  or  Brittany,  has 
been  of  late  generally  received,  and  Dr. 
Lauigan  has  employed  a  great  deal  of 
leai'ning  and  ingenuity  to  establish  its 
accuracy.  In  his  "  Confession,"  St.  Pat- 
rick says  he  was  born  at  "  Bonaven  of 
Tabernia,"  which  names  it  is  impossible 
to  identify  as  connected  with  any  places 
in  Britain  or  Scotland ;  while  Dr.  Laui- 
gan ai'gues  with  great  probability  that 
Bonaven  is  the  present  town  of  Bou- 
logne (Bononia,)  in  that  part  of  ancient 
Belgic  Gaul  which  had  at  one  time  the 
sub-denomination  of  Britain,  and  which 
was  also  a  part  of  the  territory  called 
Armorica,  a  word  signifying  in  Celtic 
"  the  Sea  Coast."  The  name  Tabernia 
he  shows  to  have  been  changed  into 
the  modern  one  of  Terouanne,  a  city 
whence  the  district  in  which  Boulogne 
is  situated  took  its  name.* 

One  thing  quite  certain  is,  that  St. 

*  There  is  another  theory  not  ■n-ortli  mentioning,  ac- 
cording to  which  St.  Patrick  was  bom  at  Tours  ;  the 
word  Nemthur  being  explained  as  "  Heavenly  Tours." 


Patrick  was  in  various  ways  intimately 
connected  with  Gaul.  His  mother,  Con- 
chessa,  is  distinctly  stated  to  have  been 
a  native  of  Gaul,  being,  according  to 
some  traditions,  a  sister  or  niece  of  St. 
Martin  of  Tours ;  and  from  Gaul,  Pat- 
rick, when  a  youth  of  sixteen  years  of 
age,  was  can'ied  captive  into  Ireland,  in 
a  plundering  expedition  of  Niall  of  the 
Nine  Hostages.  His  father  was  Cal- 
phurnius,  a  deacon,  the  son  of  Potitus, 
a  priest,  and  tlieir  rank  was  that  of 
Decurio,  or  member  of  the  municiiaal 
council,  under  the  Roman  law.  These 
men  had  entered  into  holy  orders  after 
the  death  of  their  wives,  as  it  was  not 
unusual  at  that  time  to  do ;  or,  as  is 
stated  to  have  occurred  in  the  case  of 
Calphurnius,  the  husband  and  wife 
separated  voluntarily,  and  entered  into 
religion.  The  apostle  received  in  bap- 
tism the  name  of  Succath,  w^hich  is  said 
to  signify  "brave  in  battle,"  and  tlie 
name  of  Patrick  or  Patricius  was  con- 
ferred on  him  by  St.  Celestine  as  indi- 
cative of  his  rank. 

There  are  various  opinions  as  to  the 
year  of  St.  Patrick's  birth,  the  most 
probable  being  tliat  he  was  born  in 
387,  and  that  in  403  he  was  made  cap- 
tive and  carried  into  Ireland.  Those 
who  hold  that  he  was  born  at  Alcluith, 
or  Dunbarton,  account  for  his  being 
made  captive  in  Armorica  by  supposing 
that  his  father  and  family  had  gone 
into  Gaul  to  visit  his  friends  of  Con- 


See  Sir.  Patrick  Lynch's  Life  of  St.  Patrick.  Dr.  Lani- 
gan  is  the  only  writer  who  explains  all  the  names  men- 
tioned as  applicable  to  his  theory  of  Boulogne. 


62 


ST.  PATRICK'S   BONDAGE  AND  ESCAPE. 


chessa.  Be  that  as  it  may,  tlae  holy 
youth  when  carried  into  Ireland  was 
sold  as  a  slave  in  that  part  of  Dala- 
radia  comprised  in  the  county  of  An- 
trim, to  four  men,  one  of  whom,  named 
Mlk-lio,  bought  up  their  I'ight  from 
tlie  other  three,  and  employed  the  saint 
m  attending  his  sheep,  or,  as  some  say, 
his  swine.  His  sufferings  were  very 
great,  as  he  was  exposed  to  all  the  in- 
clemency of  the  weather  in  the  moun- 
tains; but  he  himself  tells  us  that  it 
was  in  this  suffering  he  began  to  know 
and  love  God.  He  performed  all  his 
duties  to  his  harsh  master  with  punctu- 
ality, yet  he  found  a  great  deal  of  time 
for  prayer,  and  Avas  in  the  habit  of  pray- 
ing to  God  a  hundred  times  in  a  day, 
and  as  many  times  at  night,  and  that  in 
the  midst  of  frost  and  snow.  After  six 
yeai's  spent  in  this  bondage,  he  was 
warned  in  a  vision  that  the  time  had 
come  for  him  to  depart,  and  that  a  ship 
was  ready  in  a  certain  port  to  take  him 
to  his  own  couutiy.  He  rose  up  accord- 
ingly, and  leaving  Milcho,  he  travelled 
two  hundred  miles  to  a  part  of  Ireland 
of  which  he  had  previously  known 
nothing,  and  here  he  found  the  ship 
that  had  been  indicated  to  him  ready 
to  sail.  He  was  first  rudely  rej^ulsed 
by  the  master  of  the  vessel,  but  was 
at  length  taken  on  board,  and  after  a 
voyage  of  three  days  reached  shore, 
but  only  to  find  himself  in  a  desert 
country,  wdiere  the  whole  party  were 
on  the  point  of  dying  of  hunger,  until, 
through  the  jjrayers  of  Patrick,  food 
was  obtained;  and  ultimately,  after  a 


journey  of  twenty-eight  days,  he  i-each- 
ed  his  native  place. 

It  is  stated  that  St.  Patrick  suffered 
a  second  captivity,  but  of  this  little  is 
known,  except  that  it  lasted  for  only 
sixty  days ;  and  we  are  led  to  con- 
clude that  about  this  time  he  resolved 
to  enter  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  for 
that  pui'iiose  went  to  study  in  the  fa- 
mous college  or  monastery  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, near  Tours, — subsequently,  wdien 
thirty  years  of  age,  placing  himself  \\n- 
der  the  direction  of  St.  Germain  of  Aux- 
erre.  In  or  about  this  period  the  saint 
had  a  remarkable  dream  or  vision,  in 
which  a  man  named  Victoricius  appear- 
ed, to  present  him  wdth  a  lai-ge  parcel 
of  letters,  one  of  which  was  inscribed, 
"The  voice  of  the  Irish ;"  and  while  read- 
ing it,  St.  Patrick  thought  he  heard  the 
cries  of  a  multitude  of  people  near  the 
wood  of  Foclut,  in  the  district  now 
called  Tirawley,  in  Mayo,  saying :  "  We 
entreat  thee  to  come,  holy  youth,  and* 
walk  still  amongst  us."  The  saint's 
mind  had  been  previously  filled  with  a 
love  of  the  Irish,  and  a  desire  for  their 
conversion,  and  this  vision  fixed  his  at- 
tention more  earnestly  on  that  object. 

There  is  some  obscurity  in  this  part 
of  the  Lives  of  the  apostle,  as  he  is  rep- 
resented as  spending  a  great  many 
years  in  study  and  religious  retreat  in 
Italy,  and  in  some  islands  of  the  Med- 
iterranean, especially  Lerins ;  while,  ac- 
cording to  other  accounts,  he  was  con- 
stantly with  St.  Germain ;  but  the 
probability  is  that  he  was  all  the  time 
acting  imder  the  guidance  of  that  illus- 


HIS   ARRIVAL   IN   IRELAND. 


63 


trious  master.  At  length,  after  mucli 
preparation,  about  the  year  431,  and 
within  some  very  brief  space  after  the 
departure  of  St.  Palladius  on  his  mis- 
sion to  Ireland,  St.  Patrick  visited 
Rome,  accompanied  by  a  priest  named 
Segetius,  who  was  sent  with  him  by  St. 
Qermaiu  to  vouch  for  the  sanctity  of 
his  chai'acter  and  for  his  fitness  for  the 
L'ish  mission  ;  and  having  remained  a 
short  time,  and  received  the  approba- 
tion and  benediction  of  the  holy  pon- 
tiff, St.  Celestiue,  then  within  a  few 
weeks  of  his  death,  our  apostle  retui-ned 
to  his  friend  and  master,  St.  Germain, 
at  Auxerre,  and  thence  to  the  north  of 
Gaul,  where,  news  of  the  death  of  St. 
Palladius  belncr  received  about  the 
same  time,  Patrick  immediately  was 
consecrated  bishop  by  a  certain  holy 
prelate  named  Araato,  in  a  town  called 
Ebovia*;  Auxilius,  Iserni.nus,  and  other 
disciples  of  St,  Patrick  receiving  cleri- 
cal orders  on  the  same  occasion.  The 
apostle  and  his  com^^auious  sailed  forth- 
Avitli  for  Briton,  on  their  way  to  Ire- 
land, where  they  arrived  safely  (a.  d. 
432),  in  the  first  year  of  the  pontificate 
of  St.  Sixtus  III.,  the  successor  of  St. 
Celestine,  and  in  the  fourth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Laeghaire,*  son  of  Niall  of  the 
Nine  Hostages,  king  of  Ireland. 

Ireland,  in  its  reception  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  presents  an  example  unique 
in  the  history  of  nations.  "  While  in  all 
other  countries,"  observes  an  eloquent 


*  This  name,  called  in  Latin  Loirjarius,-Ss  pronounced 
as  if  ■written  Lerey. 
\  Moore's  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  203. 


wiiter,  "  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
has  been  the  slow  work  of  time,  has 
been  resisted  by  either  government  or 
people,  and  seldom  effected  without 
lavish  effusion  of  blood,  in  Ireland,  on 
the  contrary,  by  the  influence  of  one 
zealous  missionary,  and  with  but  little 
previous  preparation  of  the  soil  by  other 
hands,  Christianity  burst  forth  at  the 
first  ray  of  apostolic  light,  and  with 
the  sudden  ripeness  of  a  noi-thern  sum- 
mer at  once  covered  the  whole  land. 
Kings  and  princes,  when  not  themselves 
among  the  ranks  of  the  converted,  saw 
their  sons  and  daughters  joining  in  the 
train  without  a  murmur.  Chiefs,  at  vari- 
ance in  all  else;  agreed  in  meeting  be- 
neath the  Christian  banner;  and  the 
proud  druid  and  bard  laid  their  super- 
stitions meekly  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  ; 
nor,  by  a  singular  blessing  of  j^rovidehce 
— unexampled,  indeed,  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  Church — was  there  a  single 
drop  of  blood  shed,  on  account  of  reli- 
gion, through  the  entire  course  of  this 
mild  Christian  revolution,  by  which,  in 
the  space  of  a  few  years,  all  Ireland 
was  brought  tranquilly  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Gospel."f 

It  is  strange  that  even  the  glorious 
distinction  thus  referred  to  was  made  a 
charge  against  Ireland  by  a  Chi-istian 
writer ;  Giraldus  Cambrensis  asserting 
that  "there  was  not  one  among  them 
found  ready  to  shed  his  blood  for  the 
church  of  Christ."^     Whether  the  soil 


X  TopograpMa  Hibernise,  dist.  iil.,  c.  28.  Cambrensis 
holds  the  unenviable  position  of  being  at  the  head  of  the 
long  list  of  the  British  caliramiators  of  Ireland. 


64 


LANDS  OF  INIS-PATRICK. 


of  Ireland  was  capable  of  pvoducing 
martyrs  after  ages  showed  ;  but  it  must 
be  observed  that  Christianity  was  not 
established  iu  Ireland  altogether  with- 
out resistance,  some  of  the  pagan  Irish 
having  shown  an  inveterate  hostility  to 
its  progress,  and  several  attempts  having 
been  made  on  the  life  of  St.  Patrick 
himself* 

St.  Patrick  first  landed  at  a  place 
called  Inver  De,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  the  mouth  of  the  Bray  river,  in 
Wicklow;  but  having  been  repulsed 
by  the  inhabitants,  he  returned  to  his 
ship,  and  sailing  towards  the  north, 
landed  on  the  little  island  of  Inis-Pat- 
I'ick,  near  Skerries,  off  the  north  coast 
of  Dublin,  where  he  made  a  short  stay 
for  the  purpose  of  refreshing  the  crew 
and  the  companions  of  his  voyage.  He 
then  resumed  his  voyage,  and  proceeded 
as  far  as  the  coast  of  the  present  county 
of  Down,  where,  entering  Strangford 
Lough,  he  landed  in  a  district  called 
Magh-inis,  in  the  present  barony  of  Le- 
cale.  On  the  appearance  of  the  strangers 
an  alarm  was  raised  that  pirates  had  ar- 
rived, and  Dicho,  the  lord  of  that  place, 
came  at  the  head  of  his  people  ;  but  the 
moment  he  saw  the  apostle  he  perceiv- 
ed that  he  was  no  pirate,  and  he  invited 
the  saint  and  his  companions  to  his 
house,  where,  on  hearing  the  true  re- 
ligion announced,  he  and  all  his  family 
believed  and  were  baptized.  This  was 
the  first  fruit  of  St.  Patrick's  mission  in 
Ireland. 


*  O'Donovan's  Four  Masters,  an.  432  (note). 


The  apostle  celebrated  the  Divine 
Mysteries  in  a  barn  belonging  to  Di- 
cho, which  was  henceforth  used  as  a 
church,  and  was  called  Sabhall  Padru- 
ic,  or  Patrick's  Barn,  a  name  that  has 
been  still  preserved  in  that  of  Saul. 
A  church  and  monastery  were  after- 
wards founded  there,  and  the  place  al- 
ways continued  to  be  a  favorite  retreat 
of  St.  Patrick's. 

After  a  stay  of  a  fe^v  days  with 
Dicho,  the  apostle  set  out  by  land  for 
the  habitation  of  his  old  master,  Alilcho, 
who  resided  somewhere  near  Slieve  Mis, 
iu  the  present  county  of  Antrim,  then 
part  of  the  territory  called  Dalaraida, 
in  a  portion  of  which  dwelt  a  tribe  of 
the  Cruithnians,  or  Picts.  Milcho's 
heart  was  hardened,  and  rather  than 
allow  St.  Patrick  "to  approach  his  house, 
he  set  fire  to  it  in  a  fit  of  passion,  and 
was  himself  consumed  in  its  ruins,  to- 
gether with  his  family,  except,  as  some 
say,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  who 
subsequently  became  converts  and  em- 
braced a  religious  life. 

St.  Patrick  returned  to  Saul,  and  the 
next  important  event  we  meet  is  his 
journey  by  water,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  next  year  (a.  d.  433),  southward, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Boyne,  where  he 
landed  at  a  small  port  called  Colp,  and 
thence  set  out,  through  the  plain  of 
Bregia,  in  the  direction  of  the  royal 
palace  of  Tara.  On  his  way  thither, 
he  stayed  a  night  in  the  house  of  a  re- 
spectable man  named  Seschnan,  who 
was  converted  and  baptized,  with  his 
whole  family,  one  of  his  sons  receiving 


THE  APOSTLE  AT  SLAXE. 


65 


from  the  apostle  the  name  of  Benignus, 
as  indicating  the  gentleness  of  his  man- 
ners. This  holy  youth  attached  him- 
self from  that  moment  to  St.  Patrick, 
and  became  famous  in  the  history  of 
the  Irish  Church  as  St.  Benan,  or  Be- 
nignus, the  successor  of  the  apostle  in 
the  primatial  see  of  Armagh. 

The  next  day  was  Holy  Saturday, 
and  St.  Patrick,  on  reaching  the  place 
now  called  Siane,  caused  a  tent  to  be 
erected,  and  lighted  the  paschal  fire 
about  night-fall,  preparatory  to  the  cel- 
ebration of  the  Easter  solemnity.  It  so 
happened  that  the  princes  and  chief- 
.  tains  of  Meath  were  at  this  time  assem- 
bled at  Tara,  with  King  Laeghaire,  for 
the  purpose  of  holding  a  pagan  festival, 
which  some  writers  suj^pose  to  have 
been  that  of  Beltinne,  or  tTie  fire  of  Bal 
or  Baal,  as  the  kindling  of  a  great  fire 
formed  a  portion  of  the  rites  ;"'*  and  as 
it  was  contrary  to  the  law  to  light  any 
fire,  on  that  occasion,  in  the  surround- 
ing country  until  the  fire  from  the  top 
of  Tara  hill  was  first  visible,  the  king 
became  indisrnant  on  seeinsr  the  flame 
which  the  saint  had  kindled,  and  which 
his  druids,  who  had,  no  doubt,  ascer- 
tained, who  it  was  that  had  come  into 
their  neighborhood,  told  him  would 
cause  the  destruction  of  his  and  their 
power  if  not  immediately  extinguished. 


*  Dr.  O'Conor  (Ker.  Hib.  Scrip,  vol.  1)  labors  to  show 
that  this  festival  was  that  of  Beltinne  or  Bealtaine,  and 
Dr.  Petrie,  in  his  Essay  on  Tara  Hill,  appears  to  adopt 
that  view :  but  Dr.  O'Donavan,  in  his  remarks  on  the 
division  of  the  year  among  the  ancient  Irish,  in  the  in- 
troduction to  the  Book  of  Eights,  proves  that  there  is  no 
0 


Accordingly,  Laeghaire,  with  his  druids, 
chieftains,  and  attendants  went  to  ascer- 
tain the  cause,  and,  on  approaching  the 
place,  ordered  the  apostle  to  be  brought 
before  him,  having  first  given  directions 
that  no  one  should  rise,  or  show  the 
stranger  any  mark  of  resj^ect.  When 
St.  Patrick  -with  his  attendant  priests 
appeared,  notwithstanding  the  king's 
mandate.  Ere,  the  son  of  Dego,  rose  to 
salute  him,  and  was  converted;  and 
this  Ere  was  subsequently  bishop  of 
Slane,  where  his  hei-mitage  is  an  object 
of  interest  to  the  present  day.  The  re- 
sult of  the  interview  was  an  invitation 
to  the  saint  to  come  nest  day  to  Tara, 
for  the  purjDose  of  holding  a  discussion 
with  the  magi  or  druids ;  the  kinof 
secretly  resolving  to  place  men  in  am- 
bush who  would  murder  the  Christain 
missionaries  on  the  way. 

The  scene  Avhich  passed  next  morning 
— Easter  Sunday — in  the  royal  rath  of 
Tara,  was  one  on  which  it  is  impossible 
to  reflect  without  a  lively  interest.  The 
king,  conscious  of  the  treacherous  prep- 
arations which  he  had  ordered  to  be 
made  along  the  road,  could  hardly  have 
expected  to  see  the  strangers  come,  but 
was  nevertheless  seated  in  barbaric  state 
in  the  midst  of  his  satraps  and  nobles 
to  receive  them.  St.  Patrick,  on  his 
side,  was  not  unaware  of  the  pagan  per- 


authority  for  this  opinion,  and  that  in  fact  the  fire  of 
Beltinne  was  always  lighted  at  the  hill  of  Uisneach,  in 
'Westmeath.  The  festivity  which  Laeghaij-e  was  cele- 
brating was  probably  that  of  his  own  birth-day,  as 
is  stated  in  tlie  Life  of  St.  Patrick  in  the  Book  of  Lis- 
more. 


66 


ST.   PATRICK'S   JOUKNEYINGS. 


fidy  practised  against  him,  but  placing 
Lis  confidence  in  the  protecting  power 
of  God,  and  chanting  a  solemn  Irish 
hymn  of  invocation,*  which  he  com- 
posed for  the  occasion,  he  advanced  at 
the  head  of  his  pi'iests  in  processional 
order,  alone;  one  of  the  five  ancient 
roads  that  led  to  the  top  of  the  royal 
hill,  where  he  arrived  nnharmed.  The 
old  authorities  desciibe  the  appearance 
of  the  saint  as  characterized  by  singular 
meekness  and  dignity.  He  was  always 
clothed  in  white  robes,  and  on  this  oc- 
casion he  wore  his  mitre,  and  carried 
in  his  l)(aud  the  crozier  called  the  staff 
of  Jesus.f  Eight  priests  who  attended 
him  were  also  robed  in  white,  and  along 
with  them  came  the  youthful  Benignus, 
the  son  of  Sechnan.  Thus,  confronted 
with  the  monarch  and  his  druids,  and 
objects  of  wonder  to  the  pagan  assem- 
bly, stood  the  illustrious  apostle  and 
his  train  of  missionaries,  come  fi'om  afar 
to  plant  Christ's  religion  in  Ireland. 
Here,  as  on  the  evening  before,  it  had 
been  arran2:ed  that  no  mai'k  of  honor 
should  be  shown  to  him  ;  but,  as  on  the 
previous  occasion,  there  was  one  found 
to  disobey  the  tyrant's  instructions, — 
Dubtach,  the  arch  poet,  or  head  of  the 


*  This  hymn  is  preserved  in  the  celebrated  Liber  Hym- 
norum,  a  MS.  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
and  which  Ussher  pronounced  to  have  been  a  thousand 
years  old  in  his  time.  It  is  published  with  a  translation 
and  notes  by  Dr.  Petrie,  in  his  Essay  on  the  History  and 
Antiquities  of  Tara  Hill,  pp.  57,  &c.,  of  the  Academy's 
Edition.  This  hymn,  which  is  written  in  the  Bearla- 
Fdne,  or  language  of  the  Brehon  Laws,  is  a  singular 
relic  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  and  Dr.  Petrie  describes 
it  as  "  the  oldest  undoubted  monument  of  the  Irish  lan- 
guage remaining." 


bards  of  Erin,  rising,  and  paying  his 
respects  to  the  venerable  stranger. 
Dubtach  was  the  first  convert  that  day. 
St.  Patrick  became  greatly  attached  to 
him,  and  his  name  is  afterwards  men- 
tioned with  honor. 

Having  soon  silenced  the  druids  in 
argument,  the  saint  expounded  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  to  the  monarch 
and  his  assembly,  and  made  many  con- 
verts; but  notwithstanding  some  state- 
ments to  the  contrary,  it  appears  certain 
tliat  Laesfhaire  himself  was  not  among: 
these,  but  remained  an  obstinate  pagan 
to  the  last.  It  is  stated  Avith  more 
probability  that  the  queen  was  con-  ^ 
verted  on  this  occasion ;  and  it  also 
appears  that  St.  Patrick  made  so  favor- 
able an  impression  even  on  Laeghaire,  as 
to  obtain  from  him  permission  to  preach 
wherever  he  chose,  on  condition  that  he 
did  not  disturb  the  peace  or  depi-ive 
him  of  his  kinsfdom. 

From  Tara  St.  Pati'ick  repaired  next 
day  to  Tailtin,  where  the  public  games 
were  commencing,  and  where  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  preaching  to  a  gi-eat  as- 
semblage of  people,  including,  most  pro- 
bably, those  whom  he  had  met  the  day 
before  at  Tara  ;  and  he  remained  for  a 


■]•  This  crozier  is  said  to  have  been  given  to  St.  Patrick 
while  secluded  in  an  island  of  the  Mediterranean,  by 
some  mysterious  person  who  received  it,  for  that  purpose, 
from  our  Lord  himself.  The  staff  of  Jesus  was  burned, 
along  with  several  other  sacred  relics  of  the  greatest 
antiquity,  among  the  rest,  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, in  High-street,  Dublin,  in  the  year  1538,  by  order 
of  George  Brown,  the  first  Protestant  Archbishop  of 
Dublin. — (See  Ware's  Annals ;  Dalton's  Archbishops, 
&c.) 


HE  VISITS  CONNAUGHT. 


67 


week,  making  many  converts.  On  tliis 
occasion  he  was  I'epulsed  and  bis  life 
threatened  by  Carbry,  a  brother  of 
King  Laeghaire ;  but  another  of  the 
royal  brothers,  named  Conall  Creevan, 
was  shortly  after  converted,  and  at  his 
desii-e  the  apostle  founded  the  church  of 
Donouo-h  Patrick  in  Meath* 

O 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  St. 
Patrick's  mission,  in  which  he  continued 
to  laljor  with  unremitting  zeal  for  more 
than  thirty  years.  We  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  follow  him  through  the  intri- 
cacies of  his  many  journeys  into  every 
part  of  Ireland,  or  to  enumerate  the 
number  of  churches  which  rose  up  every- 
where in  his  track,  and  the  multitude 
of  holy  pastors  whom  he  prepared  by 
bis  instructions  and  placed  over  them. 
Tlic  diversity  of  accounts  given  by  bis 
biographers  and  by  other  old  authorities 
has  involved  the  subject  in  much  ob- 
scurity, which  is  increased  by  erroneous 
dates  and  doubtful  topography ;  and  to 
enter  minutely  into  it  would  be  impos- 
sible in  a  work  of  this  nature. 

The  apostle  preached  for  some  time 
in  the  western  part  of  the  territory  of 
Meath,  and  on  this  occasion  proceeded 


*  According  to  the  Tripartite  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  every 
cliureli  in  Ireland  of  ■which  the  name  begins  with  Don- 
ough  was  founded  by  that  apostle :  and  they  were  so 
called  because  the  saint  marked  out  their  foundations  on 
a  Sunday,  in  Irish  DomhnacJi.  {Trias  Thaum.,  p.  14G.) 
The  Conall  mentioned  above  became  a  great  friend  of 
the  apostle's  ;  but  when  he  wished  to  enter  the  church 
as  an  ecclesiastic,  St.  Patrick  told  him  that  his  vocation 
was  to  be  a  military  man,  adding  that  although  he  was 
not  to  be  a  churchman  he  would  be  a  defender  of  the 
Church  ;  and  the  holy  prelate  thereupon  maiked  on 
ConaU's  shield  the  figure  of  a  cross  with  his  crozier,  and 


as  far  as  Magb  Sleaghta,  in  the  present 
county  of  Cavan,  where  the  idol  Crom 
Cruacb  was  worshipped,  and  by  his 
prayers  caused  the  destruction  of  that 
abomination  and  of  the  smaller  idols  by 
which  it  was  surrounded.  He  then  set 
out  for  Connaught,  and  when  near  Rath 
Cruaghan,  he  met  at  a  well,  whither 
they  had  come  in  patriarchal  fashion  to 
perform  their  ablutions,  the  princesses 
Ethnea  and  Fethlimia,  daughters  of  King 
Laeghaire,  Avho  were  there  under  the 
tuition  of  certain  druids  or  magi,  and 
who  acquired  from  the  saint  at  that 
meeting^  a  thorough  knowled2;e  of  the 
truths  of  religion,  and  subsequently  took 
the  veil  in  a  nunnery  which  be  estab- 
lished.f  •  He  then  traversed  almost 
every  part  of  Connaught,  preaching,  as 
he  did  on  all  occasions,  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  miraculous  power,  converting  the 
people,  and  founding  churches.  He 
fasted  during  a  Lent  on  the  mountain 
in  Mayo  then  called  Cruacban  Aichle, 
or  Mount  Eagle,  and  since  known  as 
Cruacb  Patrick.  In  the  land  of  Tiraw- 
ley  \  be  converted  and  baptized  the 
seven  sons  of  King  Amnlgaidh,  together 
with  twelve  thousand  people;  this  oc- 


the  shield  was  ever  after  called  Sciath-Baclilach,  or  the 
shield  of  the  crozier.  [Trias  Thaum.,  142  ;  also  Jocelyn, 
c.  138.)  Dr.  O'Donovan  says  this  is  the  earliest  authentic 
notice  he  has  found  of  armorial  bearings  in  Ireland. 

f  St.  Patrick  tells  us  in  his  "Confession"  that  a  great 
number  of  women  embraced  a  religious  life  in  Ireland, 
notwithstanding  the  harsh  opposition  which  they  often 
encountered  from  their  unconverted  parents. 

I  Tirawley  (Tir-Amhalghaidh)  was  so  called  from  the 
Amhalghaidh  or  Awley,  son  of  Fiachra,  sou  of  Eochy- 
Sluivone,  and  king  of  northern  Connaught,  whose  sons 
were  converted  by  St.  Patrick  on  this  occasion. 


68 


BAPTISM   OF  KING  AENQUS. 


cnrrence  taking  place  not  far  from  the 
■wood  of  Foclut,  whence  the  voices  in- 
viting him  to  Ireland  apjieared  to  come 
in  the  vision  which  he  had  in  Gaul. 
After  seven  years  thus  spent  in  Con- 
naught,  he  passed  by  a  northern  route 
into  Ulster,  and  there  made  many  con- 
verts, especially  in  the  present  county 
of  Monaghan  ;  meeting,  however,  as  was 
also  the  case  in  Connaught,  several  re- 
jiulses,  accompanied  sometimes  witli 
danger  to  his  life. 

Returning  into  Meath,  St.  Patrick 
appears  to  have  appointed,  about  this 
time,  his  nephew,  St.  Secmidiuus,  or 
Sechnal,  who  was  bishop  of  the  place 
which  has  been  called  after  him  Dom- 
.nach-Sechnail,  or  Dunshaghlen,  to  pre- 
side, durius:  his  own  absence  in  the 
southern  half  of  Ireland,  over  the  north- 
ern churches,  the  see  of  Armagh  not 
having  been  yet  founded.'"'  The  apos- 
tle then  directed  his  steps  southward, 
and  visited  several  j^arts  of  Leinster, 
making  numerous  converts,  and  laying 
the  foundations  of  churches  wherever 
he  went.  He  placed  his  companions, 
bishops  Auxilius  and  Isseruinus,  the 
former  at  Killossy,  near  Naas,  and  the 
latter  at  Kilcullen,  both  in  the  present 
county  of  Kildare.  In  the  territory  of 
Hy-Kinsellagh,  comprising  j^arts  of  the 
counties  of  Wexford,  Kilkenny,  and 
Carlow,  he  visited  his  friend,  the  poet 
Dubtach,  who  introduced  to  the  saint 
his    disciple,    Fiech,  who    was    already 


*  See  the  interesting  account  of  St.  Sechnal,  and  the 
hymn  which  he  composed  in  honor  of  St.  Patrick,  in  the 


acquainted  with  Christianity,  and  was 
admitted  into  the  ecclesiastical  state  by 
the  apostle. 

This  Fiech  was  subsequently  the 
holy  bishop  of  Sletty,  in  the  Queen's 
county,  with  jurisdiction  over  all  Lein- 
ster, and  to  him  the  famous  metrical  life 
of  St.  Patrick,  known  as  Fieclis  Hyiiin^ 
is  attributed.  He  was  the  first  Lein- 
ster man  who  was  raised  to  the  epis- 
copacy. 

A.  D.  445. — After  passing  through  Os- 
sory,  where  he  converted  great  num- 
bers of  peojjle,  and  founded  many 
churches,  St.  Patrick  entered  Munstei', 
and  bent  his  steps  towards  the  I'oyal 
city  of  Cashel,  whence  King  Aengus, 
the  son  of  Natfraich,  who  had  already 
obtained  a  knowledge  of  Christianitj^, 
came  forth  to  meet  him,  receiving  him 
Avith  the  utmost  veneration.  At  this 
king's  baptism  an  incident  occurred 
which  is  often  mentioned  as  an  interest- 
ing example  of  fortitude.  The  pastoral 
staff  which  the  saint  carried  terminated 
at  the  bottom  in  a  spike,  by  which  he 
could  fasten  it  erect  in  the  ground,  and 
it  appears  that  on  this  occasion  he 
planted  it  inadvertently  on  the  king's 
foot,  which  it  penetrated,  Aengus  boi'e 
the  wound  without  the  slightest  move- 
meut,  supposing  that  it  was  a  part  of 
the  ceremony,  and  being,  no  doubt,  ani- 
mated at  the  moment  Avith  an  ardent 
feeling  of  devotion.  This  good  king,  in 
the  course  of  a  long  reign,  afforded  ma- 


first  fascicuhis 'of  the  Liber  Hymnorum.,  edited  by  the 
Hev.  Dr.  Todd  for  the  Archaiological  and  Celtic  Society. 


~-^^' 


DEATH   OF   ST.   PATRICK. 


69 


tei:ial  aid  to  the  cause  of  religion  iu  this 
part  of  Ireland.* 

The  apostle  spent  seven  years  in 
Muuster,  visiting  various  parts  of  Or- 
nioud  and  the  territories  corresponding 
with  the  jiresent  counties  of  Limerick, 
Kei-ry,  Cork,  Waterford,  and  Ti]")perary, 
receiving  everywhere  vast  multitudes 
into  the  fold  of  Christ.  A  great  nura- 
Ler  of  people  from  Corca  Baiscin,  the 
southwestern  part  of  Clare,  crossed  the 
Shannon  in  their  curaghs,  or  hide-cov- 
ered boats,  when  the  saint  was  on  the 
southern  side,  in  Hy-Figeinte,  and  were 
baptized  by  him  in  the  waters  of  that 
mighty  river ;  and  at  their  entreaty  the 
apostle  then  ascended  a  hill  which  com- 
manded a  view  of  their  country,  and 
gave  his  benediction  to  the  whole  terri- 
tory of  the  Dalcassians.f 

It  was  probably  during  St.  Patrick's 
stay  in  Munster,  that  a  British  prince, 
Caroticus,  who,  although  nominally  a 
Christian,  was  a  pirate  and  a  very  wick- 
ed man,  made  a  descent  on  the  south- 
eastern coast  of  Ireland,  and  cai-ried  off 
a  number  of  Christian  captives  who  had 
just  received  baptism,  for  the  purpose 
of  selling  therfl  as  slaves  to  pagans  iu 
North  Britain.  This  outrage  elicited 
from  the  saint  a  pastoral,  or  circular 
epistle,  still  extant,  iu  which   he  pro- 


*  Dr.  Lanigan  calculates  with  mucli  probability  that 
Aengus  had  not  yet  succeeded  his  father  at  the  time  of 
his  baptism,  and  that  he  iras,  therefore,  only  taniste,  or 
heir  apparent,  of  Munster;  he  was,  at  all  events,  still 
very  young  at  the  tune  of  St.  Patrick's  visit. 

f  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  hill  from  which  the 
apostle  gave  his  blessing  to  the  territory  of  Thomond, 
or  Clare,  is  that  now  called  Cnoc  Patrick,  near  Foynes 


nounced  excommunication  awaiiist  Ca- 
roticus,  and  stigmatized  him  with  the 
odium  which  he  deserved.  "We  may 
also  presume  that  it  was  about  the  time 
of  his  return  from  Munster,  and  while 
visiting  a  territory  now  comprised  in 
the  King's  county,  that  a  certain  jDagan 
chieftain  named  Failge  formed  a  plan 
to  murder  the  apostle,  which,  coming 
to  the  knowledge  of  Odran,  the  saint's 
charioteer,  this  good  man  managed  to 
change  seats  with  St.  Patrick,  and  thus 
received  the  fatal  blow  that  was  in- 
tended for  his  master.  Odran  was  the 
only  martyr  who  suffered  death  for  the 
faith  at  the  hands  of  an  Irishman,  dur- 
ing the  conversion  of  this  country  from 
paganism. 

About  the  year  455,  St.  Patrick 
founded  the  see  of  Armagh,  and  the 
remaining  years  of  his  life  he  passed 
between  that  city  and  his  favorite  re- 
treat of  Saul,  iu  the  county  of  Down,  at 
■which  latter  place  he  died,  according  to 
the  Annals  of  Ulster,  the  Four  Mastei-s, 
Ussher,  Ware,  and  Colgan,  on  the  l7th 
of  March,  a.  d.  493,  but  according  to 
the  very  ably  argued  inference  of  Dr. 
Lanigan,  in  a.  d.  465.  The  duration  of 
his  mission  in  Ireland  was,  according  to 
this  latter  opinion,  thirty-three  j'eai's, 
while,  according  to  the  former,  it  would 


Island.  The  local  traditions  are  quite  positive  on  the 
subject ;  and  it  answers,  besides,  the  conditions  of  situ- 
ation and  purpose,  and  is  the  only  hill  in  view  of  Clare 
with  which  the  name  of  St.  Patrick  is  associated.  In 
the  prose  Life  of  St.  Senanus,  translated  by  Colgan  from 
the  Irish,  its  site  is  particularly  described,  but  both 
there  and  in  the  Tripartite  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  it  is  called 
the  Hill  of  Fiudine,  a  name  now  obsolete. 


70 


CIVIL   HISTORY   OF  IRELAND. 


have  been  about  sixty  j'ears,  and  liis 
aire,  Avliich  the  old  authorities  represent 
as  120  years,  is  reduced  to  78  years  by 
Di'.  Lanigan's  process  of  reasoning.  His 
obsequies  continued  for  twelve  days, 
during  which  the  light  of  innumei'able 
tapers  seemed  to  turn  night  into  day, 
and  the  bishops  and  priests  of  all  Ire- 
land congreQ:ated  together  on  the  occa- 
sion.  A  fierce  contest  ensued  between 
the  people  of  Down  and  Armagh  for 
tlie  possession  of  his  sacred  I'emains, 
Imt  it  was  finally  settled  by  his  body 


being  deposited  in  Down,  while  a 
portion  of  the  holy  I'elics  were  con- 
veyed to  Lis  metropolitan  churcb  of 
Arma2th." 

Thus  was  the  faitli  planted  in  Erin 
by  St.  Patrick,  and  from  that  day  to 
the  present  it  has  never  failed.  In  this 
respect  Ireland  has  been  exempt  fioni 
the  changes  which  so  many  otiier  coun- 
tries have  uudei'gone  ;  and  a  large  and 
interesting  portion  of  our  liistor}^  will 
relate  to  the  struggles  which  that  stead- 
fastness  entailed  upon  her. 


<«  »  ■ » 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Civil  History  of  Ireland  during  St.  Patrick's  Life. — The  Seanclius  Mor. — King  Laeglmre's  Oath  and  Death. — 
Reign  of  Oilioll  ilolt. — Branches  and  Greatness  of  the  Hj'-Niall  Race. — Reign  of  Lughaidh. — Foundation  of 
the  Scottish  Kingdom  in  North  Britain. — Falsification  of  the  Scottish  Annals. — Progress  of  Christianity  and 
absence  of  Persecution. — The  First  Order  of  liish  Saints. — Great  Ecclesiastical  Schools. — Aran  of  the  Saints 
— St.  Brigid. — Her  great  Labors. — Her  Death. — Monastic  tendency  of  the  Primitive  Church. — Muircheartacb 
Mac  Earca  and  Tuathal  Maelgarbh. 

(A.  D.  433  TO  A.  D.  538). 


FEW  events  are  recorded  in  the  civil 
history  of  this  country  during  the 
period  of  St.  Pati'ick's  mission ;  the 
most  remarkable  being  the  revision  of 


*  Each  of  the  events  in  the  life  of  our  Ajrastle,  briefly 
narrated  in  the  text,  has  been  made  a  subject  of  discus- 
sion among  antiquaries  and  hagiologists  ;  but  we  have 
given  what  we  deemed  tlie  most  reasonable  results  with- 
out the  arguments.  Nor  have  we  entered  into  the  con- 
troversy respecting  the  existence  of  other  saints  of  the 
same  name,  as  Sen-Patrick,  or  Patrick  Senior,  who  was 
venerated  on  the  24th  of  August ;  or  the  Abbot  Patrick, 
who  was  buried  and  subsequently  venerated  at  Glastun- 
burj' ;  or  St.  Patrick  of  Auvergne.  Whether  some  of 
the  acts  of  one  of  these  saints  may  have  been  attributed 


the  laws  of  Ii'eland,  and  the  compilation 
of  the  Seanclius  Moi\  or  great  book  of 
laws,  in  the  year  438.  The  annalists 
say  that  three  kings,   three   Christian 


to  another  of  them,  would  involve  an  inquiry  unsuited  to 
our  pages.  It  is  enough  that  the  identity  of  our  Apostle 
and  of  tlie  leading  events  of  his  life  have  been  establish- 
ed Ijeyond  the  reach  of  aU  doubt.  Those  who  would  enter 
more  deeply  into  the  subject,  are  referred  to  Colgau'a 
Trias  Thaumaturga  ;  Messingham's  Florilegium  ;  OSul- 
livan's  Dems  Patriciana  ;  Harris's  Ware's  Irish  Bishops ; 
Lanigan's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Ireland ;  Keating's 
History  of  Ireland  ;  Mageoghegan's  History  of  Ireland  ; 
Lyncli's  Life  of  St.  Patrick  ;  Petrie's  History  of  Tara 
Hill,  &c.,  &c. 


DEATH   OF   KIXG   LAEGHAIRE. 


11 


bishops,  of  wbora  St.  Patrick  was  one, 
aud  three  bards  or  antiquaries,  con- 
ducted this  revision ;  but  this  account 
is  obviously  a  poetic  figment.*  It  is 
probable  that  as  soon  as  the  Christian 
religion  began  to  prevail  extensively  in 
Ireland,  a  modification  of  the  ancient 
pagan  laws  became  necessary ;  and  also, 
that  St.  Patrick  himself,  assisted  by  a 
converted  bard,  may  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  such  revision,  his  name 
being  subsequently  employed  to  give 
it  a  sanction;  but  it  is  plain  that  the 
apostle  did  not  sit  on  a  committee  for 
the  purpose  with  pagan  kings,  even  if 
his  authority  had  Vjeeu  so  recognized  at 
the  time  assigned  for  the  event.f  Frag- 
ments of  the  Seanchus  Mor  are  still  pre- 
served in  the  manuscript  library  of 
Trinity  College,  and  in  the  British 
Museum,  aud  the  entire  work  is  known 
to  have  existed  at  least  as  late  as  the 
12  th  or  13  th  century. 

It  has  been  erroneously  stated  by 
some  old  writers  that  St.  Patrick  puri- 
fied the  annals  as  well  as  the  laws  of 
Ireland ;  and  this  probably  led  to  the 
assertion  that  he  destroyed  a  large 
number  of  the  druidical  books  which 
had  been  delivered  to  him.  O'Flaherty 
gives  this  statement  on  the  authority 
of  the  eminent  antiquary,  Duald  Mac- 
Firbis,  aud  mentions  it  to  account  for 
the  ignorance  in  which  we  are  left  of 
the  religion  of  the  pagan  Ii'ish;;};  but 


*  This  conclusion  may  be  justly  disputed,  as  St.  Pat- 
rick necessarily  associated  with  .pagans  in  many  transac- 
tions of  that  time.  Daire  was  still  a  pagan  when  he 
bestowed  Ard-Macha  on  the  apostle  long  afterwards. 


nothing  has  been  discovered  in  the 
writings  of  MacFirbis  to  justify  O'Flah- 
ert3-'s  reference  to  his  authority. 

King  Laeghaire  waged  war  against 
the  Leinster  men  to  enforce  payment  of 
the  Borumean  tribute,  and  in  the  j-ear 
453  he  is  said  to  have  gained  a  battle 
over  them;  but  this  success  was  fol- 
lowed, in  A.  D.  457,  by  a  defeat  at  Ath- 
dara,  on  the  river  Barrow,  where  he 
was  made  prisoner,  being  afterwards 
liberated  on  swearing  by  "  the  sun  and 
moon,  water  and  air,  night  and  day,  sea 
and  land,"  that  during  his  life  he  would 
not  again  demand  the  tribute.  This 
was  the  old  pagan  oath ;  and  from  its 
use,  as  well  as  from  other  circumstances, 
it  is  concluded  that  Laeghaire  had  not, 
up  to  that  time,  embraced  Christianity. 
In  the  next  year,  regardless  of  his  en- 
gagement, he  made  an  incursion  into 
Leinstei-,  and  carried  oS  a  prey  of  cattle 
for  the  tribute ;  and  as  he  was  struck 
dead  by  lightning,  or  died  in  some  sud- 
den manner  while  returnins:  home,  the 
bards  say  that  he  was  killed  by  the  sun 
aud  the  elements  for  breakincr  the  oath 
which  he  had  taken  on  them. 

A.  D.  459.— Oilioll  Molt,  son  of  Dathi, 
and  who  had  been  king  of  Connaught,§ 
succeeded  as  monarch,  and,  accoixling  to 
the  Four  Masters,  celebrated  the  Feis, 
or  great  feast  and  convocation  of  Tara, 
in  463,  and  again  in  405,  which  is  prob- 
ably a  double  entry  of  the  same  event. 


t  Petrie's  "  Tara  HUl,"  p.  79. 
i  Ogvgia,  part  iii.,  c.  30,  p.  219. 
§  Ogygia,  part  iii.,  c.  93,  p.  439. 


72 


DEATH  OF  OILIOLL  MOLT  AND  LUGHAIDH. 


as  tliese  meetinsrs  were  not  held  so  fre- 
quently.  Nothing  certain  is  known  of 
the  religion  of  this  prince,  Lnt  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  he  lived  and  died  a  pagan, 
as  his  successor  certainly  did. 

Two  men,  remai-kable  as  the  ances- 
tors of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  clans 
mentioned  in  subsequent  Irish  histoiy, 
died  in  this  reign,  namel}^,  Conall  Gul- 
ban,  and  Eoghan,  sons  of  Niall  of  the 
Nine  Hostages;  the  former  of  whom 
was  the  ancestor  of  the  Kinel-Connell, 
or  race  of  Conall,  that  is,  of  the  O'Don- 
nells  and  their  cori'elative  families  in 
Tirconnell ;  whilst  fi'om  the  latter  are 
descended  the  Kinel-Owen,  or  O'Neills, 
and  some  other  families  of  Tyrone. 
All  of  the  race  of  Niall  come  under  the 
great  tiibe-name  of  Hy-Niall ;  but  the 
illustrious  ftimilies  we  have  mentioned, 
that  is,  the  O'Neills  and  O'Donnells, 
descendants  of  Eoghan  and  Conall  Gul- 
ban,  are  styled  the  northern  Hy-Niall, 
to  distinguish  them  from  the  southern 
Hy-Niall,  who  were  descended  from 
Conall  Creevainn,  another  sou  of  Niall 
of  the  Nine  Hostages,  as  the  O'Melagh- 
lias,  <fec.,  who  were  located  in  Meath. 
Of  Conall  Gulban,  who  received  his 
surname  from  Benbulben,  formerly 
called  Ben  Gulban,  in  Sligo,  where  he 
was  fostered,  and  whose  exploits  rank 
with  those  of  the  Ossiauic  heroes,  the 
annalists  tell  us  that  he  was  slain  by 


*  "  This  Aenghus,  wlio  was  the  first  Christian  king  of 
MuDster,  is  the  common  ancestor  of  the  families  of  Mac 
Carthy,  O'Keeffe,  O'Callaghan.  and  O'Sullivau." — O'Don- 
ovan  ;  Four  Masters,  anno,  489  (note).  , 

The  Four  Masters  record  the  death  of  St.  Patrick 


the  "  old  tribes  of  Magh  Slecht,"  that 
is,  by  descendants  of  the  Firbolgs  who 
occupied  the  district  in  the  present 
county  of  Cavan  where  the  idol  Crom 
Cruach  Avas  worshipped,  while  he  was 
returning  fi'om  a  predatory  excursion 
with  a  great  prey  of  horses;  and  they 
say  that  Eoghan  died  of  gi-ief  for  his  bro- 
ther and  Avas  buried  at  Eskaheen  in  In- 
nishowen. 

A.  D.  4V8. — Oilioll  Molt,  after  a  reign 
of  twenty  years,  was  slain  in  the  battle 
of  Ocha,  by  Lughaidh  or  Lewy,  the  son 
of  Laeghaire,  who  was  too  young  at  his 
father's  demise  to  compete  for  the  suc- 
cession, and  who  now  obtained  the 
ci'own  by  the  aid  of  a  strong  confederacy 
of  provincial  kings  and  toparchs.  The 
battle  of  Ocha  forms  an  epoch  in  this 
25ei-iod  of  Irish  history,  and  took  place, 
according  to  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  a.  d. 
482  or  483. 
ate    pagan. 


Lughaidh  died  an  inveter- 


having. 


after 


of 


twenty-five  yeai's,  been  killed  by  a 
thnndei-bolt  while  uttering  some  blas- 
phemy at  the  sight  of  a  church  erected 
by  St.  Patrick,  at  a  place  called  Ach- 
adhfarcha,  or  the  field  of  lightning,  near 
Slane.  In  his  reign,  Aengus,  the  good 
king  of  Munster,  and  his  queen  Eithne 
were  killed  in  battle,  at  a  place  now 
called  Kelliston,  in  the  county  of  Car- 
low  ;*  and  St.  Ibar,  of  Beg- Erin,  one  of 
the  four  bishops  who  are  said  to  have 


under  the  date  of  493,  adding  that  he  was  then  122  years 
old  ;  that  he  had  erected  700  chm-ches,  consecrated  700 
bishops,  and  ordained  3,000  priests.  Dr.  Lauigan,  how- 
ever, shows  very  clearly  that  no  reliance  is  to  be  placed 
on  these  dates  axid  numbers. 


THE   NAME   OF   SCOTIA. 


73 


been  in  Ireland  before  Sfc.  Patrick,  died 

A.  D.  500. 

A.  JD.  503. — The  foundation  of  the 
kingdom  of  ScotLnnd  by  a  colony  from 
Ireland,  is  set  down  by  most  cbronolo- 
gists  under  this  date.*  It  has  been  al- 
ready  mentioned  in  the  reign  of  Conaire 
II.,  towards  the  close  of  the  second  cen- 
tuiy  of  the  Christian  era,  that  a  colon}?^ 
of  Scots  was  led  into  Alba  or  Albany 
b}'  Carbry-Kiada,  from  whom  the  Dal- 
riads  both  of  Antrim  and  Scotland  took 
their  name.  Notwitkstanding  the  op- 
position of  the  Picts,  they  still  retained 
their  footing  in  their  new  territory,  but 
did  not  receive  much  aid  from  Ireland 
until  the  period  at  which  we  have  now 
arrived.  At  this  time,  however,  after  a 
defeat  by  the  Picts,  who  drove  them 
from  the  country,  a  strong  force  of  the 
Irish  Dalriads,  under  the  leadership  of 
Loai'n,  Aengus,  and  Fergus,  the  three 
sons  of  Ere,  son  of  Eochadh  Muiuram- 
hair,  invaded  Alba,  and  gradually  sub- 
jugating the  Picts,  established  the  Scot- 
tish monarchy.  Muircheartach  or  Mui'- 
tough,  who  succeeded  Lughaidh  as  king 
of  Ireland,  was  a  relative  of  the  sons  of 
Ere,  his  mother  being  Ei'ca,  the  daughter 
of  Loarn  ;  and  he  stimulated  the  adven- 
turers in  their  enterprise  ;   as  some  say, 

*  The  event  is  entered  by  the  Four  Masters  at  the 
year  498 ;  but  Dr.  O'Donovau  shows  from  the  authority 
of  Tighernach  and  of  Flan  of  Monasterboice,  that  the  true 
date  of  the  Dalriadic  invasion  was  most  probably  a.  d. 

5oe. 

t  OgJ'gia,  part  i.,  p.  45. 

I  Ireland  was  kno^vn  by  many  names  from  very  early 

ages.-    Thus,  in  the  Celtic  it  was  called  Inis-Fail,  the 

isle  of  destiny ;  Inis-Ealga,  the  noble  island ;  Fiodh-Inis, 

the  woody  island ;  and  Eire,  Fodhla,  and  Banba.  By  the 

10 


sending  the  Lia  Fail,  or  stone  of  destiny, 
to  Scotland,  in  order  that  his  kinsman, 
Feargus,  might  be  crowned  upon  it  with 
all  the  traditional  solemnity.f  It  is  re- 
markable that  the  present  reigning  fam- 
ily of  England  owes  its  right  to  the 
throne  to  its  descent,  through  the  Stuart 
family,  from  these  Irish  Dalriads.  From 
that  peojile  also  North  Britain  derives 
its  name  of  Scotia  or  Scotland  ;  a  name 
which,  from  the  first  mention  we  find  of 
it  in  the  third  century,  was,  for  several 
hnndi'cd  years,  exclusively  applied  to 
Ireland ;  while,  on  its  l:)eing  at  length 
given  to  the  countiy  acquired  by  the 
Scots  in  Alba,  Ireland  was  still  for  a 
long  time  called  Scotia  Magna,  to  dis-, 
tinguish  it  from  the  lesser  Scotland,  and 
its  people  termed  Hibernian  Scots,  those 
of  the  latter  country  being  called  Alba- 
nian or  British  Scots.;}:  The  Scottish 
.colony  in  Britain  was  at  fii-st  confined 
to  the  Western  Highlands,  now  called 
Argyle,  and  to  the  islands;  and  it  was 
onl)^  in  the  year  850  that  the  Picts  were 
finally  subdued  by  Keneth  MacAlpin, 
\vho  was  the  first  king  of  all  Scotland, 
and  who  removed  the  seat  of  power  to 
Scone,  in  the  southern  part  of  that 
country. 

On  the  subject  of  this  settlement  of 


Greeks  it  was  called  lerne,  probably  from  the  vernacular 
name  of  Eire,  by  inflection  Erin ;  whence  also,  no  doubt, 
its  Latin  name  of  Juverna  ;  Plutarch  calls  it  Ogygia,  or 
the  ancient  land ;  the  early  Roman  writers  generally 
called  it  Hibernia,  probably  from  its  Iberian  inhabitants, 
and  the  later  Romans  and  mediaeval  writers,  Scotia  and 
sometimes  Hibernia;  and  finally  its  name  of  Ireland 
was  formed  by  the  Anglo-Normans  from  its  native 
name  of  Eire. 


74 


PROGRESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


the  Scottish  race  in  North  Britain,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  impostures  ever 
attempted  in  the  history  of  any  country 
was  successfully  practised,  and  j^fissed 
current  for  several  centuries.  The  oris:!- 
nal  records  of  Scotland  were  wholly 
destroyed  by  Edwaixl  I.  of  England, 
when  he  overran  that  country  in  the 
year  1300,  for  the  purpose,  if  possible, 
of  obliterating  by  their  destruction  the 
nationality  of  the  people  :  but  before 
the  close  of  the  same  century  a  new  ac- 
count of  the  history  of  Scotland  was 
given  to  the  world ;  a  long  series  of 
Scottish  kings,  who  never  had  any  ex- 
istence, being  coined  to  fill  up  an  inter- 
val of  some  hundred  years  befoi'e  the 
time  of  Fergus,  the  son  of  Ere,  men- 
tioned above.  The  first  name  on  the 
spui'ious  list  was  also  Fergus,  and  the 
real  person  of  that  name  was,  therefore, 
called  Fergus  II. ;  and  in  support  of  the 
fictitious  catalogue  a  great  many  state- 
ments were  invented,  and  were  adopted 
by  subsequent  Scottish  historians.  Fi- 
nallj^,  Macpherson,  the  forger  of  Ossian, 
carried  the  fraud  so  far,  although  it  had 
been  rejected  by  the  Scottish  antiquar}^. 
Father  Inhes,  as  to  assert  that  North 
Britain  was  the  original  Scotland,  and 
Ireland  only  the  colony,  with  no  title 
to  the  name  of  Scotia,  and  consequently 
that  all  the  ancient  saints  and  celebra- 
ted pei'sons  who  are  called  Scots  by 
foreign  writers,  were  really  natives  of 
the  modern  Scotland.  It  may  be  ea- 
sily imagined  that  such  an  assumption, 
put  forward  in  the  face  of  the  most 
positive    evidence,    and    repeated    by 


scores  of  able  writers,  century  after  cen- 
tury, almost  up  to  the  last  generation, 
was  very  provoking  to  Ii'ish  historians, 
and  that  an  angry  and  jirotracted  con- 
troversy was  the  result.  All  that  has 
been  wi-itten  on  the  subject  is  now, 
however,  so  much  waste-paper,  as  the 
ancient  fraud  has  been  lonij  since  aban- 
doned,  and  the  true  history  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  two  countries  is  re- 
ceived in  Scotland  as  well  as  in  Ire- 
land. 

From  the  meagre  records  of  the  civil 
history  of  the  period,  we  turn  with 
pleasure  to  the  accounts  of  the  great 
religious  change  which  was  then  pass 
ing  in  Ireland,  and  which  was  entirely 
independent  of  the  course  of  civil  events 
While  pagan  kings  still  ruled  at  Tara, 
surrounded  by  their  druids,  and  still 
ujDheld  at  least  the  semblance  of  theii 
ancient  superstition.  Christian  bishops 
were  preaching  in  every  corner  of  the 
laud ;  Christian  churches,  although  oi 
humble  dimensions,  everywhere  appear- 
ed ;  monasteries  and  nunneries  sprung 
up  in  many  places ;  Christian  schools, 
which  w^ere  destined  in  a  little  while 
to  shed  a  lustre  on  all  Europe,  began 
to  fill  with  students  ;  and  above  all,  a 
host  of  saints,  who  became  the  wonder 
of  after  ages,  diftused  throughout  Ireland 
an  odor  of  holiness.  To  this  ao'e  l^e- 
longed  the  first  and  most  perfect  of  the 
three  orders  of  Irish  saints,  mentioned 
in  the  old  catalogue  published  by  Us- 
sher  and  Father  Fleming,  and  whose 
characteristics  are  desciibed  in  the  pro- 
phetic vision  which  St.  Patrick  is  said 


MONASTIC  SCHOOLS. 


75 


by  some  of  his  biogi-caphers  to  have 
had,  when  Ii-eland  first  appeared  to  the 
ajDostle  as  if  euvelojied  iu  a  flame,  theu 
the  mountains  only  seemed  to  be  on 
fire,  and  finally  there  -was  only  a  glim- 
mering, as  it  were,  of  lamps  in  the  val- 
leys. All  the  disciples  and  attendants 
of  St.  Patrick  have  obtained  places  iu 
the  calendar  of  the  ancient  Irish  Church ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  almost  all  those 
who  received  ordination  at  his  hands, 
or  who  first  ministered  in  the  Church 
of  Ireland,  have  merited  the  same  hon- 
or; so  intense  was  the  devotion  with 
which  the  Irish  people  opened  their 
whole  hearts  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and 
so  abundant  was  the  grace  which  flowed 
everywhere  from  the  preaching  of  their 
great  .Apostle.  Nor  should  it  be  forgot- 
ten as  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  hu- 
manized state  of  society  in  Ireland,  not- 
withstanding its  feuds  and  wars,  that 
this  great  movement  was  allowed  to 
advance  without  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  pagan  princes  to  impede  it 
by  persecution.  It  is  argued,  indeed, 
that  if  there  had  been  any  thing  very 
gross  or  sensuous  in  the  paganism  of 
the  Irish,  as  in  that  of  other  nations, 
the  triumph  of  Christianity  among 
them  would  not  have  been  so  easily 
accomplished. 

Among  the  great  ecclesiastical  schools 
or  monasteries  founded  in  Ireland  about 
this  time,  wei'e  those  of  St.  Ailbe  of  Em- 
ly,  of  St.  Benignus  of  Armagh,  of  St. 
Fiech  of  Sletty,  of  St.  Mel  of  Ardagh, 
of  St.  Mochay  of  Antrim,  of  St.  Moc- 
theus  of  Louth,  of  St.  Ibar  of  Beg-Eriu, 


of  St.  Asicus  of  Elphin,  and  of  St.  Gl- 
ean of  Derkan.  To  this  same  fifth  ceu- 
tui'y,  which  Colgan  calls  the  golden  age 
of  the  Irish  church,  belongs  the  founda- 
tion of  the  celebrated  monastic  institu- 
tions of  Aran  of  the  Saints,  by  St.  Enda, 
or  Endeus.  This  holy  Archimandrite, 
who  was  of  a  noble  family  of  Oriel, 
obtained  the  island  of  Aranmore,  at  the 
entrance  to  Galway  bay,  from  Aengus, 
the  king  of  Munster,  through  the  inter- 
position of  St.  Ailbe,  and  founded  there 
those  primitive  communities  who  lived 
in  groups  of  monastic  cells  or  cloghans, 
of  which  the  traces  are  still  to  be  seen 
iu  many  parts  of  the  island.  Aran, 
the  lona  of  Ireland,  became  for  the 
next  couple  of  centuries  the  resort  of 
several  of  the  Irish  saints,  and  of  holy 
men  from  other  countries,  who  repair- 
ed to  it  for  the  purpose  of  practising 
extreme  penitential  austerities ;  and  an 
ancient  biographer  of  St.  Kieran,  found- 
er of  Clonmacnoise,  described  it  as  a 
place  in  which  there  lay  the  remains  of 
"innumerable  saints,  unknown  to  all 
save  Almighty  God  alone." 

Of  St.  Ailbe,  the  great  bishop  of 
Emly,  it  is  related  that  after  many 
jj^ears  of  arduous  labor  in  converting 
the  people  from  paganism,  and  estab- 
lishing the  Church  in  his  diocese,  he  was 
about  to  retire  into  solitude,  and  to  fly 
for  that  purpose  to  Thule,  or  Iceland, 
when  he  was  respectfully  coerced  by 
Kins  Aensfus  to  remain  in  Ireland, 
where  he  died  in  525. 

But  of  all  the  Ii'ish  saints  of  the  first 
century  of  Christianity  in  this  country, 


1Q 


ST.  BRIGID  OF    KILDARE 


tLe  highest  position,  next  to  that  of  St. 
Pati-ick  himself,  is  unanimously  yield- 
ed to  St.  Biigid.  This  extraordinary 
woman  belonged  to  an  illustrious  race, 
being  lineally  descended  from  Eochad, 
a  brother  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Bat- 
tles, monarch  of  Ireland  in  the  second 
century,  and  was  born  about  the  year 
453,  at  Fochard,  to  the  north  of  Duu- 
dalk,  where  her  parents,  although  a 
Leiuster  family,  and  therefore  belong- 
ing to  Leath  INIogha,  or  the  southern 
part  of  Ireland,  were  then  sojourning. 
As  she  was  remarkable  for  sanctity 
from  her  childhood,  it  is  possible  that 
she  had  become  known  to  St.  Patrick, 
by  whom  her  biographers  say  she  was 
baptized.  She  received  the  veil  from 
St.  Maccaille,  in  one  of  the  earliest  con- 
vents for  relisjious  women  founded  in 
Ireland,  and  her  zeal  for  establishing 
nunneries  was  exercised  throughout  her 
life  with  wonderful  results.  She  trav- 
elled into  various  parts  of  Ireland  for 
this  purpose,  being  invited  by  many 
bishops  to  found  religious  houses  in 
their  dioceses:  and  at  length  the  peo- 
ple of  Leinster  became  jealous  of  her 
attention  to  the  other  provinces,  and 
sent  a  deputation  to  her  in  Connaught 
entreating  her  to  return,  and  offering 
land  for  the  purj^ose  of  founding  a  large 
nunnery.  This  was  about  the  year 
480,  or  shortly  after ;  and  it  was  then 
that  she  commenced  her  great  house  of 
Kildare,  or  the  Church  of  the  Oak, 
which  soon  became  the  most  famous 
and  extensive  nunnery  that  has  ever  ex- 
isted in  Ireland.    A  bishop  was  appoint- 


ed to  perform  the  pontifical  duties  con- 
nected with  it,  an  humble  anchorite 
named  Conlaeth  being  chosen  for  that 
office ;  and  the  concourse  of  religions 
and  pilgrims  who  flocked  to  it  from  all 
quarters,  soon  created  in  the  solitude  a 
city  which  became  the  chief  town  of  all 
Leiuster.  The  vast  numbers  of  young 
women  and  pious  widows  who  thi'onged 
round  St.  Brigid  for  admission  into  her 
convent,  present  a  singular  feature  in  a 
country  just  emerging  from  paganism  ; 
and  the  identity  of  that  monastic  and 
ascetic  form  which  Christianity,  in  all 
the  purity  and  fervor  of  its  infancy, 
thus  assumed  in  Ireland,  as  in  all  other 
countries,  with  the  form  which  it  has 
continued  to  retain,  in  all  ages,  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  must  strike  every  stu- 
dent of  history.  St.  Brigid  has  been 
often  called  "  The  Maiy  of  Ireland  ;"  a 
circumstance  which  shows,  not  that  the 
primitive  Irish  Christians  confounded 
her  with  the  Mother  of  Our  Lord — a 
silly  mistake  which  some  modern  wri- 
ters have  thoughtlessly  attributed  to 
them — but  that  they  felt  that  the  most 
exaggerated  praise  which  the)^  could  be- 
stow upon  their  own  great  saint  was  to 
compare  her  with  the  Blessed  Virgin.* 
One  of  the  most  distinguishing  virtues 
of  St.  Brigid  was  her  humility.  It  is 
related  that  she  sometimes  attended  the 
cattle  on  her  own  fields ;  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  extent  of  the  land 
bestowed  upon   her,  it  is  also  certain 


*  See  first  part  of  tlie  Liber  Eijmno-nim,  edited  by  Dr. 
Todd  for  the  ArclisBological  and  Celtic  Society. 


FIRST   CHRISTIAN   MONARCH   OF   IRELAND. 


i  t 


that  a  principal  source  of  subsistence 
for  her  nuns  was  the  ahns  which  she  re- 
ceived. The  habit  of  her  order  was 
"white,  and  for  centuries  after  her  time 
her  rule  was  followed  iu  all  the  nun- 
neries of  Ireland. 

The  Four  Masters  record  the  death  of 
St.  Brigid  at  the  year  525 ;  and  accord- 
ing to  Cogitosus,  one  of  her  biogra- 
phers, her  remains  were  buried  at  the 
side  of  the  altar,  in  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  Kildare,  and  not,  as  some 
late  traditions  have  it,  in  the  same 
tomb  with  the  apostle  of  Ireland  iu 
Downpatrick. 

During  the  first  years  of  the  sixth 
century  the  galaxy  of  holy  persons 
whose  sanctity  shed  such  effulgence  on 
the  dawn  of  Christianity  in  Ireland  was 
gradually  disappearing,  to  be  succeeded 
by  the  no  less  brilliant  constellations  of 
the  second  and  third  centuries  of  the 
Irish  Church.  Many  of  the  venerable 
bishops  who  had  received  consecration 
from  the  hands  of  St.  Patrick  were  still 


alive,  and  had  the  happiness  to  see  the 
religion  of  Christ  on  the  throne  of  Tara, 
aud  firmly  established  in  all  the  prov- 
inces. Muircheartach  MacEarca,  who 
succeeded  Lughaidh,  the  son  of  Laeg- 
haire,  a.  d.  504,  w'as  the  first  Christian 
monarch  of  Ireland.  He  was,  however, 
engaged  in  perpetual  warfare,  fought 
several  bloody  battles  with  the  Lein- 
ster  men  to  enforce  that  most  oppressive 
and  unjust  of  imposts,  the  Borumean 
tribute,  and  ultimately  was  drowned  in 
a  butt  of  wine,  into  which  he  had  thi'owQ 
himself  to  escape  from  the  flames  of  his 
house  at  Cletty,  near  the  Boyne.  De- 
scended fi'om  Niall  of  the  Nine  Host- 
ages, by  his  son  Eoghan,  he  belonged  to 
the  race  of  northern  Hy-Nialls,  but  on 
his  death  (a.  d.  528)  the  crown  revert- 
ed to  the  southei-n  Hy-Nialls,  in  the  per- 
son of  Tuathal  Maelgarbh,  grandson  of 
Cairbre,  by  whom  St.  Patrick  had  been 
persecuted.  Tuathal  reigned  eleven 
years,  and  was  killed  treacherously  by 
the  tutor  of  his  successor. 


78 


REIGN   OB^  DIARMAID. 


CHAPTER  X. 

First  Visitation  of  the  Buidlie  Chonnaill. — Reign  of  Diarmaid,  son  of  Kerval. — Tara  cursed  and  deserted. — Ajj- 
couut  of  St.  Colunibkille. — Persecution  of  the  Saint  by  Diarmaid. — Battle  of  Cuil  Dremni. — Foundation  cf 
lona. — Reign  of  Hugh,  son  of  Ainmire. — Convention  of  Drumceat. — Battle  of  Dunbolg. — Deaths  of  Saints. — 
Feuds  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Hy-Nialls. — Battle  of  Magh  Rath. — The  Second  Buidhe  Chonnaill, — Re- 
mission of  the  Borumean  Tribute. 


Contemporary  Emnta. — The  Justinian  Code  promulgated,  A.  D.  529. — The  Flight  of  Mahomet,  a.  d.  622. — The  Saxon  Hep- 
turchy  established.— The  Saxons  converted  to  Christianity. — Conquest  of  Gaul  by  the  Franks. — Kingdom  of  the  Vandals 
destroyed,  a.  d.  5S2. — The  Visigoths  in  Spain. — The  Lombards  in  Italy. 


(The  Sixth  and  Se-ventu  Centuries.) 


A  TERRIBLE  aud  mysterious  pes- 
-^-^  tilence  marks  the  year  543  as  an 
epoch  in  our  history,  "  an  extraordinary 
universal  pLigue,"  as  the  okl  annalists 
express  it,  "  having  prevailed  through- 
out the  world,  and  swept  away  the  no- 
blest third  part  of  the  human  race."  This 
plague  is  called  in  the  Irish  annals  Ele- 
fed,  or  Crom  Chonnaill,  ov  JBiddhe  Clion- 
vailJ,  names  implying  a  sickness  which 
produced  yellowness  of  the  skin,  resera- 
blino;  in  color  stubble  or  withered  stalks 
of  corn,  which  in  Irish  Avere  called  Con- 
naU*  It  appears  to  have  been  general 
throughout  Europe,  originating  in  the 
East ;  aud  in  Ireland,  where  it  prevail- 
ed for  about  ten  years,  it  was  preced- 
ed by  dearth,  and  followed  by  lepro.^y. 
Several  saints  and  other  eminent  pei'- 


*  See  the  accounts  of  this  pestilence  collected  from  an- 
cient records  by  Dr.  Wilde  in  his  Report  on  the  Tables 
of  Deaths  in  the  Irish  Census  for  1851,  where  he  gives. 


SOUS  were  swept  off  by  this  plague  in 
Ireland  ;  St.  Berchan  of  Glasnevin,  also 
called  Mobhi  Clarineach,  or  Movi  of  the 
Flatface,  and  St.  Finnen  of  Clonard, 
who,  fi'om  the  multitude  of  holy  per- 
sons among  his  disciples,  was  called  the 
preceptor  of  the  saints  of  Ireland,  be- 
ing among  its  first  victims. 

Diarmaid,  son  of  Feargus  Kerval,  of 
the  southern  Hy-Niall  race,  was  Ard- 
I'igh  of  Ireland  during  this  period,  hav- 
ing succeeded  Tuathal  Maelgarbh,  in 
538,  and  reigned  at  least  twenty  years. 
He  is  highly  praised  by  some  Irish  wri- 
ters for  his  si^irit  of  justice,  but  this 
quality  was  not  unaccompanied  by 
faults,  and  his  reign  is  marked  by  sever- 
al misfortunes.  Notwithstanding  the 
pestilence    which    was    desolating   the 


ou  the  authority  of  Mr.  Eugene  Curry,  as  above,  the  first 
explanation  that  has  been  afforded  of  the  name  of  the 
sickness. 


ST.   COLUMBKILLE. 


79 


country,  domestic  Avavs  and  dissensions 
■were  not  suspended.  Diarmaid  waged 
war  against  Guaire,  king  of  Couuaugbt, 
probably  to  enforce  jiaymeut  of  a  trib- 
ute ;  although  it  is  stated  that  the  mon- 
arch's object  was  to  chastise  Guaire  for 
an  alleged  act  of  injustice,  which  is 
quite  inconsistent  with  the  character 
for  piety  and  fabulous  generosity  which 
this  latter  king  bears  in  Irish  history. 
Diarmaid  was  the  last  kinsr  who  resi- 
ded  at  Tara,  He  held  the  last  feast 
or  convention  of  the  states  there  in  the 
year  554 ;  and  shortly  after  that  date, 
owing  to  a  solemn  malediction  pronoun- 
ced on  the  place  by  St.  Rodanus  of  Lo- 
thra,  in  Tipperary,  in  punishment  for 
the  violation  of  the  saint's  sanctuary  by 
the  king,  the  royal  hill  was  deserted. 
No  subsequent  kiug  dared  reside  there, 
but  each  selected  his  abode  accordiucj 
to  the  dynasty  to  which  he  belonged. 
Thus,  the  princes  of  the  northern  Hy- 
Niall  family  resided  in  the  ancient  for- 
tress of  Aileach,  near  Derry ;  and  the 
southern  Hy-Niall  kings  lived  at  one 
time  at  the  Rath,  near  Castlepollard, 
now  called  Dun-Turgeis,  from  having 

*  Kenett  O'Hartigan,  wlao  died  in  975,  described  the 
Hill  of  Tara  as  even  then  a  desert,  ovcrgro^ii  ■n-ith  grass 
and  weeds.  Among  the  ancient  remains  which  have 
been  identified  by  Dr.  Petrie  on  the  royal  hill  of  Tara, 
by  the  aid  of  such  venerable  Irish  authorities  as  the 
Dinnseanchus,  the  poems  of  Cuau  O'Lochain  and  others, 
are — the  Rath  na  Eiogh,  or  rath  of  the  kings,  which 
embraces  within  its  great  external  circumvallation  the 
ruins  of  the  house  of  Cormac,  the  rath  called  Foradh, 
and  the  Mound  of  the  Hostages  ;  the  Rath  of  the  Synods, 
near  which  were  the  Cross  of  Adamnan,  and  the  Mound 
of  Adamnan,  tire  latter  being  now  effaced ;  the  Teach 
Michuarta,  or  great  banqueting  hall ;  the  Mounds  of  the 
Heroines,  or  women-soldicrs ;  the  Rath  of  Graine,  the 
faithless  wife  of  Finn  MacCoul ;   the  Triple  Mound  of 


become  the  residence  of  the  Danish 
king  Turgesius,  and  subsequently-  at 
Dun-na-Sciath,  on  the  margin  of  Lough 
Ainniun,  now  Lough  Ennell,  near  Miil- 
lingar.  Thus,  thirteen  hundred  years 
ago,  the  royal  raths  of  Tai-a  were  con- 
demned to  desolation,  although,  even 
yet,  their  venerable  traces  have  not 
been  eftaced  from  the  grassy  surface  of 
the  hill.* 

The  crowning  misfortune  of  Diar- 
maid's  reign  appears,  however,  to  have 
been  his  hostility  to  St.  Columbkille, 
and  the  unhappy  consequences  result- 
ing from  it ;  and  this  subject  leads  us 
to  an  account  of  one  of  the  most  illus- 
trious persons  of  whom  we  read  in  the 
histor)^  of  Ireland. 

St.  Columba,  or,  as  he  is  generally 
called,  Columbkille,  that  is  Columba-of- 
the-church,  was  born  in  Gartan,  a  wild 
district  of  the  county  of  Donegal,  about 
the  year  518  or  521,  and  was  connected 
with  the  royal  families  of  Ireland  and 
British  Dalriada.f  On  leaving  his  fos- 
terage), Columba  commenced  his  stud- 
ies at  Movill,  at  the  head  of  Strangford 
Lough,  where  he  became  a  pupil  of  the 

Ncsi,  the  mother  of  Conor  MacNesa  ;  the  rath  of  king 
Laeghaire,  in  which  St.  Patrick  preached  ;  and  the  Well 
of  Neavnach,  the  stream  of  which  turned  the  first  wa- 
ter-miU,  erected  by  Cormac  MacArt,  in  the  third  centu- 
ry.— {See  Pdrie's  Essay  on  the  History  and  Antiquities 
of  Tara  mil.) 

f  St.  Columba's  father,  Fedlime,  was  the  grandson  of 
ConaU  Gulban,  son  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  and 
(by  his  mother  Erca)  grandson  of  Loam,  one  of  the  sons 
of  Ere.  who  planted  the  Dalriadic  colony  in  Scotland  :' 
and  the  saint's  mother,  Etlinea,  was  descended  Irom  Ca 
thair  Mor,  king  of  Ireland,  A.  D.  120,  and  was  thus  of  the 
royal  race  of  Leinster.  Such  being  the  saint's  parentage 
.ind  connections,'  it  is  no  woudi'r  that  his  name  should  be 
mixed  up  in  the  state  alfairs  of  his  time. 


80 


ST.   COLUMBKILLE. 


famous  bishop  St.  Finuian ;  and  from 
tLis  seminary,  when  in  deacon's  orders, 
he  proceeded  to  Leinster,  where,  after 
remaining  some  short  time  with  an  old 
bard  named  German,  he  entered  the 
monastery  or  college  founded  by  anoth- 
er St.  Finuian  at  Clonard.  Thence  he 
proceeded  to  the  monastery  of  Mobhi 
Clarainach  at  Glas  Naoidhen,  the  pres- 
ent Glasneviu,  near  Dublin;  but  this 
community  being  broken  up  by  the 
pestilence,  which  carried  off  its  princi- 
pal, in  544,  he  returned  to  the  north, 
having  previously  been  ordained  priest 
by  the  bishop  of  Clonfad.  Already 
Columba  was  distinguished,  not  only 
for  talent  and  leaining,  but  for  extra- 
ordinary sanctity;  and  some  miracles 
are  said  to  have  been  performed  by 
bim  before  this  time.  In  545  or  546 
lie  founded  the  monastery  of  Doire- 
Chalgaigh,  the  Derry  of  modern  times, 
and  al)out  the  year  553  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  his  great  monastery  of  Darn- 
liugh,  now  Durrow,  in  the  King's  coun- 
ty, the  chief  house  of  his  order  in  Ire- 
land.* The  battle  of  Cooldrevny, 
which  is  popularly  said  to  have  taken 
place  on  his  account,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see,  was  fought,  according  to  the 
Annals  of  Ulster,  in  561 ;  and  two  years 
after,  being  then  forty-two  years  of  age. 


he  left  Ireland,  accompanied  by  twelve 
chosen  disciples,  for  the  island  of  Hy,  or 
lona,  which  was  given  to  him  by  his 
relative,  Conall,  the  king  of  the  Alba- 
nian Scots,f  and  which  became  the  seat 
of  one  of  the  most  celebrated  monastic 
institutions  of  Northern  Europe,  and  the 
head  of  his  order.  From  this  St.  Co- 
lumba  proceeded  on  missionary  jour- 
neys with  his  monks  into  the  country 
of  the.  Picts,  whom  he  converted  to 
Christianity.ij:  Innumerable  mii-acles 
are  related  of  him,  and  even  without 
these  marks  of  divine  ftivor,  the  ac- 
count which  is  left  to  us  by  his  biogra- 
pher, St.  Adaranan,  of  his  singular  ho- 
liness and  many  exalted  qualities,  is 
sufficient  to  enrol  his  name  on  the  cal- 
endar as  that  of  a  great  saint.  St.  Co- 
lumba  is  regarded  as  the  apostle  of  both 
the  Picts  and  Scots  of  North  Britain, 
although  the  latter  had  brought  with 
them  some  knowledge  of  Christianity 
from  Ireland,  and  he  has  shared  with 
St,  Patrick  and  St.  Brigid  the  honor  of 
being  the  joint  patron  of  his  native 
counti-y.  lona  for  a  long  time  furnished 
missionaries  and  bishops  for  many  parts 
of  Britain,  and  its  monks  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  the  conversion  of  the  Sax- 
ons, supplying  the  Saxon  Church  Avith" 
many  prelates  and  priests,  for  at  least 


*  The  name  Doire  signifies  an  "  Oak  wood"  (Rdbore- 
turn),  and  that  of  Darmhagh  signifies  the  "  Plain  of  the 
Oak,"  Campus  Rdborum,  as  Bede(Hist.  Eccl.,  Lib.  iii.  c. 
i)  translates  it. 

f  Bede  and  the  Saxon  chronicle  say  that  lona  belonged 
to  the  Picts  when  St.  Columba  came  there. 

X  AVhen  he  first  went  to  announce  the  faith  to  the 
Pictish  king  Brude,  ho  was  refused  admission  to  the 
interior  of  the  royal  fort ;  but  at  the  saint's  command 


the  gates  miraculously  flew  open,  and  the  king,  filled 
with  wonder  at  the  event,  came  forth  to  receive  him 
and  was  converted  by  his  preaching.  It  is  a  remarkable 
circumstance,  noticed  more  than  once  in  the  lives  of  the 
saint,  that  when  be  preached  to  the  Picts  he  employed 
an  interpreter  to  explain  his  words,  thus  showing  that 
the  Picts  and  Soots  were  not  identical  in  race  and  did 
not  speak  the  same  languagew  _ 


ST.   COLUMBKILLE. 


81 


a  couple  of  centuries.  This  relation 
between  pastors  and  their  spiritual 
children  produced  the  friendly  feeling 
of  the  Irish  toTvards  the  Saxons  of 
which  Venerable  Bede  makes  mention ; 
and  when  the  Christian  Britons,  in  their 
hati'ed  of  their  Saxon  conquerors,  re- 
fused to  preach  Christianity  to  them, 
or  hold  any  communion  with  them  after 
their  conversion,  their  Scottish  or  Irish 
neighbors  willingly  performed  that 
Christian  duty  for  them.  Aidan,  king 
of  the  Scots  of  Britain,  came  to  St. 
Columba  in  lona  to  be  inaugurated; 
and  the  saint  having  received  instruc- 
tions from  heaven  in  a  vision  to  perform 
the  ceremony,  anointed  and  blessed 
him ;  this  being  the  first  recorded  in- 
stance, not  only  in  these  countries,  but 
in  Europe,  of  the  Christian  ceremony 
of  anointing  kings  at  their  inaugura- 
tion. In  Ireland,  forms  handed  down 
from  pagan  times  remained  still  in  use, 
while  the  kingdom  of  the  Scots  in  Al- 
bion, commencing  under  Christain  aus- 
pices, was  more  suited  for  a  new  order 
of  things.* 

As  to  the  quarrel  with  the  king  of 
Ireland  and  the  battle  of  Cooldrevny, 
various  cii'cumstances  are  related  by 
the  old  annalists,  which  show  a  degree 
of  animosity  against  the  saint  on  the 
part  of  the  king.  It  is  stated  that  St. 
Columbkille  copied  a  portion  of  the 
sacred  Scripture  from  a  book  which 
had  been  lent  to  him  by  St.  Finnen, 


*  See  Adamnan's  Life  of  St.  Columba,  edited  for  the 
Arcliieological  and  Celtic  Society,  by  Dr.  Reeves  of  Bal- 
lyinena.    Also  Colgan's  Trias  Thamnaturga. 


without  having  the  permission  of  the 
latter  to  do  so.  At  that  time  a  book 
was  a  most  important  object,  and  a 
discussion  arising  on  the  subject,  King 
Diarmaid  was  chosen  arbitrator,  and 
decided  acrainst  St.  Columbkille,  o-ivino; 
the  copy  as  well  as  the  book  to  St.  Fin- 
nen, and  assigning,  as  a  ground  for  his 
unjust  judgment,  the  maxim  that  "  the 
calf  should  follow  the  cow."  Another 
opportunity  of  showing  Diarmaid's  ill- 
feeling  towards  Columba  presented  it- 
self about  the  same  time.  At  the  last 
assembly  at  Tara,  already  mentioned,  a 
dis23ute  took  place  between  Curnan,  a 
son  of  the  king  of  Connauo-ht,  and  an- 
other  person,  in  which  the  latter  was  kill- 
ed. Curnan  fled  for  refuge  to  Columb- 
kille, but  Diarmaid  dragged  him  from 
his  sanctuary,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
intercession  of  the  saint,  got  him  instant- 
ly put  to  death.  It  is  said  that  St.  Co- 
lumba upon  this  threatened  the  king 
with  the  vengeance  of  his  relatives,  the 
Hy-Nialls  of  the  north ;  but  this  is 
scarcely  probable,  as  the  saint  endeav- 
ored to  effect  his  escape,  which  Diar- 
maid tried  to  prevent,  ordering  the 
frontiers  of  Meath  to  be  watched.  Co- 
lumba first  retired  to  Monasterboise. 
and  then  made  his  way  across  the  hills 
into  Oriel;  and  with  the  provocation 
which  had  been  oSfered,  it  must  have 
been  easy  to  stir  up  the  hot  blood  of 
the  warlike  clans  of  Tirconnell,' Tyrone, 
and  Connaught.  St.  Columba  may 
only  have  related  Avhat  occurred,  and 
then  i^rayed  for  the  success  of  his  friends 
when  they  went  to  battle.     Moreover, 


82 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  DRUMCEAT. 


as  Cooldrevny,  or  Cuil-DremDi,  the  site 
of  the  battle,  was  in  Carbury,  to  the 
north  of  Sligo,  the  very  position  of 
the  armies  would  show  that  Diarmaid 
was  all  through  the  aggressor.  This 
king's  ideas  of  religion  may  be  conjec- 
tured from  the  fact  that  he  had  druids 
in  his  camp,  and  trusted  to  their  magic 
for  success ;  but  he  was  vanquished,  with 
a  slaughter  of  3,000  of  his  men,  while 
the  army  which  was  protected  by  the 
prayers  of  St.  Columba  came  off  with 
scarcely  any  loss.*  A  large  number  of 
the  clergy  of  Meath  were  induced  by 
the  representations  of  Diarmaid  to  hold 
a  synod  at  Teltown  for  the  purpose  of 
excommunicating  St.  Columba;  but  St. 
Brendan  of  Birr,  St.  Finnian  of  Moville, 
and  other  eminent  ecclesiastics  who 
were  present,  protested  against  their 
proceedings,  and  the  object  of  the  syn- 
od was  not  cariied  out.  It  is  said  that 
battles  were  fought  about  the  year  580 
or  58*7,  in  which  St.  Columba  also  felt 
an  interest ;  but  the  allusions  to  them 
are  very  obscm'e.  His  departure  from 
Ireland  was  voluntary,  and  he  returned 
there  some  years  after  to  attend  the  con- 
vention of  Drumceat,  and  to  visit  his 
house  of  Durrow,  and  St.  Kiaran's  fa- 
mous monastery  of  Clonmacnoise.  He 
died  in  lona,  about  the  year  597  (the 


*  After  tills  battle  the  copy  of  St.  Firmen's  book  was 
restored  to  St.  Columba. 

"  This  manuscript,"  says  Dr.  O'Donovan,  "  wliich  is  a 
copy  of  the  Psalter,  was  ever  after  known  by  the  name 
of  Catliach  (Praeliator). 

"  It  was  preserved  for  ages  in  the  family  of  O'Don- 
nell,  and  has  been  deposited  in  the  Museum  of  the 
Koyal  Irish   Academy,  by   Sir  Richard  O'Donuell,  its 


Four  Masters  erroneously  have  it  592), 
in  the  77th  year  of  his  age  and  the 
35th  year  of  his  pilgrimage  to  that 
island. 

On  the  death  of  Diarmaid,  who  was 
killed  (a.  d.  565)  by  Black  Hugh,  a 
prince  of  the  Pictish  race  of  Dalaradia, 
against  whom  both  the  northern  and 
southern  Hy-Nialls  waged  war,  Ireland 
was  ruled  by  two  kings,  reigning  joint- 
ly, as  frequently  happened  in  subse- 
quent times. 

After  some  short  and  unimportant 
reigns,  Aedh,  or  Hugh,  son  of  Ainmire, 
came  to  the  throne,  and  reigned  twen- 
ty-seven years.  By  him  was  summoned, 
in  573,  the  great  convention  of  Drum- 
ceat, the  first  meeting  of  the  States  of 
Ireland  held  after  the  abandonment  of 
Tara.f  The  leading  members  of  the 
clergy  attended,  and  among  them  was 
St.  Columbkille,  who  came  from  lona 
for  the  purpose,  accompanied  by  a 
great  number  of  bishops  and  monks ; 
the  saint,  although  a  simple  priest,  tak- 
ing precedence  of  all  the  prelates  of 
North  Britain,  in  his  capacity  of  Apos- 
tle or  founder  of  the  Church  in  that 
country.  The  king  was  friendly  to  St. 
Columba,  being  of  the  same  family,  but 
some  of  his  coiu't  had  little  welcome 
for  the  saint,  and  a  mob  was  employed 


present  owner." — (Four  Masters,  an.  555,  note,  and  an. 
1497,  note.) 

f  The  name  of  Drumceat  is  translated  dorsum  Ccte — 
"  The  Whale's  Back."  The  place  where  the  synod,  or 
convention,  was  held  was  a  long  mound  in  Roe  Park, 
near  Newtown  Limavaddy,  now  called  the  Mullagh, 
and  sometimes  Daisy-hUl. — (Ordnance  Survey  of  Lon- 
donderry.) 


THE  BATTLE  OF  DUNBOLG. 


83 


to  insult  his  clergy.  Partly,  however, 
thronffh  the  veneration  in  which  he 
was  held,  and  partly  by  the  terror  of 
the  wonders  which  it  pleased  God  to 
work  by  his  hands  among  the  rude 
people  whom  he  taught,  the  saint  in- 
duced King  Hugh  and  his  convention 
to  decide  as  he  recommended.  One  of 
the  points  to  be  settled  concerned  the 
relations  between  the  Scottish  colony 
of  Alba  (of  which  the  king  Aidan,  St. 
Columba's  friend,  was  present)  and  the 
mother  country ;  and  the  saint,  foresee- 
ing the  wars  to  which  this  matter  would 
give  rise,  prevailed  on  the  king  of  Ire- 
land to  abandon  his  claims  against  Al- 
ba, thus  establishing  the  independence 
of  the  Scottish  colony,  and  severing 
it  forever  from  the  mother  country. 
Another  question  related  to  the  im- 
mense number  of  bards,  or,  according 
to  others,  of  idle,  worthless  persons  un- 
der the  name  of  students,  with  which 
the  country  was  incumbered.  The 
king  wished  to  get  lid  of  them  alto- 
gether by  a  sweeping  measure ;  but 
St.  Columba  induced  him  to  adopt  the 
wiser  and  more  moderate  course  of 
mei-ely  diminishing  their  number,  and 
limiting  it  for  the  future  by  certain 
rules. 

A.  D.  594. — Hugh  Ainmire,  while  en- 
deavoring to  enforce  that  perpetual 
plague  of  ancient  Ireland,  the  Leinster 
tribute,  was  killed  in  battle  at  Duu- 
bolg,*  or  the  fort  of  the  bags,  a  place  so 


*  Now  Dunboyke,  near  Hollywood,  in  the  county  of 
Wicklow. — O'DoNOVAN. 


called  from  a  memorable  circumstance 
connected  with  it.  Bran  Dubh,  then 
king  of  Leinster,  finding  his  army  on 
this  occasion  unequal  to  that  of  the 
monarch  in  point  of  numbers,  had  I'e- 
course  to  stratagem,  and  entering 
Hugh's  camp  disguised  as  a  leper,  he 
sjDread  a  report  that  the  Leinster  men 
were  prepared  to  submit,  and  were  in 
fact  coming  with  provisions  and  pres- 
ents for  the  king's  army.  In  the  dusk 
of  the  evening  a  vast  number  of  bul- 
locks laden  with  leathern  bags  were 
seen  approaching,  and  the  drivers  be- 
ing challenged  by  the  sentinels,  an- 
nounced that  they  were  coming  with 
provisions  for  the  army  of  the  king  of 
Ireland ;  and  this  statement  bearing  out 
the  story  of  the  pretended  leper,  they 
were  allowed  to  enter  the  camp,  and  to 
deposit  their  burdens  without  further 
inquiry  until  morning.  Each  bag,  how- 
ever, contained  an  armed  man,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  night  the  chosen  band 
thus  introduced  into  the  camp  fell  upon 
their  enemies,  and  the  slaughter  lasted 
until  morning,  when  the  monarch  was 
killed  by  Bran  Dubh  himself,  and  the' 
remnant  of  his  army  'put  to  flight. 
Thus  was  the  Borumean  tribute  for- 
feited for  that  occasion.  In  the  year 
59Y  the  annalists  mention  "  the  sword- 
blows  of  Bran  Dubh  in  Bregia,"  show- 
ing that  he  had  carried  hostilities  into 
the  territory  of  Meath ;  but  in  four 
years  after  we  find  him  crushed  by  the 
combined  power  of  the  Hy-Niall  races 
at  the  battle  of  Slaibhre,  where  he  was 
defeated ;  and  after  the  battle  he  was 


84 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MAGH  RATH. 


treacherously  killed  by  one  of  his  own 
tribe,  the  herenach,  or  hereditary  war- 
den of  Senboth-Sine.* 

The  Irish  annals,  about  this  time,  re- 
cord the  deaths  of  several  holy  persons. 
Thus,  St.  Brendan  of  Birr  died  in  571 ; 
St.  Brendan  of  Clonfert,  who  in  his 
seven  years'  voyage  in  the  Western 
Ocean  is  believed  to  have  been  the  fii'st 
European  discoverer  of  America,  died 
at  Enach  Duiu,  or  Annadown,  near 
Lough  Corrib,  in  the  county  of  Galway, 
in  5Y7 ;  St.  Canice,  or  Cainnech,  to  whom 
Kilkenny  owes  its  origin  and  its  name, 
died  in  598  ;  St.  Kevin  of  Glendalough, 
who  is  said  to  have  reached  the  age  of 
120  years,  died  in  617. 

The  Hy-Niall  dynasty  had  now  for  a 
long  time  enjoyed  the  sovereignty  of 
Ireland,  but  as  the  northern  and  south- 
ern branches  of  the  race  were  almost 
constantly  engaged  in  wars  against  each 
other,  their  broils  lowered  the  position 
and  weakened  the  power  of  the  mon- 
arch. In  process  of  time  the  southern 
Hy-Nialls,  or  Meath  family,  fell  greatly 
in  the  estimation  of  the  country,  while 
of  the  northern  Hy-Nialls  it  must  be 
said,  that  whatever  were  the  faults  of 
some  of  their  princes,  they  always  main- 
tained a  character  for  the  most  chival- 
rous bravery.  About  this  time,  two 
kings  who  ruled  the  island  jointly  were 
murdered  by  Conall  Guthviu,  a  prince 
of  the  southern  Hy-Nialls ;  and  the  in- 
dignation of  the  countiy  was  so  excited 


f  Now  Tempi eshanbo,  at  tlie  foot  of  Mount  Leinster, 
in  Wexford. 


by  the  crime,  that  his  fiimily  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  throne  of  monarch  for 
several  generations.  Congal  Caech,  king 
of  Ulidia,  of  the  Rudrician  line,  also 
drew  upon  himself  public  abhorrence  by 
the  crime  of  murder.  He  killed  the 
reigning  sovereign,  Suivne  Meann  (a.  d. 
623),  and  was  vanquished  in  the  battle 
of  Dunkehern,  the  following  year,  by 
Suivne's  successor,  son  of  Hugh  Ain- 
mire,  and  obliged  to  fly  into  Britain, 
where  he  remained  nine  years,  and 
where  he  ingratiated  himself  so  well 
with  Saxons,  Britons,  Picts,  and  Alba- 
nian Scots,  as  to  secure  their  aid  against 
his  countrymen. 

Congal  began  (a.  d.  634)  the  fatal 
game  of  introducing  foreign  auxiliaries 
into  Ireland,  and  of  showing  them  the 
weakness  to  which  factions  were  ca- 
pable of  reducing  his  native  country. 
It  so  happened,  however,  that  in  this 
instance  there  was  no  weakness  dis- 
played. Donnell,  the  reigning  monarch 
of  the  northern  Hy-Niall  race,  was  able 
to  muster  an  army  capable  of  meeting 
the  invading  force  together  with  Con- 
gal's  own  Ulidians,  and  in  the  battle 
which  ensued,  and  which  was  renewed 
for  six  successive  days,  Congal's  com- 
bined forces  were  almost  annihilated 
and  he  himself  slain,  so  that  the  rem- 
nant of  his  foreign  auxiliaries  found  it 
difficult  to  escape  back  to  their  respec- 
tive countries.  This  was  the  gi'eat  bat- 
tle of  Magh  Rath,  or  Moyra,  in  the 
county  of  Down,  one  of  the  most  fa- 
mous and  important  conflicts  men- 
tioned in   the   ancient   annals   of  Ire- 


THE   SECOXD   BUTDHE   CHOXXAILL. 


85 


land  *  St.  Adamnau  laments  the  part 
whicli  Donnell  Breac,  tlien  the  king  of 
the  Albanian  Scots,  took  in  that  war, 
combining  as  he  did  with  foreigners  to 
invade  the  country  of  his  ancestors,  and, 
by  breaking*  the  bond  between  them, 
paving  the  way  to  future  calamities  for 
both  countries. 

A.  D.  656. — This  year  commenced  the 
second  visitation  of  the  BuidJie  Clion- 
naill,  which  had  ravaged  the  country  a 
little  more  than  a  hundred  years  before, 
and  which  on  the  present  occasion  is 
said  to  have  swept  away  two-thirds  of 
the  whole  population.  It  was  ushered 
in  by  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  the  pre- 
ceding year ;  and  as  at  its  former  visit, 
it  continued  for  about  ten  yeai-s,  making 
its  appearance  about  the  beginning  of 
August  each  year.  After  the  year  66Y, 
this  sickness  is  not  again  mentioned  in 
the  Irish  annals.  An  improbable  fable 
is  related  by  some  annalists  to  account 
for  this  visitation.  It  is  said  that  the 
population  had  become  so  dense  that 
food  enough  could  not  be  produced  by 
the  entire  soil  of  the  country ;  and  that, 
apprehending  a  famine,  the  rulers  in- 
vited the  clergy  to  meet  together  and 
pray  that  the  lower  class,  or  "inferior 
multitude,"  might  be  thinned,  lest  all 
of  them  should  starve.  The  displeasure 
of  heaven  was  intimated  through  an 
angel,  and  the  pestilence  was  sent  to 
sweep  away  the  higher  as  well  as  the 
lower  classes.     The  two  joint  monarchs 


*  See  the  ancient  Mstoric  tale  of  tlie  Battle  of  Magh 
Katb,  translated  and  edited  by  Dr.  O'DonoTan,  for  the 
Irish  Aichseologicai  Society,  1842. 


of  Ireland,  the  kings  of  Ulster  and 
Munster,  and  many  other  persons  of 
rank,  were  among  its  victims ;  and  we 
read  also  that  it  carried  off  seveival  al)- 
bots  and  holy  personages,  as  St.  Fechin 
of  Fobhar,  St.  Ronan,  St.  Aileran  the 
Wise,  St.  Cronan,  St.  Manchan,  St.  Ul- 
tan  of  Clonard,  and  others.  Another 
St.  Ultan,  bishop  of  Ardbraccan,  col- 
lected the  infants  who  had  been  de- 
prived of  their  mothers  by  the  plague, 
and  caused  them  to  be  fed  with  milk 
through  the  teats  of  cows,  cut  oif  for 
the  purpose.  This  is  the  first  instance 
we  have  of  an  hospital  for  orphan  chil- 
dren founded  in  Ireland.  Venerable 
Bede  describes  the  ravages  of  the  pes- 
tilence at  the  same  time  in  Britain,  and 
in  doing  so  bears  most  intei'esting  testi- 
mony to  the  learning,  enlightened  gen- 
erosity, and  hospitality  of  Ireland.  He 
says : — "This  pestilence  did  no  less  harm 
in  the  island  of  Ireland.  Many  of  the 
nobility  and  of  the  lower  ranks  of  the 
English  nation  were  there  at  that  time, 
who,  in  the  days  of  bishojDS  Finau  and 
Colman,  forsaking  their  native  land,  re- 
tired thither,  either  for  the  sake  of 
divine  studies,  or  of  a  more  continent 
life.  The  Scots  (that  is,  the  Scoti  of 
Ireland)  willingly  received  them  all, 
and  took  care  to  supply  them  with  food, 
as  also  to  furnish  them  with  books  to 
read,  and  their  teaching,  gratis."f 

Finnachta  Fleadhach,  or  the  Hospi- 
table, who  began  his  reigu  in  the  year 


t  All  the  authorities  on  this  pestUence  are  collected 
by  Dr.  Wilde,  in  his  Report  on  the  Tables  of  Deaths, 
pp.  49,  &c..  Census  of  1851. 


86 


DESCENT  OF  THE   SAXONS  ON  IRELAND. 


673,  rendered  liis  name  memorable  by 
yielding  to  the  prayers  and  representa- 
tions of  St.  Moling,  and  remitting  the 
Borumean  tribute,  whicli  he  Lad  just 
succeeded  in  forcing  from  the  Leinster 
men  in  a  bloody  battle.  After  this  act 
of  piety  and  generosity  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  find,  by  the  Annals  of  Ulster, 
that  Finnachta  in  the  same  year  (687) 
abdicated,  and  embraced  a  religious  life. 
In  the  year  684  an  army  sent  by  Egfrid, 
the  Saxon  king  of  Northumbria,  made 
an  unexpected  and  unj^rovoked  descent 
on  the  Irish  coast,  and  laid  waste  the 
rich  lands  of  Bregia,  that  is,  the  terri- 
tory extending  between  the  Lifley  and 
the  Boyne,  sparing  neither  churches  nor 


*  Bede  thus  describes  the  event : — "  In  the  year  of 
our  Lord's  Incarnation  C84,  Egfrid,  king  of  the  North- 
umbrians, sending  Berctns,  his  general,  with  an  army 
into  Ireland  (Hiberniam)  miserably  wasted  that  inoffen- 
sive nation,  which  had  always  been  most  freindly  to  the 
English  (nationi  anglorum  semper  amicissimam) ;  inso- 
much that  in  their  hostile  rage  tliey  spared  not  even  the 
churches  or  monasteries.  The  islanders,  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power,  repelled  force  with  force,  and  imploring 
the  assistance  of  the  Divine  mercy,  prayed  long  and  fer- 
vently for  vengeance ;  and  thougli  such  as  curse  cannot 
possess  the  kingdom  of  God,  it  is  believed  that  those  who 
were  justly  cursed  on  account  of  their  impiety  did  soon 
after  suffer  the  penalty  of  their  guilt  from  the  avenging 
hand  of  God ;  for  the  very  nest  year  that  same  king, 

raslily  leading  his  army  against  the  Picts, was 

drawn  into  the  straits  of  inaccessible  mountains,  and 


monasteries  in  their  sacrilegious  plun- 
der, and  carrying  off  a  great  number  of 
the  inhabitants  as  slaves'  to  Britain. 
Venerable  Bede  denounces  and  laments 
this  act  of  rapine,  and  attributes  the 
defeat  and  death  of  Kinfj  Esffrid,  the 
following  year,  in  an  expedition  against 
the  Picts,  to  the  just  vengeance  of  heav- 
en for  this  aggression. '^•'  St.  Adamnan, 
the  celebrated  abbot  of  lona,  went  on 
a  mission  into  Northumbria,  on  the 
death  of  Egfrid,  to  reclaim  the  captives 
who  had  been  taken  from  Ireland  the 
preceding  year.  He  was  received  with 
great  honor,  j^erformed  many  miracles, 
and  his  application  was  granted  Avith- 
out  difficulty.f 


slain,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  forces,  in  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  fifteenth  of  his  reign." — Eccl. 
Eist.,  lib.  iv.,  c.  26. 

f  The  dates  of  several  of  the  events  mentioned  in  this 
chapter  are  thus  fixed  in  the  Leabhar  Breac,  or  Speckled 
Book,  an  Irish  MS.  preserved  in  the  Royal  Irish  Acad- 
emy : — "  33  years  from  the  death  of  Patrick  (493)  to  the 
death  of  Bridget,  in  her  70th  year  (523) ;  36  years  from 
the  death  of  Bridget  to  the  battle  of  Cuil  Dremni  (559) ; 
35  years  from  the  battle  of  Cuil  Dremni  to  the  death  of 
ColumbkUle,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age  (594) ;  40  years 
from  the  death  of  Columbkille,  to  the  battle  of  Moira 
(037) ;  25  years  from  the  battle  of  Moira  to  the  (second) 
Buidhe  ChonaiU  (002,  recte  G63);  25  years  from  the 
Buidhe  CTaonaill  till  Finachta,  son  of  Maelduin,  son  of 
Aedh  Slaine,  remitted  the  Boru  to  Moling  (687)." 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH  IN  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  Primitive  Churcli  in  Iigland. — Its  Monasticism. — Its  Missionary  Cliaracter. — St.  Columbanus,  his  Life  and 
Labors. — Foundation  of  Bobbio. — Hi  a  Letter  to  tlie  Pope. — Unity  witli  Rome. — St.  Gallus. — St.  Aidan  and 
the  Church  of  Lindisfarue. — St.  Colnian. — The  Paschal  Controversy. — National  Prejudices  of  the  Irish. — Sec- 
tarian Misrepresentation. — Synod  of  Old  Leighlin. — Saint  Cummian. — Conference  of  Whitby. — Innisbofin. — 
Saint  Adamnan. — "  The  Law  of  the  Innocents." — Saint  Frigidian. — Saint  Degan. — Saint  Livinus. — Saint 
Fiacre. — Saint  Fursey. — Saint  Dicuil. — Saint  Killian. — Saint  Sedulius  the  Younger. — Saint  Tirgilius. — SS. 
FoUan  and  TJltan. — Saint  Fridolin  "  the  Traveller." — Clemens  and  Albinus. — Dungal. — Donatus. — Irish  Blis- 
sions  to  Iceland. 


SCARCELY  was  IreLnnd  thorougli- 
ly  converted  to  Christianity,  when, 
as  already  observed,  great  monastic 
schools  began  to  spring  np  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  The  most  cele- 
brated of  them,  after  that  of  Armagh, 
Avere  Clonard,  in  Meath,  founded  early 
in  the  sixth  century  by  St.  Finan,  or 
Finian;  Clonmacnoise,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Shannon,  in  the  King's  county, 
founded  in  the  same  century  by  St. 
Kiaran,  called  the  Carpenter's  Son ; 
Bennchor,  or  Bangor,*  in  the  Ards  of 
Ulster,  founded  by  St.  Comgall  in  the 
year  558;  and  Lismore,  in  Waterford, 
founded  by  St.  Carthach,  or  Mochuda, 
about  the  year  633.  These,  and  many 
other  Iiish  schools,  attracted  a  vast 
concourse  of  students,  the  pupils  of  a 
single  school  often  numbering  from  one 
to  three  thousand,  several  of  whom 
came    from   Britain,    Gaul,    and    other 

*  This  celebrated  monastery  and  school,  of  which  all 
that  now  remains  is  the  churchyard,  was  situated  on  the 
south  side  of  Lough  Laigh  (Stagnum  Vituli),  now  Bel- 
10 


countries,  drawn  hither  by  the  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity  and  learning  which 
Ireland  enjoyed  throughout  Europe. 
The  course  of  instruction  embraced  all 
branches  of  knowledc^e  as  it  then  exist- 
ed,  and  more  especially  the  study  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  as  the  stu- 
dents Avere  not  only  taught,  but  sup- 
ported gratuitously,  their  numbers  be- 
came so  burdensome  to  the  country — 
whose  hospitality  indolent  laymen  often 
abused,  under  the  pretext  of  seeking 
after  knowledge — that  legislation  on 
the  subject  became  necessary  so  early 
as  the  synod  or  convention  of  Drum- 
ceat  (a.  d.  575). 

The  number  of  monasteries,  the  ex- 
tent to  which  religious  education  was 
carried,  but,  above  all,  the  fervor  which 
characterized  the  early  ages  of  the  Irish 
Church,  had  the  effect  of  fQliug  Ireland 
with  holy  ascetics,  living  either  in  corn- 


fast  Lough,  in  the  coimty  of  Down,  and  must  not 
be  confounded  with  the  place  of  the  same  name  in 
Wales. 


88 


FARLY  IRISH  MONASTICISM. 


muuities  or  in  total  solitude ;  so  that 
scarcely  an  island  round  the  coast  or  in 
the  lakes  of  the  interior,  or  a  valley,  or 
any  solitary  spot,  could  be  found  whicli, 
like  the  deserts  of  Egypt  and  Palestine, 
was  not  inhabited  by  fervent  coenobites 
and  anchorites.  In  the  lives  of  some  of 
these  holy  persons  who  thus  peopled 
the  wild  tempest-beaten  rocks  round 
the  Irish  coast,  it  is  not  unusual  to  read 
of  others  again  who  were  found  occa- 
sionally tossed  on  the  waves  in  the 
frail  boats  of  that  period,  "  seeking,"  as 
the  phrase  was,  "for  a  desert  in  the 
ocean  ;"  and  when,  at  length,  they  came 
to  a  resting  place  on  earth,  they  only 
looked  upon  it  as  their  "  locus  resur- 
redionw'''' — the  place  where  their  ashes 
should  await  the  day  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. It  was  an  age  of  simjilicity  and 
fervor,  and  may  well  be  called  the 
golden  age  of  Ireland ;  for  while  bar- 
barian swarms  were  inundating  Euroj^e, 
each  wave  of  desolation  plunging  the 
nations  over  which  it  passed  in  social 
chaos  and  demoralization,  Erin  was  en- 
gaged in  prayer  and  study,  and  the 
general  gloom  of  Europe  only  made 
her  light  shine  the  more  brilliantly  by 
the  contrast,  and  enhanced  her  glorious 
distinction  as  the  "  Island  of  Saints." 

As  soon  as  religion  had  been  thus 
matured  by  sacred  study  in  the  schools, 
and  by  divine  contemplation  and  peni- 
tential discipline  in  the  cloisters  and  in 


*  The  Scottish  colony  in  North  Britain,  owing  to  vari- 
ous causes,  does  not  appear  to  have  devoted  much  atten- 
tion either  to  religion  or  learning  for  a  long  time  after 
this  period ;  and  hence  are  the  unfounded  assumptions 


the  cells  and  caves  of  anchorites,  it 
quickly  assumed  a  more  active  devel- 
opment, for  which  the  Irish  mind  ex- 
hibited an  equally  haj^py  adaptation. 
"VVe  refer  to  the  missionary  career  of 
the  Irish  Church,  which  dates  from  the 
time  of  St.  Columbkille.  A  few  Irish- 
men prior  to  that,ppoch  were  engaged 
in  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  in  other 
countries,  but  it  was  only  then  that  the 
missionary  duty  may  be  said  to  have 
been  taken  up  by  them  with  a  steady 
and  organized  zeal.  We  have  seen  how 
St.  Columba  himself  preached  Christian- 
ity to  the  Picts.  For  that  purpose  he 
often  crossed  from  lona  into  Albion ; 
and  passing  the  Dorsum  Britannice,  or 
Grampian  Hills,  accompanied  by  his 
monks,  travelled  into  the  northern  re- 
gions of  that  country.  After  his  death 
(a.  d.  59V),  his  institution  of  lona,  and 
his  other  monasteries  in  those  parts, 
continued  to  be  supplied  with  Scottish 
monks  from  Ireland,  who  were  the  or- 
dinary missionaries  of  the  Picts  and 
British  Scots  ;*  their  mission  being  ex- 
tended still  further  south,  when  they 
were  invited  into  Northumberland  in 
635  by  king  Oswald,  and  founded  there 
the  diocese  and  Columbian  monastery 
of  Lindisfarne. 

The  great  father,  however,  of  Irish 
foreign  missions  into  countries  beyond 
Britain,  was  St.  Columbanus.f  This  il- 
lustrious saint  was  a  native  of  Leiustei', 

of  Dempster,  and  modern  Scotch  ■nriters,  in  claiming  all 
the  celebrated  Scots  of  those  early  ages  as  their  own 
countrymen,  the  more  absurd. 
f  The  name  of  this  saint  is  sometimes  written  Coluni- 


ST.  COLUMBANUS. 


89 


and  was  of  noble  extraction.  He  was 
born  about  the  year  539,  studied  under 
St.  Comgall  in  Bangor,  and,  according 
to  the  most  probable  account,  left  Ire- 
land in  the  year  589,  accompanied  by 
twelve  other  monks,  for  Gaul,  passing 
through  Britain,  wlici'e  he  made  only  a 
brief  stay.  The  former  country  being 
then  in  the  possession  of  the  Franks, 
we  may  call  it  by  its  modern  name  of 
France.  Here  our  Scottic  missionaries 
having  penetrated  into  the  territory 
which  formed  the  kingdom  of  Burgun- 
dy, then  ruled  by  King  Thierry,  or 
Theodoric,  they  (a.  d.  590)  founded 
the  monastery  of  Luxovium,  or  Lux- 
euil,  in  the  midst  of  a  forest  at  the  foot 
of  the  Vosges,  where  St.  Columbanus 
established  the  rigid  discipline  of  his 
native  country,  as  he  had  received  it 
from  his  master,  St.  Comgall.  The 
fame  of  our  countryman's  sanctity  soon 
spread  to  a  distance,  and  the  concourse 
of  those  who  came  to  join  his  order,  or 
to  seek  instruction,  was  so  great  that 
he  was  obliged,  in  a  short  time,  to  es- 
tablish another  monastery,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  Fontaines.  Eeligion 
having  been  totally  neglected  under 
the  barbarian  sway  of  the  Franks,  the 
active  zeal  and  rigorous  life  of  the  Irish 
monks  strangely  contrasted  with  the  lax 
and  torpid  Christianity  of  all  classes  of 
the  pojDulation  by  whom  they  were  sur- 
rounded ;  and  in  denouncing  the  preva- 
lent vices,  our  saint  did  not  spare  those 

ba ;  and  lie  has  been  often  confounded,  especially  by 
foreign  -writers,  vrith.  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Picts  and 
founder  of  lona. 

13 


of  King  Theodoric  himself  or  of  his  de- 
moralized court.  This  zeal  drew  upon 
him  the  wrath  both  of  the  king  and  of 
the  evil-minded  queen  dowagei',  Bruue- 
hault,  and  St..  Columbanus  became  an 
object  of  relentless  persecution.  The 
privileges  originally  conceded  to  his 
monasteries  were  withdrawn,  and  his 
rule  for  excluding  the  laity  from  the 
interior  of  the  cloisters  havinc:  ffiven 
offence,  the  king  went  himself,  accom- 
jjanied  by  a  retinue  of  nobles,  to  in- 
trude forcibly  into  the  sacred  inclo- 
sures.  Having  penetrated  some  dis- 
tance, however,  Theodoric  became  ter- 
rified at  thQ  jDrophetic  denunciation  of 
the  saint,  and  desisted,  contenting  him- 
self with  ordering  St.  Columbanus  to 
leave  the  country,  and  permitting  only 
the  Irish  and  British  monks  to  accom- 
pany him. 

A.  D.  610. — The  heroic  Scot  refused 
to  leave  his  beloved  monks  unless  torn 
from  them  by  force ;  whereupon  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  were  sent  to  carry  out 
the  tyrant's  orders,  and  St.  Columbanus 
was  dragged  from  his  cloister  at  Lux- 
euil,  where  he  had  spent  twenty  years, 
and  conveyed  with  those  monks  who 
were  allowed  to  share  his  fortunes  as 
far  as  Nantes,  where  an  attemj^t  to 
ship  them  off  to  Ireland  having  been, 
as  it  would  seem,  miraculously  frustra- 
ted, they  were  permitted  to  go  at  large. 

St.  Columbanus  then  repaired  to  the 
court  of  Clothaire,  king  of  Soissons,  by 
whom  he  was  entertained  in  the  most 
friendly  manner.  Thence  he  jjassed 
through    the  territory  of  Theodobert, 


90 


ST.   COLUMBANUS  IN  ITALY. 


king  of  Austrasia,  wlio,  althougli  the 
brother  of  Theodoric,  treated  our  saint 
with  the  utmost  kindness  and  distinc- 
tion ;  and  ascending  by  the  Rhine  into 
the  country  now  called  Switzerland,  he 
there  found  that  the  population,  who 
were  Alemauni,  had  relapsed  into  idol- 
atry, and  that  the  Christian  churches 
were  converted  into  temples  for  idols. 
St.  Columbanus  preached  here  in  differ- 
ent places,  and  sojourned  for  a  year  at 
Bregentz,  at  the  southeastern  extrem- 
ity of  the  lake  of  Constance,  where  he 
left  one  of  his  Irish  disciples,  St.  Gallus, 
or  Gall,  who  was  then  sick,  setting  out 
himself  with  the  remainder  of  his  com- 
panions for  Italy. 

A.  D.  613. — In  the  third  year  after 
his  expulsion  from  the  Vosges,  St.  Co- 
lumbanus arrived  at  Milan,  where  he 
was  received  in  the  kindest  manner  by 
Agilulph,  king  of  the  Lombards,  and 
his  accomplished  queen,  Theodolinda. 
He  was  permitted  to  choose  a  site  for 
a  monastery,  and  selected  for  that  pur- 
pose a  place  in  the  Apennines  called 
Bovium  or  Bobbio,  where  he  founded 
a  great  monastery,  and  built  near  his 
church  an  oratory  dedicated  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  By  this  time  his 
friend  Clothaire  had  become  kincr  of 
all  France,  having  seized  the  domin- 
ions of  Theodoric  after  the  death  of  the 
latter,  who  had  only  just  before  slain 
his  brother  Theodobert  and  taken  his 
kinsdom.  St.  Columbanus  was  there- 
upon  pressingly  invited  by  Clothaire  to 
return  to  Luxeuil ;  but  he  declined,  and 
contented  himself  with  transmitting  his 


advice  for  the  government  of  his  old 
monasteries,  where  his  rule  continued 
to  be  strictly  adhered  to. 

St.  Columbanus  found  Northern  Italy 
in  a  state  of  schism,  owing  to  a  theo- 
logical controversy,  known  as  that  of 
the  "  Three  Chapters  ;"  and  he  was  pre- 
vailed on  by  King  Agilul2ih  to  write  to 
Pope  Boniface  on  the  subject.  The  free 
tone  of  this  epistle,  so  consistent  with 
the  iinflinching  character  of  the  man,  as 
well  as  with  the  spirit  of  those  rude 
times ;  and  also  our  saint's  unaltered 
adhesion  to  the  mode  of  computing 
Easter,  and  to  the  form  of  liturgy  which 
he  had  learned  in  his  own  country,  and 
which  had  been  introduced  there  bj^ 
St.  Patrick,  are  particularly  dwelt  on 
by  those  who  wish  to  draw  a  distinction 
between  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Irish 
and  that  of  Kome ;  but  the  attempts 
to  show  any  such  distinction  are  utterly 
fruitless.  The  discrepancies  on  points 
of  discipline  were  only  such  as  might 
have  existed  without  detriment  to  the 
unity  of  the  Church  ;  and  St.  Columba- 
nus, as  Avell  as  every  other  Irish  eccle- 
siastic who  visited  the  continent  of 
Europe  in  those  early  ages,  found  him- 
self in  the  most  perfect  unison  in  matters 
of  faith  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  that 
is,  with  the  Universal  Christian  Church 
of  that  age.  St.  Columbanus  told  the 
Pope,  "  that  although  dwelling  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  world,  all  the  Irish  were 
disciples  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  receiv- 
ing no  other  than  the  evangelical  and 
apostolical, doctrine;  that  no  heretic,  or 
Jew,  or  schismatic,  was   to  be    found 


DEATH  OF  ST.  COLUMBANUS. 


91 


among  tliem,  but  that  they  still  cluug  to 
the  Catholic  faith,  as  it  was  first  deliv- 
ered to  them  by  his  (the  Pope's)  pre- 
decessors, that  is,  the  successors  of  the 
holy  apostles;  that  the  Irish  were  at- 
tached to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  that 
although  Rome  was  great  and  renowned, 
it  was  only  on  account  of  that  chair  it 
was  so  with  them.  Through  the  two 
apostles  of  Christ,"  he  added,  "  you  are 
almost  celestial,  and  Home  is  the  head 
of  all  churches,  as  well  as  of  the 
world."  * 

St.  Columbanus  died  at  Bobbio,  on 
the  21st  of  November,  615,  at  the  age 
of  72  years;  and  his  memory  is  still 
highly  venerated  both  in  France  and 
Italy.  In  the  latter  country  his  name 
is  preserved  in  that  of  a  small  town  in 
the  district  of  Lodi,  called  from  him  S. 
Colombano.  From  his  writings  it  is 
obvious  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  besides  being  an 
accomplished  scholar  in  other  respects ; 
and  as  he  did  not  leave  his  own  coun- 
try until  he  was  about  fifty  years  of 
age,  and  was  afterwards  occupied  con- 
stantly in  active  duties,  we  may  infer 
that  he  acquired  all  his  knowledge  in 
the  schools  of  Ireland.f 

We  have  seen  that  Gallus  or  Gall, 


*  The  letters  and  other  writings  of  St.  Columbanus 
that  have  been  preserved  may  be  seen  in  Fleming's 
Collectanea,  and  in  the  Bibliotheea  Patrum,  torn.  13, 
ed.  10T7.  Some  of  them  are  published  in  Ussher's 
Sylloge. 

f  The  Benedictines,  in  the  Hist.  LUteraire  de  la 
France,  say : — "  The  light  which  St.  Columbauus  dis- 
seminated, by  his  knowledge  and  doctrine,  wherever  he 
presented  himself,  caused  a  contemporary  writer  to  com- 
pare him  to  the  sun  in  his  course  from  east  to  west ;  and 


one  of  the  disciples  of  St.  Columbanus, 
was  left  in  Helvetia,  being  j)revented 
by  sickness  from  accompanying  his  mas- 
ter. He  was  an  eloquent  preacher,  and 
being  acquainted  with  their  language, 
a  dialect  of  that  of  the  Franks  which 
he  had  acquii-ed  in  Burgundy,  he  evan- 
gelized the  Alemanni,  and  is  called  their 
apostle.  He  died  on  the  16  th  of  Octo- 
ber, about  the  year  645,  in  the  95th 
year  of  his  age ;  and  over  his  ashes  rose 
a  monastery  which  became  the  nucleus, 
first  of  an  important  town,  and  then  oi 
a  small  State,  with  the  rank  of  a  princi- 
pality, called  after  the  holy  Irish  monk. 
It  was  nQt  until  the  year  1798  that  the 
abbey  lauds  of  St.  Gall,  as  the  territory 
was  called,  were  aggregated  to  the 
Swiss  Confederation  as  one  of  the  can- 
tons. The  old  abbey  church  is  one  of 
the  chief  attractions  in  the  city  of  St 
Gall,  and  for  the  Irish  traveller  there 
are  many  objects  of  interest  there  in  the 
relics  of  his  ancient  national  literature 
and  piety,  and  in  the  various  associations 
with  his  country.  The  life  of  St.  Gall 
was  written  by  Walafridus  Strabus,  a 
writer  of  the  ninth  century. 

A.  D.  635. — Meanwhile  St.  Aidan,  a 
monk  of  lona,  chosen  by  his  brethren 
as  a  missionary  for  jSTorthumbria,  on  the 


he  continued  after  his  death  to  shiue  forth  in  numerous 
disciples  whom  he  had  trained  in  learning  and  piety." 
See  also  Muratori,  Annali  di  Ital.,  ad  an.  612,  where  he 
describes  the  monastery  of  Bobbio  as  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  in  Italy ;  Fleury,  Hist.  Eecl.,  Liv.  xxxvii.,  and 
all  writers  who  have  treated  of  the  religious  and  literary 
history  of  Europe  during  the  period  in  question.  The 
life  of  St.  Columbanus  was  written  by  lonas,  an  Irish  or 
British  monk,  the  contemporary  of  some  of  the  saint's 
disciples. 


92 


THE  PASCHAL  QUESTION". 


invitation  of  King  Oswald,  who  had 
been  for  some  time  a  refugee  in  Ireland, 
converted  the  Saxons  of  that  country 
to  Christianity,  and  established  the  see 
of  Lindisfarne,  of  which  he  was  the  first 
bishop.     He  was  accompanied  by  many 
of  his  countrymen  on  this  mission.     A 
monastery  of  the  Columbian  order  was 
founded  at  Lindisfarne,  and  Ksh   mas- 
ters were  also  obtained  to  instruct  the 
children  of  the  Northumbrian  nobles  in 
the  rudiments  of  learning.     St.  Aidan, 
A.  D.  651,  was  succeeded  by  St.  Fintan 
or  Finan,  another  Irishman  and  monk  of 
Hy,  Avho  sent  missionaries  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  Middle  and  East  Angles, 
and  consecrated  as  first  bishop  of  the 
former,  and  also  of  Mercia,  Diuma,  an 
Irishman,  who  was   succeeded  by   an- 
other  Irishman,    named   Ivellach.     St. 
Fintan,  who  died  about  the  year  660, 
was  succeeded,  as  bishop  of  Lindisfarne, 
by  his  countryman  St.  Colman  ;  so  that 
the  church  of  the  northern  Saxon  king- 
doms was  for  a  long  time,  at  that  period, 
almost  wholly  in  the  charge  of  Irish 
ecclesiastics.      Colman  was   deeply  in- 
volved in  the    controversy  about    the 
celebration   of  Easter,  which  had  for 
some  time  been  a  subject  of  anxious  dis- 
cussion in  Ireland  and  Britain ;  and  as 
the  question  holds  a  prominent  place  in 
the  history  of  the  Irish  Church  of  that 
age,  it  is  necessaiy  to  enter  into  a  brief 
explanation  of  it  here. 

It  must  be  premised  that  a  wide  dif- 
ference existed  between  the  practice 
with  regard  to  Easter  as  upheld  so  long 
in  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  that  which 


formed  a  matter  of  dispute  some  cen- 
turies before  with  the  churches  of  the 
East.     A  question  arose  in  the  very  in- 
fancy of  Christianity,  whether  the  Chris- 
tian Pasch  should  be  solemnized,  like 
that  of  the  Old  Law,  on  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  moon  which  falls  next  after 
the   vernal  equinox,  whatever  day  of 
the  week  that  might  be ;    or  Avhether 
it  should  not  always  be  observed  on  a 
Sunday,  the  day  which  our  Lord  had 
consecrated  by  His  resurrection.     The 
former  practice  was   invariably  disap- 
proved of  in  the  "Western  Church,  and 
was  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Nice 
(a.  d.  325)  ;  and  a  few  churches  of  Mes- 
opotamia,  which   persisted   in   it,  and 
which  were  besides  infected  with  Nesto- 
rianism,  were  consequently  pronounced 
heretical.     This  constituted  the  Quarto- 
deciman   heresy;   but   in  the  Catholic 
Church  there  still  remained  some  ob- 
stacles to  uniformity  in  the    computa- 
tion of  Easter.     Thus,  while  at  Alexan- 
dria, which  had  the  best  astronomers, 
the  cycle  of  nineteen  years  was  employ- 
ed for  ascertaining  the  moon's  age,  the 
old  Jewish  cycle  of  eighty-four  years 
continued  to  be  received  for  a  long  time 
at  Rome ;  and  a  difference  of  opinion 
also  prevailed  as  to  whether  Easter-day 
should  be  held  on  the  fourteenth  of  the 
moon  when  it  fell  on  Sunday,  or  on 
the  next  succeeding  Sunday ;  but  these 
and  some  other  details  were  finally  ad- 
justed between  Rome  and  the  principal 
churches  of  the  East;  the  main  point 
thus  settled  being  that  the  fourteenth 
day  should  under  no  circumstances  be 


THE  PASCHAL  QUESTIOX. 


93 


taken  for  Easter.  General  liarmony 
now  prevailed  on  the  subject  through- 
out Europe  and  the  East,  when  it  was 
found  that  the  insulated  Scottish  (that 
is,  Irish)  Church  still  adhered  to  the  old 
practice  that  had  beeu  introduced  by 
St.  Patrick,  and  that,  apjjarently  quite 
unaware  of  the  discussion  on  the  subject 
which  had  formerly  agitated  the  rest  of 
the  world,  and  had  been  long  since  dis- 
posed of,  the  Irish  clergy  still  celebra- 
ted Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day,  if 
that  day  hajDpened  to  be  Sunday,  and 
were  only  acquainted  with  the  anti- 
quated cycle  of  eighty-four  years  which 
St.  Patrick  had  been  taught  to  use  in 
his  time,  both  in  Gaul  and  Home,  but 
which  had  been  since  laid  aside  for  a 
computation  of  greater  scientific  ac- 
curacy. 

Veneration  for  the  customs  of  theii' 
fathers  has  always  been  a  characteristic 
of  the  Scottic  race.  In  this  case  they 
held  on  to  the  tradition  of  the  great 
saints  who  planted  Christianity  in  their 
country,  and  enriched  it  with  their  vir- 
tues, and  no  arguments  could  for  a  long 
time  convince  them  that  a  usasre  sancti- 
fied  by  Patrick,  Brigid,  and  Columl«- 
kille,  was  erroneous.  They  were  cer- 
tainly guilty  of  obstinacy,  and  for  that 
they  deserve  no  praise.  It  is  amusing 
to   observe    how   little   weight    either 

*  It  is  a  remarkable  facttliat  thus,  some  two  lumdied 
years  after  tlie  preachiBg  of  St.  Patrick,  no  point  of  dif- 
ference could  be  found  between  the  faith  and  discipline 
of  the  Church  of  Ireland  and  the  faith  and  discipline  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  except  this  slight  one  of  the  com- 
putation of  Easter,  and  that  of  the  tonsure,  or  mode  of 
BhaTong  the  heads  of  the  monks ;  a  pretty  conclusive 


science  or  authority  had  with  them 
against  the  tradition  which  they  held 
from  those  whom  they  loved  and  ven- 
erated ;  but  there  cannot  be  a  greater 
perversion  of  the  truth  than  to  pretend 
that  this  usage  of  the  Irish  Church  in- 
dicated an  Eastern  origin,  or  an  essen- 
tial negation  of  conformity  with  liome, 
seeiug  that  that  very  usage  had  been 
brought  from  Rome  itself.  This  point 
is  imj^ortant,  as  gross  misrepresentation 
has  been  jjractised  on  the  subject.  Per- 
fect uniformity,  even  in  matters  of  disci- 
'pliue,  was  desirable ;  and  a  diversity  of 
practice,  from  which  it  often  followed 
that  while  some  were  still  observing 
the  fast  of  Lent,  others  in  the  same 
community  or  household  were  chanting 
the  alleluias  of  Easter,  was  most  objec- 
tionable ;  but  the  Irish  and  their  breth- 
ren of  Britain  could  not  be  brought  for 
some  time  to  yield  up  an  old  custom 
for  the  sake  of  uniformity  in  such  mat- 
ters; while  on  the  other  hand,  their 
adhesion  to  that  custom  did  not  exclude 
them  from  the  unity  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  or  prevent  some  of  its  warmest 
advocates,  such  as  St.  Columbanus,  who 
wrote  a  strong  letter  on  the  subject  to 
St.  Gregory,  from  ranking  as  saints  in 
the  Roman  martyrology.* 

A.  D.  630. — This  yeai',  in  consequence 
of    an    admonitory  letter   from    Pope 


evidence  that  whatever  the  religion  of  Rome  was  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  such  was  also  the  religion  of 
Ireland  found  to  be  at  the  same  period  ;  and  it  is  humili- 
ating to  find  some  \vriters  at  the  present  day  so  blinded 
by  sectarianism  as  to  assert  the  contrary,  and  to  pretend 
that  the  religion  which  St.  Patrick  brought  into  Ireland 
was  not  the  religion  of  the  Western  Church ! 


94 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  WHITBY. 


Houorius  I.,  a  synod  was  held  by  the 
Irish  clergy  at  Lena  or  old  Leighliu,  to 
consider  the  paschal  question.  St.  Lase- 
rian  advocated  the  Roman  practice,  and 
St.  Fintan  Munuu,  the  Irish  one ;  and 
both,  it  will  be  observed,  are  saints  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  It  was  decided 
that  messengers  should  be  sent  to  Rome 
to  consult  "  the  head  of  cities,"  and  the 
ecclesiastics  so  deputed  brought  back 
word,  after  three  years'  absence,  that 
the  Roman  discipline  was  that  of  the 
whole  world.  From  the  date  of  this 
announcement  (633),  the  new  Roman' 
cycle  and  rules  for  Easter  were  received 
in  the  southern  half  of  Ireland,  embra- 
cing with  Munster  the  greater  part  of 
Leinster,  and  part  of  Counaught.  The 
attachment  of  the  Columbian  monks 
to  the  old  jjractice  still  retarded  the 
adoption  of  the  correct  one  in  the  north- 
ern half  of  Ireland ;  and  it  was  nearly  a 
century  after  when  the  wrong  method 
of  finding  Easter  was  finally  abandoned 
by  the  communit}^  of  Hy.  St.  Cum- 
mian,  who  belonged  to  the  Columbian 
order,  embraced  the  Roman  custom  at 
the  synod  of  630,  and  addressed  a  learn- 
ed epistle  to  the  abbot  and  monks  of 
Hy,  in  vindication  of  himself,  and  of 
the  practice  of  the  Universal  Church  ;* 
and  a  few  years  after  the  clergy  of  Ul- 
ster addressed  a  letter  to  the  Holy  See, 
which  was  received  there  a  little  before 
the  death  of  Pope  Severinus,  and  was 
replied  to  by  the  Roman  clergy  while 


*  This  celebrated  letter  is  published  in  Ussher's  8yl 
logo ;   and  its  style  and  the  learning  it  displays  are 


the  see  was  vacant ;  but  the  admonition 
of  these  latter  on  the  Easter  question 
appears  to  have  had  no  effect  upon  their 
Scottish  correspondents. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  controversy 
when  it  was  renewed  with  increased 
vehemence  in  Northumbria,  at  the  time 
(a.  d.  664)  that  Colman  succeeded  Fi- 
nan  in  the  see  of  Lindisfarne.  A  con- 
ference was  held  that  year  at  Whitby, 
at  which  kings  Oswin  and  Alcfrid  pre- 
sided; St.  "Wilfrid,  a  learned  Saxon 
bishop,  advocating  the  Roman  obser- 
vance, and  St.  Colman  with  the  Irish 
clergy  supporting  their  own  national 
practice,  while  St.  Ceadda,  bishop  of 
Mercia,  and  an  adherent  of  the  Scots, 
acted  as  interpreter  between  the  par- 
ties. 

The  proceedings  of  this  conference 
were  most  interesting,  and  resulted  in 
a  decision  against  St.  Colman's  usage ; 
the  kings  and  the  bulk  of  the  assembly 
declaring  in  favor  of  St.  Wilfrid.  St. 
Colman  consequently  resigned  the  see 
of  Lindisfarne,  and  taking  with  him 
all  the  Irish  and  about  thirty  of  the 
English  monks  of  his  establishment, 
he  withdrew  to  the  remote  island  of 
lunisbofin,  or  the  "  island  of  the  white 
cow,"  off  the  western  coast  of  Ireland, 
where  he  founded  a  monastery  for 
his  Irish  monks,  building  another 
shortly  after  for  his  English  followers 
on  the  plain  of  Mayo,  called  on  that 
account  Mayo-of-the-Saxons.     He  him- 


highly  creditable  to  the  venerable  Irish  ecclesiastic  by 
whom  it  was  written. 


THE  LAW   OF   THE   INNOCENTS. 


95 


self  resided  in  Innisbofin,  until  his  death, 
in  the  year  676* 

A.  D.  684. — It  was  related  at  the 
close  of  the  j^receding  chapter  how  Eg- 
frid,  king  of  Northumbria,  sent  an  army 
on  a  piratic  excursion  into  Ireland,  to 
gratify,  as  it  is  believed,  his  private  re- 
sentment; his  brother  Alfred  having 
sousjht  refusre  in  Ireland  from  his 
treachery,  and  been  hospitably  receiv- 
ed there.f  The  next»  year,  or  the  fol- 
lowinc:  one,  Alfred  succeeded  him  on 
the  throne ;  and  it  was  then  (a.  d.  685 
or  686)  that  St.  Adamnan,  the  ninth 
abbot  of  Hy,  who  is  celebrated  not 
onl}^  for  his  sanctity,  but  as  the  accom- 
plished biographer  of  the  great  St.  Co- 
lumba,  was  sent  into  England  to  recov- 
er the  caj^tives  and  property  of  which 
Ireland  had  been  plundered.  Adam- 
nan's  mission  to  the  friendly  court  of 
Alfred  was  most  successful;  and  he 
appears  to  have  repeated  his'  visits 
there  more  than  once  in  after  years. 
This  holy  and  learned  abbot  was  one 


*  Venerable  Bede  (Ec.  Hist.,  b.  iii.,  chap.  25)  gives  a 
detailed  account  of  the  important  conference  of  Whitby. 
Describing,  in  the  following  chapter,  the  departure  of 
St.  Colman  and  the  Irish  monks  from  Lindisfarne,  he 
pays  them  the  following  tribute,  which  may  be  received 
as  applicable  to  the  Irish  monks  in  general  of  that 
period :  "  The  place  which  he  (Colman)  governed,  shows 
how  frugal  he  and  his  predecessors  were,  for  there  were 
very  few  houses  besides  the  church  found  at  their  de- 
parture, indeed  no  more  than  were  barely  sufficient  for 
their  daily  residence :  they  had  also  no  money,  but  only 
some  cattle ;  for  if  they  received  any  money  from  rich 
persons  they  immediately  gave  it  or  the  poor ;  there 
being  no  need  to  gather  money  to  provide  houses  for 
the  entertainment  of  the  great  men  of  tlie  world ;  for 
such  never  resorted  t  o  the  church  except  to  pray  and 

hear  the  word  of  God For  the  whole 

care  of  those  teachers  was  to  serve  God,  not  the  world — 


of  the  most  strenuous  promoters  of  the 
new  paschal  computation,  which  he  suc- 
ceeded in  introducing  into  the  northern 
parts  of  Ireland,  although  his  own  mon- 
astery of  Hy  persisted  in  declining  it 
for  some  years  longer.  In  the  year 
697,  he  proceeded  to  Ireland  from  Hy, 
and  took  part  in  a  synod  or  legislative 
council,  held  at  Tara,  which  place,  al- 
though it  had  ceased  to  be  a  royal  resi- 
dence, was  still  occasionally  used  as  the 
seat  of  legislation.  On  this  occasion 
he  procured  the  enactment  of  a  law, 
which  was  called  the  Canon  of  Adam- 
nan,  or  the  "  Law  of  the  Innocents,"  and 
sometimes  "  the  law  not  to  kill  women." 
It  was  usual  amongst  the  pagan  Irish, 
as  we  have  seen,  for  women  to  go  with 
the  men  to  battle ;  but  as  we  generally 
read  of  one  woman  being  killed  by 
another,  it  is  probable  that  the  female 
combatants  of  opposite  armies  encoun- 
tered each  other.  This  barbarous  cus- 
tom may  have  fallen  partially  into  dis- 
use after  the  conversion  of  the  country 


to  feed  the  soul,  and  not  the  stomach."  And  again  (b. 
iii.,  chap.  27) — "During  the  time  of  Finan  and  Colman, 
many  nobles  and  others  of  the  English  nation  were  liv- 
ing in  Ireland,  whither  they  had  repaired  either  to  cul- 
tivate the  sacred  studies,  or  to  lead  a  life  of  greater 
strictness.  Some  of  them  soon  became  monks  ;  others 
were  better  pleased  to  apply  to  reading  and  study,  go- 
ing about  from  school  to  school  through  the  cells  of  the 
masters ;  and  all  of  them  were  most  cheerfully  received 
by  the  Irish,  who  supplied  them  gratis  with  good  books 
and  instruction." 

f  Alfred  and  Oswald  were  not  the  only  foreign  princes 
who  had  been  sheltered  in  Ireland ;  Dagobert  II.,  king 
of  Austrasia,  having,  in  his  youth,  lived  for  fifteen  years 
(655  to  670)  in  the  monastery  of  Slane  on  the  Boyne, 
whither  he  had  been  sent  on  the  death  of  his  father  by 
Grimoald,  mayor  of  the  palace. 


96 


IRISH  SAINTS  ON  THE   CONTINENT. 


to  Christianity,  alfhougli  "we  are  not 
told  that  such  was  the  case ;  but  there 
was  certainly  no  law  against  it,  or  any 
to  exemjjt  women  from  attending  host- 
iucrs,  in  warfare  until  the  time  of  St. 
Adamnan ;  and  a  characteristic  inci- 
dent is  related  in  the  Leabhar  Breac, 
and  the  Book  of  Lecan,  to  account  for 
that  saint's  interference  in  this  matter. 
It  happened,  according  to  the  story, 
that  Adamnan  was  travelling  one  day 
through  the  plain  of  Bregia,  while  yet 
a  young  man,  with  his  mother,  Konait, 
on  his  back,  when  they  saw  two  armies 
en2;a2:ed  in  conflict.  The  mother  of 
Adamnan  observed  a  woman  with  a 
sickle  plunged  into  the  breast  of  anoth- 
er woman,  and  thus  dragging  her  about 
the  field  ;  and  horrified  at  the  spectacle, 
she  exacted  a  solemn  promise  from  her 
son  that  he  would  obtain  a  law  to  ex- 
emj^t  women  from  warfere.  Adamnan 
did  not  lose  sight  of  the  injunction  of 
his  parent,  and  it  is  likely  that  he  em- 
jjloyed  his  influence,  as  soon  as  it  was 
powerful  enough,  to  introduce  the  law 
in  question.'"  He  celebrated  Easter, 
according  to  the  canonical  computation, 
in  the  northern  half  of  Ireland,  in  the 
year  703,  and  died  the  following  year ; 
and  it  was  reserved  for  a  Northum- 
brian monk,  named  Egbert,  to  bring  the 
community  of  Hy  to  uniformity  on  this 
point,  in  the  year  710,  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  according  to  Bede,  after  the 


*  Tliis  law  protected  women  and  children  against  the 
barbarities  of  war,  and  hence  it  was  called  the  lev  inno- 
centium,  or  law  of  the  innocent  or  weak.  The  assembly 
in  wliich  it  was  enacted  was  held  in  the  "  Kath  of  the 


controversy  on  the   subject   had  com- 
menced in  these  countries. 

Returning  to  those  Irish  saints  who, 
by  their  virtues  and  learning,  spread 
the  fame  of  their  native  land  into  for- 
eign countries,  we  shall  only  enumerate 
the  more  celebrated  of  them.  St.  Fri- 
gidian  was  bishop  of  Lucca  for  twenty- 
eight  years  in  the  sixth  century,  and  his 
memory  is  still  held  in  great  veneration 
in  that  part  of  Italy.  Of  St.  Molua,  or 
Lugid,  it  was  said  by  the  great  Pope 
St.  Gregory,  that  his  monastic  rule  was 
like  a  hedge  which  reached  to  heaven. 
St.  Degan  travelled  to  Eome  early  in 
the  seventh  centurj^,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  paschal  controversy,  and 
embraced  the  canonical  mode  of  compu- 
tation. St.  Livinus,  an  Irish  bishop, 
erroneously  called  archbisliop  of  Dub- 
lin, suftered  martyrdom  in  Flanders,  in 
the  year  633,  and  his  memory  has  al- 
ways 'been  venerated  in  that  countrj^, 
whither  he  had  gone  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel. Some  beautiful  verses,  written  by 
him  in  good  classic  Latin,  have  been 
preserved.  St.  Fiacre,  who  flourished 
in  the  year  622,  erected  a  monastery  in 
honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  in  a 
forest  near  Meaux,  in  France,  and  the 
fame  of  his  sanctity  rendered  the  pil- 
grimage to  his  tomb  or  hermitage  so 
popular,  that  his  name  was  given  to  the 
hackney  coaches  of  Paris,  of  which  so 
many  were  employed  in  conveying  the 


Synods,"  on  Tara  HiU,  near  which  rath,  according  to  the 
Dinnseauchus,  was  the  Lathrach  PtqKtill  Adamnain, 
or  "  Site  of  the  tent  of  Adamnan." 


SS.  CATHALDUS,   CUTHBERT,  ETC. 


97 


citizens  tliither.  St.  Fursey,  who  died 
in  the  year  648,  founded  a  monastery 
in  England,  and  another  at  Lagny,  in 
France ;  and  his  disciples,  St.  Foilau, 
St.  Gobban,  and  St.  Dicuil,  were  the 
companions  of  his  labors  in  those  coun- 
tries. St.  Arbogast,  an  Irishman,  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  Strasburg  in  G46. 
St.  Kiliau,  the  illustrious  apostle  of 
Francouia,  was  martyred  with  his  two 
companions,  in  the  year  689.  This 
great  saint,  faithful  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Irish  Church,  would  not  commence  his 
mission  among  the  pagans  of  Wurtz- 
burg,  although  he  saw  its  necessity,  un- 
til he  had  gone  to  Rome  to  obtain  the 
sanction  and  blessing  of  the  Pope.  Two 
other  saints  of  the  same  name  flourish- 
ed on  the  continent,  one  a  disciple  of 
St.  Columbanus,  and  the  other  abbot 
of  St,  Martin's  monastery  at  Cologne. 

To  this  period  belongs  the  illustrious 
patron  of  the  metropolitan  city  of  Ta- 
rentum,  St.  Cathaldus,  whom  some  old 
continental  writers  erroneously  sup- 
posed to  have  flourished  in  the  second 
century.  He  was  a  native  of  Munster ; 
was  first  a  student,  and  then  a  professor 
at  Lismore,  where  he  is  said  to  have 


*  The  life  of  St.  Cathaldus  was  'written  in  prose  by 
Bartholomco  Moroni,  of  Tarentum,  and  in  verse  by  his 
brother,  Bonaventura.  His  acts,  ivritten  by  others,  are 
also  extant.  See  them  collected  by  Colgan,  AA.  SS. 
Hib.  at  the  8th  of  March  ;  and  a^great  deal  concerning 
him  in  Ussher's  Primordki,  pp.  392,  &c,,  folio  edition. 
The  poetic  life  of  St.  Cathaldus  describes  in  beautiful 
language  the  conflux  of  students  from  different  parts  of 
Europe  to  the  school  at  Lismore. 

f  Colgan,  Usshcr,  Ware,  and  Harris,  make  St.  Cuth- 
bert  an  Irishman,  but  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any 
Irish  authority  for  the  story  of  his  birth  related  in  the 
13 


erected  a  church  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  ;  and  as  that  renowned  seminary 
was  not  founded  until  the  year  633,  it 
must  have  been  some  years  later,  per- 
haps about  650,  when  he  left  Ireland. 
Returning  from  a  j)ilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem, he  passed  through  Tarentum,  and 
having  performed  some  miracles  as  he 
approached  the  town,  he  was  received 
by  the  inhabitants  with  veneration, 
uuanimou.sly  chosen  as  their  bishoji,  and 
continued  to  govern  the  diocese  with 
great  zeal  for  many  years.  His  brothei', 
St.  Donatu?:,  probably  travelled  with 
him,  as  we  find  that  he  was  bishop  of 
Lecce,  another  city  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  and  both  are  said  to  have  lived 
for  many  years  as  hermits  near  a  small 
town  now  called  San  Cataldo.* 

St.  Cuthbert,  the  celebrated  bishop  of 
Lindisfiii-ne,  who  died  in  the  year  687, 
was,  according  to  many  distinguished 
authorities,  an  Irishman,  but  it  is  at 
least  certain  tjiat  he  was  educated  by 
Irishmen.f  St.  Maccuthenus,  who  died 
about  this  time  (a.  d.  698),  composed  a 
hymn  in  praise  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
St.  Sedulius,  the  younger,  assisted  at  a 
council  held  in  Rome,  in  the  year  721, 


life  quoted  by  Colgan  from  Capgrave.  Professor  Eugene 
Curry,  in  a  note  addressed  to  the  author,  says,  "  St.  Cuth- 
bcrt's  name  is  not  to  be  foimd  in  the  lists  of  Irish  Saints 
preserved  in  the  Books  of  Leinster,  BaUymote,  Lccan, 
M'Firbis,  or  the  Calendar  of  the  Four  Masters ;  but  it 
does  appear  in  Tvhat  is  called  the  Martyrology  of  Tam- 
lacht,  copied  by  Father  Michael  O'Cleary.  In  this  he  is 
set  down,  at  March  20th,  as  Cubrichta  Saxonis,  of  Inis 
Menoc ;  and  in  the  Festology  of  Aengus  Cde  De,  Inia 
Menoc,  or  rather  Inis  Medcoit,  is  explained  as  an  island 
on  the  north  coast  of  Little  Britain  (rectfe  Great  Britain), 
in  which  St.  Aedan  lived." 


98 


ST.  VIRGILIUS. 


during  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  II., 
and  was  sent  on  an  ecclesiastical  mission 
from  Kome  into  Sj:)ain,  being  previously 
consecrated  bishop  of  Oreto  in  that 
countr}'.  On  his  arrival  in  Spain,  in  or- 
der to  show  his  claim  to  the  regard 
and  attention  of  the  people,  he  wrote  a 
book  to  prove  that,  being  of  Irish  birth, 
he  was  consequently  of  Spanish  descent, 
thus  satisfactorily  showing  how  fixed 
the  traditions  of  the  Milesian  colony 
were  at  that  early  age  on  the  minds  of 
Irishmen.*  It  is  generally  admitted 
that  there  were  two  Irish  saints  of  this 
name;  the  elder  Sedulius,  called  the 
Venerable,  who  flourished  in  the  fifth 
century,  and  is  celebrated  for  his  sacred 
poetry,  still  used  in  the  church  oflices ; 
and  the  younger  Sedulius,  just  men- 
tioned, who  \\i'rote  commentaries  on 
some  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 

Few  of  these  ancient  Irish  mission- 
aries have  excited  more  interest  than 
St.  Virgilius,  who  is  called  "Ferghil  the 
Geometer,"  in  the  Irish  annals,  and  Soli- 
vagus,  or,  the  "  solitary  wanderer,"  by 
Latin  writers.  He  startled  Europe  by 
his  scientific  opinions  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, teaching  that  the  earth  was  a 
sphere,  and  consequently  that  there 
were  antijjodes ;  but  it  is  utterly  false 
that,  as  some  say,  he  was  persecuted  by 
the  Church  for  this  opinion.  This  re- 
markable Irishman  set  out  from  his  own 
country,  where  he  had  been  abbot  of 
Aghaboe,  in  Ossory ;  and  on  his  arrival 
in  France  he  was  graciously  received 

•  Harris's  Ware's  Irish  Writers,  p.  47 


by  Pepin,  then  mayor  of  the  palace,  and 
afterwards  king  of  France.  Our  saint 
next  travelled  into  Bavaria,  about  the 
year  745,  and  while  on  the  mission  at 
Saltzbui'g,  a  theological  question  arose 
between  him  and  St.  Boniface,  a  bishop 
whose  jurisdiction  extended  to  that 
place.  The  latter  required  that  bap- 
tism, which  had  been  administered  in 
an  ungrammatical  form  of  words,  should 
be  repeated,  and  St.  Virgilius  held  the 
contrary  opinion,  which  is  the  correct 
one.  The  question  was  referred  to  Pope 
Zachary,  who  decided  with  St.  Virgilius. 
But  soon  after  a  complaint  was  for- 
warded to  the  Sovereicrn  Pontiff  as-ainst 
the  distinguished  Irishman,  accusing 
him  of  teaching  that  there  was  another 
world  under  this  one,  inhabited  by  men 
who  were  not  of  the  race  of  Adam,  and 
who  consequently  were  not  redeemed 
by  Christ.  That  St.  Virgilius  gave  a 
satisfactory  explanation  in  answer  to 
the  charge  is  obvious,  as  in  756  he  was 
appointed  bishop  of  Saltzburg  by  Pope 
Stephen  II.  and  King  Pepin,  a  sufficient 
proof  that  his  character  was  not  stained 
by  any  blemish  in  the  eyes  of  these  high 
authorities.  This  Irish  saint  died  at 
Saltzburg  in  the  year  785,  after  a  visi- 
tation of  his  vast  diocese,  which  included 
Carinthia.  He  obtained  his  philosophi- 
cal knowledge  in  the  schools  of  his  na- 
tive land,  as  did  also  St.  Dicuil,  another 
Irishman,  who  about  the  close  of  the 
eighth  century  wrote  a  treatise,  "De 
mensui-a  orbis  terrse,"  describing  the 
then  known  world,  upon  the  authority 
of  the  earlier  geographers  and  of  the 


ST.  FRroOLIN".— SCHOOLS  OF  CHAllLEMAGNE. 


99 


commissioners  appointed  by  the  em- 
peror Tlieodosius  to  measui-e  the  prov- 
inces of  the  Roman  empire.* 

Even  then  Ireland  was  famed  in  for- 
eign countries  for  its  sweet  and  ex- 
pressive  music ;  and  we  find  that  saints 
Foilan  and  Ultan,  the  brothers  of  St. 
Fursey,  were  invited  along  with  other 
Irishmen,  by  St.  Gertrude,  daughter 
of  Pepin  and  abbess  of  Nivelle,  in 
Brabant,  to  instruct  her  community 
in  sacred  psalmody.  These  holy  men 
erected  a  monastery  at  Fosse,  near  Ni- 
velle,  and  the  religious  houses  at  both 
places  wei*e  considered  to  be  Irish.  St. 
Ultan  also  became  the  first  superior  of 
the  monastery  of  St.  Quiutin,  near  Pe- 
ronne,  and  lived  until  about  the  year 
6T6. 

St.  Fridolin,  "  the  Traveller,"  the  son 
of  an  Irish  king,  founded  monasteries 
in  various  parts  of  France,  in  Helvetia, 
and  on  the  Rhine.  He  flourished  about 
the  close  of  the  seventh  and  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eighth  century,  and 
his  memory  has  been  preserved  with  ven- 
eration in  many  parts  of  the  continent. 
A  little  later  flourished  Albuiu,  called 
also  by  the  Saxon  name  of  Wittan,  or 
"White,  who  preached  the  Gospel  in 
Thuringia,  or  Upper  Saxony,  and  was 
appointed  by  the  pope  bishop  of  Bura- 
burgh,  near  Fritzlar,  in  the  year  741. 

About  a  year  after  Charlemagne  had 
become  sole  monarch,  of  France — that 
is,  A.  D.   772 — two   remarkable   Ii-ish- 

*  Tliis  ancient  geograpliical  treatise  ivas  published, 
■with,  a  critical  dissertation  and  copious  notes,  by  M.  Le- 
tronne,  in  Paris,  A.  D.  1814. 


men  made  their  appearance  in  his  terri- 
tories. Their  names  were  Clemens  and 
Albiuus ;  and  the  method  which  they 
adopted  to  attract  attention  is  related 
as  a  curious  sample  of  the  manners  of 
the  times.  Observing  that  commerce 
of  one  kind  or  other  occupied  the  peo- 
ple, they  went  about  announcing  that 
they  had  wisdom  to  sell,  and  thus  col- 
lected crowds  to  hear  their  instructions. 
Their  fame  soon  reached  the  ears  of  the 
great  monarch,  who  was  just  then  intent 
on  the  intellectual  improvement  of  his 
people.  He  sent  for  them ;  entertained 
them  for  some  time  in  his  palace,  and 
then  placed  them  over  two  public 
schools  which  he  founded,  commit- 
ting that  of  Paris  to  Clemens,  and  one 
founded  at  Pavia,  in  Italy,  to  his  com- 
panion, Albinus.  The  names  of  these 
two  eminent  Irishmen  were  subse- 
quently thrown  partly  into  the  shade 
by  that  of  Alcuin,  a  Saxon,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  age  of  taking 
Roman  names,  assumed  the  name  of 
Albinus  Flaccus.  Alcuin  arrived  in 
France  several  years  after  our  country- 
men, Clemens  and  Albinus ;  he  afforded 
great  assistance  to  Charlemagne  in  his 
efforts  to  revive  learning,  accompanied 
him  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  a  school 
of  nobles  in  his  palace,  and  has  been 
rendered  famous  by  his  correspondence 
with  the  emperor  and  with  other  illus- 
trious persons  of  his  time.  Charle- 
magne, however,  patronized  all  the 
learned  foreigners  whom  he  could  at- 
tract to  his  court,  and,  while  he  lived, 
repaid   with    his    friendshij?    and   sup 


■100 


IRISH  MISSIONARIES  IN"  ICELAND. 


port  tlie  two  Irishmen  we  have  men- 
tioned.'"' 

A  few  years  after  Albinus,  Dongal, 
another  Irishman,  and  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  time,  was  aj^pointed 
professor  of  the  school  of  Pavia  by 
King  Lothaire.  He  is  celebrated,  among 
other  things,  for  an  epistle  which  he 
wrote  to  Charlemagne  on  the  two  solar 
eclipses  of  810;  for  a  valuable  gift  of 
books,  some  of  them  relating  to  secular 
literature,  which  he  made  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Bobbio;  and  for  a  work  in 
defence  of  the  use  of  sacred  imao^es  in 
churches,  against  Clodius  of  Turin.  St. 
Donatus,  an  Irishman,  who  flourished  in 
the  middle  of  the  same  (ninth)  centu- 
ry, was  made  bishop  of  Fiesole,  in  Ita- 
ly, and  his  disciple,  Andrew,  who  had 
accompanied  him  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome,  was  deacon  of  the  same  church.f 

Turning,  finally,  towards  the  north, 
we  find  that  Irish  monks  were  not  only 
the  first  Christians,  but  most  probable 
the  first  inhabitants,  of  the  inhospita- 
ble region  of  Iceland,  which  they  called 
Thule,   or  Tyle.     Dicuil,  who,  as  we 

*  Tlie  Monk  of  St.  Gall,  wlio  wrote  tlie  life  ot  Charle- 
magne in  the  ninth  century,  and  who  is  believed  to 
have  been  the  celebrated  Notkerus  Balbulus,  makes 
particular  mention  of  Clemens  and  Albinus  as  "  Scots  of 
Ireland."  Muratori,  Annali  di  Italia,  anno  781,  refers 
to  the  learning  and  teaching  of  Albinus  in  Italy.  See 
Lanigan,  Ware,  &c.  Guizot  omits  aU  mention  of  them 
in  his  History  of  Civilization  ;  he  and  some  other  modern 
writers,  who  have  only  glanced  at  the  subject,  having 
confined  their  attention  to  Alcuin  and  his  disciples. 

f  To  Donatus,  the  holy  bishop  of  Fiesolo,  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  graceful  tribute  to  Ireland  contained  in 
the  well-kno^vn  lines : — 

Finibus  occiduis  describitur  optima  tellus, 
Nomine  et  antiquis  Scotia  scripta  libris. 
Insula  dives  opum,  gemmarum,  vestis,  et  auri : 


have  seen,  flourished  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighth  and  beginning  of  the 
ninth  century,  states  that  thirty  years 
before  he  wrote  his  geographical  work, 
he  had  got  an  account  of  Thule  from 
some  ecclesiastics  who  had  been  so- 
journing there ;  and  when,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  ninth  century,  the  pagan 
Norwegians  planted  a  colony  in  Ice 
land,  the  Irish  monks,  who  fled  on 
their  arrival,  left  behind  them  sundry 
memorials  of  their  religion,  such  as 
Irish  books,  small  bells,  and  pastoral 
stafi^s. 

The  above  circumstance  is  related  hj 
various  Icelandic  writers,  who  add  that 
these  Irish  monks  were  called  papas 
by  the  Norwegian  settlers.  Wheu  the 
first  effort  was  made  to  introduce 
Christian  it  j^  among  the  pagan  colonists, 
two  Irishmen,  who  are  called  Ernulph 
and  Buo  by  their  Icelandic  biographer, 
Arngrim  Jonas,  were  the  missionaries; 
and  another  old  Icelandic  writer,  Ara 
Multiscius,  mentions  an  Irishman  named 
John,  in  his  enumeration  of  early  Ice- 
landic bishops.  J 

Commoda  corporibus  acre,  sole,  solo. 
Melle  Suit  pulchris,  et  lacteis  Scotia  campis, 
Vestibus,  atque  aimis,  frugibus,  arte,  viris. 
*  »  «  *  « 

In  qua  Scotorum  gentes  habitare  merentur, 
Inclyta  gens  hominum,  mi  lite,  pace,  fide. 
I  Some  account  of  Ernulph  and  Buo  is  given  in  Col- 
gan's  AA :  SS.  Hib.,  Feb.  3  and  5.  Ara  Multiscius 
{Schedas  de Islandia,  cap.  2) relates  how,  in  the  first  years 
of  Harold  Harfagre,  who  became  king  of  Norway  A.  D. 
885,  Ingulph,  the  first  Norwegian,  fled  into  Iceland,  and 
was  soon  followed  by  so  many  of  his  countrymen  that 
it  was  feared  Norway  would  be  left  desert,  and  he  says : — 
"  At  that  time  Iceland  was  covered  with  woods,  and  there 
were  then  in  it  Christian  men  whom  the  Norwegians  call 
papas  ;  and  these,  being  unwilling  to  remain  with  hea- 


JOHANNES  SCOTUS  ERIGENA. 


101 


In  the  preceding  account  of  the  Irish 
saints  and  scholars  of  those  early  ages, 
we  have  omitted  the  name  of  one  most 
remarkable  Irishman,  who  could  scarce- 
ly be  placed  in  the  same  category  with 
any  of  those  whom  we  have  mentioned. 
This  was  the  celebrated  John  Scotus  Eri- 
gena,  or  "the  Irishman,"  who  flourished 
in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  and 
whose  extraordinary  learning  and  ec- 
centric genius  filled  Europe  with  amaze- 
ment. John  was  not  an  ecclesiastic, 
nor  was  he  a  sound  theologian.  He 
mingled  divinity  with  Platonic  philoso- 
phj'-,  and  fell  into  the  wildest  errors 
about  the  nature  and  attributes  of  the 
Deity,  grace  and  predestination,  the 
future  state  of  reward  and  punishment, 

thens,  went  away  fortliwith,  leaving  behind  them  Iiish 
books,  and  small  beUs,  and  (pastoral)  staffs ;  whence  it 
was  easy  to  perceive  that  they  were  of  the  Iiish  na- 
tion." This  is  told  in  somewhat  similar  terms  in  the 
Landnamaboc,  quoted  by  Johnston,  Antiq.  Cdto-Scand., 
p.  14. 

*  Of  this  singular  man  Tennemann  says : — "  John 
Scotus,  an  Irishman,  belonged  to  a  much  higher  order 
(than  Alcuin) ;  a  man  of  great  learning,  and  of  a  philo- 
sophical and  original  mind ;  whose  means  of  attaining 


and  other  subjects ;  and  some  of  his 
books  were  condemned  by  the  Church. 
He  resided  chiefly  in  Paris,  where  he 
taught  philosophy,  and  was  on  terms  of 
friendship  Avith  the  emperor  Charles 
the  Bald,  at  whose  desire  he  translated 
the  supposed  works  of  Diouysius  the 
Ai'eopagite  from  Greek  into  Latin.  He 
was  the  first  who  combined  scholastic 
and  mystic  theology ;  and  notwithstand- 
ing his  pantheistic  and  other  errors,  he 
is  said  to  have  led  an  exemplary  life. 
He  died  in  France  some  short  time  be- 
fore the  year  8Y5 ;  and  no  other  school- 
man of  his  age  attracted  so  much  notice, 
or  was  the  object  of  such  diversity  of 
opinions,  both  during  his  life  and  in 
after  ages.* 


to  such  superiority  we  are  ignorant  of.  His  acquaint- 
ance with  Latin  and  Greek,  to  which  some  assert  he 
added  the  Arabic  ;  his  love  for  the  phUosophy  of  Aristo- 
tle and  Plato ;  his  translation,  exceedingly  esteemed 
throughout  the  West,  of  Dionysius  the  Areopagite ; 
his  liberal  and  enlightened  (heretical)  views  respecting 
predestination  and  the  Eucharist;  all  these  entitle 
him  to  be  considered  a  phenomenon  for  the  times  in 
which  he  lived." — Hist,  of  PMlosophy,  p.  315  (Bohn  8 
edition). 


102 


CIIRISTIAN.  ANTIQIHTIES  OF  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Christian  Antiquities  of  Ireland. — Testimonies  on  tlie  subject  of  Ireland's  Pre-eminence  for  Sanctity  and  Learning. 
— The  Culdees. — Hereditary  Transmission  of  Church  Offices. — Lay  Bishops  and  Abbots. — Comhorbaa  and 
Herenachs. — Termon  Lands. — Characteristics  of  the  Primitive  Church  in  Ireland. — Inference  therefrom. — 
Peculiarities  in  Discipline. — Materials  used  in  building  Churches. — Damliags  and  Duireachs. — Cyclopean 
Masonry. — The  Round  Towers. — Saints'  Beds,  Holy  Wells,  and  Penitential  Stations. 


A  T  the  risk  of  trenching  on  the  clu- 
-^-^  ties  of  the  ecclesiastical  historian, 
the  preceding  chapter  has  been  extend- 
ed beyond  its  due  proportion;  yet 
the  object  in  view — ^namely,  that  of 
exhibiting  the  aspect  of  Christian  Ire- 
land, as  it  was  presented  to  Europe  in 
the  centuries  j^recediug  the  Danish  in- 
vasion— has  been  but  imperfectly  ac- 
complished. Our  list  of  the  illustrious 
Irishmen  who  .spread  the  fame  of  their 
country  for  learning  and  holiness  into 
foreign  lands,  is  far  from  being  com- 
plete, and  the  subject  is  on  the  whole 
little  more  than  glanced  at.  But  even 
this  slight  sketch  will  show  that  there 
is  sufficient  ground  for  what  has  been 
so  often  said  about  the  eminent  posi- 
tion which  Ireland  once  held  in  rela- 
tion to  the  other  countries  of  Christen- 
dom. That  pre-eminence  is  no  idle 
dream — no  creation  of  the  national  im- 
agination. It  is  as  much  a  reality  as 
any  other  fact  in  the  range  of  history, 

*  Marianus  Scotus  ;  Chronicon.  ad  an.  G74.  Ussher 
remarks  that  the  saints  of  this  period  might  be  grouped 
into  a  fourth  order  of  the  Irish  saints. 


and  may  be,  assuredly,  a  legitimate 
source  of  national  pride.  During  the 
period  which  extended  from  the  in- 
roads of  the  barbarians  in  Europe  in 
the  sixth  century,  to  the  partial  revival 
of  education  and  mental  energy  under 
Charlemagne,  in  the  ninth,  this  island 
was  unquestionably  the  retreat  and  nur- 
sery of  learning  and  piety,  and  the  centre 
of  intellectual  activity.  An  old  writei 
speaks  of  Ireland  having  been  at  this 
time  reputed  to  be  full  of  saints.* 
Venerable  Bede  informs  us  that  num- 
bers were  daily  coming  into  Britain 
from  the  country  of  the  Scots  (Ire- 
land), preaching  the  Word  of  God 
with  great  devotion.f  "What  shall  I 
say  of  Ireland,"  says  Eric  of  Auxerre, 
a  French  writer  of  the  ninth  century, 
"  which,  despising  the  dangers  of  the 
deep,  is  migrating,  with  almost  her 
whole  train  of  philosophers,  to  our 
coasts  V  %  Thierry,  after  describing 
the   poetry   and  literature   of  ancient 

f  Eccl.  Hist.,  Lib.  iii.,  chap.  3. 
i  Letter  to  Charles  the  Bald. 

10 


IRISH  MISSIONS  AND  SCHOOLS. 


103 


Ireland  as  perhaps  tlie  most  cultivated 
of  all  Western  Europe,  adds  that  Ire- 
land "counted  a  host  of  saints  and 
learned  men,  venerated  in  England 
and  Gaul,  for  no  country  had  furnished 
more  Christian  missionaries,  uninflu- 
enced by  other  motives  than  pure  zeal 
to  communicate  to  foreign  nations  the 
opinions  and  faith  of  their  own  land."* 
Testimonies  of  ancient  and  modern  wri- 
ters to  the  same  effect  might  be  multi- 
plied indefinitely,  all  representing  (in 
the  words  of  Dr.  Lanigan)  the  migra- 
tion which  took  place  at  that  period 
from  Ireland,  as  a  swarm  of  holy  and 
learned  men,  by  whom  foreign  nations 
were  instructed  and  edified,  f 

Then,  as  to  the  resort  of  foreigners  to 
Ireland  for  the  purposes  of  education, 
and  of  leading  a  life  of  greater  perfec- 
tion, Ave  have  also  copious  and  conclu- 
sive evidence.  St.  Aengus  the  Culdee, 
in  his  litany  written  at  the  end  of  the 
eighth  century,  invokes  the  intercession 
of  many  hundreds  of  saints,  Romans, 
Italians,  Egyptians,  Gauls,  Germans, 
Britons,  Picts,  Saxons,  and  natives  of 
other  countiies,  who  were  buried  and 


*  Hist,  de  la  Conquete  de  I'Angleterre,  Liv.  x. 

f  Stephen  'SVTiite  (Apologia,  p.  34)  thus  sums  up  the 
labors  of  the  Irish  saints  on  the  continent : — "  Among 
the  names  of  saints  -whom  Ireland  formerly  sent  forth, 
there  were,  as  I  have  learned  from  the  trustworthy 
writings  of  the  ancients,  150  now  honored  as  patrons  of 
places  in  Germany,  of  whom  36  were  martyrs ;  45  Irish 
patrons  in  the  Gauls,  of  whom  6  were  martyrs ;  at  least 
30  m  Belgium ;  44  in  England ;  13  in  Italy ;  and  in 
Iceland  and  Norway  8  martyrs;  besides  many  others." 
"  One  singular  and  extraordinary  fact  may  be  noted 
here,"  observes  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Kelly  (Camb.  Ever., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  653),  "  namely,  that  to  foreign  sources  almost 
exclusively  are  we  indebted  for  a  knowledge  of  those 


venerated  in  Ireland,  and  whom  he 
divided  into  groups,  chiefly  according 
to  the  localities  of  Ireland  in  which  they 
had  sojourned  and  died.  The  lives  of 
St.  Patrick,  St.  Kieran,  St.  Declan,  St. 
Albeus,  St.  Enda,  St.  Maidoc,  St.  Senan, 
St.  Brendan,  and  other  Irish  saints,  fur- 
nish testimonies  to  the  same  effect.  J 

Camden,  in  his  descrijitiou  of  Ireland, 
says : — "  At  that  age  our  Anglo-Saxons 
repaired  on  all  sides  to  Ireland  as  to  a 
general  mart  of  learning.  Whence  we 
read,  in  our  writers,  of  holy  men,  that 
'they  went  to  study  in  Ireland  ;'  Anian- 
datu-s  est  ad  discijdinain  in  HiherniamP 
We  are  told  that  three  thousand  stu- 
dents at  a  time  attended  the  great 
schools  of  Armagh  alone,  and  that  many 
of  these  had  come  from  other  countries ; 
but  after  makino:  due  allowance  for  ex- 
aggeration  in  such  statements  as  this, 
we  have  still  an  overwhelmino:  mass  of 
evidence  to  show  that  Ireland  was,  in 
those  remote  ages,  a  nursery  of  saints 
and  scholars;  and  such  being  her  ac- 
knowledged character  so  soon  after  re- 
ceiving Christianity,  it  would  be,  to  say 
the  least,  rash  to  deny  that  she  had 


Irish  saints.  From  our  native  annals  we  could  not  know 
even  their  names,  with  very  few  exceptions,  such  as  St. 
Virgilius,  &c.,  &c." 

It  has  been  calculated  that  the  ancient  Irish  monks 
had  13  monastic  foundations  in  Scotland,  12  in  England, 
7  in  France,  13  in  Armoric  Gaul,  7  in  Lotharingia,  11  in 
Burgundy,  9  in  Belgium,  10  in  Alsatia,  16  in  Bavaria., 
6  in  Italy,  and  15  in  Rhetia,  Helvetia,  and  Suevia,  be- 
sides many  in  Thuringia,  and  on  the  left  margin  of  the 
Rhine,  between  Gueldres  and  Alsatia. 

%  Dr.  Petrie  {Ecclesiaatical  Architecture  of  Ireland,  p. 
139)  gives  an  engraving  of  the  stone  which  marks  the 
grave  of  the  "  Seven  Romans,"  near  the  church  of  St. 
Brecan,  in  the  great  island  of  Aran. 


104 


THE  CULDEES. 


made  any  progress  previously  iu  the 
marcli  of  civilization.''"' 

We  have  now  a  few  words  of  esj^lan- 
atiou  to  ofter  on  some  j^oints  of  interest 
relating  to  our  ecclesiastical  antiquities, 
before  we  resume  our  civil  history. 

The  question,  Who  were  the  Culdees  ? 
is  one  that  has  been  often  asked,  and 
upon  which  many  serious  errors  have 
been  current.  These  errors  seem  to 
have  originated  in  Scotland,  the  ancient 
history  of  which  country  is  a  tissue  of 
anachronisms  and  fabrications.  It  has 
been  asserted  that  the  Culdees  were  an 
order  of  priests  or  monks  who  taught 
Christianity  and  ruled  the  Church  with- 
out bishops,  in  North  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, before  the  time  of  St.  Palladius 
and  St.  Patrick, — a  fallacy  which  Avas 
embraced  with  avidity  by  the  Scottish 
Presbyterians.  But  this  notion  was  sub- 
sequently modified,  esj)ecially  after  Dr. 
Ledwich  had  promulgated  his  false  and 
silly  statements  on  the  subject;  audit 
was  then  pretended  that  Culdees  was 
only  another  name  for  the  order  of 
monks  founded  by  St.  Columbkille ; 
that  they  were  married  men ;  that  their 
religion  was  pure,  compared  with  that 
of  Kome  ;  that  they  rejected  the  author- 
ity of  the  Pope,  together  with  much 
more  to  the  same  eftect.f  This  is  sim- 
ply a  mass  of  groundless  and  shameful 
falsehood,  without  one  word  of  truth, 


*  Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Charles 
O'Conor,  of  Belanagar,  dated  1777,  alluding  to  the 
period  of  Irish  history  which  he  wished  to  see  devel- 
oped, writes : — "  Dr.  Leland  begins  his  history  too  late  ; 
the  ages  which  deserve  an  exact  iuquiry  are  those  times, 


or  the  slightest  authority  of  antiquity  to 
support  it.  As  to  the  fanciful  theory  of 
the  Culdees  having  been  founded  by 
St.  Columbkille,  Dr.  Lauigau  J  correctly 
observes  that  "  in  none  of  the  lives  of 
that  saint,  nor  in  Bede,  who  very  often 
treats  of  the  Columbian  order  and 
monks,  nor  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
monastery  of  Hy  (lona)  and  its  depend- 
encies, does  the  name  of  Culdees  or 
any  name  tautamount  to  it  ever  once 
occur,"  a  circumstance  which,  as  he 
justly  concludes,  "would  have  been  im- 
possible, had  the  Culdees  been  Colum- 
bians or  members  of  the  order  or  con- 
gregation of  Hy." 

The  true  character  of  the  Culdees 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
note  upon  them,  with  which  the  author 
has  been  favored  by  that  profound 
Irish  scholar.  Professor  Eugene  Curry, 
of  the  Catholic  University.  "  The  Cul- 
dees," says  Mr.  Curry,  "  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  trace  them,  were  to  be 
found  in  Ireland  since  St.  Patrick's  time, 
as  the  Tripartite  Life  of  the  apostle 
mentions  that  one  of  them  attended  him 
in  his  visit  to  Munster ;  that  his  name 
was  Malach  Brit,  and  that  his  church 
was  subsequently  built  in  the  north- 
eastern ano-le  of  the  southern  Decies — 
nameljr,  Cill  Malach.  They  a2:)pear  to 
have  been  originally  mendicant  monks, 
but  had  no  communities  until  the  mid- 


for  such  there  were,  when  Ireland  was  the  school  of  the 
West,  the  quiet  habitation  of  sanctity  and  learning." — 
Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson. 

f  Ledwich's  Antiquities,  p.  113,  &c.,  second  edition. 

X  Ilist.  Eccl.,  chap,  sxxi.,  sec.  1 


CHURCH   OFFICES  HEREDITARY. 


105 


die  of  the  eiglitli  centuiy,  wheu  St. 
"  ]\Iae]ruan,  of  Tamlaclit  (Tallaglit,  near 
Dublin),  dre-w  up  a  rule  for  tliem  in 
Irish.  Of  this  rule  I  have  an  ancient 
copy,  which  I  am  now  preparing  for 
publication.  Aengus  Cele  De  was  for 
some  time  in  Maelruan's  establishment, 
and  was  a  priest,  but  he  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  before  that  belonged  to 
any  community  of  Culdees.  They  had 
a  separate  house  at  Clonmacnoise,  a.  d. 
1031,  of  which  Conn-na-mbocht  (Con- 
of-the-poor)  v^^as  head ;  but  these  were 
lay  monks  of  the  order,  as  was  their 
prior  or  economist,  Conn,  who,  it  ap- 
j[x;ars,  was  the  first  that  collected  a  herd 
of  cows  for  them  there.  Iseal  Ciarain 
(theii-  house  at  Clonmacnoise)  was  not 
founded  at  this  time,  but  very  long 
before,  and  the  Cele  De  were  attached 
to  the  church  as  lay  monks.  They  are 
often  mentioned  in  the  Brehon  laws  as 
the  recipients  of  certain  unappropriated 
church  dues  or  income ;  and  they  were 
at  Armagh  down  to  the  year  1600,  but 
appear  to  have  been  masons,  carpenters, 
and  men  of  other  trades ;  all  laymen,  but 
unmarried." 

From  these  facts  it  is  clear  that  the 
Cele  De  (servants  of  God),  called  in 


♦  Dr.  Lanigan  has  collected  a  great  deal  of  matter 
about  tlie  Culdees  in  the  first  six  sections  of  chap.  xssi. 
of  his  Ecclesiastical  History ;  but  he  was  wrong  in  sup- 
posing them  to  be  secular  clergy  or  canons.  Dr.  Reeves, 
a  Protestant  clergj-man,  in  his  copious  and  learned  anno- 
tations to  Adamnan's  Life  of  St.  Columba  (p.  368),  says, 
the  Celedei  "  had  no  particular  connection  with  this  (the 
Columbian)  order,  any  more  than  had  the  Deoradhs,  or 
the  other  developments  of  conventual  observance  ;  and 
in  a  foot-note  he  adds,  that  "  Culdee  is  the  most  abused 
term  in  Scottic  Church  history."    Dr.  O'Donovan  {Four 


Latin  Keledei,  and  afterwards  corruptly 
Colidei,  were  religious  persons  resem- 
bling very  much  members  of  the  ter- 
tiary orders  of  St.  Dominic  and  St. 
Francis,  in  the  Catholic  Church  at  the 
present  day,  or  one  of  the  great  relig- 
ious confraternities  of  modern  times. 
Their  society  was  widely  sj^read  in 
Scotland,  and  was  known  in  Wales  about 
the  same  time ;  and  it  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  add  that  their  religious  princi- 
ples were  identical  with  those  of  the 
Universal  Church  at  that  period.* 

The  hereditary,  or  clannish  principle, 
prevailed  from  a  very  early  age  in  the 
transmission  of  ecclesiastical  offices  and 
property  in  Ireland,  and  became  in 
course  of  time  a  fruitful  source  of 
abuses.  Bishoprics,  abbacies,  and  other 
benefices  were  thus,  as  it  were,  entailed 
on  particular  families,  whether  those  of 
the  founders  or  of  local  chiefs,  so  that 
on  the  failure  of  clergymen  in  these 
families  or  clans,  laymen  of  the  same 
families  were  invested  with  the  titles 
and  emoluments  of  the  offices,  while  ec- 
clesiastics of  the  proper  order  were 
delegated  to  perform  the  clerical  func- 
tions belonging  to  them.  Hence,  we 
hear  of  laymen  as  nominally  archbish- 


Masters,  an.  1479,  note  I)  says, "  Cele  De  is  often  used  as 
if  it  were  a  generic  term  applied  to  Ccclibites,  or  religious 
persona  in  general,  and  this  is  the  sense  in  which  Qiral- 
dus  Cambrensis  used  Colidei.  From  all  that  he  saj's 
about  them  no  one  could  infer  that  they  were  any  thing 
but  CalMtesox  lay-monks.  The  term  was,  however,  used 
in  a  restricted  sense  in  Archbishop  Ussher's  memory, 
and  applied  to  the  priests, '  qui  choro  inservientes  divina 
celebrabant  officia.'  The  Scotch  historians  have  written  a 
vast  deal  of  intolerable  nonsense  about  the  Culdees  of  tho 
Colnmbian  order,  but  they  are  entirely  beneath  critjeism." 


106 


COMHORBAS  AND  HERENACHS. 


ops  and  bisliops,  aud  also  as  abbots 
and  priors  of  monasteries ;  that  is,  wlio 
enjoj'-ed  the  emoluments,  temporalities, 
and  privileges  of  these  offices,  and  who, 
not  being  in  holy  orders,  may  have  been 
married  men.  This  custom  often  led  to 
intolerable  confusion;  aud  it  has  been 
seized  by  some  modern  writers,  either 
ignorant  of  its  nature,  or  too  anxious  to 
make  it  answer  their  own  prejudices,  for 
the  jiurpose  of  showing  that  the  clergy 
were  not  bound  to  celibacy  in  the  Irish 
Church.  A  more  intimate  knowledge 
of  Irish  authorities  has,  however,  shown 
these  writers  that  this  was  a  grievous 
mistake,  as  every  one  who  had  studied 
the  history  of  the  Irish  Church  with  a 
judgment  unwarped  by  sectarian  bias 
must  have  known.  In  no  single  in- 
stance does  it  appear  that  the  marriage 
of  any  one  in  priest's  orders  was  ever 
tolerated  in  the  Church  of  Ireland. 

The  holders  of  the  higher  ecclesias- 
tical offices,  whether  clerics  or  laymen, 
were,  in  the  original  foundations,  called 
comhorbas,  or  successors.  Thus,  the 
archbishop  of  Armagh  was  comhorba 
of  Patrick ;  the  archbishop  of  Tuam,  or 


*  Dr.  Reeves,  in  a  note  on  "  Hereditary  Abbacies" 
(Vita  S.  Colomb.,  p.  335),  says :  "  The  Booli  of  Armagh 
gives  us  a  most  valuable  insight  into  the  ancient  econo- 
my of  the  Irish  monasteries,  in  its  account  of  the  en- 
dowment of  Trim.  In  that  church  there  was  an  eccle- 
giastica  progenies,  and  a  xiUhiUs  progenies,  a  religious 
and  secular  succession ;  the  former  of  office  in  spirituals, 
the  latter  of  blood  in  temporals,  and  both  descended  from 

the  original  grantor The  lineal  transmission  of 

the  abbatical  office,  which,  appears  in  the  Irish  annals, 
towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  probably  had  its 
origin  in  the  usurpation  of  the  plcbilis  inogcnies  connect- 
ed with  the  various  monasteries  of  the  functions  of  the 
ecclcsiastica  progenies,  which  would  be  the  necessary  ro- 


of Connaught,  as  he  was  often  called, 
was  comhorba  of  Jarlath ;  the  abbot 
of  Hy  was  comhorba  of  Columbkille ; 
the  abbot  of  Aran  was  comhorba  of 
Enda,  &c.  The  lands  belonging  to  a 
church  or  monastery  were  rented  or 
administered  by  an  official,  called  a 
herenach,  or  airchinneach ;  that  is,  a 
warden  who  originally  dispensed  the 
profits  of  the  lands  for  the  support  of 
the  church  and  the  I'elief  of  the  poor. 
After  a  time  the  herenachs  were  all  lay- 
men. The  office  was  generally  heredi- 
tary in  the  family  or  sept  of  the  founder: 
but  if  the  sept  could  not  agree  in  the 
election  of  a  herenach,  or  if  the  sept  oi 
family  became  extinct,  then  the  bishoj 
and  clergy  elected  one  under  certain 
conditions,  the  herenach  being  in  such 
a  case  the  tenant  of  the  church  lands 
for  a  stipulated  rent  or  contribution. 
Herenachs  were  numerous,  and  were  to 
be  found  in  every  jDart  of  Ireland.* 

The  office  of  comhorba  (or,  as  the 
name  is  often  corruptly  written,  corba, 
corbes,  or  corbanus)  was  essentially 
diffijrent  from  that  of  herenach,  and 
was  originally  one  of  dignity  and  j  uris- 


sult  of  the  former  omitting  to  keep  up  tlie  succession  of 
the  latter.  In  each  case  the  tenant  in  possession  might 
maintain  a  semblance  of  the  clerical  character  by  taking 
tonsure  and  a  low  degree  of  orders.  This  is  very  much 
what  Qiraldus  Cambrensis  states  concerning  the  AVba- 
teslaici  of  Ireland  and  Wales  (Itinerar.  ii.,  4.)"  Dr. 
Reeves  proceeds  to  explain  on  this  ground  the  rec- 
ognition, in  the  Canons  of  St.  Patrick,  of  the  relation 
of  the  "Clericus  et  uxor  ejus"  (Canon  C);  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  after  this  candid  expression  by  so  emi- 
nent a  Protestant  di\-ine  of  the  result  of  his  researched 
on  this  subject,  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  the  mon- 
strous falseliood  about  married  abbots,  &c.,  in  the  Irish 
Church. 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  EARLY  IRISH  CHRISTIANS. 


107 


diction  ;  and,  althougli  Co]gan  says  tliat 
in  his  time  (the  iTth  century)  very  few 
of  the  comhorbas  were  in  holy  orders, 
the  contrary  was  certainly  the  case  in 
the  middle  ages.  When  ecclesiastical 
dignities  and  benefices  were  held  by 
men  not  in  the  proj^er  orders,  the  ton- 
sure or  one  of  the  minor  orders  was 
usually  conferred,  so  that  the  holders 
were  entitled  to  be  called  clerics. 

The  lands  belono-iuof  to  churches  or 
monasteries  were  called  Tarmon,  or  Ter- 
mon  lands,  that  is,  lands  of  sanctuary 
or  refuge ;  and  their  termini,  or  bounds, 
were  defined  by  terminal  crosses  or 
other  distinguishing  objects.  Hence, 
such  names  as  Termonfechan,  Termon- 
finean,  Termouderry,  &c.,  to  be  met 
with  in  some  parts  of  Ireland.* 

In  such  literary  monuments  as  re- 
main to  us  of  the  primitive  Irish  Church 
formal  expositions  of  doctrine  are  not  to 
be  expected.  Where  no  diversity  of 
creed  was  thought  of,  such  expositions 
were  not  required:  formularies  of  be- 
lief having  been  generally  drawn  up 
by  the  Church  to  oppose  the  erroneous 
teachmg  of  sectaries.  Of  the  religion 
of  the  early  Irish  Christians,  however, 
we  have  written,  as  well  as  other  mon- 
uments in  abundance,  which  show  that 
it  was  strongly  marked  by  all  the  most 


*  For  explanations  of  tlie  offices  and  terms  mentioned 
above,  see  Colgan's  Tnas  TJiaum.,  pp.  8,  293,  G30; 
Harris's  Ware,  vol.  ii.,  p.  234 ;  Lanigau,  vol.  iv.,  p.  80. 
Tkronghout  the  Four  Masters  the  term  comliorba  is 
rendered  "  successor."  It  is  derived  from  the  words 
comh  and  forba,  signifying  the  possessor  of  the  same  land 
or  patrimony.  Dr.  O'Donavan  explains  the  term  Airch- 
inneaeh  (Erenach)  as  signifying  the  hereditary  Warden 


characteristic  features  of  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity. From  the  conversion  of  the 
country  by  St.  Patrick,  the  Irish  Chris- 
tians were  devoted  to  monastic  disci- 
pline. They  practised  celibacy,  made 
long  fasts,  rose  at  night  for  prayer,  lay 
on  penitential  beds  of  stone,  and,  in 
fact,  habitually  exercised  all  those  aus- 
terities which  Catholic  ascetic  writers 
have  in  all  ages  commended.  They 
adored  the  Holy  Eucharist,  which  they 
called  the  Body  of  Christ ;  they  believ- 
ed in  the  gift  of  miracles  remaining  in 
the  Church,  and,  indeed,  in  the  very  fre- 
quent recurrence  of  miraculous  inter- 
vention ;  they  invoked  the  intercession 
of  the  saints,  and  venerated  their  relics ; 
they  prayed  for  the  dead ;  instituted 
festivals  in  honor  of  the  saints,  and  of- 
fered up  the  Mass  on  those  festivals; 
they  made  very  frequent  use  of  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  and  erected  numerous  pub- 
lic crosses ;  finally,  they  acknowledged 
Rome,  as  St.  Columbanus  wrote,  to  be 
"  the  head  of  all  churches ;"  and  as  St. 
Cummian  wrote,  they  looked  to  Rome 
"  as  children  to  their  mother."  In  a 
word,  they  showed  themselves  to  be 
identical  in  faith  with  all  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Western  Church,  durins: 
the  same  a2:es.* 

The  difference  about  the  computation 


of  a  chnrch  (Four  Masters,  an.  001,  ncte).    The  tenants 
of  church  lands  were  called  Termoiiers. 

f  For  evidence  on  all  these  points,  we  need  only  refer 
to  Adamnan's  Life  of  St.  Colimiba,  which  high  Protes- 
tant authority  has  pronounced  to  be  "  perhaps  the  most 
valuable  monument  of  that  institution  (the  Ii-ish  Church) 
that  has  escaped  the  ravages  of  time"  (Beeves),  and  "  the 
most  complete  piece  of  such  biography  Jiat  all  Europe 


lOS 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  ARCHITECTURE  OP  THE  IRISH. 


of  Easter,  wliicli  caused  so  mucli  con- 
troversy in  Ireland  and  Britain  for  a 
century  and  a  half,  has  been  fully  ex- 
plained in  the  preceding  chapter.  Be- 
sides this,  there  was  a  peculiarity  in  the 
form  of  the  Irish  tonsure.  Thus,  while 
the  Greek  monks  shaved  the  whole 
head,  and  the  Roman  monks  only  the 
erown,  leaving  a  circle  of  hair  all  round, 
the  Irish  monks  and  clerics  shaved  or 
clipped  the  front  part  of  the  head  from 
ear  to  ear.  One  mode  of  shavinec  the 
head  appears  quite  as  harmless  as  the 
others,  but  the  subject  was,  nevertheless, 
made  one  of  warm  debate  at  the  synod 
of  Whitbj^,  by  St.  Wilfrid,  and  other 
Saxon  converts,  who  strenuously  advo- 
cated the  Roman  custom,  and  the  Irish 
monks  ultimately  abandoned  their  own 
method.  From  such  disputes  as  these, 
and  from  any  peculiarities  of  the  Irish 
liturgy,  which  were  only  such  as  have 
been  tolerated  in  various  ancient  Cath- 
olic liturgies,  nothing  can  be  more  ab- 
surd than  to  argue  that  the  primitive 
church  of  Ireland  was  not  united  in 
faith  with  the  other  churches  in  the 
communion  of  the  see  of  Rome. 

Hewn  timber,  wattles,  and  earth  were, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  ordinary  building 
materials  used  for  the  dwellings  of  the 
ancient  Irish ;  and  we  have  the  author- 
ity of  Venerable  Bede,  and  of  some  of 


can  boast  of,  not  only  at  bo  early  a  period,  but  even 
tkrough  the  whole  middle  ages"  (Pinkerton).  Also  to 
various  other  lives  of  Irish  saints,  •which  the  learned 
Ussher  and  others  have  shown  to  belong  to  the  sixth, 
seventh,  and  eighth  centuries ;  to  the  portions  of  the 
Liber  Hymnorum  edited  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Todd ;  to  the 
Antiphonarinm  Benchorense,  a  monument  of  the  sev- 


the  oldest  lives  of  Irish  saints,  for  the 
fact  that  these  materials  were  also  em- 
ployed in  the  construction  of  their 
churches  and  oratories  in  the  seventh, 
eighth,  and  ninth  centuries.  We  are 
told  by  St.  Bernard  that  such  contin- 
ued to  be  the  case,  even  in  the  time  of 
St.  Malachy,  in  the  twelfth  century; 
but  there  is  also  evidence  enough  to 
show  that  churches  were  frequently 
built  in  Ireland  of  stone  and  cement, 
even  from  the  time  of  St.  Patrick.  As 
characteristic  examples  of  the  oldest 
style  of  our  ecclesiastical  architecture 
still  in  good  preservation.  Dr.  Petrie,  iu 
his  learned  work  on  that  subject,  in- 
stances the  monastic  establishment  of 
St.  Molaise,  on  Inishmun-ay  (Inis  Muir- 
eadhaigh),  in  the  bay  of  Sligo,  erected 
in  the  sixth  century;  that  of  St.  Bren- 
dan, on  Inishglory,  off  the  coast  of  Erris, 
in  Mayo,  of  the  beginning  of  the  same 
century ;  and  that  of  St.  Fechih,  on 
High  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Connema- 
ra,  erected  in  the  seventh  century ;  and 
to  these  he  elsewhei'e  adds,  as  remains 
of  the  sixth  century,  some  of  the  ora- 
tories and  cells  of  the  Isles  of  Aran,  in 
Galway  bay.  In  all  these  examples 
we  find  that  mortar  was  only  used  in 
the  churches ;  the  houses  or  cells  of  the 
abbots  and  monks  being  invariably 
built  of  dry  stone,  without  any  kind  of 

enth  century ;  to  ancient  monumental  inscriptions  ; 
to  various  passages  of  the  Brehon  Laws,  and  other 
authorities  yet  unpublished ;  and,  indeed,  to  all  that 
is  most  venerable  in  the  written  and  monumental 
antiquities  of  teland,  to  which  the  scope  and  limits  of 
this  work  will  only  allow  us  to  make  this  general  ref- 
erence. 


.WTP® 


CKA.N  u  t_iL  t.  , 
(RtSTORSD^ 


ST  KEVINS   ORATORY 

r-Lr.SDALOUGH 


CROMLECH. 

riNVOV   Co,  ANTRIM 


PILi.AK    STO^'K 
TA  R  A  , 


^;.    It    MDIHEDACK 
MONASTERBOICE- 


HrtliNU  TOWl.K  01-  DI.Vk.XISH  ISI.AM1  l.OU'CH  ERNE.      ^^^_ 


■ARHELL  Si    SON, -NEW  YORK 


ROimD  TOWERS. 


109 


cement,  and  in  that  style  of  masonry 
whicli  antiquaries  call  cyclopean,  or  Pe- 
lasgic,  like  the  primitive  stone  houses 
and  military  structures  of  the  Firbolgs, 
which  we  have  already  noticed.  The 
cells  were  generally  circular  or  oval, 
with  dome-shaped  roofs,  constructed, 
not  on  the  principle  of  the  arch,  but 
by  the  gradual  overlapping  of  the 
stones;  and  the  cluster  of  cells,  with 
theii*  oratory,  were  surrounded  by  a 
thick  wall  of  the  same  rude  cyclopean 
masonry.* 

At  various  jieriods  between  the  sixth 
and  twelfth  centuries  (some  of  them  still 
later,  but  the  greater  number,  perhaps, 
in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries),  were 
erected  those  singular  buildings,  the 
round  towers,  which  have  been  so  envel- 
oped in  mystery  by  the  arguments  and 
coujectm'es  of  modern  antiquaries.  It  is 
only  in  recent  times  that  people  have 
thought  of  ascribing  to  these  towei-s  any 
other  than  a  Christian  and  ecclesiastical 
oi-igin;  but  of  late  years  a  variety  of 
theories  have  been  started  about  them, 
and  they  have  been  alternately  made 
fire-temples  and  shrines  of  other  kinds 
of  pagan  worship,  anchorites'  cells,  or 
places  for  penitential  seclusion,  and 
beacons.  The  real  uses  of  the  Irish 
round  towers,  both  as  belfries  and  as 
ecclesiastical  keeps  or  castles,  have  been 
satisfactorily  established  by  Dr.  Petrie, 


*  The  stone  cliurclies  ■were  called  damliags,  from  dom 
or  domnack,  a  church,  and  liag  a  stone.  Thus,  from  the 
damliag  of  St.  Kianan,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  by 
St.  Patrick,  and  who  died  in  the  year  490,  Duleek,  in 
Meath,  has  derived  its  name.  The  oratories,  or  smaller 
10 


in  his  important  and  erudite  ivork  on 
the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  Ire- 
land. For  this  twofold  jDurpose  they 
were  admirably  adapted.  In  a  woody 
country,  such  as  Ireland  was  in  remote 
times,  they  may  also  have  been  useful 
as  beacons,  and  may,  moreover,  have 
served  as  watch-towers.  In  fine,  the 
wants  and  tastes  of  the  country  led  to 
the  adoption  of  a  peculiar  style  in  their 
structure,  as  we  find  to  have  been  the 
case  in  most  old  Christian  countries, 
where  some  local  singularity  in  the  de- 
sign and  structure  of  church  towers  is 
sure  to  attract  the  traveller's  attention, 
although  it  might  be  now  difficult  to 
determine  what  circumstances  led  to 
the  local  adoption  of  each  peculiarity. 
The  style  of  our  ancient  round  towers 
seems  to  have  been  peculiar  to  the 
Irish  or  Scottish  race.  These  build- 
ings were  well  contrived  to  supply  the 
clergy  with  a  place  of  safety  for  them- 
selves, the  sacred  vessels,  and  other 
objects  of  value,  during  the  incursions 
of  the  Danes,  and  other  foes ;  and  the 
upper  stories,  in  which  were  four  win- 
dows, were  perfectly  well  adapted  for 
the  ringing  of  the  largest  bells  then 
used  in  Ireland.  We  must  refer  to  Dr. 
Petrie's  work  for  an  exposition  of  the 
principal  theories  that  have  been  start- 
ed about  these  round  towel's,  and  for 
the  arguments  in  support  of  the  true 


churches,  were  called  duiracJis  (duirtheachs),  a  name 
which,  as  some  think,  implies  that  they  were  construct- 
ed  of  oak,  although  many  of  them  also  were  built  of 
stone  and  mortar. 


no 


SAINTS'  BEDS  AND  HOLY  WELLS. 


explanation  of  their  use;  but  this  much 
may  be  added  here,  namely,  that  the 
closest  study  of  Irish  antiquities  leaves 
no  doubt  whatever  that  the  principle 
of  the  arch,  and  the  use  of  lime  ce- 
ment— both  of  whicli  are  to  be  found 
in  the  round  towers — cannot  be  traced 
in  any  Irish  remains  which  either  histori- 
cal evidence  or  popular  tradition  as- 
crilses  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity.* 

Those  sacred  remains  called  by  the 
Irish  peasantry  "  saints'  beds,"  may 
have  been,  in  some  instances,  the  peni- 
tential stone  beds  used  by  the  ancient 
ascetics ;  while  others  of  them  were,  no 
doubt,  the  graves  of  the  holy  persons 
after  whom  they  have  been  called. 
Some  of  these  places,  now  frequented 
by  the  peasantry  for  the  purposes  of 
prayer,  were  unquestionably  the  peni- 

*  Goban  Saer,  to  whom  tradition  points  as  the  archi- 
tect of  some  of  tlie  Round  Towers,  flourished  early  in  the 
seventh  century,  and  was  tlie  son  of  Turvi,  from  whom 
Traigh  Tuirbi,  on  tlie  north  coast  of  Dublin,  takes  its 
name.  Of  what  race  Turvi  was  is  not  known,  but  he  is 
supposed  to  have  been  descended  from  the  Tuatha  de 
Dananns,  who  are  said  to  have  left  Tara  with  Lewry  of 
the  Long  Hand,  A.  M.  2704,  according  to  the  chronology 
of  the  Ogygia.  He  was,  at  all  events,  not  of  MUcsian 
descent.   The  round  towers  built  by  Goban,  were,  accord- 


tential  stations  of  the  ancient  monas- 
teries, or  were  at  some  time  resorted  to 
by  the  Irish  saints  for  prayer,  fasting, 
and  mortification.  Such  places  were 
the  Skellig  Mihil,  on  the  coast  of  Ker- 
ry ;  Cruach  Patrick,  in  ]\Iayo ;  and  the 
island  of  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory,  in 
Lough  Dearg ;  and  many  spots  from 
which  veneration  has  thus  been  pre- 
served by  the  popular  traditions,  such. 
as  these  saints'  beds  and  holy  wells, 
were  consecrated  in  distant  ages  by 
some  relations  with  the  blessed  ser- 
vants of  God.  It  is  not  necessary  here 
to  consider  the  question  whether  or 
not  they  merit  our  respect  as  memori- 
als of  the  primitive  saints  of  Ireland, 
and  whether  it  be  better  to  regulate 
the  popular  devotion  which  they  in- 
spire, rather  than  condemn  them  as  ob- 
jects of  superstition. 


ing  to  tradition,  those  of  Kilmacduach,  KUlala,  and 
Antrim.  See  Petrie's  Round  Towers,  p.  385,  &c.,  second 
edition,  in  which  the  Dlnnsenclius  is  quoted  on  the  sub- 
ject. Adamnan's  Life  of  St.  Col umba  mentions,  accord- 
ing to  the  general  acceptation  of  the  word,  the  erection 
of  a  round  tciwer  (monasterii  rotundi)  in  the  sixth 
century ;  and  passages  are  quoted  by  Dr.  Petrie  (pp. 
390,  &c.)  from  the  Irish  annals,  sho^ving  the  erection  of 
round  towers  in  the  ten'h,  eleventh  and  twelfth  cen- 
turies. 


CHARACTER  OF  IRISH  HISTORY. 


Ill 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

C^racter  of  Irish  History  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Centuries. — Piety  of  some  Irish  Kings. — Renewed  Wars 
for  the  Leinster  Tribute. — The  Poet  Eumann. — Foundation  of  TaUaght. — St.  Aengus  the  Culdee. — St.  Colgu 
and  Alcuin. — An  Early  Irish  Prayer-book. — Signs  and  Prodigies.— The  Lavchomart. — First  Appearance  of 
the  Danish  Pirates. — Their  Character. — Their  Barbarism  and  Inhumanity. — Heroic  Resistance  of  the  Irish. — 
Turgesius. — Domestic  Wars. — Felim,  King  of  Cashel. — Malachy  I. — ^Danish  Settlements  in  Waterford  and 
Limerick. — Irish  Allies  of  the  Danes. — Cormac  MacCuilenan. — Niall  Glundubh. — Muirkertach  and  CaDaghan 
Caishil. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — A.  d.  800,  Cliarlemagne  crowned  emperor  of  the  West. — S27,  Dissolution  of  the  Saxon 
heptarchy;  Egbert  sole  king  of  England.— 872-900,  Alfred  the  Great;  Danish  invasions  of  England. — S.50,  Final  subju- 
gation of  the  Picts  by  Kenneth,  king  of  the  Scots  of  Albany. — 921,  The  Moors  victorious  in  Spain.— 932,  KoUo,  the  Nor- 
man, founds  the  Duchy  of  Normandy. — 987,  Hugh  Capet,  king  of  i'rance.— 995,  the  Danegelt,  or  laud-ta.\,  paid  in  EMg- 
land  to  the  Danes. 


(The  eighth,  ninth,  and  fikbt  half  op  the  tenth  Centtjbies.) 


RESUMING  the  thread  of  our  civil 
history,  we  may  glide  rajiidly  over 
the  events  which  intervene  between  the 
commencement  of  the  seventh  century 
and  the  epoch  of  the  Danish  invasions 
— the  next  era  of  great  importance  in 
our  annals.  During  that  interval,  com- 
prising a  couple  of  centuries,  the  facts 
recorded  are  sufficiently  numerous,  but 
the  details  are  meagre,  and  rarely  affi)rd 
a  clew  to  the  motives  of  the  actors,  or  to 
the  causes  or  consequences  of  events. 
The  obituaries  of  ecclesiastics,  eminent 


*  As  to  this  frequent  recurrence  of  petty  wars,  we 
must  recollect  that  other  countries  present  similar  blood- 
stained annals  in  the  same  ages.  The  wars  of  the  Saxon 
heptarchy  were  as  numerous  as  tlie  contemporary  ones  of 
the  Irish  pentarchy.  Writing  of  Northumbria  in  the 
eighth  century,  Lingard  says  that  "  it  exhibited  succes- 
sive instances  of  treachery  and  murder,  to  which  no 
other  country,  perhaps,  can  furnish  a  parallel."  Its  kings 
were  engaged  in  perpetual  strife  ;  and  Charlemagne  pro- 


for  learning  or  holiness,  and  for  their 
exalted  position  in  the  Church,  occupy 
a  leading  place  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
times.  The  demise  of  kings,  chieftains, 
and  tanists,  is  also  set  down  with  fidelity ; 
dearths,  epidemics,  and  portentous  phe- 
nomena, are  duly  recorded  ;  and  these, 
with  the  brief  mention  of  battles,  which 
would  indicate  an  almost  perpetual  war- 
fare between  the  several  provinces,  and 
between  different  districts  of  the  same 
province,  make  up  the  staple  of  the 
venerable  annals  of  the  period.*     With 


nounced  them  to  be  "a  perfidious  and  perverse  race, 
worse  than  pagans."  The  English  Saxons  seem  to  have 
fallen  at  this  epoch  into  a  state  of  utter  demoralization  ; 
so  much  so  that  their  own  historians  affirm  that  the 
crimes  of  both  princes  and  people  had  drawn  down  upon 
them  the  merited  scourge  of  the  Danish  wars.  See  the 
testimonies  of  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  and  others,  to  this 
effect,  collected  by  Mr.  MacCabe,  in  his  Catholic  History 
of  England,  vol.  ii.  chap.  1. 


112 


THE  BORUJMEAN  TRIBUTE   RENEWED 


all  tlieir  hereditary  feuds  there  was  still 
mixed  up  a  spirit  of  primitive  chivalry. 
As  a  general  rule,  human  life  was  safe 
except  in  the  field  of  battle ;  and  their 
pitched  battles  were  usually  prearrang- 
ed, sometimes  for  a  year  or  more,  both 
as  to  time  and  place ;  so  that  both 
parties  had  an  opportunity  to  collect 
their  forces,  and  the  conflict  which  en- 
sued was  a  fair  trial  of  strength.  Sev- 
eral Irish  tings,  at  this  period,  were 
remarkable  for  piety,  and  not  a  few  of 
them  ended  their  days  in  religious 
houses ;  and  the  same  pages  which 
record  the  carnage  of  battle,  often  show 
that  distinguished  saints  were  then 
dwelling  in  our  monasteries  and  ancho- 
rites' cells.  With  such  living  examples 
in  the  midst  of  them,  the  people  cannot 
have  been  destitute  of  piety  and  moral- 
ity ;  and  in  the  picture  which  that  rude 
age  presents  we  find  a  beautiful  illus- 
tration of  the  way  in  Avhich  religion 
stood  between  society  and  barbarism,  as 
it  did  at  that  time  throughout  Europe 
in  general. 

The  pious  generosity  of  Finachta,  in 
relinquishing  his  claim  to  the  Leinster 
tribute,  at  the  prayer  of  St.  Moling 
(about  687)  Avas  of  little  avail,  as  most 
of  his  successors  waged  war  to  renew  it. 
The  monarch  Congal,  of  the  race  of 
Conal  Gulban,  scourged  Leiuster  with 
his  armies,  either  for  this  purpose,  or,  as 
some  say,  to  avenge  the  death  of  his 
grandfather,  Hugh,  son  of  Ainmire, 
who  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Dunbolg. 
Congal  died  suddenly,  in  the  year  T08 ; 
and    by   his    successor,   Fergal,  of  the 


Cinel-Eoghain  branch  of  the  Hy-Nialls, 
Leinster  was  "five  times  wasted  and 
preyed  in  one  year."  In  one  of  these 
inroads  (a.  d.  772)  a  great  battle  was 
fought  at  the  celebrated  hill  of  Allen, 
in  the  county  of  Kildare,  when  Fergal, 
and  the  chiefs  of  Leath  Cuinn  brought 
21,000  men  into  the  field,  and  the  Lein- 
ster men  could  only  muster  9,000.  The 
latter,  however,  made  up  by  their  brar 
very  for  the  disproportion  of  their  num- 
bers, and  the  slaughter  which  followed 
was  terrific,  the  total  amount  of  slain 
on  both  sides  being  seven  thousand 
men,  among  whom  was  Fergal,  king  of 
Ireland.  The  annalists  attribute  the 
defeat  of  the  northerns  to  the  denuncia- 
tions of  a  hermit  who  uj)braided  the 
king  with  violating  the  solemn  engage- 
ments of  his  predecessor,  Finachta,  by 
endeavoring  to  reimpose  the  Borum^an 
tribute. 

In  a  battle  fought  in  730,  between 
the  men  of  Leinster  and  Munster,  3,000 
of  the  latter  were  slain ;  and  immedi- 
ately after  another  invasion  of  Leiuster 
by  Hugh  Allen,  king  of  Ireland,  and 
the  Hy-Nialls  of  the  north,  took  place, 
when,  in  a  battle  fought  at  a  place  now 
called  Ballyronan,  in  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare, the  monarch,  and  Hugh,  son  of 
Colgan,  king  of  Leinster,  met  in  single 
combat.  The  latter  was  slain,  and  the 
Leinster  army  almost  wholly  extermin- 
ated.* It  is  added  that  the  people  of 
the   north   rejoiced  in   thus  wreaking 


*  Fonr  Masters,  a.  d.  733.    The  date  of  this  battle,  in 
the  Annals  of  Ulster,  is  737. 


PIETY  OF  IRISH  KINGS. 


113 


their  vengeance  on  the  Leinstei*  men, 
nine  thousand  of  whom  fell  in  the  car- 
nage that  day. 

While  recording  these  battles,  the 
annals  tell  us  that  Beg  Boirche,  king  of 
Ulidia  (a.  d.  704),  "  took  a  pilgrim's 
staflf,  and  died  on  his  pilgrimage ;"  that 
Flahertach,  king  of  Ireland,  having  re- 
tired from  the  sovereignty  in  Y29,  em- 
braced a  monastic  life,  and  died  at 
Armagh  in  IQO ;  that  Donal,  son  of 
Murchad,  after  a  reign  of  twenty  years 
as  king  of  Ireland,  died  on  a  pilgi-image 
in  lona,  in  758*  (763) ;  and  that  his 
successor,  Niall  Frassagh,  retired  from 
the  throne  in  765  (770),  and  became 
a  monk  at  lona,  where  he  died  in  778, 
and  was  buried  in  the  tomb  of  the  Irish 
kings  in  that  island.  Two  or  three  of 
the  next  succeeding  monarchs  are  also 
mentioned  as  remarkable  for  their  re- 
pentance and  religious  preparation  for 
death.f 

In  the  year  742  (747)  died  Rumann, 
son  of  Colman,  whom  the  annalists  de- 
scribe as  an  "  adept  in  wisdom,  chronol- 
ogy, and  poetry,"  and  who,  in  the  Book 
of  Ballymote,  is  called  the  "Virgil  of 
Ireland."  We  mention  him  on  account 
of  a  remarkable  fact,  namely,  that  he 
composed  a  poem  for  the  Galls,  or  for- 
eigners, of  Dublin  (Ath  Cliach),  and, 
by  a  ruse,  contrived  to  get  well  j)aid  for 
it  in  jjinginns,  or  pennies ;  whence  we 


*  The  events  about  this  period  are  all  antedated  four 
or  five  years  by  the  Four  Masters  ;  the  dates  given  by 
Tighemach  being  proved  to  be  correct. 

t  Cambrensis  Eversus,  cap.  is. 

I  See  some  account  of  Eumann,  quoted  in  Petrie's 
Ecclesiastical  Architecture  of  Ireland,  pp.  353,  &c.    The 


may  conclude  that,  as  the  Danes  had 
not  yet  visited  Ireland,  the  foreigners 
in  question  were  Saxons,  of  whom  great 
numbers  were  then  in  this  country.^ 
It  is  added,  in  the  account  of  Runiann, 
that  a  British  king  named  Constantine, 
who  had  become  a  monk,  was  at  that 
time  abbot  of  Rahen,  in  the  King's 
county ;  and  that  at  Cell-Belaigh,  which 
appears  to  have  been  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, there  were  "  seven  streets"  of 
these  foreigners.  We  know  that,  at 
the  same  period,  Gallen,  in  the  King's 
county,  was  called  "  Galin  of  the  Brit- 
ons," as  Mayo  was  "Mayo  of  the 
Saxons,"  on  account  of  the  monasteries 
of  those  nations  founded  there. 

The  monastery  of  Tamlacht,  or  Tal- 
laght,  nea.r  Dublin,  was  founded  in  the 
year  769,  by  St.  Maelruain ;  and  in  the 
lifetime  of  the  founder,  St.  Aengus  the 
Culdee,  the  famous  Irish  hagiologist, 
flourished  there.  St.  Colgu,  surnamed 
the  wise,  lector  of  Clonmacuoise,  and 
who  appears  to  have  been  the  tutor  of 
many  eminent  Irish  and  foreign  scholars, 
died  about  the  year  791.  By  him  was 
written  the  first  prayer-book  which  we 
find  mentioned  in  the  Irish  annals.  It 
was  called  the  "Besom  of  Devotion" 
(Scuaip-chrabhaidh),  and  Colgan  said 
he  had  a  copy  of  it,  which  he  describes 
as  a  collection  of  very  ardent  prayei  s 
in  the  shape  of  litanies,  and  as  a  work 


Galls  having  first  refased  any  remuneration  for  the 
poem,  Eumann  said  he  would  expect  two  pinginns  from 
every  good  man,  and  would  be  content  with  one  from 
each  bad  one.  The  result  was,  vhat  all  of  them  sough! 
to  be  placed  in  the  former  category. 


114 


FIRST   VISIT   OF  THE   DANT^S. 


breathing  fervent  piety  and  elevation 
of  the  soul  to  God.*  Up  to  the  close 
of  this  century  we  find  the  great  abbey 
of  Peronne,  in  France,  founded  about 
two  centuries  before  by  St.  Fursey,  still 
su23j)lied  with  abbots  from  Ireland,  and 
the  city  itself  called,  in  the  Irish  an- 
nals, Cahir-Forsa,  or  Fursey's  city. 

Portentous  signs  and  prodigies  are 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  Irish  annals 
at  this  period,  such  as  showers  of  blood, 
and  the  darkening  of  the  sun  or  moon, 
or  the  moon  appearing  as  blood.  In 
the  reign  of  Niall  Frassach  there  haj)- 
pened  a  dreadful  famine ;  the  monarch 
humbled  himself,  and  in  answer  to  his 
prayers  there  fell  showers  of  silver, 
honey,  and  wheat.  Hence  his  surname 
of  Frassach,  signifying  "  of  the  showers." 
M'Curtin,  who  wrote  about  a  century 
ago,  says  that  in  his  time  some  of  the 
coin  made  of  the  celestial  silver  was  still 
preserved.  As  we  approach  the  coming 
of  the  Danes  the  portents  become  more 
frequent  and  alarming.  Eclipses  of  the 
sun  and  moon,  pillars  of  fire  in  the  sky, 
dragons  seen  in  the  air,  and  fleets  of 
ships  sailing  through  the  clouds,  filled 
the  people  with  gloomy  forebodings. 
In  the  year  Y67,  and  again  in  799,  oc- 
curred certain  terrible  fits  of  panic  fear. 


*  Acta  SS.  Hib.  p.  379,  n.  9.  Aleuin  caUs  St.  Colgu 
"  master,"  and  addresses  him  ■n-ith  great  affection  and  ven- 
eration in  a  letter  wMch  is  printed  in  XJssber's  Si/llof/e. 

f  The  annals  mention  a  terrific  storm  with  thmider 
and  lightning,  which  occxirred  on  the  eve  of  St.  Patrick's 
day,  A.  D.  799  ;  and  by  which  a  thousand  and  ten  per- 
B0B8  were  kUled  on  the  coast  of  Corcabaiscin,  In  Clare ; 
«id  the  island  of  Fitha  (believed  to  be  Inis-caerach,  or 
Mutton  island,  opposite    KOmurrr-Ibrickan,  on    that 


which  are  called  in  the  aunals  Lavclio- 
mart^  or  the  "  clapping  of  hands,"  "  so 
called,"  say  the  Four  Mastere,  "  because 
terrific  and  horrible  signs  appeared  at 
the  time,  which  were  like  unto  the  signs 
of  the  Day  of  Judgment,  namely,  great 
thunder  and  lightning,  so  that  it  was 
insufferable  to  all  to  hear  the  one  and 
see  the  other.  Fear  and  horror  seized 
the  men  of  Ireland,  so  that  their  reli- 
gious seniors  ordered  them  to  make  two 
fasts,  together  with  fervent  prayer,  and 
one  meal  between  them,  to  protect  and 
save  them  from  a  pestilence  precisely  at 
Michaelmas.  Hence  came  the  Lamhclw- 
mart,  which  was  called  the  fire  from 
heaven."  f 

The  first  descent  of  the  Danish  pirates 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland  is  mentioned  thus 
by  the  Four  Masters  under  the  year 
790:  "The  burning  of  ReachrannJ  by 
the  Gentiles,  and  its  shrines  broken  and 
plundei'ed."  England  had  been  visited 
by  them  a  few  years  earlier,  and  they 
did  not  again  a2:)pear  on  the  Irish  coast 
until  793,  when  another  party  of  them 
plundered  and  burned  the  church  of  St. 
Patrick's  Island,  near  Skerries,  on  the 
Dublin  coast,  and  carried  ofi^  the  shrine 
of  St.  Dochanna,  committing  other  dep- 
redations on  the  sea-board  of  Ireland 


coast)  was  partly  submerged  and  divided  into  three  isl- 
ands. 

X  The  island  of  Rathlin,  on  the  coast  of  Antrim,  and 
that  of  Lambay,  in  the  bay  of  Dublin,  were  both 
anciently  called  Rechreinn,  or  Reachrann.  The  latter 
is  the  one  hero  referred  to.  The  date  of  tlie  event,  ac- 
cording to  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  is  793 ;  according  to 
Tighernach,  793  ;  and  according  to  O'Flaherty's  cjJculac 
tion,  795. 


THE  DANISH  WARS. 


115 


and  Scotland.  Henceforward  their 
visits  were  repeated  at  shorter  inter- 
vals, but  for  many  years  they  came  in 
small  detached  parties,  apparently  not 
acting  in  concert,  but  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  plunder,  and  without  any  view 
to  a  permanent  settlement. 

The  people,  popularly  known  in  our 
history  as  Danes,  comprised  swarms 
from  various  countries  in  the  north  of 
Europe,  from  Norway,  Sweden,  Zea- 
land, Jutland,  and,  in  general,  from  all 
the  shores  and  islands  of  the  Baltic, 
who,  compelled  by  their  inhospitable 
soil  to  depend  chiefly  on  the  sea  for  a 
livelihood,  devoted  themselves,  from  an 
early  period,  to  the  adventurous  and 
half-savage  life  of  pirates  or  sea-rovers. 
In  the  Irish  annals  they  are  variously 
called  Galls,  or  foreigners ;  Geinti,  or 
Gentiles ;  and  Lochlanni,  or  inhabitants 
of  Lochlaun,  or  Lake-land,  that  is,  Nor- 
way ;  and  they  are  distinguished  as  the 
Finn  Galls,  or  White  Foreigners,  who 
are  supposed  to  have  been  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Norway ;  and  the  Dubh  Galls, 
or  Black  Foreigners,  who  were  probably 
the  people  of  Jutland,  and  of  the  south- 
ern shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  A  large 
tract  of  country,  north  of  Dublin,  still 
retains  the  name  of  the  former.  By 
English  writers  they  have  been  called 
Ostmen  and  Vikings,  and  are  known 
by  the  generic  terms  of  Northmen  or 
Scandinavians.    They  are  scarcely  heard 


*  According  to  Euglisli  writers,  the  butchery  of  chil- 
dren was  a  common  practice  with  the  Northmen  in  their 
first  descents ;  their  soldiers  made  a  sport  of  flinging 
Infants  from  the  point  of  one  spear  to  another,  so  a3  to 
13 


of  in  history  until  about  the  time  their 
cruel  depredations  were  first  inflicted 
on  southern  nations,  and  long  after  that 
period  they  continued  utterly  illiterate, 
and  seemed  quite  impervious  to  the 
light  of  Christianity.  Their  bold,  ad- 
venturous, and  ruthless  spirit  in  the 
pursuit  of  pillage ;  the  command  of  the 
ocean  which  their  habits  and  numbers 
gave  them;  the  combination  in  which 
they  soon  learned  to  act  in  their  jjlun- 
dering  excursions ;  the  fierce  barbarity 
with  which  they  treated  their  victims ; 
and,  above  all,  the  disunited  and  feeble 
state  in  which  they  found  those  coun- 
tries upon  which  they  preyed,  gave 
them  formidable  advantaws.  Thus,  for 
upwards  of  two  centui-ies  were  they  a 
scourge  of  the  most  fearful  kind  to  Brit- 
ain and  Ireland,  and  to  some  of  the 
maritime  countries  of  Southern  Europe. 
They  were  characterized  by  unparallel- 
ed daring,  perseverance,  and  inhuman- 
ity. They  seemed  to  have  no  tie  of 
common  humanity  with  those  who  fell 
into  their  power.  With  them  there  was 
no  mercy  for  captives.  At  least  such  is 
the  character  which  they  receive  from 
contemporary  Saxon  and  French  his- 
torians, for  the  Irish  writers  do  not  de- 
pict the  atrocities  of  the  Danes  in  the 
same  colors,  although  the  vivid  tradi- 
tions preserved  even  to  the  present 
day  in  Ireland  show  that  their  cruelties 
must  have  been  appalling.* 


show  their  dexterity  in  catching  the  writhing  bodies  li 
mid  air ;  and  one  of  the  Viking  chiefs,  described  as  a 
"  brave  pirate,"  received  a  nickname  for  his  humanity 
in  opposing  this  revolting  pastime.     See  the  authoritiea 


116 


THE  DANISH   WARS. 


But  the  plunder  and  desecration  of 
cliurclies  and  monasteries,  and  the 
slaughter  of  ecclesiastics,  were  the  favor- 
ite exploits  of  these  fierce  pagans.  Their 
descent  upon  any  point  was  sure  to  be 
signalized  by  this  sacrilegious  rapine, 
lona,  or  I-Columbkill,  Avas  laid  waste 
by  them  in  TOY,  and  again  in  801,  when 
sixty-eight  of  its  clergy  and  laity  were 
massacred ;  the  monastery  of  Inishmur- 
ray,  off  the  coast  of  Sligo,  was  sacked 
and  burned  by  them  in  802,  when  they 
also  penetrated  into  Eoscommon ;  and 
in  succeeding  years,  as  these  incursions 
became  more  frequent,  all  the  religious 
houses  of  Ireland  were  subjected  in 
their  turn  to  the  same  process  of  devas- 
tation, and  sometimes  repeatedly  within 
the  same  year.  Armagh,  with  its  ca- 
thedral and  monasteries,  was  plundered 
by  the  Danes  four  times  in  one  month ; 
and  in  Bangor,  900  monks,  with  their 
abbot,  were  massacred  by  them  in  one 
day.  "  As  few  things  of  any  value," 
observes  a  late  writer,  "  could  have  sur- 
vived such  conflagrations,  the  mere 
wantonness  of  barbarity  alone  could 
have  tempted  them  so  often  to  repeat 
the  outrage.  The  devoted  courage,  how- 
ever, of  those  crowds  of  martyrs  who 
still  returned  undismayed  to  the  same 


on  these  and  many  other  atrocities  of  the  Danes  quoted 
in  Sharun  Turner's  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  vol.  i.  ; 
and  in  MacCabe's  Catholic  History  of  England,  vol.  ii., 
in  -which  latter  work  the  reader  will  find  some  just  ani- 
madversions on  Laing's  "  Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  Nor- 
way," in  which  Mr.  Laing  seems  to  like  the  northern 
pirates  all  the  better  for  their  paganism  and  fierceness, 
and  attributes  the  easy  conquest  by  them  of  the  English 
Saxons  to  the  effect  upon  the  latter  of  "  EomLsh  super- 
stition and  church  influence." 


spot,  choosing  rather  to  encounter  suf- 
ferings and  death  than  leave  the  holy 
place  untenanted,  presents  one  of  those 
affecting  pictures  of  quiet  heroism  with 
which  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church  abounds."''^ 

Dismayed,  at  first,  and  confounded 
by  the  assaults  of  the  fierce  and  merci- 
less invaders,  who  appeared  at  the  same 
moment  at  several  points,  and  the  time 
and  place  of  whose  return  could  never 
be  calculated,  it  was  some  time  before 
the  Irish  made  any  regular  stand  against 
them.  They  soon,  however,  rallied  from 
their  panic,  and  discovered  that  their 
mysterious  foes  were  as  vulnerable  as 
other  men.  When  parties  of  the  Danes 
lauded  unexpectedly,  and  were  engaged 
in  their  work  of  pillage,  a  force  was 
generally  mustered  in  the  neighborhood 
to  resist  them,  and  in  innumerable  in- 
stances the  marauders  were  successfully 
attacked  and  driven  back  with  slauorhter 
to  their  shijDS.  But  these  partial  de- 
feats had  no  effect  on  the  desperate 
energies  of  the  N"orthmen,  who  always 
returned  in  greater  numbers  the  follow- 
ing year ;  and  who,  from  their  command 
of  the  sea,  had  their  choice  on  all  occa- 
sions of  a  landing-place,  running  up  by 
the  rivers  into  the  heart  of  the  country, 

*  Moore's  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  30.  The  ap- 
pearance of  some  mysterious  preacher  is  thus  referred  to 
in  the  Irish  Annals  imder  the  year  806  (811) : — "  In  this 
year  the  Ceile-Dei  (culdee)  came  over  the  sea  with  dry 
feet,  without  a  vessel ;  and  a  written  roU  was  given  him 
from  heaven,  out  of  which  he  preached  to  the  Irish,  and 
it  was  carried  up  again  when  the  sermon  was  finished. 
Tliis  ecclesiastic  used  to  go  every  day  southwards  across 
the  sea,  after  finishing  his  exhortation." 


THE  DANISH  WAES. 


117 


and  constructing  fleets  of  small  craft  on 
the  lakes  in  tlie  interior,  whence  they 
were  able,  at  any  moment,  to  devastate 
the  surrounding  country. 

The  annals  tell  us  that  the  foreigners 
were  slaughtered  by  the  men  of  Um- 
hall,  in  Mayo,  in  812  ;  by  Covach,  lord 
of  Locli-Lein  (Killarney),  in  the  same 
year ;  by  the  king  of  Ulidia,  and  by 
Carbry,  lord  of  Hy-Kinsella  (south  Leiu- 
ster),  in  827 ;  by  the  men  of  Hy-Figeiute, 
in  the  west  of  Limerick,  in  834,  <fec.,  but 
these  and  many  similar  defeats  were  of 
no  avail,  other  parties  of  the  adven- 
turers being  at  the  very  same  moment 
victorious  at  several  points.*  After  some 
twenty  or  thirty  years  had  been  con- 
sumed in  these  desultory  attacks,  the 
Danes  determined  on  a  more  extensive 
scheme  of  invasion,  and,  combining  their 
forces  under  one  commander,  fitted  out 
large  fleets  for  the  purpose;  but  un- 
fortunately, while  the  enemy  were  thus 
carrying  out  their  plans  for  the  subju- 
gation of  Ireland,  the  Irish  j)rinces  and 
chieftains  were  wasting  the  energies  of 
the  country  in  wars  among  themselves, 
so  that  no  combined  effort  ao^aiust  the 
common  foe  was  ever  even  thouajht  of 

Hugh  (Aedh)  surnamed  Oirdnigh,  or 
the  legislator,  son  of  Niall  Frassach,  of 
the  northern  Hy-Niall  race,  became 
monarch  of  Ireland  in  793,  and  com- 
menced his  reign  by  desolating  the 
province  of  Meath,  then  turning  his 
arms  against  Leinster,  whicli  he  devas- 


*  Eginhart,  the  historian  of  Charlemagne,  clearly 
refers  to  the  defeat  of  the  Norsemen  in  Mayo,  in  812,  in 
the  following  passage : — "  Classia  Nordmojinonim  Hiber- 


tated  twice  in  one  month.  When  sum- 
moned to  one  of  these  sanguinary  forays, 
the  archbishop  of  Armagh  and  his 
clergy  protested  against  the  monstrous 
impropriety  of  the  ministers  of  jDeace 
being  obliged  to  attend  their  war-host- 
ings.  Such,  had  hitherto  been  the  cus- 
tom ;  but  Hugh  now  consented  to  leave 
the  question  to  the  decision  of  a  holy 
and  wise  man  called,  from  his  know- 
ledge of  canon  law,  Fohy  (Fothah)  of 
the  Canons ;  and  the  latter  immediately 
prepared  a  statement,  or  essay,  on  the 
subject,  the  result  being  that  ecclesias- 
tics were  henceforth  exempted  from  the 
duties  of  war  in  L-eland. 

A.  D.  817. — Hugh  Oirdnigh,  after  a 
reign  of  twenty-five  years,  Avas  succeed- 
ed by  Conor,  who  reigned  fourteen 
years,  during  which  period  the  Danish 
power  was  placed  on  a  firm  footing  in 
many  parts  of  Ireland,  under  a  chief 
known  in  these  countries  as  Tuirges,  or 
Turgesius,  but  who  cannot  be  traced  by 
that  name  in  any  Scandinavian  chroni- 
cles. He  came  to  Ireland  in  815,  and 
fortified  himself  at  Riunduin,  on  the 
west  side  of  Lough  Kee,  an  expansion  of 
the  Shannon  in  Eoscommon.  All  this 
time  Ireland  was  laid  waste  as  much  by 
domestic  wars  as  by  the  exactions,  pil- 
lage, and  burnings  of  the  Northmen. 
While  the  latter  were  engaged  in  plun- 
dering Louth  and  some  other  districts, 
the  men  of  Munster  were  at  the  work  of 
plunder  in  Bregia,  and  Conor,  the  king 


niam,  Scotorum  iusulam,  aggressa,  commisso  praelio  cum 
Scotis,  parte  non  modica  Nordmanuorum  interfectd, 
turpiter  fugiendo  domiun  raversa  est." 


lis 


THE  DANISH  WARS. 


of  Ireland,  instead  of  defending  any  of 
these  territories,  was  himself  busy  plun- 
derin"-  Leiuster  to  the  banks  of  the  river 
Liffey. 

A.  D.  831. — Niall  Caille,  son  of  Hugh 
Oirdnigh,  on  assuming  the  now  almost 
nominal  sovereignty  of  Ireland,  led  an 
army  against  the  Danes,  whom  lie  de- 
feated at  Derry,  but  his  efforts  were 
soon  paralyzed.  While  the  country  was 
a  scene  of  devastation  from  north 
to  south — her  people  prostrate  and 
hemmed  in  by  foreign  foes  who  ex- 
tracted the  marrow  of  the  land — Felim 
(Feidhlimidh),  king  of  Cashel,  of  the 
race  of  the  Eocrhanachts  of  South  Mun- 
ster,  thought  it  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  assert  his  own  right  to  a  share  in  the 
spoils.  This  selfish  j^rince  accordingly 
mustered  an  army  and  marched  into 
Leiuster  to  levy  tribute,  reviving  the 
ancient  claim  of  Eoghan  Mor.  The 
country  must  have  been  already  little 
better  than  a  wilderness,  j'^et  he  found 
some  work  left  for  fire  and  sword ;  and 
went  on  in  his  career  of  plunder  through 
the  length  of  Ireland,  till  he  reposed 
for  a  year  in  the  primatial  city  of  Ar- 
magh, having  previously  taken  hostages 
from  the  unhappy  monarch  Niall,  and 
from  the  king  of  Connaught.  The  an- 
nals of  Innisfallen  boast,  on  this  account, 
that  he  was  king  of  all  Ireland.  He 
also  stopped  at  Tara;  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  the  south,  plundered  and  laid 

*  There  is  a  romantic  story  told  of  the  manner  in 
which  Meloughlin  got  Turgesius  into  his  power.  It  is 
said  that  he  pretended  to  give  his  daughter  to  the  pi- 
rate chief,  but  sent  with  her  fifteen  young  men  disguised 


waste  the  termon  lands  of  Clonmacnoise, 
"  up  to  the  church  door ;"  but  he  only 
survived  this  sacrilege  one  year,  and 
died  in  845,  on  his  return  to  Munster. 
It  does  not  appear  from  any  ancient 
authority  that  this  man's  parricidal 
arms  were  ever  once  turned  against  the 
Danes. 

A.  D.  843. — At  this  gloom)^  period 
appeared  Meloughlin  (Maelseachlainn) 
or  Malachy,  king  of  Meath,  and  mon- 
arch of  Ireland,  whose  bravery  and 
ability  materially  helped  to  save  his 
country.  His  first  exploit,  while  yet 
only  king  of  Meath,  was  to  get  the  ty- 
rant Turgesius  into  his  power,  and 
make  him  pay  the  penalty  of  his  atro- 
cities by  drowning  him  in  Lough  Owel, 
in  Westmeath.*  This  success  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  onslaught  upon  the 
foreigners  in  every  part  of  Ireland. 
The  people  rose  simultaneously,  and 
either  massacred  them  in  their  toMais, 
or  defeated  them  in  the  field ;  so  that 
with  the  exception  of  some  few  strong- 
holds, like  that  of  Dublin  (which  they 
had  seized  in  836),  the  land  of  Ireland 
was  freed  from  the  Northmen.  Wher- 
ever they  could  escape  they  sought  ref- 
uge in  their  ships,  but  only  to  return 
in  more  numerous  swarms  than  before. 

A.  D.  846. — Meloughlin  being  now 
monarch  of  Ireland,  defeated  the  Danes 
at  Farragh,  near  Skreen,  in  Meath, 
slaying   700    of    them ;    while,   in  the 

in  female  attire,  who  seized  the  tyrant  and  slew  liis  at- 
tendants. This  tale,  however,  only  rests  on  the  authori- 
ty of  Giraldus  Camhrensis,  and  is  rejected  by  Irish  his- 
toriauB. 


THE  DANISH  WARS. 


119 


same  year,  Olcliovar,  tlie  successor  of 
Felim  in  Munster,  aided  by  tlie  Lein- 
ster  men,  inflicted  another  defeat,  and  a 
loss  of  1 ,200  men  on  the  Danes  in  Kil- 
dare.  The  foreigners  suffered  some 
further  losses  in  that  year,  although 
they  had  at  this  time  got  some  traitor- 
ous Irishmen  into  their  ranks;  and  the 
following  year,  Meloughlin,  assisted  by 
Tighernach,  lord  of  Lough  Gower  (near 
Dunshaughlin),  plundered  the  Danes  in 
their  stronghold  of  Dublin. 

A.  D.  849. — Two  contending  parties 
now  appeared  among  the  Danes  them- 
selves. The  Dubh  Galls,  or  "Black 
Gentiles,"  made  a  descent  upon  Ireland 
with  a  fleet  of  seven  score  ships,  and 
assailed  the  Finngalls  at  different  points, 
making  an  immense  slaughter  of  them, 
and  sacking  their  fortresses,  so  that  the 
power  of  the  white  foreigners  was  cpite 
crushed,  until  a  reinforcement  arrived 
to  them  in  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  sail  (a.  d.  850),  when,  the  conflict 
was  renewed.  The  battle  which  ensued 
between  them  lasted  three  days  and 
as  many  nights ;  and  victory  at  length 
deciding  in  favor  of  the  Black  Galls, 
their  opponents  abandoned  their  ship- 
ping and  fled  inland.  Next  year,  how- 
ever (851),we  find  that  all  the  foreign- 
ers in  Ireland  submitted  to  one  chief- 
tain, Amlaff,  son  of  the  king  of  Loch- 
lann,  or  Norway,  and  that  the  Danish 
power  was  thus  once  more  consolidated. 

*  In  one  of  the  earliest  of  tlie  alliances  alluded  to 
above,  Kinna  (Cineadli),  lord  of  Cianachta  Breagh,  in 
the  east  of  Meath,  rebelled,  -nith  a  Gentile  force  at  Lis 
back,  against  Meloughlin,  and,  in  the  course  of  his  dep- 
redations, burned  the  oratory  of  Trevet  (Treoit),  Tvith 


Amlaff  lived  in  Dublin,  and  his  brothers 
Sitric  and  Ivar  fixed  themselves,  the  for- 
mer in  Waterford,  and  the  latter  in 
Limerick;  which  towns,  previously 
places  of  some  note,  were  soon  raised 
to  considerable  importance  as  Danish 
stations  and  commercial  depots.  An  op- 
pressive tax  was  now  levied  on  the 
country  by  the  Danes,  in  lieu  of  their 
previous  system  of  predatory  exactions, 
which,  nevertheless,  was  not  yet  wholly 
abandoned. 

Notwithstanding  this  tyranny  and 
rapine  on  the  one  side,  and  indomitable 
resistance  on  the  other,  some  symptoms 
of  amalgamation  between  the  Norse- 
men and  natives  are  now  visible,  so 
that  we  begin  to  hear  of  the  Dano-Irish, 
who  partly  adopted  the  Irish  customs, 
and  even  the  Irish  lanrfuaofe.  Durinsr 
the  remaining  hundred  and  sixty  years 
that  the  Northmen  continued  in  Ireland 
on  a  hostile  footing,  we  find  them  con- 
stantly in  alliance  with  some  recreant 
Irish  chieftains,  who  aided  them  in  their 
wars,  both  in  Ireland  and  England,  and 
availed  themselves,  in  their  turn,  of 
their  help  to  avenge  private  quarrels.* 
The  strangers,  however,  still  continued 
inveterate  heathens,  and  several  persons 
who  were  put  to  death  by  them  about 
this  time  are  styled  martyrs  by  the  Irish 
annalists,  intimating  that  they  were  slain 
for  the  sake  of  the  Christian  religion. 

A.  D.  857. — A  great  meeting  of  the 


two  hundred  and  sixty  persons  who  had  sought  refuge 
in  it ;  but,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  captured  by  the 
monarch,  and  drowned  in  the  river  Nanny  (Ainge^ 
which  flows  through  his  own  district. 


120 


THE   DANISH   WARS. 


chieftains  of  Ireland,  Avitli  the  archbish- 
op of  Armagh  and  other  distinguished 
ecclesiastics,  was  collected  this  year  by 
Meloughlin,  at  Rathugh,  in  Westmeath, 
"  to  establish  peace  and  concord  among 
the  men  of  Ireland."  Two  chiefs  who 
had  been  in  temjjorary  league  with  the 
Danes  tendered  their  allegiance  to  the 
king  on  the  occasion ;  namely,  Ivervall, 
or  Carroll,  lord  of  Ossory,  and  Mael- 
gualai,  king  of  Munster,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  soon  after  stoned  to  death 
by  the  Danes.  The  first  result  of  this 
meetiusr  was  a  movement  aorainst  the 
Hy-Nialls  of  the  north,  in  which  the 
monarch  was  aided  by  the  other  four 
provinces ;  and  Hugh  Finnliath,  chief 
of  the  northern  Hy-Nialls  entered,  in 
consequence,  into  an  alliance  with  Am- 
laff,  the  Dani<sh  king  of  Dublin,  and 
with  his  aid  overran  the  .  territory  of 
Meath.  Three  years  later  (860)  the 
brave  and  magnanimous  Meloughlin 
died,  after  a  reign  of  sixteen  years. 

In  the  reign  of  this  king  the  Irish 
historians  mention  an  embassy  from 
the  king  of  Ireland  to  the  emperor 
Charles  the  Bald,  to  inform  him  of  the 
victories  gained  over  the  northern 
pirates,  and  to  ask  permission  for  the 
Irish  monarch  to  pass  through  France 
on  an  intended  pilgrimage  to  Home. 
The  name  of  Ireland  was  Ions:  before 

O 

this  time  familiar  in  France ;  and  it 
would  even  appear,  from  the  statement 


*  Abbe  MacGeogbegan,  History  of  Ireland,  p.  213. — 
The  alliance  between  France  and  Ireland  is  said  to  have 
continued  up  to  the  English  invasion ;  but  Scottish 
writers,  as  in  so  many  other  instances,  erroneously  ap- 


of  Egiuhart,  the  secretary  and  historian 
of  Charlemao-ne,  that  the  Irish  king's 
had  acknowledged  that  great  monarch 
as  theii-  feudal  lord.* 

Hugh  Finnliath  succeeded  Melough- 
lin, and  although  we  saw  him  just  now  an 
ally  of  the  Danes,  it  was  only  a  tempo- 
rary necessity  that  made  him  such,  for 
no  sooner  had  he  established  his  author- 
ity by  exacting  submission  and  hostages 
from  the  chiefs  of  the  several  territories, 
than  he  directed  his  arms  vigorously 
against  the  invadei'S,  on  whom  he  in- 
flicted several  discomfitures.  The  fii-st 
of  these  was  in  864,  at  Lough  Foyle, 
where,  after  a  sanguinary  battle,  the 
heads  of  twelve  score  Danes  were  piled 
in  a  heap  before  him ;  and  again,  two 
years  after,  he  gained  a  decisive  victory, 
with  a  band  of  one  thousand  men,  over 
five  thousand  Danes  and  rebel  Irish,  at 
Cill-ua-nDaighre.f  This  battle,  and 
other  exploits  of  Hugh  Finnliath,  were 
favorite  themes  of  the  bards ;  and  some 
beautiful  Irish  verses,  quoted  by  the 
Four  Masters  in  recording  his  death  in 
the  year  876,  show  with  what  feelings  of 
enthusiasm  this  chivalrous  Irish  prince 
was  regarded  by  his  contemporaries. 
He  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  the 
celebrated  Kenneth  MacAlpine,  who 
conquered  the  Picts,  and  who  became 
first  sole  king  of  Scotland,  about  the 
year  850 ;  and  after  Hugh's  death  that 
lady  married  his  successor,  Flann,  sur- 


propriate  to  their  own  country  this  incident  of  Irish 
history, 
f  Probably  Kiladerry,  in  the  county  of  Dublin. — 

O'DONOYAN. 


CORMAC  MacCUILENNAN. 


121 


named  Siuna,  ov  of  the  Shannon,  the  son 
Meloughlin,  and  chief  of  the  southern 
Hy-Nialls.* 

The  monotonous  tale  of  wars  in  which 
the  several  provinces  are  wasted  and 
plundered  by  the  Irish  themselves,  or 
by  the  Danes,  or  by  Danes  and  Irish 
acting  in  concert,  is  varied  during  the 
long  reign  of  Flann  Sinna  by  two  or 
three  episodes,  one  of  which,  relating  to 
the  brief  and  eventful  career  of  Cormac 
MacCuilennan,  king  and  archbishop  of 
Cashel,  is  worthy  of  particular  men- 
tion.f 

A.  B.  896. — From  a  life  of  peace,  de- 
voted to  the  advancement  of  religion 
and  the  cultivation  of  literature,  this 
holy  prelate  was  taken,  in  one  of  the 
sudden  political  changes  of  the  times, 
and  compelled  to  ascend  the  throne  of 
Munster,  as  chief  of  the  Desmond  sept 
of  the  Eoghanachts.  To  his  horror,  the 
good  prelate  found  himself  all  at  once 
involved  inextricablj^  in  war.  The  ter- 
ritory of  his  friend,  Lorcan,  king  of 
Thomond,  was  threatened  with  invasion 
by  the  king  of  Connaught,  and  repeated 
inroads  were  made  about  the  same  time 
into  his  own  territories,  as  far  as  Lim- 
erick, by  Flann,  the  monarch,  who  was 
in  league  with  the  men  of  Leinster.  To 
make  matters  worse,  his  chief  adviser  or 


*  la  tlie  reign  of  Hugh  (861),  the  Danes  bethought 
themselves  of  opening  the  vast  sepulchral  mounds  of 
the  Tuatha  de  Dananns,  along  the  Boyne,  in  search  of 
plunder.  The  caves  under  the  great  tumuli  of  New 
Grange,  Knowth,  Dowth,  and  Drogheda,  were  thus  ex- 
amined by  them,  we  are  not  told  with  what  success ;  hut 
the  record  of  the  event  is  of  interest  in  Irish  antiquities, 
as  fixing  the  sepulchral  character  of  these  remarkable 
16 


minister,  Flahertach,  abbot  of  Innis- 
cathy,  who  was  also  of  the  royal  family 
of  South  Munster,  was  a  man,  according 
to  all  accounts,  of  a  violent  and  obsti- 
nate temper,  and  of  a  disposition  better 
suited  to  the  field  of  battle  than  to  the 
cloister.  Impelled  by  the  advice  of  this 
hot-headed  counsellor,  and  by  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  was  placed, 
Cormac  made  two  campaigns  against 
the  combined  forces  of  Connaught, 
Leinster,  and  Meath,  in  both  of  which 
he  was  victorious.  In  the  first  the  en- 
gagement took  place  on  the  old  battle- 
ground of  Moy  Lena,  in  the  King's 
county ;  and  in  the  second,  Cormac's 
army  marched  as  far  as  Roscommon, 
and  was  supported  by  a  fleet  of  small 
vessels  on  the  Shannon.  These  wars 
seemed  so  far  just  and  inevitable ;  but 
they  were  followed  by  one  of  a  more 
questionable  kind.  According  to  some, 
this  latter  war  was  undertaken  at  the 
instigation  of  Flahertach,  and  the  chiefs 
of  Munster,  to  enforce  the  tribute  im- 
posed on  Leinster,  as  part  of  Leath 
Mogha  in  the  days  of  Conary  the  Great ; 
the  same  for  which  Felim  laid  waste 
the  lands  of  Leinster  some  time  before ; 
but  others  assert  that  it  was  only  in- 
tended to  protect  the  abbey  of  Monas- 
tereviu,  founded  by  Evinus,  a  Munster 


monuments. — See  note  of  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  the  Four 
Masters,  ad  an.,  and  the  arguments  founded  by  Dr. 
Petrie  on  the  fact  in  his  "  Essay  on  Tara  Hill." 

f  Keating  (Hist,  of  Ireland,  part  2)  has  preserved  from 
an  ancient  tract,  now  lost,  a  curious  account  of  the  reign 
of  Cormac,  and  details  of  the  battle  in  which  he  lost  his 
life. — See  Dr.  Lynch's  Latin  translation  of  this  accoxmt, 
Four  Masters,  vol.  ii.  p.  5G4,  note  6. 


122 


BATTLE   OF  BEALAGH  MUGHNA. 


saint,  on  the  confines  of  Leiuster,  and 
wliicli  tlie  king  of  Leiuster  had  now 
seized  foi-  liis  own  people.  Be  this,  how- 
ever, as  it  may,  Cormac  was  utterly 
opposed  to  this  war.  He  referred  the 
subject  to  a  council  of  the  chiefs,  but 
their  voice  being  unanimously  for  war, 
he  made  the  necessary  arrangements  to 
carry  out  their  wishes,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  tried  sundry  expedients  to  pre- 
vent hostilities.  The  men  of  Leiuster 
were  equally  reluctant  to  go  to  battle, 
and  sent  ambassadors  with  very  fair 
propositions,  which  the  obstinacy  of 
Flahertach  and  of  those  who  agreed 
with  him  caused  to  be  rejected.  Cor- 
mac was  grieved  at  this  perversitj^,  but 
was  obliged  to  let  things  proceed.  He 
foretold  his  own  death,  and  made  his 
will,  beqTieathing  a  number  of  valuable 
objects  to  Armagh,  Inniscathy,  and 
other  churches  and  abbeys.  He  en- 
deavored to  conceal  his  forebodings 
from  the  soldiers,  that  they  might  not 
be  dispirited :  but  the  men  had  no  con- 
fidence in  their  cause  or  their  numbers ; 
several  fled  before  the  battle,  and  many 
more  at  the  beginning  of  the  conflict ; 
and  when  the  combined  forces  of  Leiu- 
ster, Meath,  and  Connaught,  with  Flann 
at  their  head,  met  the  small  army  of 
Munster,  the  victory  was  not  long  un- 

*  The  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  whose  chronology 
ia  generally  followed  In  this  history,  unless  when  thj 
contrary  is  stated,  are  here  ante-dated  five  years,  and 
the  date  of  the  death  of  Cormac  was  consequently  908. 
Cormac  MacCuilennan  has  left  a  valuable  Irish  glossary, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  the  compiler  of  the  Psalter  of 
Cashel.  The  number  of  scholars  and  eminent  church- 
men whose  deaths  are  recorded  in  the  Irish  annals  at 
this  period,  show  that  all  the  wasting  warfare  and  bar- 


certaiu.  Cormac  was  killed,  liis  hoi'se 
rolling  over  him  down  the  side  of  a  de- 
clivity, rendered  slippeiy  by  the  blood 
of  the  slain  ;  and  a  common  soldier,  dis- 
covering his  body,  cut  off  the  head,  and 
presented  it  to  Flann,  who  only  bewail- 
ed the  death  of  so  good  and  learned  a 
man,  and  blamed  the  indignity  with 
which  his  remains  had  been  treated. 
Six  thousand  of  the  men  of  Munstei", 
with  a  great  number  of  their  princes 
and  chieftains,  fell  in  this  battle,  which 
was  fought  (a.  d.  903)  at  a  place  called 
Bealagh  IMughna,  now  Ballaghmoon, 
in  the  county  of  Kildare,  two  or  three 
miles  north  of  the  town  of  Carlow.  Fla- 
hertach, Avho  led  one  of  the  three  divi- 
sions in  which  the  Munster  army  was 
marshalled,  survived  the  battle,  and 
after  some  years  spent  in  penance,  be- 
came once  more  minister,  and  ultimately 
king  of  Munster,  but  entertained  calmer 
views  as  he  advanced  in  life.* 

A.  D.  913. — Flann  in  his  old  age  had 
the  affliction  to  see  his  two  sons,  Don- 
ough  and  Conor,  rebel  against  him ;  but 
Mall,  surnamed  Glundubh,  or  of  the 
Black-Knee,  son  of  Hugh  Finnlaith,  the 
northern  Hy-Niall  chief,  led  an  army 
against  them,  and  compelled  them  to 
give  hostages  for  their  submission  to 
their  father.     Flann  died  the  following 


barities  of  the  Danes,  had  not  been  able  to  extirpate 
piety  or  learning  from  the  land  of  Erin.  Among  the 
distinguished  names  which  we  thus  find,  may  be  men- 
tioned those  of  Maelmura  of  Fahan,  who  died  in  SS.i, 
and  who  has  been  already  referred  to  in  these  pages  as 
one  of  the  oldest  of  the  ancient  poetic  chroniclers  of  Ire- 
land whoso  productions  stUl  survive ;  and  Siiivne,  an- 
chorite and  scribe  of  Clonmacnoise,  whose  death  occurred 
in  887. 


MUIRKERTACII  AND   CEALLACHAN  CAISIL. 


123 


year  (914),  after  a  reign  of  tliirty-eiglit 
years,  aud  was  succeeded  by  the  chival- 
rous Niall  Gluudubb.  About  this  time 
fresb  forces  of  Northmen  jDoured  into 
Ireland,  aud  they  established  an  in- 
trenched camp  at  Ceann  Fuait  (now 
Confey,  near  Leixlip),  whence  they  sent 
out  parties  to  j)illage  the  country  to  a 
considerable  distance.  The  spirit  of 
unanimity  which  the  men  of  Ireland  ex- 
hibited on  the  occasion  was  cheering. 
A  Munster  army  gained  a  victory  over 
the  Danes  near  the  frontier  of  the 
southern  2:)rovince ;  and  the  gallant 
Niall  Glundubh,  notwithstanding  the 
strong  position  which  the  foreigners 
then  held  in  and  around  Dublin,  was 
resolved  to  assail  them  in  their  princi- 
pal fastnesses ;  but  this  attempt,  al- 
though bravely  made,  was  unsuccessful. 
In  an  assault  on  the  Danish  camp  at 
Ceann  Fuait,  in  915,  the  Irish  army  was 
repulsed  with  great  slaughter ;  aud  two 
years  after  the  Irish  received  a  disas- 
trous defeat  at  Cill-Mosamhog  or  Kil- 
mashoge,  near  Eathfaruham,  where  they 
pressed  upon  the  Northmen  close  to 
their  stronghold  of  Ath-Cliath.*  Here 
Xiall,  with  several  Irish  chieftains,  fell, 
imd  his  loss  was  bewailed  long  after  by 
flit!  bards  in  verses  full  of  j^athos  and 
heauty.  His  reign  was  unfortunately 
too  short  for  him  to  render  his  country 
the  services  for  which  his  noble  and 
heroic  spirit  so  well  fitted  him. 

Donough,  son  of  Flann  Sinna, succeed- 

*  The  true  date  of  this  battle  is  910,  the  Annals  of  the 
four  Masters,  which  have  it  under  917,  being  at  this 
period  two  years  ante-dated. 
10 


ed,  and  began  his  reign  under  favorable 
auspices,  by  slaughtering  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  Danes  in  Bregia;  but  he 
l^assed  the  remainder  of  it  in  compara- 
tive obscurity,  one  of  the  acts  recorded 
of  him  being  the  slaying  of  his  brother 
Donal  treacherously.  Godfred,  the 
Danish  chief  of  Dublin,  plundered  Ar- 
magh (a.  d.  919),  sj^aring  the  oratories 
with  their  Culdees ;  and  from  this  clem- 
ency some  infer  that  he  had  embraced 
Christianity,  but  we  have  no  positive 
authority  on  the  subject. 

Two  remarkable  men,  strongly  con- 
trasted in  many  points,  now  appeared 
on  the  scene  in  Ireland.  These  were 
Muirkertach,  son  of  Niall  Glundubh, 
next  heir  to  the  throne,  and  Callaghan 
of  Cashel  (Ceallachan  Caisil),  the  king 
of  Munster.  The  northern  chieftain 
was  a  man  of  heroic  and  generous  spirit, 
willing  to  sacrifice  every  personal  feel- 
ing for  his  country.  Twice  did  he  find 
himself  arrayed  in  arms  against  the 
worthless  monarch  Donough,  but,  as 
the  annalists  express  it,  "  God  pacified 
them ;"  or,  in  other  words,  ]\Iuirkertach 
was  induced  to  yield  for  the  sake  of 
peace.  Hitherto  the  Danish  invaders 
had  met  no  enemy  so  formidable  as  him 
in  Ireland.  Callaghan  of  Cashel  was 
also  renowned  for  heroism  in  war,  but 
the  love  of  countiy  was  no  element  in 
his  character.  The  hereditary  feud  of 
the  south  and  north  was,  in  his  mind,  as 
stronc:  an  incentive  to  war  as  all  the 
ravages  of  the  heathen  Danes ;  and  we 
find  him  sometimes  acting  in  concert 
with  these  plunderers,  and  sometimes 


r24 


MUIRKERTACH'S  CIRCUIT  OF  IRELAND. 


against  tHem.  In  tlie  year  934,  Cal- 
lagban,  with  his  Munster  army,  pillaged 
Clonmacnoise  a  few  months  after  it  had 
suffered  the  same  treatment  from  Am- 
laff  and  the  Danes  of  Dublin;  and  again, 
in  937,  he  invaded  Meath  and  Ossory 
in  concert  with  the  foreign  enemy,  lay- 
ing waste  the  country  without  mercy. 
Two  years  after,  Muirkertach  took  hos- 
tages from  the  men  of  Ossory  and  the 
Deisi,  and  forthwith  Callaghan  entered 
their  territory  and  punished  them  for 
this  act  of  compulsory  submission  to  the 
Hy-Niall  chieftain. 

A.  D.  939. — Muirkertach,  having  re- 
lumed from  an  expedition  against  the 
Norsemen  of  the  Hebrides,  resolved  to 
strike  a  desperate  blow  against  the  Dan- 
ish power  in  Ireland,  and  to  bring  those 
who  had  acted  with  the  enemy  into 
submission  to  the  monarch  ;  and  accord- 
ingly he  set  out,  with  an  army  of  one 
thousand  chosen  heroes,  on  his  famous 
circuit  of  Ireland.  He  commenced  by 
carrying  off,  from  Ath  Cliath,  Sitric, 
brother  of  Godfred,  then  king  of  the 
Danes,  as  a  hostage,  and  jjroceeded  on 
his  march  to  the  south.  The  men  of 
Leinster  mustered  to  oppose  his  prog- 
ress, and  assembled  overnight  in  Glen- 
Mama  near  Dunlaven,  through  which 
his  route  lay ;  but  as  soon  as  they  saw 
tlie  northern  warriors  by  the  light  of 
morning,  they  prudently  retired,  and 
Muirkertach  marched  on  to  Dun-Aillinn 
near  old  Kilculleu,  where  he  took  Lor- 


*  Cormacan  Eigeas,  poet  of  Ulster,  and  the  friend  and 
counsellor  of  Muirkertach,  celehrated  this  "  circuit  of  Ire- 
land" in  a  poem  which  has  been  published  by  the 


can,  king  of  Leinster,  and  fettered  him 
as  a  hostage.  The  army  of  Munstei 
was  next  in  readiness  to  give  battle  to 
the  warrior  band;  but  they  eithei 
thought  better  of  it,  and  determined  to 
surrender  their  king,  Callaghan ;  or,  ac 
cording  to  other  authorities,  Callaghan 
himself  requested  them  rather  to  give 
him  up  than  to  fight  the  Hy-Nialls. 
The  king  of  Cashel  was  accordingly 
taken  and  put  in  fetters  as  Lorcan  had 
been.  Muirkertach  then  marched  to- 
wards Connaught,  when  young  Con- 
or, son  of  Teige  of  the  Three  Towers, 
king  of  that  province,  presented  himself 
as  a  hostage,  and  was  carried  oft',  but 
not  fettered.  The  son  of  Niall  finally 
returned  to  Aileach  with  all  his  royal 
hostages,  and  having  spent  five  months 
there  in  feasting,  he  handed  them  over 
to  Donough  the  monarch,  as  his  liege 
lord.* 

The  heroic  Muirkertach,  called  by 
our  annalists  "  the  Hector  of  the  West 
of  Europe,"  was  slain  by  Blacaire,  son 
of  Godfred,  king  of  the  Danes,  at  Ai-- 
dee,  in  Louth  (941),  in  less  than  two 
years  after  this  triumphant  progress ; 
and  about  ten  years  later  (952),  we  find 
recorded  the  death  of  his  old  foe,  Cal- 
laghan of  Cashel,  who  had  been  per- 
mitted to  return  to  his  kingdom.  This 
latter  prince,  who  is  celebrated  in  the 
romantic  chronicles  of  the  time,  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  O'Callaghans,  MacCai-- 
thys,  and  O'Keeffes. 


ArclitEological  Society  of  Ireland  in  the  first  volume  of 
their  Miscellany,  1841. 


SEQUEL  OF  THE  DANISH  WARS. 


125 


Donougb,  the  feeble  monarcli  of  Tara, 
was  succeeded  in  942,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty -five  years,  by  auotlier  uomiual 
chief  king,  Congallacli,  who,  having  fall- 
en into  a  Danish  ambuscade,  in  954, 
was  in  his  turn  succeeded  by  Donnel 
O'Neill,*  son  of  Muirkertach. 

The  power  of  the  Danes  had  greatly 


increased  at  this  period,  and  was  exer- 
cised with  as  much  barbarity  as  ever, 
and  the  victories  gained  over  them  by 
the  Irish  were  comparatively  few.  But 
we  have  now  arrived  at  an  important 
epoch  in  the  history  of  these  Danish 
wars,  which  shall  be  developed  in  the 
next  chapter. 


<  ■  »  ■  > 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Sequel  of  the  Danisli  Wars. — ^Limits  of  tlie  Danish  power  in  Ireland. — Hiberno-Danisi  Alliances. — Danisli  Expe- 
ditions from  Ireland  into  England,  &c. — Conversion  of  the  Danes  to  Christianity. — Consecration  of  Dano-Irish 
Bishops. — Subdivision  of  Territory  in  Ireland. — Alternate  Succession. — Progress  and  Pretensions  of  Munster. 
— Brian  Borumha. — Episode  of  his  Brother's  Murder. — Malachy  II.,  Monarch  of  Ireland. — His  victories  over 
the  Danes. — Wars  of  Brian  and  Malachy. — Deposition  of  Malachy. — Character  of  Brian's  Reign. — ^His  Piety 
and  Wise  Laws. — The  Battle  of  Clontaef. — Death  of  Brian. — Consequences  of  the  Battle. 

[Feom  the  middle  of  the  tenth  to  the  BEGnwiNa  OF  THE  eleventh  Centubt.] 


THE  Danes  never  obtained  the  do- 
minion of  Ireland  as  they  did  that 
of  England  ;  nor  was  there  consequent- 
ly any  Danish  king  of  Ireland  such  as 
Ensfland  had  in  her  Canute  or  Harold. 
The  fii'st  really  formidable  impression 
made  by  the  Norsemen  on  Ireland  was 
at  the  opening  of  the  ninth  century, 
when  Cambrensis  and  Jocelin  mention 
the  viking  Turgeis,  or  Turgesius,  as 
kinc:   of  Ireland.     These   writers   also 


*  This  is  one  of  the  first  instances  we  meet  of  an  he- 
reditary surname  in  Ireland.  It  was  assumed  from 
Donal's  grandfather,  Niall  Glundubh. 

\  The  Danes  were  called  Africans,  or  Saracens,  in  the 
medieval  romances. 

i  Colgau  ( Trias.  TJiaum.,  note  on  cap.  17.5,  of  Jocelin's 
Life  of  St.  PatricfS),  says : — "Neither  Gildas  Moduda, 
nor  John  O'Dugan,  in  the  catalo£;ue  of  the  kings  of  Ire- 


make  some  obscure  allusion  to  Gur- 
mundus,  the  son  of  an  African  prince 
as  a  conqueror  of  L'eland;f  but  this 
latter  personage  would  appear  to  be 
purely  fabulous,  and  the  L'ish  annals 
clearly  show  that  Turgesius  never  could 
have  been  justly  styled  king  of  Ire- 
land.J  Indeed,  the  authority  of  the 
Northmen  in  Ireland  could  not  at  any 
time  be  said  to  have  extended  beyond 
the  ground  occupied  by  their  marauding 


land,  nor  the  Four  Masters  in  the  same  catalogue  or  in 
the  Annals,  nor  any  other  writer  of  Irish  history,  native, 
or  foreign  either,  as  far  as  I  know,  before  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis, enumerates  Gurmundus  or  Turgesius  among 
the  kings  of  Ireland,  although  they  make  mention  of 
Turgesius  and  other  Normans  as  having,  in  836  and  the 
following  years,  distm-bed  the  peace  of  that  country  by 
continual  battles,  and  spoliations,  and  incursions." 
10 


126 


SEQUEL  OF  THE  DANISH  WAES. 


armies.  The  Irisli  did  not,  like  the 
Saxons,  attempt  to  purchase  peace  from 
the  Danes  by  money,  but  fought  with 
desj^erate  resolution  in  defence  of  them- 
selves and  their  property,  and  generally 
made  the  northern  freebooters  pay  dear- 
ly for  the  spoils  they  took.  The  latter 
were,  however,  permitted  to  establish 
themselves  along  the  coast  in  Dublin, 
Wexford,  "VVaterford,  Youghal,  Cork, 
and  Limerick;  and  when  some  of 
these  strongholds  were  occasionally  ta- 
ken l)y  the  Irish,  the  Danish  inhabit- 
ants nevertheless  purchased  safety  on 
easy  terms.  In  these  important  sea- 
ports they  became  transformed  from 
])irates  to  merchants,  occupying  small 
districts  in  their  neighborhood  for  pur- 
poses of  agriculture,  and  keejiing  up 
well-trained  armies  to  levy  black-mail 
in  the  interior.  Sometimes  they  re- 
ceived such  overthrows  that  the  Irish 
annalists  describe  them  as  wholly  driv- 
en from  the  country ;  but  they  invaria- 
bly reappeared  in  greater  force  and 
with  greater  ferocity  than  before ;  and 
it  is  obvious  that  the  expulsion  was  not 
on  those  occasions  complete. 

Thus,  by  degrees,  did  the  Northmen 
become,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  the  recog- 
nized population  of  the  country.  They 
formed  alliances,  and  made  themselves 
indispensable  as  allies  to  one  or  other 

*  This  battle  is  celebrated  in  verse  in  tlie  Saxon  ckroni- 
:le;  but  on  tlie  death  of  Athelstan  in  941,  Amlaff  re- 
turned to  England  and  became  king  of  Northumbria. 
Edgar,  one  of  Atlielstan's  successors,  in  a  charter  dated 
at  Gloucester,  9G4,  boasts  of  having  subdued  "  a  great 
part  of  Ireland  with  its  most  noble  city  of  Dublin,"  as 
well  as  "  the  Kingdoms  of  the  Islands  of  the  Ocean,  with 


of  the  Irish  tojiarchs  in  every  local 
quarrel.  By  their  assistance  the  kings 
of  Leinster  were  frequently  able  to  re- 
sist the  demands  made  for  tribute  both 
by  the  monarch  and  by  the  kings  of 
Cashel.  Sometimes  the  Danish  chiefs 
of  Dublin  or  Waterford  left  Ireland 
with  their  entire  forces,  apparently 
abandoning  the  country,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  descents  on  England  or 
Scotland,  and  in  these  excursions  they 
were  occasionaly  aided  by  Irish  allies. 
In  916  there  was  an  expedition  by  the 
Danes  of  Waterford  against  Alba,  or 
Scotland,  of  which  Constantiue  was  then 
king,  and  the  invaders  were  beaten. 
Again,  in  925,  the  Danes  are  said  to 
have  left  Dublin  for  six  months;  and 
in  93*7  they  once  more  abandoned  Dub- 
lin, led  by  Amlaff,  or  Olave,  king  of  the 
Danes  of  Dublin  and  of  the  islands,  and 
with  numerous  Irish  auxiliaries  invad- 
ed England.  Constantiue  of  Scotland, 
whose  daughter  was  married  to  Amlaff^ 
was  this  time  an  ally  of  the  Northmen, 
who  were  also  supported  by  the  Welsh 
or  Britons ;  but  they  were  defeated  by 
Athelstan,  king  of  England,  in  the 
memorable  battle  of  Brunanburirh  in 
Northumbria.* 

The  period  of  the  conversion  of  the 
Danes  to  Christianity  cannot  be  fixed 
with  precision ;  but  the  general  opinion 


their  fierce  kings ;  but  as  far  as  Ireland  is  concerned 
there  is  no  ground  whatever  for  the  assertion,  unless 
some  defeat  inflicted  by  Edgar  on  the  Danes,  not  alluded 
to  in  our  annals,  be  referred  to.  The  charter  is  publish- 
ed in  Ussher's  Sylloge,  p.  121.  See  also  Ware's  Anti- 
quities, p.  14  (London,  1714). 


SUBDIVISION  OF   TERRITORY. 


121 


is,  that  those  of  Dublin  became  Chris- 
tians about  the  year  948,  a  date  which 
is  assigned  to  the  foundation  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Liffey.*  Whatever  time  the  change  took 
phace,  the  annals  do  not  indicate  any 
mitigation  of  cruelty  on  the  part  of  the 
Danes  to  mark  the  period.  In  the  very 
year  in  which  the  Danes  of  Dublin  are 
said  to  have  been  converted,  they  burned 
the  belfry  of  Slane,  while  filled  with  ec- 
clesiastics and  others,  who  had  sought 
refuge  there  with  some  precious  relics, 
among  which  was  the  staff  of  the  holy 
founder,  St.  Erc.f  At  a  later  period  it 
was  usual  for  the  Danish  bishops  of 
Dublin  and  Limerick  to  be  consecrated 
by  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury, 
whose  jurisdiction  they  acknowledged, 
30  little  was  there  of  the  community  of 
Christian  chanty  between  them  and 
their  fellow-Christians  in  Ireland. 

While  matters  were  proceeding  thus 
with  the  Danes  in  Ireland,  the  native 
political  system  of  the  Irish  themselves 
was  producing  its  worst  fruits.  An  un- 
limited subdivision  of  territory  was 
taking  place,  and  the  number  of  inde- 
pendent dynasts  multiplying  according- 
ly. The  time  had  passed  away  when 
the  division  of  the  island  into  five  prov- 
inces could  be  said  to  hold  good. 
There  were  kinoes  of  North  and  South 


*  The  death  of  an  abbot  of  Clonmacnoise  named  Conn- 
Vach,  said  to  be  one  of  the  Finngalls,  is  mentioned  in 
our  annals  so  early  as  806  ;  and  tlie  Danish  chief  God- 
fred,  wlio  "  spared  the  oratories  and  Culdees  of  Ar- 
raagli''  in  919,  is  conjectured  by  some  to  have  been  a 
Christian  ;  but  not  upon  sufEcicut  grounds. 

f  Among  the  persons  burned  in  the  tower  was  Coeu- 


Munster,  besides  independent  lords  of 
various  territories  in  the  southern  prov- 
ince. Connaught  was  divided  among 
two  or  three  independent  princes.  Lein- 
ster,  the  battlefield  of  all  the  provinces, 
was  at  this  time  almost  constantly  in  al- 
liance with  the  Danes.  Bregia  was  able 
to  rebel  against  Meath,  of  which  it  was 
only  a  portion.  The  Hy-Nialls  of  the 
north  were  subdivided  into  Kinel-Con- 
nell  and  Kinel-Owen.  The  former  of 
these  were  excluded  from  the  sovereio-a- 
ty  since  the  death  of  Flaliertach  in  TOO  ; 
and  the  dignity  of  monarch  alternated 
from  that  time  with  tolerable  regularity 
between  the  Kinel-Owen  branch  and  the 
southern  or  Meath  branch  of  the  race  of 
Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages.  The  Uli- 
dians,  or  people  of  eastern  Ulster,  had 
their  own  king,  and  were  rarely  on  ami- 
cable terms  with  tlieir  Hy-Niall  neigh- 
bors. 

If  the  principle  of  alternate  succession 
worked  smoothly  enough  between  the 
northern  and  southern  houses  of  Hy- 
Niall,  there  was  still  no  cordiality  be- 
tween them.  One  branch  when  in  au- 
thority frequently  devastated  the  terri- 
tory of  the  other,  to  obtain  hostages  or 
enforce  payment  of  tribute.  But  wheu 
the  southern  Hy-Niall,  or  Meath  branch, 
was  in  possession  of  the  crown,  tiiere  was 
generally  a  j)alpable  inferiority  of  power 


eachair,  prefect  of  the  school  of  Slane,  whom  Colgan 
{Trias  Thaum.  p.  219)  believes  to  have  been  Probus, 
one  of  the  biographers  of  St.  Patrick.  The  event  affords 
an  illustration  of  one  of  the  uses  to  which  the  Irish  bel- 
fries or  round  towers  were  applied — namely,  as  places 
of  retreat  in  time  of  war.  No  trace  of  tlxe  Slane  towei 
is  now  visible. 


128 


THE  DANISH  WARS. 


displayed.  Meatli  did  not  possess  the 
resources  of  men,  nor  her  princes  often 
the  vigorous  activity  and  heroism  which 
characterized  the  Kinel-Owen. 

For  some  time  the  kingdom  of  Mun- 
ster  had  been  gradually  attaining  the 
importance  to  which  its  extent  and  re- 
sources entitled  it.  It  suffered,  to  this 
time,  less  from  war  than  any  of  the 
other  provinces,  and  was  thus  rising  not 
only  within  itself,  but  relatively  by  rea- 
son of  the  greater  injury  which  the 
others  underwent.  The  time  had,  there- 
fore, arrived  for  its  kings  to  reassert 
the  old  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Leath  Mogha,  a  claim  which  was  the 
real  cause  of  all  the  recent  wars  be- 
tween Muuster  and  Leath  Cuinn ;  which 
served  as  a  pretext  for  the  aggressions  of 
Felim,  Cormac  MacCuilennau,  and  Cal- 
laghan  Cashel;  and  which  was  now 
al^out  to  rouse  the  energies  of  a  more 
eminent  man,  Avhose  career  we  are  ap- 
proaching— namely,  Brian  Borumha  or 
Boru.'"' 

The  sovereignty  of  Munster  was  to 
have  alternated  between  the  two  great 
tribes  of  the  Dalcassians,  or  North  Mun- 
ster race,  and  the  Eoganachts,  or  race 
of  South  Munster;  the  former,  as  we 
have  seen,  descended  from  Cormac  Cas, 
and  the  latter  from  Eoghan  Mor,  both 
sons  of  Oiliol  Olum.  But  this  rule  was 
not  observed;  and  for  a  long  interval 


*  The  surname  of  Borumlia,  or  Boraimhe,  is  usually 
supposed  to  have  been  given  from  the  tributes  which 
Brian  exacted ;  but  its  most  probable  derivation  is  from 
Boromha,  now  Beal-Borumha,  an  ancient  fort  on  the 
Shannon,  about  a  mile  north  of  Brian's  palace  of  Kin- 


the  provincial  crown  was  monopolized 
by  the  chiefs  of  Desmond,  or  South 
Munster.  Cormac  MacCuileunan  wish- 
ed to  correct  this  injustice,  ^nl though 
himself  of  the  Eoo-anacht,  or  Eusfeuian 
line ;  and  his  friend  Lorcan,  king  of 
Thomond,  did  succeed  to  the  crown  of 
Munster,  or  rather  of  all  Leath  Mogha, 
after  two  intervening  Eugenian  reigns. 
On  the  death  of  Lorcan,  his  son  Ken- 
nedy (Cineidi)  contested,  in  942,  the 
succession  with  the  Eugenian  prince, 
Callaghan  Cashel,  but  yielded  in  a  chiv- 
alrous spirit,  and  co-operated  with  him 
in  some  of  his  wars  against  the  Danes 
and  others.  This  Kennedy  was  the 
father  of  the  illustrious  Brian  Borumha. 
Mahon,  the  eldest  son  of  Kennedy, 
successfully  asserted  his  right  to  the 
croAvn  of  all  Munster  in  960,  and  per- 
formed many  heroic  exploits  against 
the  Danes  of  Limerick,  and  afrainst  the 
Connaught  men,  who  had  invaded  Tho- 
mond. In  his  wars  he  was  gallantly 
aided,  by  his  brother  Briau,  who  distin- 
guished himself  for  deeds  of  valor  from 
his  youth.  Mahon's  brilliant  career 
filled  his  hereditary  rivals  of  South  Mun- 
ster with  envy  and  alarm,  and  a  plot 
against  his  life  was  formed,  a.  d.  978,  by 
Maelmhuaidh,  or  MoUoy  (ancestor  of  the 
O'Mahonys),  king  of  Desmond,  Dono- 
van (ancestor  of  the  O'Donovans),  lord 
of  Hy-Figeinte,f  and  Ivor,  king  of  the 


cora,  or  the  present  Killaloe. — Four  Masters,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
1002,  n.  e. 

■j-  This  important  territory  comprised  the  western  part 
of  the  county  of  Limerick,  and  extended  somewhat  into 
the  counties  of  Cork  to  the  south,  and  Kerry  to  the  west 


I 


"'acilfanus. 


ACCESSION   OF   MALACHY  THE   GREAT. 


129 


Danes,  of  Limerick ;  tliis  last-named  per- 
son having,  it  is  said,  suggested  tlie 
treacherous  scheme.  Mahon  was  invit- 
ed to  a  banquet  at  the  house  of  Dono- 
van, at  Bruree  on  the  Maigue,  and  tlie, 
bishop  of  Cork,  with  several  others  of 
the  clergy,  were  induced  to  give  him  a 
solemn  guarantee  for  bis  safety.  He 
accordingly  went,  but  was  immedi- 
ately seized  by  a  baud  of  Donovan's 
armed  men,  who  handed  him  over  to 
Molloy,  who  with  a  strong  party  lay  in 
wait  in  the  neigbborhood ;  and  next 
morning,  in  violation  of  the  sacred 
pledge  that  had  been  given  to  bim,  he 
was  basely  put  to  death,  a  sword  being 
plunged  into  his  bosom.*  Brian  took 
ample  vengeance  on  the  murderers  of 
his  brother.  He  slaughtered  the  Danes 
of  Limerick  iu  several  battles,f  slew  tbe 
treacherous  lord  of  Hy-Figeinte,  and 
finally  overthrew  Molloy,  who  was 
killed  in  a  battle  at  Ballagh  Leacbta, 
the  scene  of  the  murder,  by  Brian's  son, 
Morough,  then  only  fifteen  years  of  age. 
Brian,  on  tbis,  became  king  of  both 
Munsters,  and  a  few  years  later  was 
acknowledged  king  of  all  Leatb  Mogha. 
A.  D.  979. — A  battle  was  fought  tbis 
year  near  Tara,  in  whicb  the  Danes  of 
Dublin  and  the  Islands  were  defeated 
with  terrible  slaughter,  by  Malachy,  or 
Maelseachlainn,    the    king    of    Meath. 


The  rivers  Maigue  and  Morning  Star  appear  to  have 
formed  its  bovmdary  to  the  east  as  the  Shannon  did  to 
the  north. 

*  This  crime  was  perpetrated  at  a  hill  called  Ballagh 
Leachta,  which,  according  to   some  accounts,  was  at 
Redchair,  on  the  confines  of  Limerick  and  Cork,  but  ac- 
cording to  another  authority,  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Mac 
17 


Ragnal  or  Randal,  son  of  Amlave,  the 
Danish  king  of  Dublin,  was  slain,  with 
a  vast  number  of  his  troops,  and  Am 
lave  himself,  soon  after  the  defeat,  went 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  lona,  where  he  died 
broken-hearted.  Dounell  O'Neill,  son 
of  Muirkertach,  the  monarcb  of  Ireland, 
also  died  this  year,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-four  years,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  king  of  Meath,  Malachy  II.,  some- 
times styled  the  Great. 

A.  D.  980. — Flushed  with  success  after 
the  battle  of  Tara,  Malachy,  immedi- 
ately on  his  accession  to  the  sovereignty, 
marched  against  the  Danes  of  Dublin, 
laid  siege  to  the  city,  which  he  captured 
after  being  three  days  before  its  walls, 
and  liberated  two  thousand  Irish  pris- 
oners whom  he  found  there,  including 
the  king  of  Leinster,  besides  taking  a 
large  amount  of  rich  spoils.  It  was 
stipulated  that  all  the  race  of  Niall 
should  be  henceforth  free  from  tribute  to 
the  foreigners ;  and  Malachy  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  every  Irishman 
then  in  bondage  to  the  Danes  released 
from  captivity. 

Unfortunatel)',  this  auspicious  com- 
mencement of  Malachy's  reign  was  soon 
marred  by  the  bane  of  ancient  Ireland 
— intestine  wars.  The  successes  and 
pretensions  of  the  enterprising  king  of 
Munster  excited  the  monarch's  jealousy. 


room,  in  Cork.    See  note  by  Dr.  O'Donovan,  Four  Mas- 
ters, an.  974  {rcste  976). 

f  One  of  these  battles  was  fought  (a.  d.  977)  on  Inis 
Cathy,  where  Brian  made  a  fearful  slaughter  of  the 
Danes  ;  and  he  followed  up  this  success  by  driving  them 
from  all  the  other  islands  of  the  Shannon. 


130 


REPEATED  DEFEATS  OF  THE  DANES. 


Brian's  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  Leatli 
Mogha  was,  in  fact,  an  imperative  call 
to  arms.  Malachy  accordingly  entered 
the  territory  of  the  Dalcassians  (a.  d. 
081),  and,  while  laying  waste  the  coun- 
try, caused  the  great  oak-tree  of  Magh 
Adhair,*  under  which  the  kings  of  Tho- 
niond  were  inaugurated,  to  be  taken  up 
by  the  roots  and  destroyed.  This  was 
an  unnecessary  outrage,  not  easily  to  be 
foi'given,  and  showed  the  bitterness  by 
which  Malachy  was  animated. 

The  annals  of  the  period  present  a 
chequered  enumeration  of  plundering 
excui*sions,  in  which  no  party  seems  to 
have  been  free  from  blame.  On  various 
occasions  Malachy  showed  his  resent- 
ment against  Brian.  He  sent  a  hostile 
army  into  Leinster  in  defiance  of  him, 
but  this  act  was  followed  by  a  treaty,  in 
which  Brian's  claim  as  king  of  Leath 
Moojha  was  admitted.  Recalled  from 
one  of  his  forays  by  the  reviving  power 
of  the  Danes,  Malachy  again  (a.  d.  989) 
led  an  army  against  Dublin,  defeated 
tlie  Danes  in  battle,  and  laid  siege  "  for 
twenty  nights"  to  the  Danish  citadel, 
reducing  the  garrison  to  such  straits 
that  they  were  obliged  to  drink  the 
salt  water  which  they  could  procure 
when  the  tide  rose  in  the  river.  At 
length  he  accepted  terms,  the  Danes,  in 
addition  to  former  tributes,  undertaking 
to  pay  him,  annually  on  Christmas  night 
during  his  reign,  an  ounce  of  gold  for 
every  garden  attached  to  a  dwelling  in 

*  This  is  a  place  now  called  Mojtc,  near  Tiillagb,  in 
the  county  of  Clare.  It  derives  its  name  from  a  Firbolg 
chief,  Adhar,  vide  supra,  p.  31,  note. 


Dublin,  A  few  years  later,  Malachy 
and  Brian  were  again  at  war,  the  latter 
being  now,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  the 
aggressor ;  for,  while  the  monarch  was 
engaged  in  Connaught,  Brian  sent  an 
army  up  the  Shannon  in  boats  and  made 
an  inroad  into  Meath,  burning  the  royal 
rath  of  Dun  Sciath.  Upon  this,  Ma- 
lachy, recrossing  the  Shannon,  marched 
towards  the  south,  burned  Nenagh 
(Aenach-Tete),  plundered  all  Ormond, 
and  defeated  Brian  himself  in  battle 
(a.  d.  994).  He  then  marched  once 
more  against  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  car- 
rying away,  among  other  spoils,  the  ring 
or  chain  of  Tomar,  a  Scandinavian  chief, 
who  was  killed,  a.  d.  846,  in  the  battle 
of  Sciath  Neachtain,  near  Calstleder- 
motf 

Three  years  after  these  events  (a.  d. 
997  according  to  the  Irish  annals,  but 
A.  D.  998  according  to  our  modern  com- 
putation), we  find  Malachy  and  Brian, 
with  the  men  of  Meath  and  Munster, 
acting  in  conjunction,  "  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  Irish,"  as  the  annalists  tell  us, 
and  attacking  the  Danes  of  Dublin, 
whom  they  plundered  of  a  great  por- 
tion of  their  wealth.  The  following 
year  the  two  kings  gained  an  impor- 
tant victory  over  the  Danes,  who  were 
led  by  Harold,  son  of  Amlave,  at  Glen 
Mama,  a  valley  near  Dunlaven^  in 
Wicklow,  where  Prince  Harold  was 
slain.-  The  Irish  army  then  marched 
to  Dublin,  where  they  remained  for  a 

f  Tliis  exploit  is  the  theme  of  Moore's  popular  melody, 
"  Let  Erin  remember  the  days  of  old,"  &c. 


DEFECTION    OF   BRIAN. 


131 


week,  burned  the  citadel,  expelled  Sit- 
ric,  son  of  Amlave,  the  Danish  king, 
and  took  a  number  of  prisoners  and  a 
large  quantity  of  gold  and  silver.  Af- 
ter so  many  defeats  the  Danish  power 
must  have  been  in  a  very  feeble  state ; 
indeed,  it  only  required  unanimity, 
vigor,  and  foresight,  on  the  i^art  of  the 
Irish  jjrinces,  to  expel  all  the  Northmen 
from  Ireland ;  but  short-sighted  policy 
still  prevailed,  and  the  "tribute  ob- 
tained fi'om  the  Danes,  together  with 
the  wealth  brought  by  their  merchants 
into  the  country,  now  made  them  ob- 
jects of  avarice  rather  than  fear  to  the 
native  kiugs. 

A.  D.  999  (1000).— This  year  is  re- 
markable for  the  revolution  which  de- 
posed Malachy,and  raised  Brian  Borum- 
ha  to  the  dignity  of  monarch  of  Ireland 
in  his  stead;  but  the  accounts  of  the 
disputes  between  these  two  kings  are 
so  distorted  by  provincial  partisanship 
that  we  can  do  no  more  than  guess  at 
the  truth.  The  southern  annalists  rep- 
resent Malachy  as  quite  incapable  of 
ruling  Ireland,  and  Brian  as  only  yield- 
ing to  the  «olicitations  of  the  other  Irish 
princes  in  assuming  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment. They  speak  of  general  councils 
of  the  nation,  and  of  a  year's  grace 
given  in  vain  to  Malachy  to  retrieve  his 
cre,dit.  But  the  authentic  annals  of 
the  Four  Masters  have  not  one  word 
about  all  this,  which,  besides,  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  active  career  of  war 
and  victory  which  we  have  seen  Mala- 
chy thus  far  pursue.  The  character  of 
Brian  is  popularly  described  as  fault- 


less; and  if  the  unprejudiced  mind 
finds  it  difficult  to  acquit  him  altogeth- 
er of  ambition  and  usurpation,  still  the 
use  to  which  he  converted  the  power 
he  acquired,  and  the  benefits,  though 
transitory,  which  redounded  from  it  to 
his  country,  to  religion,  and  to  civili- 
zation, may  palliate  faults  not  very ' 
heinous  in  themselves,  consideiing  the 
spirit  and  circumstances  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived. 

In  the  year  last  referred  to  the  Four 
Masters  say  that  Brian  collected  an  army, 
composed,  in  addition  to  his  own  Dal- 
cassians  and  the  men  of  Munster  in 
general,  of  the  forces  of  South  Con- 
naught,  Ossory  and  Leinster,  and  of 
the  Danes  of  Dublin,  and  marched 
against  Malachy,  with  whom  he  is  not 
stated  to  have  had  any  cause  of  quarrel 
on  this  occasion.  The  Danish  contin- 
gent, consisting  of  cavalry,  dashed  ahead 
into  Bregia,  to  enjoy  the  first-fruits  of 
the  plunder,  but  they  were  encountered 
by  the  monarch  himself,  and  cut  off  al- 
most to  a  man.  This  sturdy  rece^^tiou, 
which  indicated  no  want  of  vitality  on 
the  part  of  Malachy,  had  its  due  effect, 
and  Brian's  invading  army  returned 
home  without  fighting  or  pillaging; 
but  some  assert  that  Malachy  made 
concessions,  and  that  Brian,  though 
sure  of  victory,  did  not  urge  a  battle. 
"This,"  say  the  northern  annalists, 
"  was  the  first  turning  of  Brian  and  the 
Connaught  men  against  Malachy."* 


*  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  742,  note  d,  observes  on  this  passage,  that  Ti- 
ghernach,  who  lived  very  near  the  period,  calls  Brian's 


^ 


132 


DEPOSITION   OF  MALACHY. 


Next  year  a  Munster  army  commit- 
ted some  depredations  in  Meath,  and 
was  comi^elled  to  relinquish  its  plun- 
der. But  the  star  of  Malachy  had 
waned,  and,  seeins;  that  the  feelins;  of 
the  country  was  favorable  to  his  rival, 
he  submitted  to  his  fate.  Hence,  when 
Brian,  with  an  array  comj^osed  partly 
of  Danes,  marched  the  following  year, 
A.  J).  1001  (1003  of  the  common  era), 
to  Athlone,  Malachy  gave  him  hosta- 
ges, or  in  other  words,  surrendered  to 
him  the  crown  of  Ireland.*  At  the 
same  time  Brian  received  the  hostages 
of  Connaught;  and  Ihen  with  a  com- 
bined force,  a  section  of  which  was  led 
by  Malachy  himself,  who  followed  Bri- 
an's standard  as  one  of  his  lieges,  he 
proceeded  northward  to  bring  Ulster 
into  subjection.  The  northern  Hy-Ni- 
alls,  were  not,  however,  yet  prepared 
to  acquiesce  in  the  revolution ;  and 
Hugh,  son  of  Donnell  O'Neill,  heir  ap- 
parent to  the  sovereignty,  with  other 
northern  chieftains  marched  out  to  op- 
pose him,  but  the  armies  hajjing  met  at 

opposition  to  Malachy  '■  turning  through  guile  or  treach- 
ery :"  and  in  a  preceding  note  he  remarks : — "  Dr.  O'Bri- 
en, in  his  Law  of  Tanistry,  and  others,  assert  that  Mael- 
Beachlainn  resigned  the  monarchy  of  Ireland  to  Brian 
because  he  was  not  ahle  to  master  the  Danes  ;  but  this 
is  all  provincial  fabrication,  for  Maelseachlainn  had 
the  Danes  of  Dublin,  Meath,  and  Leinster  completely 
mastered,  until  Brian,  whose  daughter  was  married  to 
Sitric,  Danish  king  of  Dublin,  joined  the  Danes  against 
him.  Never  was  there  a  character  so  historically  ma- 
ligned as  that  of  Maelseachlainn  II.  by  Munster  fabrica- 
tors of  history." 

*  Mr.  Moore  (Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  101),  says: 
"The  ready  acquiescence  with  which,  in  general,  so 
violent  a  change  in  the  iJolity  of  the  country  was  sub- 
mitted to,  may  be  in  a  great  degree  attributed  to  the 
example  of  patience  and  disinterestedness  exhibited  by 
the  immediate  victim  of  this  revolution,  the  deposed 


Dundalk  (Dun  Dealgan)  separated 
without  fighting,  chiefly,  as  we  are  led 
to  suppose,  from  Brian's  unwillingness 
to  shed  the  blood  of  his  countrymen. 
It  was  some  years,  indeed,  before  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reducing  the  Hy-Nialls  of  the 
north  to  submission ;  but  in  1010  he 
compelled  the  Kinel  Eoghain  and  the 
Ulidians  to  give  him  hostages,  and  in 
the  following  year  he  took  the  lord  of 
Kinel  Connell  prisoner,  and  carried 
him  to  his  j^alace  at  Kincora.f  Hith- 
er he  also  conducted  other  refractory 
princes,  and  he  at  length  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  numerous  petty  kings  and 
dynasts,  whose  mutuals  quarrels  and 
a(T(Tressions  were  the  curse  of  Ireland, 
into  complete  subordination.  This  led 
to  that  happy  state  of  tranquillity  and 
obedience  to  the  laws  whicli  the  bards 
have  illustrated  by  the  well-known  fa- 
ble of  a  beautiful  lady  carrying  a  gold 
ring  on  a  white  wand,  and  passing  un- 
molested though  the  land. 

What  Brian  had  effected  for  his  own 
province  of  Munster,  before  he  became 

Malachy  himself.  Nor,  in  forming  our  estimate  of  this 
prince's  character,  from  a  general  view  of  liis  whole 
career,  can  we  well  hesitate  in  coming  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  not  to  any  backwardness  in  the  field,  or  want 
of  vigor  in  council,  is  his  tranquil  submission  to  the 
violent  encroachments  of  his  rival  to  be  attributed  ;  but 
to  a  regard,  rare  at  such  an  unripe  period  of  civilization, 
for  the  real  interests  of  the  public  weal,  and  an  unwil- 
lingness to  risk,  for  his  own  personal  views,  the  explo- 
sive burst  of  discord  which,  in  so  inflammable  a  state  of 
the  political  atmosphere,  a  struggle  for  the  monarchy 
would,  he  knew,  infallibly  provoke." 

f  The  name  Ceaun  Coradh  signifies  the  Head  of  the 
Weir,  and  the  site  of  this  celebrated  fortress  and  palace 
of  Brian  Borumha  is  comprised  in  the  present  town  of 
Killaloe,  that  is,  Cill  Dalua,  or  the  Church  of  St.  Lua  oi 
Molua,  a  saint  of  the  seventh  century. 


INSTITUTION  OF  SURNAMES. 


133 


mouarch  of  Ireland,  lie  now,  as  fur  as 
possible,  did  for  tlie  whole  country. 
He  restored  monasteries  and  scliools 
destroyed  by  the  Danes ;  caused  the 
desecrated  churches  to  be  rebuilt  and 
consecrated,  and  founded  new  ones;  but, 
among  the  latter,  the  only  ones  men- 
tioned by  name  are  those  of  Killaloe 
and  Iniscealtra.  He  built  the  round 
tower  of  Tuamgreine  (Tomgrany)  in  the 
present  county  of  Clare;  erected  new 
forts  and  strengthened  old  ones ;  en- 
couraged commerce  and  promoted  learn- 
ing and  piety.  On  visiting  Armagh,  at 
the  commencement  of  his  reign,  he  laid 
au  offering  on  the  principal  altar  there 
of    twenty   ounces    of    gold — a    large 


*  On  this  visit  to  Armagh  in  1004,  Brian  got  liis  secre- 
tary, Jlaelsuthain  {Cixlvus^erennis)  to  write  in  his  pre- 
sence, in  the  Book  of  Armagh,  a  confirmation  of  certain 
dues  to  that  church,  which  had  been  paid  since  the  time 
of  St.  Patrick  ;  and  in  the  entry,  which  stOl  exists,  Brian 
is  styled  Intperatoris  Scotorum.  On  this  occasion  he 
encamped  for  a  week  in  the  great  fort  of  Emania  the 
ancient  palace  of  the  kings  of  Ulster. 

f  The  most  ancient  account,  says  Dr.  O'Donovan,  of 
the  fact  of  Brian  first  establishing  surnames,  is  found  in 
a  fragment  of  a  MS.  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  CoUege, 
Dublin  (H.  3,  16),  supposed  to  be  part  of  MacLiag's  Life 
of  Brian  Borumha,  in  which  the  following  passage  oc- 
curs :— "  It  was  Brian  that  gave  out  seven  monasteries 
both  furniture,  and  cattle,  and  land ;  and  thirty-two 
Cloictheachs  (or  Eoimd  Tower  belfries) ;  and  it  was  by 
him  the  marriage  ceremony  was  confirmed  (made  bind- 
ing) :  and  it  was  during  his  time  that  surnames  were 
first  given,  and  territories  were  allotted  to  the  sur- 
names, and  the  boundaries  of  every  territory  and  cantred 
were  fixed."  The  following  is  the  origin  of  some  of  these 
surnames: — The  MacCarthys  of  Desmond,  from  Car- 
thach,  who  was  slain  in  1045  ;  the  Fitzpatricks,  or  Mac- 
Gillapatricks  of  Ossory,  from  GiUaphadarig,  lord  of  Os- 
sory,  who  was  slain  in  99.5  ;  O'Phelan,  from  Faelan,  lord 
of  the  Deisi,  whose  son  Donnell  was  one  of  those  by  whom 
the  aforesaid  GiUaphadarig  was  killed  ;  MacMurrough 
of  Leinster,  from  Murchadh  (sou  Diarmaid,  son  of  Mael- 
na-mbo,  king  of  Leinster),  who  died  in  1070 ;  MacXa- 
mara  of  Thomond,  from  Cumara  (dog  of  the  sea),  who 


amount  at  that  period — and  made  gen- 
erous presents  for  the  support  of  our 
religion  in  other  churches.* 

Among  the  useful  laws  which  Brian 
instituted  was  one  for  fixing  surnames. 
Before  this  time  (a.  d.  1002)  a  few  sur- 
names, as  that  of  O'Neill,  were  coming 
into  use ;  but  from  Brian's  reign  they 
became  imperative,  and  each  family 
selected  the  name  of  some  distinguished 
ancestor,  which,  with  the  jDrefix  Mac  or 
6>,  "sou,"  or  "grandson,"  was  to  be 
thenceforth  the  family  name.  With  few 
exceptions,  the  ancestors  thus  chosen 
were  men  who  flourished  in  the  tenth, 
or  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh,  cen- 
turies.f 


flourished  in  1074 ;  O'Brien  of  Thomond,  from  Brian 
Borumha ;  O'Callaghan  of  Desmond,  from  Ceallachan, 
who  flourished  in  1092,  and  was  the  fourth  in  descent 
from  Ceallachan  Caisil,  king  of  Munster,  and  common 
ancestor  of  the  MacCarthys ;  O'Conor  of  Connaught, 
from  Conchobhar,  or  Conor,  king  of  Connaught,  who 
died  in  974 ;  O'Conor  of  Corcomroe,  from  Conor  who 
was  slain  in  1003 ;  O'Conor  Kerry,  from  Conor,  whose 
grandson,  MacBeatha,  was  slain  at  Clontarf ;  O'Donnell 
of  Tirconnell,  from  an  ancestor  who  flourished  in  950 ; 
O'Donoghue  of  Kerry,  from  an  ancestor  who  flourished 
in  10.jO ;  O'Donovan,  from  Donovan,  king  of  Hy-Fidli- 
geinte,  slain  by  Brian  Borumha  in  976 ;  O'Dowda  of 
Mayo,  from  an  ancestor  in  876  ;  O'Dugau,  or  Duggan  of 
Fermoy,  from  Dubhagan,  killed  at  Clontarf ;  O'Heyne,  or 
Hynes  of  Galway,  from  Eidhin,  whose  grandson  was 
killed  at  Clontarf;  O'KeUy  of  Hy-Many,  from  an  ancestor 
who  flourished  in  874 ;  O'Madden  of  Hy-Many,  from  Ma- 
dudhan,  slain  in  1008  ;  O'Mahony  of  Desmond,  descended 
frpm  Kian  (son  of  MoUoy,  who  was  present  at  Clontarf) ; 
O'Melaghlin  of  Meath,  from  Maelseachlain,  or  Malachy 
II.,  king  of  Ireland  ;  O'MoUoy  ofthe  King's  county,  from 
an  ancestor  in  1019  ;  O'Neill  of  Tyrone,  from  Niall  Glun- 
dubh,  king  of  Ireland,  in  919  ;  O'Quin  of  Thomond,  from 
NiaU  O'Cuinn,  slain  at  Clontarf;  O'Rourke  of  Brefl'ny, 
from  Euarc,  son  of  Tighearnan,  who  died  in  893  ;  O'Sulli- 
van  of  Desmond,  from  Suillcvan,  about  950  ;  and  O'Toole 
of  Leinster,  from  Tijathal,  son  of  L^gaire,  who  flom-ished 
in  935. — {Chifjiy  from  Essays,  hy  Dr.  O'Donovan,  on 
Irkh   names.)    Surnames    were    generally  introduced 


134 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 


A.  T>.  1013. — Sucli  is  the  glowing  pic- 
ture drawn  bj^  Irish  historians  of  the 
victories,  wise  government,  and  many 
virtues  of  Brian  Borumha;  laut  the 
interval  of  tranquillity  which  he  had 
created  was  brief,  and  the  odium  of 
violating  it  is  cast  upon  Maelmordha 
MacMurrough,*  who,  through  the  as- 
sistance of  the  Danes,  had  some  years 
previously  usurj^ed  the  throne  of  Lein- 
ster.  It  is  said  that  this  prince  received 
some  offence  from  Brian's  son  Murrough, 
at  the  court  of  Kineora,  and  that  in 
order  to  be  revenged  he  stirred  up  his 
allies,  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  to  acts  of 
aggression.  Be  the  cause  w'hat  it  may, 
a  storm  was  raised,  which,  though  short, 
was  the  most  serious  in  its  results  that 
Ireland  had  yet  witnessed.  The  Danes 
and  Leinster  men  commenced  it  (a.  d. 
1013)  by  an  inroad  into  Meath,  where 
they  were  routed  by  Malachy,  Avho  is 
then  said  to  have  solicited  the  assist- 
ance of  Brian,  but  unsuccessfully ;  and 
it  was  only  after  another  conflict  near 
Ben  Edar,  or  Howth,  in  which  Malachy 
lost  his  son,  Flann,  and  two  hundred 
men,  that  the  venerable  hero  of  Kin- 


througliout  Europe  in  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth 
centuries.  The  custom  of  the  Irish  was  not  to  take 
names  or  titles  from  places,  as  in  other  coimtries ;  but, 
on  the  coQtrary,  to  give  the  family  names  to  the  lands 
or  seigniories  they  held.  See  Ogygia  Vindicated,  p. 
170 ;  Four  Masters,  vol  iii.  p.  90,  n.  p. 

*  This  king  was  the  ancestor,  not  of  the  MacMur- 
roughs  or  Kavanaghs,  as  some  suppose,  but  of  the 
O'Beirnes  of  Leinster.  His  sister,  Gormliath,  was  first 
the  wife  of  Amlave  the  Dane,  by  whom  she  had  Sitric, 
king  of  Dublin  ;  and  she  then  became  the  second  wife  of 
Brian  Borumha,  who  soon  after  repudiated  her ;  and, 
according  to  the  Niala  Saga,  in  which  she  is  called  the 
beautiful  Kormloda,  it  was  she  who,  in  revenge,  stirred 


cora  became  sensible  of  the  menacing 
nature  of  the  new  outbreak.  Brian  now 
sent  an  army  under  his  son,  Morough, 
into  Leinster  to  make  reprisals,  and  they 
plundered  the  country  "  from  Glenda 
lough  to  Kilmainham  (Cill-Maigh- 
neaun) ;"  and  later  in  the  year  he  him- 
self marched  at  the  head  of  a  consider- 
able force  to  the  vicinity  of  Dublin, 
where  he  remained  encamped  for  three 
months ;  but  the  enemy  not  venturing 
out,  he  returned  to  the  south  about 
Christmas,  contenting  himself  with 
plundering  the  territory  of  the  traitor 
Maelmordha. 

A.  D.  1014.— Meanwhile,  the  Danes 
had  been  making  extraordinary  prepar- 
ations for  war.  Envoys  were  despatched 
for  aid  into  Norway,  the  Orkneys,  and 
the  Baltic  Islands;  and  the  foreigners 
gathered,  as  the  annals  tell  us,  "from 
all  the  west  of  Europe."  It  was  repre- 
sented that  an  opportunity  offered  for 
obtaining  complete  possession  of  Ireland, 
and  great  numbers  of  the  vikings  ac- 
cordingly came  witli  their  families  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  up  their  residence 
permanently.f      At   this   moment   the 


up  the  northern  searkings  against  Brian,  and  brought 
about  the  battle  of  Clontarf. 

f  la  the  chronicle  of  Ademar,  monk  of  St.  Eparchius 
of  Anguoleme,  quoted  by  Lanigan  from  Labbe  (Nova 
Bibl.  MSS.  to(ji.  3,  p.  177),  it  is  stated  that  the  Northmen 
came  at  that  time  to  Ireland  with  an  immense  fleet, 
conveying  their  wives  and  children,  with  a  view  of  ex- 
tirpating the  Irish  and  occupying  in  their  stead  "  that 
very  wealthy  country  in  which  there  were  twelve  cities, 
with  extensive  bishoprics  and  a  king,  and  which  had  its 
own  language  and  Latin  letters,  and  was  converted  by 
St.  Patrick,"  &c.  Labbe  thinks  the  Chronicle  was  writ> 
ten  before  1031,  in  which  case  tho  writej  was  contempo- 
rary with  Brian  Borumha,  and  the  do       xit  the  oldest 


THE  BATTLE   OF   CLONTARF. 


135 


same  people  vrere  effectually  making 
themselves  masters  of  Eaglaud.  Sweyn 
was  proclaimed  king  of  England  in 
1013,  and  Canute  the  Great  became  un- 
disputed monarcli  of  England  in  lOlt; 
so  tliat  it  is  little  wonder  if,  fluslied  witli 
a  career  of  such  triumph  elsewhere,  the 
Danes  should  have  reckoned  with  cer- 
tainty on  finally  obtaining  the  coveted 
soil  of  Ireland,  on  which  they  had  now 
had  a  partial  footing  for  two  hundred 
years.  A  thousand  Northmen,  encased 
in  ringed  armor  from  head  to  foot,  came 
under  the  command  of  Anrud  and  Car- 
lus,  sons  of  the  king  of  Norway  ;  Sigurd, 
son  of  Lodar,  earl  of  the  Orknej^s,  ar- 
rived at  the  head  of  a  powerful  band ; 
and  a  numerous  fleet  of  the  northern 
vikinofs  was  under  the  command  of  their 
admiral,  Brodar,  who,  according  to  Scan- 
dinavian accounts,  was  an  apostate  from 
Chi'istianity,  a  great  blasphemer,  and  an 
adept  in  magic.  Neither  was  the  king 
of  Leinster  idle,  for  he  mustered  all  his 
fighting-men,  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of 
9,000;  and  the  Danes  of  all  Ireland  were 
prepared  to  strike  a  despei'ate  blow  for 
the  recovery  of  their  former  power. 

Brian  could  not  have  been  aware  of 
the  full  extent  of  these  preparations; 
yet  he,  too,  was  resolved  to  make  a  gal- 
lant effort,  and  collected  a  considerable 
armj^,  chiefly  from  the  south  and  west. 
The  year  was  ushered  in  with  depreda- 
tions by  the  Danes  and  Leinster  men  in 
Meath  and  Bregia,  and  a  challenge  from 

as  Dr.  Lanigan  thinks,  in  whicli  the  name  of  Irlavda  is 
applied  to  this  country. 
*  Cluain  Tarbh,  the  lawn  or  meadow  of  the  hulls. 


Maelmordha  to  Brian  to  meet  him  with 
his  army  on  the  spacious  plaia  of  Moy- 
nealta,  or,  rather,  on  that  jiart  of  it 
called  Clontarf  * 

The  Irish  army  arrived  about  the 
middle  of  April,  a.  d.  1014,  at  their 
usual  camping  ground  of  Kilmainham, 
which  extended  on  both  sides  of  the 
Liffey,  and  comjDrised  the  land  now 
called  the  Phcenix  Park ;  and  Brian 
detached  a  body  of  his  Dalcassians,  un- 
der his  son  Donough,  to  devastate  Lein- 
ster, which  was  unprotected  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Maelmordha  and  his  army. 
The  Danish  admiral,  Brodar,  with  his 
auxiliaries,  entered  Dublin  bay  on 
Palm  Sunday,  the  18th  of  April,  and 
Donough's  movement  having  been  com- 
municated to  Maelmordha  by  some 
traitor  in  Brian's  camp,  it  was  resolved 
that  the  battle  should  be  hastened  while 
the  Irish  array  was  weakened  by  his 
absence.  According  to  a  Danish  legend, 
Brodar  had  been  informed  by  some 
pagan  oracle  that  if  the  battle  took 
place  on  Friday  Brian  would  fall,  al- 
though victorious,  while  if  it  were 
fought  on  any  other  day  of  the  week 
all  his  assailants  would  be  slain  ;  and  it 
is  said  that  the  Danes  therefore  resolved 
to  make  the  attack  on  Good  Friday. 

The  exact  site  of  the  battle  seems  to 
be  tolerably  well  defined.  In  Di-. 
O'Conor's  edition  of  the  Four  Masters 
it  is  called  "  the  battle  of  the  fishing 
weir   of   Clontarf;*!-  and    the    weir   in 


f  Caih  Ooradh  Oluana  tarWi — which  Dr.  O'Conor 
erroneously  translates,  "  Prmlium  heroiciim  Gluan 
tarWiim." 


136 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. 


question  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tolka 
or  Tulcaiun,  -wliei'e  Ballybougli  bridge 
now  stands.  It  also  appears  that  the 
principal  destruction  of  the  Danes  took 
place  when  in  their  flight  they  endeav- 
ored to  cross  the  Tolka,  no  doubt  at 
the  moment  of  high  water,  when  num- 
bers of  them  were  drowned ;  it  is  ex- 
pressly stated  that  they  were  jjursued 
with  great  slaughter  "from  the  Tolka 
to  Dublin."  "We  may,  therefore,  pi'e- 
sume  that  their  lines  extended  along 
the  coast,  with  their  left  wing  resting 
on  the  little  river  just  mentioned,  and 
protected  by  the  marshes  which  then 
covered  the  low  ground  between  that 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Liifey;  while  their 
risrht  wins:  extended  in  the  direction  of 
Dollymount ;  the  newly-arrived  Danish 
fleet  being  anchored  either  at  Howth  or 
in  the  rear  of  the  army. 

The  Danish  and  Leiuster  forces,  num- 
bering together  about  21,000  men,  were 
disposed  in  three  divisions,  of  which  the 
first,  or  that  nearest  to  Dublin,  was  com- 
posed of  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  under 
their  king,  Sitric,  and  the  princes  Dolat 
and  Conmael,  with  the  thousand  mailed 
Norwegians  under  the  youthful  waniors 
Carlus  and  Anrud.  The  second,  or  cen- 
tral division,  was  composed  chiefly  of 
the  Lagenians,  commanded  by  Mael- 
mordha  himself,  and  the  princes  of  Of- 
faly  and  of  the  territory  of  the  Liffey  f 
and  the  thii'd  division,  or  right  wing, 
was  made  up  of  the  auxiliaries  from  the 


*  The  Annals  of  Clonmacnoiso  say  the  O'Mores  and 
O'Nolans  did  not  join  the  other  Leinster  septs  at  C'lon- 
tarf. 


Baltic  and  the  Islands,  under  Brodar, 
admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  Sigurd,  son  of 
Lodar,  earl  of  the  Orkneys,  together 
with  some  auxiliaries  from  Wales  and 
Cornwall. 

To  oppose  these  the  Irish  monarch  also 
marshalled  his  forces  in  three  corps  or 
divisions.  The  first,  composed  chiefly 
of  the  diminished  legion  of  the  brave 
Dalcassians,  was  under  the  command  of 
his  son  Morough,  Avho  had  also  with 
him  his  four  brothers,  Teige,  Donnell, 
Conor,  and  Flann,  sons  of  Brian,  and 
his  own  son,  Turlough,  who  was  but 
fifteen  years  of  age.  In  this  division 
was  placed  Malachy,  with  his  contin- 
gent of  a  thousand  Meath  men ;  and 
here  we  may  refer  to  the  dishonorable 
charges  made  against  this  deposed  king 
by  all  the  southern  chroniclers,  who  as- 
sert that  he  was  the  traitor  who  had 
apprised  Maelmordha  of  Donough's  de- 
parture from  the  camp  with  .a  large 
detachment  of  the  Dalgais  into  Leinster, 
and  that  on  the  morning  of  the  battle 
he  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  Irish 
lines,  and  remained  inactive  throughont 
the  da}^  This  unworthy  conduct  is  so 
inconsistent  with  the  whole  career  of 
Malachy  that  the  charge  has  been  re- 
jected by  Mr.  Moore  in  his  History  of 
Ireland,  and  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  his 
notes  to  the  Four  Masters ;  yet  we 
believe  it  has  not  been  imputed  to  him 
without  sufiicient  grounds,  and  that 
more  recent  researches  will  be  found  to 
establish  the  fact  that  Malachy  made 
oveitures  to  Teige  O'Kelly,  the  com- 
mander  of   the    Conn  aught    army,    to 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. 


137 


abandon  Brian  on  the  eve  of  tlie  battle. 
Malachy's  sympathies  were  Meatliian 
rather  than  national,  and,  considering 
the  j)rovocation  which  he  had  received 
from  the  man  who  usurped  his  crown, 
we  may  find  some  excuse  for  him  in  the 
circumstances ;  even  admitting,  what  ap- 
pears to  be  the  fact,  that  he  held  aloof 
with  the  army  of  Meath  during  the 
early  part  of  the  fight.  We  shall  pres- 
ently see  that  before  the  close  of  the 
day  he  made  amends  for  the  morning's 
dereliction  of  duty. 

Brian's  central  division  comprised  the 
troops  of  Desmond,  under  the  command 
of  Cian,  son  of  Molloy  (ancestor  of 
O'Mahony),  and  Donnell,  son  of  Duv- 
davoran  (ancestor  of  O'Donoghoe),  both 
of  the  Eugenian  line ;  together  with  the 
other  septs  of  the  south,  under  their 
respective  chiefs,  viz. :  Mothla,  son  of 
Faelan,  king  of  the  Desies;  Muirker- 
tach,  son  of  Anmcha,  chief  of  Hy-Lia- 
thain  (a  territory  in  Cork) ;  Scannlan, 
son  of  Cathal,  chief  of  Loch  Leiu,  or 
Killarney ;  Loingseach,  son  of  Dunlaing, 
chief  of  the  territory  of  Hy-Conall  Gav- 
ra,  comprised  in  the  present  baronies  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Connello,  in  the 
county  of  Limerick ;  Cathal,  son  of 
Donovan,  chief  of  Carbry-Eva  (Kenry, 
in  the  same  countj^)  ;  MacBeatha,  chief 
of  Kerry  Luachra ;  Geivennach,  son  of 
Dugau,  chief  of  Fermoy ;  O'Carroll,  king 


*  The  Danes  were  better  equipped  in  the  battle  than 
their  antagonists,  and  the  fame  of  their  ringed  and 
scaled  armor  was  spread  far  through  Ireland.  In  an 
Irish  legend  of  the  time,  the  Banshee,  Eevin  of  Craglea, 
is  represented  as  endeavoring  to  keep  O'Hartagan  from 
the  fight  by  reminding  him  that  while  the  Gaels  were 
18 


of  Eile ;  and,  according  to  some  accounts, 
O'Carroll,  king  of  Oriel,  in  Ulster. 

The  remaining  Irish  division,  Avhich 
formed  the  left  wing  ojiposed  to  the 
great  body  of  the  newly-arrived  for- 
eigners in  the  Danish  right  wing,  was 
composed  mainly  of  the  forces  of  Con- 
naught,  under  Teige  O'Kelly,  king  of 
Hy-Many ;  O'Heyne,  or  Hynes,  king  of 
Hj^-Fiachra  Aidhna;  Dunlaing  O'Har- 
tagan ;  Echtigern,  king  of  Dal  Aradia, 
and  some  others.  Under  the  standard 
of  Brian  Borumha  also  fought  that  day 
the  Maermors,  or  great  stewards  of 
Lennox  and  Mar,  with  a  contingent  of 
the  brave  Gaels  of  Alba.  It  Avould  even 
appear,  from  a  Danish  account,  that 
some  of  the  Northmen  who  had  always 
been  friendly  to  Brian  fought  on  his 
side  at  Clontarf.  Some  other  L'ish  chief- 
tains besides  those  enumerated  above 
are  mentioned  in  the  Innisfallen  Annals, 
as  those  of  Teffia,  &c.  A  large  body  of 
hardy  men  came  from  the  distant  mari- 
time district  of  Connemara ;  many  war- 
riors fiocked  from  other  territories,  and, 
on  the  whole,  the  rallying  of  the  men 
of  Ireland  in  the  cause  of  their  country 
on  that  memorable  occasion,  as  much 
as  the  victory  which  their  gallantry 
achieved,  renders  the  event  a  proud  and 
cheering  one  in  Irish  history.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  Brian's  army  numbered 
about  twenty  thousand  men.* 

only  dressed  in  "  satin  shirts,"  the  Danes  were  enveloped 
in  "coats  of  iron."  But  the  Irish  battle-axes  were  bet 
ter  than  any  defensive  armor.  Cambrensis  tells  us  that 
these  terrible  weapons  were  -nielded  by  the  Irish  with 
one  hand,  and  thus  descended  from  a  greater  height  and 
with  greater  velocity,  "  so  that  neither  the  crested  hel- 


138 


THE   BATTLE   OF   CLONTARF. 


The  Danes  bavinof  resolved  to  fio-lit 
on  Good  Friday,  contrary  to  the  wishes 
of  Brian — ivho  was  unwilling  to  dese- 
crate that  daj^  with  a  scene  of  carnage, 
and  who  also  desired  to  await  the  re- 
turn of  his  son  Donough — and  the  re- 
spective armies  being  marshalled  as  we 
have  described,  the  venerable  Irish  mon- 
arch appeared  on  horseback  at  break  of 
day,  and  rode  along  the  lines,  animating 
the  spirits  of  his  men.  While  he  grasped 
his  sword  in  the  right  hand,  he  held  a 
crucifix  in  the  left,  and  addressing  the 
troops,  reminded  them  of  all  the  tyran- 
ny and  oppression  of  the  hateful  enemy 
wlio  stood  against  them  ;  of  all  their 
sacrilegious  outrages;  their  church-burn- 
ings and  desecration  of  sacred  relics; 
their  murders  and  plunder,  and  innu- 
merable perfidies.  "The  great  God," 
he  continued,  "  hath  at  length  looked 
down  upon  our  sufferings,  and  endued 
you  with  the  power  and  the  courage 
this  day  to  destroy  forever  the  tyranny 
of  the  Danes,  and  thus  to  punish  them 
for  their  innumerable  crimes  and  sacri- 
leges, by  the  avenging  power  of  the 
sword ;"  and  raising  aloft  the  crucifix, 
he  exclaimed,  "  was  it  not  on  this  day 

met  could  defend  tlie  head,  nor  the  iron  folds  of  the 
armor  the  body.  Whence  it  has  happened,  even  in  our 
times,"  he  continues,  "  that  the  whole  thigh  of  a  soldier, 
though  cased  in  well-tempered  armor,  has  been  lopped 
oflfby  a  single  blow  of  the  axe,  the  limb  falling  on  one 
side  of  the  horse,  and  the  expiring  body  on  the  other." 
Besides  these  broad  axes,  which  were  exceedingly  well 
steeled,  the  Irish,  according  to  Cambrousis,  used  short 
lances  and  darts,  and  they  were  "  very  dexterous,  be- 
yond other  nations,  in  slinging  stones  in  battle,  when 
other  weapons  failed  them."  Top.  Hib.  dist.  3,  cap.  10. 
Their  swords  were  ponderous,  of  gTeat  length,  and  edged 
only  on  one  side.    Harris's  Ware,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1G3. 


that  Christ  himself  suffered  death  for 
you  ?" 

He  then  gave  the  signal  for  action, 
and  the  venerable  king  Avas  about  to 
lead  his  Dalcassian  phalanx  to  the 
charge,  but  the  general  voice  of  the 
chieftains  compelled  him  to  retire  into 
the  rear,  and  to  leave  the  chief  com- 
mand to  his  sou  Morough.* 

Tlie  battle  then  commenced,  "  a  spir- 
ited, fierce,  violent,  vepgeful,  and  fu- 
rious battle,  the  likeness  of  which  was 
not  to  be  found  in  that  time,"  as  the 
old  annalists  quaintly  describe  it.  It 
was  a  conflict  of  heroes.  The  chieftains 
engaged  at  every  point  in  single  com- 
bat, and  the  greater  part  of  them  on 
both  sides  fell.  The  impetuosity  of  the 
Irish  was  irresistible,  and  their  battle- 
axes  did  fearful  execution,  every  man 
of  the  ten  hundred  mailed  warriors  of 
Norway  having  been  cut  doAvn  by  the 
Dalcassians.  The  heroic  Morough  per- 
formed prodigies  of  valor  throughout 
the  day.  Ranks  of  men  fell  before 
him ;  and  hewing  his  way  to  the  Dan- 
ish standard,  he  cut  down  two  success- 
ive bearers  of  it  with  his  battle-axe.  f 
Two  Danish  leaders,  Carlus  and   Con- 

*  The  age  of  Brian,  according  to  the  usually  received 
accounts,  was  eighty-eight,  and  that  of  Morough  sixty- 
three  ;  but  the  date  (941)  given  for  the  birth  of  Brian, 
in  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  would  make  his  age  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Clontarf  only  seventy-three  ;  and  Dr.  O'Donovan, 
who  thinks  that  to  be  the  true  account,  conjectures  that 
his  son  Morough  was  no  more  than  forty-three  years  of 
age.  Morough's  son  Turlough  was  a  youth  of  o.nly  fif- 
teen years. 

f  This  achievement  is  mentioned  in  the  Danish  ac- 
count of  the  battle,  in  which  Morough  is  called  Ker- 
thialfadr. 


& 


O 


t3 


-^ 


z 
< 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. 


139 


mael,  enraged  at  tliis  success,  rushed  on 
Lim  together,  but  Loth  fell  in  rapid 
succession  by  his  sword.  Twice,  Mor- 
ough  and  some  of  his  chiefs  retired  to 
slake  their  thirst  and  cool  their  hands, 
swollen  from  the  violent  use  of  the 
sword  and  battle-axe,  and  the  Danes, 
observing  the  vigor  with  which  they 
returned  to  the  conflict,  succeeded  by  a 
desperate  eftbi-t  in  filling  up  the  brook 
which  had  refreshed  them.  Thus  the 
battle  raged  from  an  early  hour  in  the 
moruino',  innumerable  deeds  of  valor 
being  performed  on  both  sides,  and 
victorj^  appearing  still  doubtful,  until 
the  third  or  fourth  hour  in  the  after- 
noon, when  a  fresh  and  desperate  effort 
was  made  by  the^Irish ;  and  the  Danes, 
now  almost  destitute  of  leaders,  began 
to  waver  and'give  way  at  every  point. 
Just  at  this  moment  the  I^orweo-ian 
prince,  Anrud,  encountered  Morough, 
^vho  was  unable  to  I'aise  his  arms  from 
fatigue,  but  who  with  the  left  hand 
seized  Anrud,  and,  shaking  him  out  of 
his  armor,  hurled  him  to  the  earth, 
while  Avith  the  other  he  placed  the 
point  of  his  sword  on  the  breast  of  the 
prostrate  Northmen,  and  leaning  on  it 
plunged  it  though  his  body.  While 
Morough,  however,  was  stoo23ing  f(_>r 
this  purpose,  Anrud  contrived  to  in- 
flict on  him  a  mortal  Avound  with  a 
dagger,  and  the  Irish  warrior  fell  in 
the  arms  of  victory.  This  disaster  had 
not  the  eftect  of  turning  the  fortune  of 
the  day,  for  the  Danes  and  their  allies 
were  in  a  state  of  utter  disorder,  and 
along  their  whole  line  had  commenced 


flying  towards  the  city  or  to  their  ships. 
They  plunged  into  the  Tolka  at  a  time 
when  the  river  must  have  been  swollen 
with  the  tide,  as  great  numbers  were 
drowned.  The  body  of  young  Tur- 
lough  was  found  after  the  battle  "  at 
the  weir  of  Clontarf,"  with  his  hands 
entangled  in  the  hair  of  a  Dane  with 
whom  he  had  grappled  in  the  pursuit. 

But  the  chief  tragedy  of  the  day  re- 
mains to  be  related.  Brodar,  the  pi- 
rate admiral,  seeing  the  route  general, 
was.  making  his  way  through  some 
thickets  with  only  a  few  attendants, 
when  he  came  ujjon  the  tent  of  Brian 
Borumha,  left  at  that  moment  without 
his  guards.  The  fierce  viking  rushed 
in  and  found  the  aged  monarch  at 
prayer  before  the  crucifix,  which  he 
had  that  morning  held  up  to  the  view 
of  his  troops,  and  attended  only  by  a 
boy,  Conaing,  the  son  of  his  brother 
Duncuan.  Brian,  however,  had  time 
to  seize  his  arras,  and  died  sword  iu 
hand.  The  Irish  accounts  say,  that  he 
killed  Brodar,  and  was  only  overcome 
by  numbers;  but  the  Danish  version 
in  the  Niala  Saga  is  more  probable, 
and  in  this  Brodar  is  represented  as 
holding  up  his  reeking  sword  and  cry- 
ing : — "  Let  it  be  proclaimed  from  man 
to  man  that  Brian  has  been  slain  by 
Brodar."  It  is  added  on  the  same  au- 
thority that  the  ferocious  i^ii'ate  was 
then  hemmed  in  by  Brian's  returning 
guards,  and  captured  alive,  and  that  he 
was  hanged  upon  a  tree,  and  continued 
to  rage  like  a  beast  of  prey  until  he 
was  eviscerated ;  the  Irish  soldiers  thus 


140 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CLONTARF. 


taking  savage  vengeance  for  the  death 
of  their  king,  who  but  for  their  own 
neijlect  would  have  been  safe. 

To  this  period  of  the  T)attle  may  be 
applied  tlie  statement  of  the  Four  Mas- 
ters to  Avhich  we  have  already  alluded, 
namely,  that  the  foreigners  and  Lein- 
ster  men  "  were  afterwards  routed  by 
dint  of  battling,  bravery,  and  striking, 
by  Maelseachlainn  (Malachy)  from  Tul- 
cainn  (the  Tolca)  to  Ath-Cliath  (Dub- 
lin)." According  to  the  account  insert- 
ed in  the  Dublin  copy  of  the  Annals 
of  Innisfallen,  thirteen  thousand  Danes 
and  three  thousand  Leinster  men  fell  in 
the  battle  and  the  flight,  but  this  is  a 
modern  exaggeration.'  The  authentic 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  say,  that 
"  the  ten  hundred  in  armor  were  cut 
to  pieces,  and  at  least  three  thousand 
of  the  foreigners  slain ;"  the  Annals  of 
Ulster  state  that  seven  thousand  of  the 
Danes  perished  by  field  and  flood ;  the 
Annals  of  Boyle,  which  are  very  an- 
cient, count  the  mimber  of  Danes  slain 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Four  Masters 
do ;  so  that,  in  all  probability,  the  Ul- 
ster Annals  include  the  Leinster  men  in 
their  sum  total  of  the  Danish  side.  The 
loss  of  the  Irish  is  also  variously  stated, 
but  it  cannot  have  been  much  less  than 
that  of  the  enemy.  Ware  seems  to 
doubt  whether  the  Irish  had  a  decided 
victory,  and  mentions  a  report  that  the 


•  Ademar's  Chronicle,  as  quoted  above.  This  ■writer 
adds,  what  we  know  to  be  an  error,  that  the  battle  last. 
ed  tliree  days.  The  preceding  details  of  the  battle  of 
Clontarf  are  collected  from  the  Annals  of  Innisfallen, 
and  other  Southern  authorities,  quoted  by  O'Halloran, 


Danes  rallied  at  the  close  of  the  battle ; 
Init  the  doubt  which  he  raises  merits 
no  attention,  seeing  that  even  the  Da- 
nish accounts  admit  the  total  rout,  and 
the  great  slaughter  of  their  own  troo]5S. 
The  Scalds  of  Norway  sang  dismal 
strains  about  the  conflict,  which  they 
always  call  "  Brian's  Battle ;"  and  a 
Scandinavian  chieftain,  who  remained 
at  home,  is  represented  as  inquiiing 
from  one  of  the  fev/  who  had  returned, 
what  had  become  of  his  men  ?  and  re- 
ceiving, for  answer,  "that  all  of  them 
had  fallen  by  the  sword  !"  A  contem- 
porary French  chronicler  describes  the 
defeat  of  the  Northmen  as  even  more 
sanguinary  than  it  really  was,  stating 
that  all  of  them  were  slain,  and  that  a 
number  of  their  women  thi-ew  them- 
selves in  despair  into  the  sea.* 

According  to  the  Annals  of  Ulster, 
and  other  Irish  authorities,  there  Avere 
amona:  the  slain  on  the  side  of  the  ene- 
my,  Maelmordha,  son  of  Murchadh,  king 
of  Leinster;  Brogovan,  tanist  of  Hy- 
Falgia;  Dunlaing,  son  of  Tuathal,  tan- 
ist of  Leinster ;  Donnell  O'Farrell,  king 
of  the  Fortuaths  of  Leinster;  Duvgall, 
son  of  Amlave,  and  Gillakieran*  son  of 
Gluniarn,  two  tanists  of  the  Danes ; 
Sigurd,  son.  of  Lodar ;  Brodar,  who  had 
killed  Brian ;  Ottir  Duv ;  Suartgar ; 
Duncha  O'Herailv ;  Grisane ;  Luimni 
and  Amlave,  sons  of  Lagmainn,  <fec. 


Keating,  &c. ;  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  with 
O'Donovan's  annotations ;  the  Niala  Saga,  as  given 
with  a  Latin  version  in  Jolmstone's  Antiquitatcs  Celto- 
Seandiem  ;  and  other  sources. 


BURIAL  OF  BRIAN. 


141 


Among  the  slaiD,  on  the  Irish  side, 
besides  Brian,  his  sou  Morough,  and 
his  grandson  Turlough,  are  mentioned 
Conaing,  son  of  Doncuan,  Brian's 
nephew  ;  Cuduiligh,  sou  of  Kennedy  ; 
Mothla,  lord  of  the  Desies ;  Eocha,  chief 
of  the  Clann  Scannlain ;  Niall  O'Cuinn" 
— the  three  latter  being  the  king's  aides- 
de-camp  or  companions — Teige  O'Kel- 
ly;  Mulroney  O'Heyne;  Gevnach,  sou 
of  Dugan ;  MacBeatha  of  Kerry  Luach- 
ra,  ancestors  of  the  O'Conors-Kerry ; 
Donuell,  lord  of  Corcabaiscin ;  Dun- 
laing  O'Hartagan;  the  great  stewards 
Mar  and  Levin  (Lenuox),  and  many 
others.  The  annals  add  that  Brian 
and  Morouo-h  both  lived  to  receive  the 
last  rites  of  the  church,f  and  that  their 
remains,  too^ether  with  the  heads  of  Co- 
naing  and  Mothla,  "were  convej^ed  by 
the  monks  to  Sord  Columb  Cille 
(Swords),  and  from  thence,  through 
Duleek  and  Louth,  to  Armagh,  by 
Maelmuire  (servant  of  Mary)  the  Coarb 
of  St.  Patrick ;  and  that  their  obsequies 
was  celebrated  for  twelve  days  and 
nights  with  great  splendor  by  the  cler- 
gy of  Armagh;  after  which  the  body 
of  Brian  was  deposited  in  a  stone  cofBu 
on  the  north  side  of  the  high  altar  in 
the  cathedral ;  the  body  of  his  son  be- 
ing interred  on  the  south  side  of  the 
same  church.  The  remains  of  Turlough, 
and  of  several  of  the  other  chieftains, 
were  buried  in  the  old  church-yard  of 
Kilmaiuham,  commonly  known  as  "  Bul- 


*  Ancestor  of  tlie  O'Quiims  of  Thomond,  of  whom 

tlie  earl  of  Dunraven  is  the  present  head.— O'DoxovAN. 

f  Marianus  Scotus  thus  records  the  death  of  Brian  in 


ly's  Acre,"  where  the  shaft  of  an  ancient 
Irish  cross  still  marks  the  spot. 

The  day  after  the  battle,  Donough, 
son  of  Brian,  arrived  with  the  spoils  of 
Leinster,  and  met  his  brother  Teige 
with  the  surviving  Irish  chieftains  and 
the  remains  of  their  victorious  army. 
He  made  rich  presents  to  the  clergy  of 
Armaojh,  and  to  those  of  other  church- 
es ;  and  about  Easter  Monday  the  camp 
broke  up,  and  the  chiefs  with  their  re- 
spective forces  took  each  the  road  to- 
wards his  own  territory.  It  is  related 
that  while  the  Dalcassians  were  on  their 
march  home  through  the  territory  of 
Ossory,  MacGillaj^atrick,  the  prince  of 
that  country,  attempted  to  ojjpose  their 
progress  and  demanded  hostages ;  but 
the  sons  of  Brian,  with  their  shattered 
battalion,  prepared  to  give  him  battle ; 
and  the  Dalcassians  are  said  to  have  af- 
forded on  the  occasion  a  memorable 
example  of  heroism.  The  wounded 
warriors  were  tied  to  stakes  in  the 
front  ranks,  each  wounded  man  be- 
tween two  of  his  sound  companions ; 
but  the  men  of  Ossory,  appalled  by  so 
desperate  a  preparation  for  resistance, 
or  moved  by  some  more  honorable  feel- 
insr,  refused  to  fierht  aaraiust  such  an 
enemy,  and  the  heroes  of  Thomond  were 
allowed  to  proceed  in  peace. 

Soon  after  we  read  of  fresh  instances 
of  discord  in  the  southern  province. 
The  two  Desmonian  chiefs,  Ciau  and 
Donnell,   son   of  Duvdavorau,   fought 

his  chronicles ;—"  Brian,  king  of  Hihernia,  slain  on 
Good  Friday,  the  Cth  of  the  Calends  of  May  (April  23d), 
mth  his  mind  and  his  hands  t  imed  towards  God." 


142 


DEATH  OF  MALACHY  II. 


after  tlieir  return  from  Clontarf,  and 
the  former,  wlio  -was  celebrated  by  the 
bards  for  bis  beauty  and  stature,  was 
slain,  together  with  some  chiefs  who 
were  on  his  side ;  Avhile  the  following 
year  (1015),  Donnell,  who  asserted  his 
claim  to  the  throne  of  all  Munster  even 
on  the  day  after  the  battle  of  Clontarf, 
led  an  army  to  Limerick,  where  he  was 
encountered  and  slain  by  the  two  sons 
of  Brian,  Donoua-h  and  Teiare. 

Meanwhile  Malachy  resumed  the  au- 
thority of  monarch  with  the  tacit  con- 
sent of  the  Irish  chiefs,  and  by  his  fre- 
quent and  successful  attacks  on  the 
Danes  of  Dublin,  and  his  onslaughts 
on  the  peojjle  of  Leinster  and  of  other 
territories,  in  the  assertion  of  his  sover- 
eignty, he  proved  that  he  still  possessed 
energy  enough  to  rule  the  country.  A 
month  before  his  death  he  gained  an 
important  victory  over  the  Danes  of 
Dul)lin,  at  Athboy,  or  the  Yellow 
Ford  of  TIachta,  in  Meath,  and  died  a.  d. 
1022,  in  Cro  Inis,  an  island  of  Lough 
Ennel  in  Westmeath,  opposite  the  fort 
of  Dun  Sciath,  which  had  been  his  res- 
idence; having  reigned  eight  years  af- 
ter the  battle  of  Clontarf,  and  reached 
the  seventy-thii'd  year  of  his  age. 

The  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise  state 
that  Malachy  "  was  the  last  king  of  Ire- 
land of  Irish  blood  that  had  the  crown ; 


*  Cuan  O'Lochan  -was  killed  by  tlie  people  of  TefEa, 
In  the  year  1024,  and  it  is  added  in  the  Annals  of  KU- 
ronan  "that  his  murderers  met  tragical  deaths,  and  that 
their  bo3ies  were  not  interred  until  the  wolves  and 
birds  had  preyed  upon  them ;"  moreover,  it  was  said, 
that  their  posterity  were  known  by  au  offensive  odor ; 
this  being  what  the  Irish  called  a  "  poet's  miracle,"  that 


but  that  there  were  seven  kinsrs  after 
without  crown,  before  the  comiuE:  of 
the  English."  Two  of  these  kin^s, 
however,  were  acknowledged  by  the 
whole  of  Ireland.  An  interrefrnum  of 
twenty  years  followed  the  death  of 
Malachy,  during  part  of  which  interval 
the  country  is  stated,  in  some  of  the 
old  annals,  to  have  been  governed  by 
two  learned  men,  "the  one,"  say  the 
Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  "  called  Cuan 
O'Lochan,  a  well  learned  temporal 
(lay)  man,  and  chief  poet  of  Ireland; 
the  other,  Corcran  Cleireach  (tlie 
Cleric),  a  devout  and  holy  man,  that 
was  anchorite  of  all  Ireland,  and  whose 
most  abiding  was  at  Lismore.  The 
land  was  governed  like  a  free  state, 
and  not  like  a  monarchy  by  them."  * 

As  to-the  Danes,  their  power,  though 
not  annihilated  in  the  battle  of  Clon- 
tarf, was  so  crushed  by  that  memorable 
■victory  that  they  never  after  attempted 
hostilities  on  a  large  scale  in  Ireland, 
and  were  content  to  hold  their  position 
chiefly  as  merchants  in  Dublin,  and  the 
other  ports  already  occupied  by  them. 
Their  inability  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  shattered  and  distracted  condition 
in  which  Ireland  remained  for  a  Ions: 
time  after  that  bloody  conflict  is  the 
best  proof  of  the  fearful  amount  of  loss 
which  they  there  sustained. 


is,  a  punishment  drawn  down  by  the  malediction  of  a 
poet,  or  for  an  injury  inflicted  on  a  poet.  Several  of 
these  "poetic  miracles"  are  mentioned  in  the  Irish  an- 
nals of  the  middle  ages.  Three  of  the  compositions  of 
Cuan  O'Lochan  are  mentioned  in  O'Reilly's  Irish  Writ- 
ers (p.  7.3)  as  still  existing.  His  colleague,  Coicran, 
survived  hini  many  years. 


LEARNING  AFTER  THE  DANISH  WARS. 


143 


CHAPTER  XV. 

State  of  Learning  in  Ireland  during  and  after  the  Danish  Wars. — ^Eminent  Churclinien,  Poets  and  Antiquaries. — 
Tighemacli  and  Marianus  Scotus. — Irislimen  Abroad  in  the  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Centuries. — The  Monks  of 
the  Middle  Ages. — Causes  of  Ignorance  and  Disorganization. — Donough  O'Brien  in  Rome. — Turlough 
O'Brien. — Progress  of  Counaught. — -Wars  of  the  North  and  South  of  Ireland. — Destruction  of  the  Grianan  of 
Aileach. — The  Danes  after  Clontarf — Invasion  and  Fate  of  King  Magnus. — Relations  with  England. — Letter 
of  Pope  Gregory  VII. — Murtough  O'Brien  and  the  Church. — Remarkable  Synods. — Abuses  in  the  Irish  Church. 
— Number  of  Bishops. — St.  Bernard's  Denunciations. — Palliations. — St.  Malachy. — Misrepresentations. — Pro- 
gress of  Turlough  O'Conor. — Death  of  St.  Celsus. 


Contemparartj  Sovereigns  and  Evinis.—To'pa  Gregory  TIL,  from  1073  to  1035.— Henry  I'V.,  Emperor  of  the  'West,  died 
1106. — Snxon  line  restored  in  England  uDJer  Edward  the  Confessor,  1012. — England  conquered  by  the  Normans,  1066. — 
I'hilip  the  Fair,  King  of  France,  1059. 


The  eleventh  Centitry  aito  first  thiett  teaks  of  the  twelfth.) 


^URING  the  long  reign  of  ■war  and 
rapine  'wLicli  prevailed  from  the 
first  comino;  of  the  Danes  into  Ireland 
till  their  great  overthrow^  at  Clontarf, 
and  the  gloomy  period  of  domestic  dis- 
organization -n-hich  follo'U'ed,  it  'would  be 
little  'wonder  if  learning  had  quite  dis- 
apj)eared  from  this  country.  That  such, 
ho-^vever,  -was  not  the  case,  -we  have  am- 
ple proofs  in  the  frequent  obituaries  of 
men  described  in  our  authentic  annals 
as  eminent  for  learning  as  well  as  piety 
during  that  dreary  lapse  of  ages ;  in  the 
constant  revival  of  plundered  monaster- 
ies and  schools,  which  these  chronicles 
record ;  and  in  the  number  of  distin- 
guished Irishmen  'who  still  continued 
to  flourish  in  France,  Germany,  and 
other     parts     of    the     continent.       It 


would  be  easy  to  make  out  a  tol- 
erably long  list  of  the  men  who  thus 
vindicate  their  age  and  country  from 
the  charge  of  barbarism,  but  a  few 
names  will  suffice  for  our  purpose. 

Beginning  with  the  tenth  ceutuiy, 
which  modern  "writers  generally  style 
the  "  darkest  of  the  middle  ao-es,"  we 
might  commence  our  list  Avith  Cormac 
MacCuileunan,  whose  career  has  been 
already  described  in  the  proper  place. 
We  might  also  enumerate,  among  other 
names  already  mentioned,  those  of  Cor- 
macan  Eigeas,  the  chief  poet  of  Ulster 
in  the  time  of  Muii'kertach  O'Neill, 
whose  memorable  circuit  he  celebrated  ; 
and  of  the  lector  Probus  or  Coenachair, 
the  biographer  of  St.  Patrick,  who  was 
burned  by  the  Danes  in  a  round  tower 


144 


TIGHERNACH  THE  ANNALIST. 


at  Slaue.  A  little  before  this  time, 
when  the  monastic  institutions  had  been 
destroj-ed,  and  with  them  learning  and 
religion  almost  wholly  extinguished  in 
England,  a  few  Irish  monks  settled  at 
Glastonbury,  and  for  their  support  be- 
gan to  teach  the  rudiments  of  sacred 
and  secular  knowledge.*  One  of  the 
earliest  and  most  illustrious  of  their 
pupils  was  the  great  St.  Dunstan,  who, 
under  the  tuition  of  these  Irishmen,  be- 
came skilled  in  philosophy,  painting, 
music,  and  other  accomplishments,  a 
proof  that  education  had  made  consid- 
erable progress  among  the  Irish  monks. 
St.  Cadroe,  the  son  of  a  king  of  the  Al- 
banian Scots,  was  at  the  same  time  in 
Ireland,  studying  in  the  schools  of  Ar- 
magh, where  he  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  arithmetic,  astronomy,  natural  his- 
tory, <fec.  And  the  name  of  Trian  Sax- 
on, then  ap2:)lied  to  one  of  the  quarters 
of  that  city,  shows  that  thus,  long  be- 
fore the  English  invasion,  it  must  have 
been  frequented  by  a  large  number  of 
Saxon  students.f  St.  Maccallin,  an 
Irishman,  flourished  in  France  at  the 
same  period,  as  did  also  another,  St. 
Columbanus,  an  Irish  saint,  whose 
memory  has  been  preserved  with  great 
veneration  in  Belgium.  In  the  same 
centuiy  Duncan,  an  Irish  bishop,  taught 
in  the  monastery  of  St.  Remigius,  at 
Rheims,  and  wrote,  for  the  use  of  his 


*  These  were  the  "  viri  sanctissimi,  praecipui  Hiber- 
nici,"  of  whom  Camden  writes,  who,  in  process  of  time, 
received  a  salary  from  the  Idng  and  educated  youth  in 
piety  and  the  liberal  arts.  "  They  embraced  a  solitary 
life  that  they  might  devote  themselves  more  tranquilly 
to  sacred  literature,  and  by  their  austerities  they  accus- 


students,  some  w^orks,  of  vi-hich  t^yo,  on 
the  liberal  arts,  and  geogi'aphy,  are  still 
extant. 

At  home,  poetr}^,  especially  as  applied 
to  history,  was  a  fixvorite  pursuit.  Ken- 
neth O'Hartagan,  who  died  iu  975,  is 
described  as  a  famous  poet  of  Leath 
Cuinu,  and  many  of  his  compositions 
are  to  be  found  iu  Irish  MS.  collections. 
Eochy  O'Flynn,  who  died  in  984,  has 
left  us  several  historical  2:)oems  of  merit. 
He  is  frequently  quoted  as  an  authority 
for  accounts  of  the  early  colonists  of 
Ireland;  having  on  these  subjects  em- 
bodied in  his  verses  traditions  of  an  age 
much  older  than  his  own.  The  names 
of  MacLiag,  the  secretary  of  Brian  Bo- 
rumha;  and  of  Cuan  O'Lochan,  one  of 
the  co-regents  of  Ireland,  have  been  al- 
ready introduced  in  these  pages;  and 
following  up  the  list  of  those  who  be- 
long to  this  class,  we  have  Flann  Main- 
istreach,  the  abbot  of  Monasterboice, 
who  died  in  1056,  and  Giolla  Keevin, 
who  died  in  1072  ;  both  famous  as  bar- 
dic chroniclers,  many  of  whose  j)roduc- 
tions  still  survive. 

The  most  accurate  and  judicious  of 
our  ancient  annalists  was  Tighernach 
(Tiernach),  abbot  of  Clonmacnoise,  who 
wrote  the  Annals  of  L'eland  from  the 
reign  of  Cimbaeth,  that  is,  from  about 
the  year  before  Christ,  305,  to  the 
period  of  his  death,  in  1088.     His  com- 

tomed  themselves  to  carry  the  cross." — Brit.  p.  103, 
London,  1000.  Glastonbury,  according  to  Camden,  waa 
anciently  called  "  the  first  land  of  the  saints  in  Eng. 
land." 

f  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ad.  an.  1093 ;  Colgaa, 
Trias  Thaum. 


THE  MONKS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 


145 


pilation,  which,  is  partly  in  Latin  and 
partly  in  Irish,  evinces  a  familiarity 
with  Greek  and  Eoman  writei-s  that  is 
highly  creditable  to  the  Irish  monk  of 
that  age. 

It  is  remarkable  that  contemporary 
with  this  eminent  domestic  chronicler 
another  Irishman,  celebrated  in  the 
same  department  of  literature,  flour- 
ished abroad ;  the  famous  Marianus 
Scotus — wliose  great  chronicles  are  the 
most  perfect  composition  of  the  kind 
which  the  middle  ages  produced — hav- 
ing died  in  1086,  two  years  before  his 
countryman  Tighernach.  National  vani- 
ty induced  some  Scottish  writers  to 
claim  Marianus  as  their  countryman, 
but  without  a  shadow  of  foundation.* 
The  name  is  the  usual  Latin  form  of 
Maelmuire,  "  the  servant  of  Mary,"  a 
name  then  common  in  Ireland ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  fa- 
mous chronographer  was  first  a  monk 
of  Clonard,  in  Meath.  Having  gone,  as 
many  learned  Irishmen  did  in  his  time, 
to  Germany,  he  first  entered  the  Irish 
convent  near  Cologne,  but  subsequently 
became  a  recluse  at  Fulda,  and  was 
finally  sent  by  his  superiors  to  Metz, 
where  he  died.  The  existence  of  such 
men  as  Marianus  Scotus  and  Tio;her- 
nach,  in  the  eleventh  century,  are  facts 


*  See  the  authorities  on  this  point  collected  by  Lani- 
gan,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  447,  448,  and  W.,  pp.  5,  7,  8.  When 
Henry  IV.  of  England  urged  the  authority  of  Marianus 
iu  support  of  hia  claim  to  the  crown  of  Scotland,  as  Ed- 
ward I.  had  done  before,  the  Scottish  States  replied  that 
the  writer  was  a,  Hibernian  not  an  Albanian  Scot.  Ma- 
rianus is  the  first  who  is  known  to  have  applied  the 
name  of  Scotia  to  the  modem  Scotland,  which  was  pre- 
19 


of  great  importance  for  their  age  and 
country. 

When  St.  Fingen,  an  Irishman,  who 
succeeded  the  Albanian  Scot,  St.  Cad- 
roe,  as  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St. 
Felix,  at  Metz,  was  also  invested,  in  991, 
with  the  government  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Sj'mphorian  in  that  city,  it  was 
ordered  by  the  bishop  that  none  but 
Irish  monks  should  be  admitted  into 
this  latter  house,  while  they  could  be 
found  ;  but  when  these  failed  the  monks 
of  other  nations  might  be  received.f 
The  monastery  of  St.  Martin,  on  the 
Rhine,  near  Cologne,  was  made  over  to 
the  Irish  for  ever,  in  975  ;  and  several 
other  monasteries,  either  wholly  or 
partially  occupied  by  Irish  monks,  such 
as  those  of  Erfurt,  Fulda,  &c.,  are  known 
to  have  existed  at  that  period  in  Ger- 
many and  the  Netherlands.  Some 
Irishmen  were  associated  with  a  com- 
munity of  Greek  monks  established  at 
Toul,  in  France,  by  the  bishop,  St. 
Gerard,  and  are  stated  to  have  joined 
them  in  the  performance  of  the  Church 
service  in  the  Greek  language.^ 

St.  Dunchadh,  abbot  of  Clonmac- 
noise,  who  died  at  Armagh,  in  988,  and 
was  held  there  in  great  veneration,  is 
said  by  Tighernach  to  have  been  the 
last  of  the  Irish  saints  who  resuscitated 


vionsly  only  called  Alba,  an  appellation  which,  in  this 
form,  or  in  that  of  Albuinn,  or  Albainn,  has  ever 
been  the  only  Celtic  name  for  North  Britain. 

f  See  a  copy  of  the  original  diploma  to  that  effect,  pub- 
lished by  Colgan,  with  the  acts  of  St.  Fingen  in  the  AA. 
SS.  Hib.  p.  258. 

J  Tills  curious  fact  is  mentioned  by  the  Benedictines 
in  their  Sistoire  Literaire. 


146 


THE   SONS  OF  BRIAN  BORUMHA. 


the  dead.*  St.  Aedh,  or  Hugh,  lector 
of  Trevet,  iu  Meatb,  died  at  ArmagL,  iu 
1004,  after  affording  for  many  years  a 
briglit  example  of  holiness  of  life  ;  and, 
under  the  date  1018,  is  recorded  the 
death  of  St.  Gormghal  of  Ardoilean,  the 
remains  of  whose  humble  oratory  and 
clofrhan  cell  are  still  to  be  seen  on  that 
rocky  islet,  amid  the  surges  of  the  At- 
lantic, off  the  wild  coast  of  Counemara.f 
Did  we  not  bear  in  mind  the  fact,  that 
such  men  as  these — and  many  others 
like  them  might  be  enumerated — lived, 
and  taught,  and,  prayed  at  that  period, 
we  would  be  apt,  iu  wading  through 
the  chaos  of  war  and  anarchy  which  the 
chronicles  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries  present,  to  think  that  it  Avas 
indeed  the  age  of  utter  darkness  and 
barbarism,  which  some  writers  unjustly 
represent  it  to  have  been.""' 

Whether  ignorance  and  vice  pre- 
vailed on  the  continent  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent before  Charlemagne,  or  after  that 
great  monarch's  reforms  became  obliter- 
ated iu  the  tenth  century,  is  a  matter 
of  discussion.  Iu  the  former  case  they 
were  jiroduced  by  the  deluge  of  bar- 
barism from  the  uorth  and  east,  and 
they  resulted  in  the   latter  from   the 


*  In  the  Acts  of  St.  Duncliadli  it  is  stated  that  the  mir- 
acle of  restoring  a  dead  cliild  to  life  was  performed 
through  his  prayers.     AA.  SS.  Hib.  Jan.  16. 

f  St.  Gormghal  is  called  "  chief  anmchara  of  Ireland." 
The  word  anmchara  means  "  spiritual  director,"  and  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  anycore,  "  an  anchorite  or  re- 
cluse." 

X  It  may  be  well  to  remind  some  readers,  that  war^ 
rapine,  and  social  confu.sion  make  up  the  great  bulk  of 
the  history  of  other  countries  as  well  as  that  of  Ireland, 
during  the  ages  of  wliich  we  are  here  treating.    In  those 


rauk  growth  of  the  feudal  system  with 
its  abuses. 

In  Ireland  disorganizing  agencies, 
analo2;ous  thourrh  uot  identical  nor  con- 
temporary,  were  iu  operation.  Thus, 
although  Ireland  Avas  uot  conquered  by 
barbarians,  the  Danish  wars — which 
raged  without  intermission  for  two  cen- 
turies— were  well  calculated  to  produce 
the  same  ruinous  results ;  and  if  the 
feudal  system  did  uot  exist,  one  equally 
pregnant  with  political  mischief  pre- 
vailed. The  numerous  small  and  inde- 
pendent principalities  into  which  the 
island  was  parceled  out  were  j^erpetu- 
ally  engaged  iu  mutual  strife.  They 
formed  daily  new  comjjlications ;  and 
as  they  increased  in  strength  a  central 
coutrolling  power  became  more  and 
more  impracticable,  and  if  raised  up  oc- 
casionally by  force  of  arms,  required 
incessant  recourse  to  the  same  violent 
means  to  enforce  even  a  formal  recogni- 
tion of  its  authority.  Such,  unhappily, 
was  the  state  of  things  which  prevailed 
without  amelioration  from  the  death 
of  Malachy  II.  to  the  coming  of  the 
English  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth 
century. 

Donough,  sou  of  Brian  Boruraha,  hav- 


turbulent  times,  the  sole  conservators  of  human  know- 
ledge as  well  as  of  religion  in  Christendom  (for  we  ex- 
cept the  Arabs),  were  the  much  abused  monks ;  and 
those  who  ungratefully  blame  these  for  having  kept  all 
knowledge  to  themselves,  forget  that  this  was  not  the 
monks'  foult.  The  laity  were  too  intent  upon  war  and 
other  pursuit-s,  and  despised  learning  too  much  to  devote 
attention  to  it ;  and  the  alternative  was,  the  preservar 
tion  of  literature  by  ecclesiastics,  or  its  final  extinc- 
tion. 


TURLOUGH  O'BRIEN. 


147 


ing,  by  the  defeat  of  the  Desraonians, 
and  subsequently  by  the  death  of  liis 
brother,  Teige(who  was  in  1023  treach- 
erously slain,  at  his  instigation,  by  the 
people  of  Ely  O'Carroll),  obtained  the 
undisputed  sovereignty  of  Munster, 
marched  an  army  northward,  and  took 
the  hostages  of  Meath,  Bregia,  Os- 
sory,  and  Leinster.  This  was  a  step 
towards  assertiuo;  his  claim  to  the  sov- 
ereignty  of  all  Ireland  ;  but  bis  contem- 
porary, Dermot  Mac]\Iael-na-mbo,  king 
of  Leinster,  had  a  superior  title  to  that 
honor.'*  Donough  assembled  a  meeting 
of  the  clergy  and  chieftains  of  Munster 
at  Killaloe,  in  tbe  year  1050,  to  pass 
laws  for  the  protection  of  life  and  pro- 
perfcjr,  against  whicb  outrages  bad  been 
rendered  more  frequent  in  consequence 
of  a  dearth  which  then  prevailed ;  and 
in  1063,  being  defeated  in  battle  by  his 
nephew  Turlough,  son  of  Teige,  who 
was  aided  by  the  forces  of  Connaught 
and  Leinster,  he  went  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  Rome,  where  he  died  the  following 
year,  after  doing  penance  for  the  crime 
of  implication  in  his  brother's  murder. 
It  is  stated  that  he  took  with  him  to 
Rome  the  crown  of  Ireland,  jirobably 
the  same  which  had  been  worn  by  his 
father,  and  that  he  presented  it  to  the 
pope  ;  and  it  is  added,  but  not  on  good 


*  Connell  Mageoghegan,  in  his  translation  of  tlie  An- 
nals of  Clonmacnoise,  A.  D.  1041,  says  : — "  The  kings,  or 
cHcf  monarchs  of  Ireland,  were  reputed  to  be  absolute 
(supreme)  monarchs  in  this  manner :  if  he  were  of  Leigh- 
Con,  or  Con's  halfe  in  deale,  and  one  province  in  Leath- 
Moye,  or  Moj-'s  halfe  in  deale,  at  his  command,  he  was 
coumpted  to  be  of  sufficient  power  to  be  king  of  Taragh, 
or  Ireland  ;  but  if  the  party  were  of  Leath-Moye,  if  he 


authority,  that  this  crown  was  given  by 
Pope  Adrian  to  Henry  II.,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  that  king's  invasion  of  Ire- 
laud. 

Turlou2;h  O'Brien  now  became  the 
most  potent  among  the  Irish  princes, 
and  on  the  death  of  Dermot  MacMael- 
na-mbo,  who  was  killed  in  battle  to- 
gether with  a  number  of  his  allies  or 
vassals,  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  by  the 
king  of  Meath,  in  1072,  the  Dalcassian 
king  was  regarded  as  his  successor  in 
the  rank  of  monarch  of  Ireland.  Tur- 
lough proceeded  to  assert  his  authority 
by  exacting  hostages  from  the  other 
kings  ;  but  in  1075  he  received  a  check 
from  the  men  of  the  north,  at  Ardee 
At  this  time  the  MacLoughlius,  a  branch 
of  the  Hy-Nialls  of  Tyrone,  reigned  at 
Aileach,  and  the  O'Melas^hlins  in  Meath. 
The  former  retained  their  traditional 
character  for  indomitable  bravery,  and 
could  rarely  be  compelled  to  admit  the 
supremacy  of  any  southern  prince. 

The  power  of  Cofinaught  had  of  late 
made  considerable  advances  under  the 
O'Conors ;  and  Rory,  or  Roderic  O'Con- 
■or,  its  present  king,  having  evinced  an 
aspiring  disposition,  Turlough  O'Brien 
was  resolved  to  humble  him,  and  for 
that  2-)urpose  led  a  powerful  army  into 
Connaught,    in     1079,    plundered    the 


could  not  command  all  Leath-Moye  and  Taragh,  with 

the  lordshipp  thereunto  belonging,  and  the  province  of 
I  Ulster  or  Connaught  (if  not  both)  he  would  not  be 
j  thought  sufficient  to  be  king  of  all.  Dermott  Maciloy- 
1  lenemo  cou'd  command  Leath-Moye,  Meath,  Connaught, 
[  and  Ulster,  and  therefore,  by  the  judgment  of  all,  he 

was  reputed  sufficient  monarch  of  the  whole"  (of  Iro- 

hmd). 


148 


WARS  BETWEEN  THE  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


country  as  far  as  Croagli  Patrick,  and 
expelled  Kory  from  his  kingdom.  Next 
year  he  led  an  army  to  Dublin,  where 
the  people  of  Meath,  who  were  accom- 
panied by  the  successor  of  St.  Patrick, 
bearing  the  staff  of  Jesus,  made  their 
submission  to  him ;  and  he  appointed 
his  son,  Murtough,  lord  of  the  Danes  of 
Dublin,  a  position  which  had  some  time 
before  been  held  by  a  prince  of  Lein- 
ster.  As  to  Rory  O'Conor,  after  carry- 
ing on  several  petty  wars  successfully. 
Tie  at  length  (1012)  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  O'Flaherties  of  West  Connaught, 
who  always  resisted  the  authority  of 
the  O'Conor  family,  and  was  by  them 
treacherously  blinded,  the  barbarous 
practice  of  that  age  being  to  put  out 
the  eyes  of  captive  princes,  in  order  to 
unfit  them  to  command. 

Turlough  O'Brien*  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Murtough,  who  subsequently 
became  king  of  all  Ireland ;  but  in  the 
mean  time  that  honor  devolved  upon 
another  prince;  for  in  1090  a  great 
meeting  took  place  between  Donnell, 
sou  of  MacLoughlin,  king  of  Aileach ; 
Murtough  O'Brien,  king  of  Cashel ; 
Donnell  O'Melaghlin,  king  of  Meath; 
and  Rory  O'Conor,  king  of  Connaught, 
besides  other  princes ;  and  it  was  agreed 
that  the  king  of  Aileach  should  be  ac- 
knowledged lord  paramount,  and  host- 
ages were  accordingly  delivered  to  him 


*  A  ludicrous  story  is  told  by  the  Four  Masters  of  the 
remote  cause  of  Turlough  O'Brien's  death.  It  is  said 
that  after  an  old  enemy,  Conor  O'Melaghlin,  king  of 
Meath,  had  been  killed,  and  his  remains  deposited  at 
Clonmacnoise,  Turlough  ordered  the  head  of  the  dead 
man  to  be  taken  away  forcibly  from  the  church  and 


as  such  by  the  other  kings  and  chief- 
tains. 

The  peace  thus  brought  about  was, 
however,  of  short  duration,  if  indeed 
there  were  any  tranquil  interval  at  all ; 
for  the  provinces  uot  only  continued  at 
war  with  each  other,  but  were  split  up 
by  internal  divisions;  and  more  than 
once,  about  this  time,  the  church 
threw  itself  into  the  breach  between 
opposing  armies,  and  caused  a  truce  to 
be  made.  A  pestilence  raged  in  1095, 
and  a  great  part  of  the  following  year 
was  spent  in  fasting  and  works  of  char- 
ity, in  order  to  avert  a  mysterious 
scourge  from  heaven  which  the  nation 
believed  to  be  impending.  Donnell 
O'Loughlin  and  the  Clann  O'Neill 
invaded  the  Ulidians  in  1099,  and 
there  is  an  account  of  a  decisive  cav- 
alry battle  between  them,  in  which 
the  latter  were  defeated;  while  Mur- 
tou2:h  O'Brien  had  some  trouble  in 
contending  with  the  Connaught  men  on 
one  side,  and  with  an  insurrection  of 
his  own  relatives,  the  sons  of  Teige 
O'Brien,  on  the  other. 

But  the  great  struggle  was  between 
the  south  and  the  north,  and  Murtough 
directed  all  his  resources  and  his  great 
military  ability  to  the  one  object  of 
establishing  his  own  power  as  monarch 
of  Ireland.  Twice— in  1097  and  1099 
— did  the  archbishop  of  Armagh  and 

brought  to  him.  While  feasting  his  eyes  on  that  grim 
object,  a  mouse  issued  from  it,  and  leaped  into  his 
bosom,  and  this  gave  him  such  a  shock  that  ho  became 
iU,  his  hair  fell  off,  and  he  remained  in  bad  health  from 
that  time  (1073)  mitil  death,  in  108(3. 


FRESH   ATTEMPTS   OF  THE   DANES. 


149 


the  clergy  of  Ireland  interpose  between 
tbe  two  armies,  when  face  to  face,  to 
avert  the  threatened  blow ;  but  Mur- 
tongh  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  his 
purpose.  In  1100  he  brought  a  fleet, 
chiefly  composed  of  Danish  ships,  to 
Derry,  but  O'Loughlin  succeeded  in 
destroying  them;  and  the  following 
year  (1101),  a  twelve-months'  truce 
which  the  clergy  had  negotiated  having 
expired,  Murtough  led  a  powerful  army, 
composed  of  hostings  from  all  the  other 
provinces,  to  the  north,  and  devastated 
the  whole  of  Inis  Eoghain,  without 
meeting  any  opposition.  He  demolished 
the  palace  or  stronghold  of  the  north- 
ei"n  Hy-Nialls,  called  the  Grianan  of 
Aileach,*  in  revenge  for  a  similar  act  of 
hostility  inflicted  on  O'Brien's  palace  of 
Kiucora,  by  O'Loughlin,  several  years 
before ;  and  to  raze  it  the  more  eflSsctu- 
ally,  he  commanded  that  in  every  sack 
which  had  been  used  to  carry  j)ro vi- 
sions for  the  army,  a  stone  of  the  de- 
molished building  should  be  placed, 
that  the  mateiials  of  it  might  be  con- 
veyed to  Limerick.  Murtough  next 
took  hostages  of  Ulidia  and  returned  to 
the  south,  having  made  the  entire  cir- 
cuit of  L'eland,  as  the  annals  tell  us,  in 
six  weeks,  without  encountering  any 
army  to  dispute  his  j^rogress. 

The  reader  has  observed  that  the 
overthrow  of  the  Danes  at  Clontarf  by 
no  means  implied  their  expulsion  from 


*  The  remains  of  this  celebrated  stronghold  are  still 
visible  on  the  summit  of  a  small  1iil1  in  the  comity  of 
Donegal,  about  four  and  a-half  miles  N.  W.  of  the  city 
cf  Londonderry,  and  are  called  Qreenan  Ely. — Ordnance 
Survey  of  Londonderry. 


L'eland.  They  still  continued  to  hold 
Dublin  and  the  other  maritime  cities 
previously  occupied  by  them ;  but 
chiefly  in  the  capacity  of  merchants. 
Their  subsequent  predatory  inroads 
were  few ;  one  of  the  last  being  in 
1031,  when  they  burned  the  great 
church  of  Ardbraccan,  in  Meath,  to- 
gether with  200  persons  who  had 
sought  refuge  in  it,  and  carried  off  200 
more  as  captives.  Afterwards  these 
acts  of  aggression  on  their  part  were 
rare.  The  Danes  of  Dublin  sent,  at 
different  times,  expeditions  against  their 
countrymen  in  Waterford  and  Cork, 
which  shewed  that  they  had  ceased  to 
co-operate  as  a  nation;  and  at  length 
their  lords  or  kings  were  occasionally 
expelled  by  the  Irish,  and  Irish  princes 
substituted  for  them.f 

The  Northmen,  nevertheless,  had  not 
yet  abandoned  their  old  idea  of  con- 
quering Ireland.  Godfrey  Crovan  took 
possession  of  Dublin  and  part  of  Lein- 
ster,  for  a  time,  and  a  new  expedition 
was  set  on  foot  by  Magnus,  king  of 
Norway,  after  he  had  subdued  the 
Danes  of  the  Orkneys  and  of  the  Isle 
of  Man,  about  the  year  of  1101.  It  is 
related  in  the  Chronicle  of  Man,  that 
Magnus  sent  his  shoes  to  Murtough 
O'Brien,  king  of  Ireland,  commanding 
him,  in  token  of  subjection,  to  cany 
them  on  his  shoulders,  in  his  house  on 
Christmas  day.     The  news  of  so  inso- 


t  It  would  appear  that  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century  Ireland  gave  a  king  to  Norway,  in  the 
person  of  Harold  Gille,  who  was  an  Irishman.  See  Dr 
Latham's  Kelts  and  Northmen. 


150 


INTERCOURSE  BETWEEN  IRELAND   AND  ENGLAND. 


lent  a  messao-e  roused  the  indifrnation 
of  the  Irish  ;  but  Murtough,  according 
to  this  A'ery  improbable  story,  enter- 
tained the  Norwegian  ambassadors 
sumptuously ;  told  them  he  would  not 
only  carry  their  master's  shoes,  but  eat 
them  rather  than  that  one  province  of 
Ireland  should  Ije  laid  waste  by  an  in- 
vasion ;  and  having  complied  with  the 
haughty  demand  of  the  barbarian,  dis- 
missed his  messengers  with  rich  presents. 
The  rejiort  made  by  the  ambassadors 
only  strengthened  the  desire  of  Magnus 
to  obtain  a  footing  in  Ireland.  He  made 
a  truce  of  one  year  with  king  Murtough, 
the  hand  of  whose  daughter  he  obtained 
in  mai'i'iage  for  his  son  Sigurd ;  but  all 
his  am])itious  projects  were  frustrated 
the  following  year  (1103)  ;  for,  on  land- 
ing to  explore  the  country  he  and  his 
party  were  cut  off  by  the  Ulidians,  af- 
ter some  hard  fighting,  and  his  remains 
were  respectfully  interred  near  St.  Pat- 
rick's church,  in  Down.* 

We  meet   many  instances   of  inter- 
course with  England  during  the  period 


*  Mr.  Moore  (Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  137)  contrast- 
ing the  resistance  wliicli  the  Danes  encountered  in  Ire- 
land, with  the  ineffective  efforts  made  against  them  in 
England,  says  : — "  The  very  same  year  (that  of  the  bat- 
tle of  Clontarf),  which  saw  Ireland  pouring  forth  her 
assembled  princes  and  clans  to  confront  the  invader  on 
the  sea-shore,  and  there  make  of  his  myriads  a  warning 
example  to  all  future  intruders,  beheld  England  un- 
worthily cowering  under  a  similar  visitation,  her  king 
a  fugitive  from  the  scourge  in  foreign  lands,  and  her 
nobles  purchasing  by  inglorious  tribute,  a  short  respite 
from  aggression ;  and  while,  in  the  English  annals  for 
this  year,  we  find  little  else  than  piteous  lamentations 
over  the  fallen  and  broken  spirit  both  of  rulers  and  peo- 
ple, in  the  records  of  Ireland  the  only  sorrows  which 
appear  to  have  mingled  with  the  general  triumph  are 
those  breathed  at  the  tombs  of  the  veteran  monarch  and 


of  which  we  have  been  lately  treating. 
Driella,  daughter  of  earl  Godwin  and 
sister  of  Editha,  the  queen  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  was  married  to  Donough 
O'Brien,  the  Irish  king ;  and  during  the 
rebellion  of  Godwin  and  his  sons  against 
king  Edward,  Harold,  one  of  the  sons, 
afterwards  king  of  England,  took  refuge 
in  Ireland.  He  remained  during  a  win- 
ter with  his  brother-in-law,  Donough, 
who  gave  him,  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
and,  nine  ships  to  aid  him  in  his  enter- 
prise. The  Irish  lent  assistance  in  sev- 
eral other  feuds  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  at 
this  period.  Lanfranc,  the  great  arch- 
bishoji  of  Canterbury,  appears  to  have 
directed  a  watchful  eye  towards  the 
Church  of  Ireland.  He  heard  of  irregu- 
larities of  discipline,  which  gave  him 
much  uneasiness,  and  as  he  was  in  con- 
stant intercourse  with  the  Danish  bish- 
ops of  Ireland,  who  had  gone  to  him  for 
consecration  and  promised  obedience  to 
him,  the  accounts  whicli  he  received 
were  sure  not  to  diminish  the  evil.  Lan- 
franc wrote  an   earnest  epistle  on   the 


the  numerous  chieftains  who  fell  in  that  struggle  by  his 
side." 

And  William  of  Newbury,  an  old  English  historian, 
who  was  born  in  the  year  1130,  candidly  says  : — "  It  is  a 
matter  of  wonder  that  Britain,  which  is  of  larger  extent, 
and  equally  an  island  of  the  ocean,  should  have  been 
so  often,  by  the  chances  of  war,  made  the  prey  of  for- 
eign nations,  and  subjected  to  foreign  rule,  having 
been  first  subdued  and  possessed  by  the  Romans,  then 
by  the  Germans,  afterwards  by  the  Danes,  and  lastly 
by  the  Normans  ;  while  her  neighbor,  Hibernia,  inacces- 
sible to  the  Romans  themselves,  even  when  the  Orkneys 
were  in  their  power,  has  been  but.  rarely,  and  then  im- 
perfectly, subdued ;  nor  ever,  in  reality,  has  been  brought 
to  submit  to  foreign  domination,  till  the  year  of  our 
Lord  1171."— JJo'UHi  Aiigl.  1.  3.  c.  sxxi. 


STATE   OF  RELIGIOX. 


151 


subject  to  king  Turlougli  O'Brien,  ad- 
dressing liiui  as  tlie  king  of  Ireland,  and 
lauding  liis  virtues  as  a  Christian  prince 
in  flatteriuo:  and  encouraaiing  terms. 
The  great  Pope  Gregory  VII.  also  hon- 
ored king  Turlough  with  a  letter,  pub- 
lished, as  well  as  the  last-mentioned  one, 
in  Ussher's  Sj'lloge,  and  addressed  him 
as  "The  illustrious  king  of  Ireland." 
It  is  stated  in  Haumer's  Chronicle  that 
AVilllam  Rufus  obtained  from  Turlough 
O'Brien  a  quantity  of  oak  timber  for 
the  roof  of  Westminster  Hall,  and  that 
the  trees  cut  down  for  the  purpose  grew 
on  Oxmantown  Green,  then  in  the  north- 
ern suburbs  of  Dublin,  but  now  form- 
ing part  of  the  city.  A  deputation  of 
the  nobles  of  Man  and  other  islands 
waited  on  Murtough  O'Brien,  and  soli- 
cited him  to  send  them  a  king,  and  he 
accordingly  sent  his  nephew,  Donnell, 
who,  however,  was  soon  expelled  on  ac- 
count of  his  tyranny ;  while  another 
Donnell  O'Brien,  his  cousin,  was,  at  the 
same  time,  lord  of  the  Danes  of  Dublin. 

Among  the  high  qualities  which 
marked  the  character  of  Murtough 
O'Brien  were  his  attachment  to  re- 
ligion and  his  generosity  to  the  church. 

In  the  year  1101  he  summoned  a 
meeting  of  the  clergy  and  chiefs  of 
Leath  Mogha,  to  give  due  solemnity  to 
au  act  of  extraordinary  munificence — 
namely,  that  of  granting  the  city  of  Cas- 
hel-of-the-kings  for  ever  to  the  religious 


*  It  is  said  that  Gilbert,  bisliop  of  Limerick,  and  first 
legate  apostolic  in  Ireland,  presided  on  this  latter  occa- 
sion ;  but  although  Dr.  Lanigan  holds  the  contrary  opin- 
ion, it  has  been  conjectured  ■with  great  probability  that 


of  Ireland,  free  from  all  dues  and  from 
all  lay  authority — a  grant,  say  the  an- 
nalists, "  such  as  no  king  had  ever  made 
before."  The  words  in  which  the  gift 
is  recorded  would  seem  to  imply  that 
the  royal  city  was  given  to  the  monas- 
tic orders  exclusively. 

In  1111  a  sjmod  was  convened  at 
Fidh-Aeugussa,  or  Aengus's  Grove,  de- 
scribed by  Colgan  as  near  the  hill  of 
Uisneach,  in  Westmeath.  It  was  at- 
tended by  50  bisbops,  300  priests,  and 
3,000  other  ecclesiastics;  and  also  by 
Murtough  O'Brien,  king  of  Leath  Mog- 
ha, and  by  the  nobles  of  his  provinces. 
Among  the  heads  of  the  clergy  were 
St.  Celsus,  or  Ceallach,  archbishop  of 
Armagh,  and  Maelmuire,  or  Mariaiius 
O'Dunain,  archbishop  of  Cashel,  who  is 
styled  "  most  noble  senior  of  the  clergy 
of  Ireland  ;"  the  object  of  the  synod  be- 
ins:  "  to  institute  rules  of  life  and  man- 
ners  for  clergy  and  people."  There  is 
also  mention  of  a  synod  of  Rathbreasail 
held  about  this  time,  the  particular  year 
not  being  specified,  nor  the  place  identi- 
fied by  its  ancient  name.*  The  abuses  in 
matters  of  discipline  whicb  had  grown 
out  of  old  customs,  and  which  the  se- 
cluded position  of  Ireland  had  gradual- 
ly allowed  to  extend  themselves,  had 
befjun  to  mve  much  uneasiness  at  this 
time  in  the  Irish  Church.  One  of  these 
abuses  was  the  excessive  multiplication 
of  the  episcopal  dignity,  owing  to  the 


the  synods  of  Fidh-Aengussa,  or  rather  Fidh-mic-Aen- 
gussa,  and  RathbrcasU  are  one  and  the  same. — Eccl. 
JEst.  of  Ireland,  chap,  xxv.,  sec.  siii. ;  also  Dr.  Kelly's 
edition  of  Cambrensis  Ecersua,  vol.  iii ,  pp.  53  and  783. 


Id- 


state  OF  RELIGIOX. 


custom  of  creating  chorepiscopi  or  rural 
bishops  ;  and  a  princijial  object  of  the 
synod  or  synods  in  question  was  to  limit 
the  number  of  jirelates  and  define  the 
bounds  of  dioceses.  It  was  decided  that 
there  should  be  but  twenty-four  bishops 
and  archbishops :  that  is,  twelve  in  the 
northern  and  twelve  in  the  southern 
half  of  Ireland ;  but  this  regulation  was 
not  carried  out  for  some  time.  The  dio- 
cese of  Cashel,  as  well  as  that  of  Ar- 
magh, was,  at  that  time,  fully  recognized 
as  archiepiscopal,  and  the  successor  of 
St.  Jarlath  was  sometimes  called  arch- 
bishop of  Connaught,  although  the 
formal  recognition  of  the  see  of  Tuam 
as  an  archbishopric  did  not  take  j)lace 
until  several  years  after. 

Besides  the  practice  of  unnecessarily 
multiplying  bishops,  which  was  one  that 
had  been  abolished  in  other  churches 
centuries  before  this  time,  the  more 
serious  abuse  jDrevailed  in  Ireland  of  al- 
lowing laymen  to  intrude  themselves 
into  church  dignities,  and  to  assume  the 
title  and  revenues  of  bishops.  These 
men,  as  we  have  already  explained  when 
treating  of  coarbs  or  comorbans,  were 
obliged  to  transfer  to  ecclesiastics,  regu- 
larly ordained  and  consecrated,  the 
functions  of  the  sacred  oflkes  which 
they  usurjied.  We  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  practice  was  a  general 
one ;  but  we  are  told  that  in  the  chuirh 
of  Armagh  there  was  a  succession  of 
eight  lay  and  married  intruders  usurp- 
ing the  title  of  St.  Patrick's  successors. 
The  father  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
and  the  highest  dignity  in  the  Irish 


church  was  treated  as  a  mere  temporal 
inheritance.  Some  other  corruptions  of 
discipline  had  also  crept  in ;  such  as  the 
practice  of  consecrating  bishops  without 
the  assistance  of  more  than  one  prelate; 
and  some  irregularities  in  contracting 
marriage  within  prohibited  degrees  of 
kindred  and  affinity,  and  also  in  the 
form  of  marriage.  But  on  these  subjects 
our  principal  source  of  information  is 
St.  Bernard's  Life  of  St.  Malachy ;  and 
it  is  now  universally  admitted  that  as 
the  illustrious  abbot  of  Clairvaux  knew 
nothing  about  Ireland  or  its  usages,  ex- 
cept what  he  learned  from  a  few  Irish- 
men who  described  to  him  partial  or 
isolated  abuses,  and  was  besides  an 
unsparing  and  zealous  denouncer  of  all 
corruptions,  he  allowed  his  horror  of 
everything  that  infringed  upon  the 
sanctity  of  religion  to  carry  him  too  far 
in  his  description  of  the  state  of  religion 
and  morals  in  Ireland  as  they  were 
found  there  by  his  friend  St.  Malachy. 

The  history  of  the  Irish  Church  dur- 
ing the  twelfth  centuiy,  into  which  we 
have  now  eutei'ed,  is  replete  with  the 
deepest  interest.  The  abuses  which 
cast  over  it  a  temporary  shade  are  to 
be  deplored ;  but  in  the  lives  of  such 
illustrious  men  as  St.  Celsus,  St.  Ma- 
lachy, St.  Gelasius,  and  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,  we  find  an  abundant  source  of 
consolation.  These  holy  men  were  raised 
up  at  a  favorable  moment  to  crush  the 
evil,  and  under  Providence  they  re- 
stored to  the  Church  of  Ireland  much 
of  its  pristine  lustre. 

When   St.   Malachy   undertook   the 


STATE  OF  RELIGION. 


153 


care  of  the  diocese  of  Connor 
•i  :-  +^„o  n.  most  deplorable 


!  MEMORARE. 

Rkmembb«.  0  luost  gracious  Virgin  Mary, 

M  to  thy   protection,  implored   thy   help 
I -dsc^ht  thy  intercession,  was  left  unaided 

Wu-edwuh  this  conl3denee,Ifly  unto  thee,' 
|0  V„.g,n   of    viz-gins,  n>.y  Mother.     To  thee 

il come;  before  thee  I  stand,  sinful    and  so 

-ft-l.*    0  Mother  of  the  Word  mean; 

r7°'-.V   petitions,  but  in  thy  mery 
iw  and  answer  lue.     Amen.  ' 

KjAa-i.^TioN.-"Sweet  Heart  of  Mary,  be 
')  salvation."  ^ 


,  he  found, 
relaxation 
would 
arfare, 
3rtions 
volved 
d  quite 
nstrous 
in  the 
ae  mere 
11  have 
Bernard 
•ror ;  yet 
on  men's 
very  lay 
nalists — 
lout  any 
aerally  as 
■  penance 
therefore, 
diation  of 
)f  the  few 
fc  rude  age, 
1*  St.Au- 
of  Canter- 
bury, in  his  correspondence  with  the 
prelates  of  the  south  of  Ireland,  and 
with  king  Murtough  O'Brien,  in  the 
years  1095  and  1100,  although  he  evin- 
ces extreme  anxiety  for  the  interests  of 


*  Tliis  abuse  ^vas  not  confined  to  Ireland.  A  canon 
of  the  Council  of  London  was  framed  against  a  precisely 
similar  abuse  in  1125 ;  and  in  the  time  of  Cambrensis 
there  were  lay  abbots  in  Wales  who  took  all  the  real 
property  of  the  monasteries  into  their  own  hands,  leav- 
ing the  clergy  only  the  altars  and  their  dues,  and  placing 
children  or  relatives  of  their  own  in  the  church  for  the 
purpose  of  enjoying  even  these. — Ttin.  Carribr.,  b.  c.  4. 

t  See  this  corespondence  printed  in  Ussher's  Sylloge. 

%  The  former  of  these  charges  is  the  mere  suggestion 
of  sectarian  bias,  without  any  foundation.  Thus  it  is 
20 


religion,  indicating  that  there  were  some 
irregularities  to  be  reformed,  still  com- 
pliments the  king  on  his  excellent  ad- 
ministration, and  passes  a  high  eulogium 
upon  those  bishops  of  whom  he  seems 
to  have  had  any  knowledge,  namely, 
those  of  the  southern  dioceses.f  We 
may,  indeed,  from  this  and  many  other 
circumstances,  conclude,  that  the  evils 
of  which  St.  Bernard  so  eloquently 
complained,  were  at  least  not  so  general 
as  his  denunciations  would  imply,  and 
did  not  continue  for  any  lengthened 
period.  It  should  be  also  observed 
that  they  have  reference  solely  to  mat- 
ters of  discipline  and  morality,  and  by 
no  means  to  faith  or  doctrine.  So  that 
we  must  be  on  our  guard  against  two 
very  grievous  misrepresentations  of 
which  the  Irish  Church  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  has  been  the  ob- 
ject; first,  that  there  was  some  devia- 
tion from  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  or 
Roman  Church  in  Ireland  at  that  time; 
and,  secondly,  that  the  moral  disorders 
which  it  must  be  admitted  did  exist, 
were  general,  or  continued  down  to  the 
time  of  the  English  invasion.;}: 

Resuming  our  civil  history,  and  pass- 
ing in  silence  over  a  number  of  petty 


falsely  pretended  that  it  was  St.  Malachy  who  actually 
brought  the  Irish  church  into  communion  with  Rome, 
and  that  this  arrangement  was  only  made  effective  by 
Cardinal  Paparo  at  the  Synod  of  Kells  in  1152.  The 
other  charge  has  been  made  by  various  writers  who 
took  it  up  at  second-hand,  and  were  actuated  by  un- 
friendly feelings  towards  Ireland.  Dr.  MUner,  in  par- 
ticular, in  his  work  on  Ireland  fell  into  the  injurious  er- 
ror of  supposing  that  the  English  on  their  arrival  here 
found  the  abuses  of  which  St.  Bernard  complained  haJi 
a  century  before  stUl  prevalent. 


152 


STATE   OF  RELIGION". 


custom  of  creating  cliorepiscopi  or  rural 
bishops ;  and  a  principal  object  of  the 
synod  or  synods  in  question  was  to  limit 
the  Bumber  of  prelates  and  define  the 
bounds  of  dioceses.  It  was  decided  that 
there  should  be  but  twenty-four  bishops 
and  archbishops :  that  is,  twelve  in  the 
northern  and  twelve  in  the  southern 
half  of  Ireland ;  but  this  regulation  was 
not  carried  out  for  some  time.  The  dio- 
cese of  Cash  el,  as  well  as  that  of  Ar- 
magh, was,  at  that  time,  fully  recognized 
as  archiepiscopal,  and  the  successor  of 
St.  Jarlath  was  sometimes  called  arch- 
bishop of  Connaught,  although  the 
formal  recognition  of  the  see  of  Tuam 
as  an  archbishopric  did  not  take  place 
until  several  years  after. 

Besides  the  practice  of  unnecessarily 
multiplying  bishops,  which  was  one  that 
had  been  abolished  in  other  churches 
centuries  before  this  time,  the  more 
serious  abuse  prevailed  in  Ireland  of  al- 
lowing laymen  to  intrude  themselves 
into  church  dignities,  and  to  assume  the 
title  and  revenues  of  bishops.  These 
men,  as  we  have  already  explained  when 
treating  of  coarbs  or  comorbans,  were 
obliged  to  transfer  to  ecclesiastics,  regu- 
larly ordained  and  consecrated,  the 
functions  of  the  sacred  oflices  Avhich 
they  usurped.  We  have  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  practice  was  a  general 
one ;  but  we  are  told  that  in  the  church 
of  Armagh  there  was  a  succession  of 
eight  lay  and  married  intruders  usurp- 
ing the  title  of  St.  Patrick's  successors. 
The  father  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
and  the  highest  dignity  in   the  Irish 


church  was  treated  as  a  mere  temporal 

inheritance.     Some  other  cormnti'-^'-'"  -^ 

discipli 

practice 

the  assi; 

and  SOB 

marriagi 

kindred 

form  of  V 

our  prin 

St.  Bern; 

it  is  now 

the  illusti 

nothing  a 

cept  what 

men  who 

isolated  a 

unsparing 

corrui^tioni 

everj^thing 

sanctity  of 

in  his  descr. 

and   morals 

found  there 

The  histo 
ing  the  twektn  century,  into  which  we 
have  now  entered,  is  replete  with  the 
deepest  interest.  The  abuses  which 
cast  over  it  a  temporary  shade  are  to 
be  deplored ;  but  in  the  lives  of  such 
illustrious  men  as  St.  Celsus,  St.  Ma- 
lachy,  St.  Gelasius,  and  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,  we  find  an  abundant  source  of 
consolation.  These  holy  men  were  raised 
up  at  a  favorable  moment  to  crush  the 
evil,  and  under  Providence  they  re- 
stored to  the  Church  of  Ireland  much 
of  its  pristine  lustre. 

When   St.   Malachy   undertook   the 


STATE  OF  RELIGION. 


153 


care  of  the  diocese  of  Connor,  he  found, 
it  is  true,  a  most  deplorable  relaxation 
of  discipline  prevailing;  but  it  would 
be  no  wonder  if  the  perpetual  warfare, 
in  which  that  and  some  other  portions 
of  Ireland  were  more  especially  involved 
during  that  turbulent  period,  had  quite 
disorganized  society.  The  monstrous 
abuse,  too,  of  tolerating  laymen  in  the 
see  of  St.  Patrick,  and  that  on  the  mere 
right  of  inheritance,  may  well  have 
filled  such  a  mind  as  that  of  St.  Bernard 
with  inexpressible  grief  and  horror ;  yet 
such  was  the  effect  of  usage  upon  men's 
opinions,  that  we  find  these  very  lay 
intruders  mentioned  by  our  annalists — 
themselves  ecclesiastics — without  any 
manned  condemnation,  and  generally  as 
having  performed  exemplary  penance 
before  their  death.  "We  may,  therefore, 
seek  for  some  charitable  palliation  of 
the  usage  in  the  insolence  of  the  few 
powerful  families  who,  in  that  rude  age, 
were  guilty  of  the  usurpation.*  St.  An- 
selm,  the  great  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, in  his  correspondence  with  the 
prelates  of  the  south  of  Ireland,  and 
with  king  Murtough  O'Brien,  in  the 
years  1095  and  1100,  although  he  evin- 
ces extreme  anxiety  for  the  interests  of 


*  This  abuse  was  not  confined  to  Ireland.  A  canon 
of  the  Conncil  of  London  was  framed  against  a  precisely 
similar  abuse  in  1125  ;  and  in  the  time  of  Cambrensis 
there  were  lay  abbots  in  Wales  who  took  all  the  real 
property  of  the  monasteries  into  their  own  hands,  leav- 
ing the  clergy  only  the  altars  and  their  dues,  and  placing 
children  or  relatives  of  their  own  in  the  church  for  the 
purpose  of  enjoying  even  these. — Itin.  Cambr.,  b.  c.  4. 

t  See  this  corespondence  printed  in  Ussher's  SyUogo. 

X  The  former  of  these  charges  is  the  mere  suggestion 
of  sectarian  bias,  without  any  foundation.  Thus  it  is 
20 


religion,  indicating  that  there  were  some 
u-regularities  to  be  reformed,  still  com- 
pliments the  king  on  his  excellent  ad- 
ministration, and  passes  a  high  eulogium 
upon  those  bishops  of  whom  he  seems 
to  have  had  any  knowledge,  namely, 
those  of  the  southern  dioceses.f  We 
may,  indeed,  from  this  and  many  other 
circumstances,  conclude,  that  the  evils 
of  which  St.  Bernard  so  eloquently 
complained,  were  at  least  not  so  general 
as  his  denunciations  would  imply,  and 
did  not  continue  for  any  lengthened 
period.  It  should  be  also  observed 
that  they  have  reference  solely  to  mat- 
ters of  discipline  and  morality,  and  bj^ 
no  means  to  faith  or  doctrine.  So  that 
we  must  be  on  our  guard  against  two 
very  grievous  misrepresentations  of 
which  the  Irish  Church  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  has  been  the  ob- 
ject; first,  that  there  was  some  devia- 
tion from  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  or 
Roman  Church  in  Ireland  at  that  time; 
and,  secondly,  that  the  moral  disorders 
which  it  must  be  admitted  did  exist, 
were  general,  or  continued  down  to  the 
time  of  the  English  invasion.;]: 

Resuming  our  civil  history,  and  pass- 
ing in  silence  over  a  number  of  petty 


falsely  pretended  that  it  was  St.  Malachy  who  actually 
brought  the  Irish  church  into  communion  with  Rome, 
and  that  this  arrangement  was  only  made  efiective  by 
Cardinal  Paparo  at  the  Synod  of  Kells  in  1152.  The 
other  charge  has  been  made  by  various  writers  who 
took  it  up  at  second-hand,  and  were  actuated  by  un- 
friendly feelings  towards  Ireland.  Dr.  Milner,  in  par- 
ticular, in  his  work  on  Ireland  fell  into  the  injurious  er- 
ror of  supposing  that  the  English  on  their  arrival  here 
found  the  abuses  of  which  St.  Bernard  complained  haJi 
a  century  before  stUl  prevalent. 


154 


DEATH  OF  JVIURTOUGH  O'ERIAN. 


•wars,  in  whicli  many  districts,  especially 
in  the  centre  of  Ireland,  -were  desolated, 
we  find  that  Murtough  O'Brien  was 
seized  with  illness,  wbicli  in  1114  com- 
pelled him  to  retire  from  active  life. 
His  brother,  Dermot,  an  ambitious  man, 
took  the  opportunity  to  declare  himself 
king  of  Munster ;  but  this  act  recalled 
from  his  retreat  Murtough,  who,  al- 
though reduced  by  age  and  sickness  to 
the  appearance  of  a  skeleton,  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  his  army,  caused  his 
unnatural  brother  to  be  made  prisoner, 
and  marched  once  more  into  Leinster 
and  Bregia.  This,  however,  was  a  last 
and  feeble  effort.  He  was  obliged  to 
relinquish  the  kingdom  to  his  brother ; 
and  retiring  into  the  monastery  of  Lis- 
more,  where  he  embraced  the  ecclesias- 
tical state,  he  died  in  1119.  His  old 
competitor,  Donnell  O'Loughlin,  sur- 
vived him  two  years,  and  in  1120  led 
an  army  in  defence  of  the  king  of  Meath 
against  the  forces  of  Connaught ;  when 
feeling  his  end  approach,  he  retired  into 
the  Columbian  monastery  of  Derry,  and, 
after  penitential  exercises,  died  there 
the  following  year,  in  the  7 3d  year  of 
his  age.  It  is  remarkable  that,  although 
the  power  of  his  southern  rival  was,  at 
least  for  many  years,  more  extensively 
recognized  than  his,  still  O'Loughlin 
receives  the  title  of  king  of  Ireland 
more  generally  from  the  annalists;  so 
much  did  the  legitimate  principle  weigh 
with  the  Irish  in  favor  of  the  ancient 
royal  house  of  Hy-Niall.  The  contest 
between  these  two  princes  was  never 
regularly  fought  out;  for  even  in  1113, 


the  last  time  they  confronted  each  other 
at  the  head  of  their  respective  armies, 
St.  Celsus,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  with 
the  crozier  of  St.  Patrick,  interposed, 
and  brought  about  a  truce. 

Two  other  princes  who  had  played 
important  jDarts  in  Irish  affairs  alsc 
closed  their  career  in  an  exemplary 
manner  about  this  time.  These  were 
Rory  O'Conor,  who  had  been  king  of 
Connaught,  but  who  having  been  blind- 
ed by  the  O'Flaherties  many  years  be- 
fore, entered  into  relisfion  in  the  mou- 
astery  of  Clonmacnoise,  and  died  there 
in  1118  ;  and  Teige  MacCarthy,  king  of 
Desmond,  who  died  at  Cashel,  in  1124, 
after  affording  many  proofs  of  earnest 
piety. 

A  new  set  of  characters  now  appear 
on  the  stage  of  Irish  history.  Of  these, 
the  leading  part  was  taken  by  Turlough 
or  Turdelvach  O'Conor,  son  of  the 
above-mentioned  Eory,  who  found  a 
clear  stage  for  his  ambition,  and  made 
rapid  strides  in  raising  himself  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Ireland.  He  plundered 
Thomond  as  far  as  Limerick  in  1116, 
when  Dermot  O'Brien  was  able  to  make 
but  a  feeble  resistance,  trying  to  avenge 
himself  by  an  inroad  into  Connaught 
during  Turlough's  absence.  In  1118, 
Turlough  O'Conor,  aided  by  Murrough 
O'Melaghlin,  king  of  Meath,  and  Hugh 
O'Rourke,  lord  of  Breffuy,  led  an  army 
as  far  as  Gleann-Maghair  (Glanmire), 
near  Cork,  and  divided  Munster,  giving 
Desmond  to  MacCarthy,  and  Thomond 
to  the  sons  of  Dermot  O'Brien,  and  car- 
rinsr  oft'  hostages  from  both.     He  en- 


TURLOUGH  O'CONOR. 


155 


deavored  to  crush  the  power  of  O'Brien 
by  exalting  that  of  the  Eoghanachts  or 
Desmonian  family,  who  had  been  ex- 
cluded since  the  time  of  Brian  Borumha. 
He  then  marched  without  delay  to 
Dublin,  and  took  hostages  from  the 
Danes,  from  Ossory,  and  from  Leinster, 
liberating  Donnell,  son  of  the  king  of 
Meath,  whom  the  Danes  held  in  captiv- 
ity. The  following  year  he  scoured  the 
Shannon  with  a  fleet,  hurled  the  royal 
palace  of  Kincora  into  the  river,  "  both 
stones  and  timber,"  and  remained  there 
some  time  with  his  numerous  allies,  of 
Ossory,  Leinster,  and  Dublin,  consuming 
the  provisions  of  Munster.  These  ex- 
treme acts  of  sovereign  authority,  or 
rather  of  unresisted  aggression,  were  fol- 
lowed by  others,  such  as  the  expulsion  of 
his  late  ally  and  father-in-law,  Murrough 
O'Melaghlin,  from  Meath,  in  1120;  the 
wholesale  plundering  of  Desmond,  from 
Traigh  Li  (Tralee)  to  the  termou,  or 
sanctuary  land  of  Lismore,  in  1121 ;  and 
the  giving  of  the  kingdom  of  Dublin,  as 
it  was  called,  to  his  own  son,  Conor,  in 
1126;  all  the  intermediate  time  being 
devoted  to  various  acts  of  hostility 
which  it  is  needless  to  enumerate. 
"  There  was,"  say  the  annalists,  "  a  great 
storm  of  war  throughout  Ireland,  in  gen- 
eral, so  that  Ceallach  (St.  Celsus)  suc- 
cessor of  Patrick,  was  obliged  to  be  for 
one  month  and  a  year  absent  from  Ard 
Macha,  establishing,"  or  rather  endea- 


*  He  is  called  St.  Cormac  by  Lyncli. — Cambrensia 
Ecersus,  chap.  sxi. 

\  Bishop  Maelcolum  O'Brolchan  of  Armagh,  who  died 
In  1123,  in  the  reputation  of  sanctity,  and  who  is  usu- 


voring  to  establish,  "peace  among  the 
men  of  Ireland,  and  promulgating  rules 
and  good  customs  everywhere  among 
the  laity  and  clergy." 

In  1127,  Turlough  O'Conor  led  his 
forces,  both  by  sea  and  land,  to  Coi'k, 
and  driving  Cormac  MacCarthy  from 
his  kingdom,  divided  Munster  into 
three  parts.  Cormac  retired  to  Lismore, 
where  it  is  supposed  by  some  that  he 
assumed  holy  orders,  being  a  prince  of 
a  religious  disposition  ;*  but  being 
urged  to  leave  his  retreat  he  resumed 
the  reins  of  government  on  Turlough's 
withdrawal,  and  his  brother,  Donough, 
who  had  been  placed  on  the  throne  by 
that  king,  fled  to  his  patron  in  Con- 
naught,  with  2,000  followers. 

Atdength  (1128)  a  year's  truce  be- 
tween Connaught  and  Munster  was 
made  by  St.  Celsus ;  and  the  following 
year  that  holy  archbishop,  worn  out  by 
his  austerities  and  indefatigable  labors 
in  the  cause  of  religion  and  peace,  al- 
though only  fifty  years  of  age,  died  at 
Ardpatrick,  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
present  county  of  Limerick,  where  he 
was  on  his  visitation ;  and  his  remains, 
having  been  conveyed  to  Lismore,  were 
interred  there  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
bishops.f 

In  the  year  1129  the  great  church  of 
Clonmacnoise  was  robbed  of  several 
objects  of  value,  among  which  was  a 
model  of  Solomon's  Temjile,  presented 


ally  described  as  the  sufGragan  or  coadjutor  of  St.  Celsus, 
had  been,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  acting  bishops  who 
officiated  for  the  lay  intruders  during  their  incum- 
bency. 


156 


ST.  MALACHY. 


by  a  prince  of  Meatli,  and  a  silver 
chalice  plated  with  gold,  and  beautiful- 
ly engraved  with  her  own  hand,  by  a 
sister  of  king  Turlongh  O'Conor.  The 
enumeration  of  the  articles  stolen  affords 
an  illustration  of  the  taste  and  luxury 
displayed  by  Irish  princes  in  objects  of 
domestic  use  or  ornament,  and  of  the 
accomplishments  of  an  Irish  princess. 
The  robber  was  a  Dane  of  Limerick, 
who   having  been   arrested   while   at- 


tempting to  escape  from  the  country, 
was  hanged  for  the  crime  the  following 
year. 

Having  now  approached  the  eve  of 
the  most  eventful  epoch  of  Irish  history, 
that  of  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion,  we 
shall  reserve  for  the  next  chapter  a 
summary  of  the  events  which  may  ex- 
plain the  circumstances,  moral  and 
political,  in  which  the  country  was 
found  on  that  occasion. 


St, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Malacliy. — His  Early  Career. — His  Reforms  in  tlie  Diocese  of  Connor. — His  Withdrawal  to  Kerry. — Hia 
Government  of  the  Cliurcli  of  Armagli. — His  Eetirement  to  Down. — Struggle  of  Conor  O'Brien  and  Turlough 
O'Conor. — Synod  at  Casbel. — Cormac's  Chapel. — Death  of  Cormac  MacCarthy. — Turlough  O'Conor's  Rigor  to 
his  Sons. — Crimes  and  Tyranny  of  Dermot  MacMurrough. — St.  Malachy's  Journey  to  Rome. — Building  ot 
Mellifont. — Synod  of  Inis-Padraig. — The  Palliums. — St.  Malachy's  Second  Journey  and  Death. — Political 
State  of  Ireland. — Arrival  of  Cardinal  Paparo. — Synod  of  Kells. — Misrepresentations  Corrected. — The  Battle 
of  Moin-Mor. — Famine  arising  from  Civil  War  in  Munstor. — Dismemberment  of  Meath. — Elopement  of  Der 
vorgil. — Battle  of  Rahin — A  Naval  Engagement. — Death  of  Turlough  O'Conor,  and  Accession  of  Roderic— 
Synod  of  Mellifont. — Synod  of  Bri-Mic-Taidhg. — ^Wars  and  Ambition  of  Roderic. — St.  Laurence  O'Toole. — 
Synod  of  Clane. — Zeal  of  the  Irish  Hierarchy. — Death  of  O'Loughlin. — Roderic  O'Conor  Monarch, — Expulsion 
of  Dermot  MacMurrough. — Great  Assembly  at  Athboy. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns.— Vo^as :  Innooout  II.,  Celestiue  II.,  Lucius  II.,  Eugenius  III.,  Anastasiua  IV.,  Adrian  IV.— 
Kings  of  England :  Stephen,  11S5,  Heury  II.,  1154.— King  of  France:  Louis  VIL,  1137. 


(A.  D.  1130  TO  A.  D.  1168). 


ST.  CELSUS,  or  Ceallach,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  although  a 
member  of  the  ursurping  family,  was 
deeply  impressed  with  the  enormous 
irregularity  of  making  the  see  a  family 
inheritance ;  and  desired  by  his  will 
that  St.  Malachy  should  be  chosen  his 
successor.     This  latter  holy  personage 


(whose  name  in  Irish  was  Maelmaedhog 
O'Morgair)  was  known  to  St.  Celsus 
from  his  youth.  He  belonged  to  a 
noble  family,  although  it  is  believed 
that  his  father  filled  the  office  of  lector, 
or  professor,  in  the  school  of  Armagh. 
The  account  of  his  early  training  under 
the  abbot  Imar  O'Hagan,  of  Armagh, 


ST.  MALACHY. 


157 


shows  that  sufficient  resources  for  the 
pious  and  enlightened  education  of 
youth  had  still  survived  the  past  cen- 
turies of  foreign  invasion  and  domestic 
tumult  in  Ireland.  While  yet  a  young 
man  he  undertook  the  restoration  of 
the  famous  monastery  of  Bangor,  of 
which  only  a  few  crumbling  ruins  then 
remained,  the  abbey  lands  being  pos- 
sessed by  a  layman  who  enjoyed  the 
title  of  abbot.  St.  Malachy  associated 
with  himself  a  few  religious  men,  and 
having  constructed  a  small  oratory  of 
timber,  they  entered  into  the  true  spirit 
of  monastic  life.  Soon,  however,  this 
tranquil  existence  was  interrupted  by 
his  election  as  bishop  of  Connor ;  and 
the  episcopal  duties  which  he  was  com- 
pelled to  assume  were  of  the  most  ardu- 
ous nature,  as  he  found  his  diocese  in  a 
deplorable  state  of  disorder.  In  fact, 
little  more  than  the  traces  of  religion 
were  left  among  the  people;  but  St. 
Malachy  went  zealously  to  work,  and 
by  God's  blessing,  and  the  assistance  of 
his  little  community  of  monks,  who  ac- 
companied him  from  Bangor,  he  soon 
succeeded  in  restoring  discipline  and 
reviving  religion  among  his  flock. 
Scarcely  had  he  effected  this  happy 
result  when  war  destroyed  the  fruits  of 
his  labor.  Some  hostile  prince  invaded 
the  territory,  and  St.  Malachj'-,  driven 
from  his  diocese,  repaired,  with  120 
monks,  to  the  territory  of  Cormac  Mac 
Carthy,  king  of  Desmond,  whose  friend- 
ship he  had  acquired  in  the  monastery  of 
Lismore  where  he  was  at  the  time  that 
Cormac  made  it  his  retreat  on  being 


driven  from  his  kingdom  by  Turlough 
O'Conor.  The  withdrawal  of  St.  Ma- 
lachy to  Munster  took  place  some  short 
time  after  the  death  of  St.  Celsus  at 
Ardpatrick  in  1129  ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
death  of  that  holy  prelate  was  known 
in  Armagh,  a  layman,  named  Muirker- 
tach,  or  Maurice,  claimed  the  see  as  his 
inheritance,  and,  by  the  aid  of  his  pow- 
erful clan,  got  himself  proclaimed  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Patrick,  and  maintained 
himself  in  the  sacrilegious  usurpation. 
This  Maurice  was  son  of  Donald,  the 
predecessor  of  St.  Celsus,  and  grandson 
of  Amalgid,  another  of  the  nominal 
ai'chbishops,  or  comorbans.* 

In  the  year  1132,  bishop  Gilbert,  of 
Limerick,  apostolic  delegate,  and  bish- 
op Malchus,  of  Lismore,  assembled  sev- 
eral bishops  and  chieftains,  who  went 
in  a  body  to  St.  Malachy,  in  the  mon- 
astery which  he  had  erected  at  Ibrach,f 
in  Munster;  and  partly  by  entreaties 
in  the  name  of  the  clergy  and  people, 
partly  even  by  threats  of  excommunica- 
tion, compelled  him  to  leave  his  re 
treat  and  assume  the  government  of 
the  church  of  Armagh,  on  the  condi- 
tion, however,  that  he  might  retire 
when  he  had  restored  order  in  the 
diocese.  For  the  next  two  years  a 
melancholy  schism  prevailed;  the  in- 
truder still  persevering  in  his  occupa- 
tion of  the  see  with  its  revenues,  and 
St.  Malachy  performing  the  functions 
of  archbishop  without  venturing  into 


*  This  family  belonged  to  the  royal  house  of  Oriel, 
t  Supposed  by  Dr.  Lanigan  to  he  Ivragh,  in  Kerry, 
part  of  Cormack  MacCarthy's  kingdom. 


158 


WAES  OF  TURLOUGH  O'CONOR. 


the  city,  lest  a  tumult  should  take 
place,  and  human  life  be  sacrificed. 
Conspiracies  against  his  life  were 
formed,  but  he  was  providentially  de- 
fended against  them;  and,  at  length, 
in  1134,  the  usurper  died,  after,  as  it 
is  stated,  giving  tokens  of  sincere  re- 
pentance. Another  intruder,  however, 
arose  in  the  person  of  one  Niell,  or  Ni- 
gellus.  Against  this  man  popular  feel- 
ing became  so  strong,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  fly;  but  he  contrived  to 
take  with  him  St.  Patrick's  crozier  and 
that  apostle's  book  of  the  Gospels,  and, 
by  the  aid  of  these  venerable  relics,  he 
continued  for  a  while  to  imjjose  on 
some  persons,  with  the  pretence  that 
he  was  the  rightful  successor  of  St. 
Patrick.* 

Ecclesiastical  discipline  having  been 
restored,  and  the  independence  of  the 
church  vindicated  in  Armagh,  through 
the  indefatigable  zeal  of  Malachy,  that 
holy  pontiff  made  a  visitation  of  Mun- 
ster  in  1136  ;  and  the  following  year 
he  resigned  the  primatial  dignity, 
which,  after  another  attempt  of  Nigel- 
lus,  as  some  annalists  say,  to  intrude 
himself,  was  conferred  on  Gelasius,  or 
Gilla  MacLiag,  "the  sou  of  the  poet," 
then  abbot  of  the  great  Columbian 
monastery  of  Derry,f  St.  Malachy, 
himself,  being  installed  as  bishop  of 
Down,    which    had    previously    been 


united  to  his  old  diocese  of  Con- 
nor, over  which  another  j^relate  now 
presided. 

Returning  to  Turlough  O'Conor, 
whom  we  left  extending  his  sway  with 
little  impediment  to  his  ambition,  since 
the  death  of  his  northern  rival,  Don- 
nell  O'Loughlin,  we  find  him,  at  length, 
receivins:  a  serious  check  from  Conor 
O'Brien,  who  had  succeeded  his  father, 
Dermot,  on  the  throne  of  North  Mun- 
ster.  Conor  O'Brieu,  in  1131,  carried 
oft'  hostages  from  Leinster  and  Meath, 
and  defeated  the  cavalry  of  Connaught ; 
and  the  following  year  he  sent  a  fleet 
to  the  coast  of  Connaught,  destroyed 
the  castle  of  Bun  Gaillve,  or  Galway, 
and  plundered  West  Connaught.  In  the 
former  of  these  years  the  men  of  the 
north  also  invaded  Connaught ;  and  in 
1133,  Conor  O'Brien  and  Cormac  Mac 
Carthy  made  an  incursion  there,  on 
both  which  occasions  Turlough  O'Con- 
or was  glad  to  make  a  year's  truce 
with  his  opponents. 

A  synod  of  the  bishops  and  clergy 
of  Munster  was  held  in  Cashel  in  1134, 
to  celebrate,  with  special  pomp,  the 
consecration  of  a  church  just  erected 
there  by  Cormac  MacCarthy.  This 
was  the  building  now  so  well  known 
as  Cormac's  Chapel,  on  the  rock  of 
Cashel,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  speci- 
mens  of  Romanesque    architecture    in 


*  The  Four  Masters,  an.  1135,  say  :  "  Maelmaedhog 
Ua  Morgair  (St.  Malachy),  successor  of  Patrick,  pur- 
chased the  Bachall-Isa  (staff  of  Jesus),  and  took  it  from 
its  cave  on  the  7th  day  of  the  month  of  July."  ^Vhence 
it  appears,  that  NigeUus  extorted  a  sum  of  money  for 


its  restoration.     The  death  of  that  wretched  man  is  re- 
corded in  the  year  1139. 

f  The  name  of  tliis  prelate  appears  as  St.  Gelasius  in  tho 
Mart yrology  of  Marianus  Gorman,  and  his  life  is  publish- 
ed by  Colgan  in  the  Acta.  8S.  Eih.  at  tho  27th  of  March 


DERMOT  MACMURROUGH. 


159 


these  countries,  and  the  erection  of 
which  has  been  erroneously  ascribed 
to  Cormac  MacCuilennan  in  the  tenth 
century.*  Cormac  MacCarthy  was, 
in  1138,  treacherously  killed  in  his 
house  by  Turlough,  son  of  Dermot 
O'Brien,  and  by  the  two  sons  of  the 
O'Conor  Kerry. 

Turlough  O'Conor  is  described  by 
our  annalists  as  a  stern  vindicator  of 
justice ;  but  the  justice  of  that  age  was 
not  very  refined  in  its  judgments.  For 
some  oflfence,  the  nature  of  which  we 
are  not  told,  he  caused  the  eyes  of  his 
son,  Aedh,  or  Hugh,  to  be  put  out,  in 
1136  ;  and  the  same  year  he  cast  Rod- 
eric,  or  Rory  (Ruaidhri),  another  of  his 
sons,  into  prison.  It  would  apjjear  that 
Roderic  was  liberated  chiefly  through 
the  interference  of  the  clergy ;  but  seven 
years  later  he  was  again  imprisoned  by 
his  inexorable  father,  "in  violation  of 
the  most  solemn  pledges  and  guaran- 
tees." On  this  latter  occasion  the  pre- 
lates and  clergy,  with  the  chieftains  of 
Connaught,  finding  all  their  entreaties 
to  obtain  his  liberation  in  vain,  held  a 
public  fast  at  Rathbrendan,  praying 
heaven  to  mollify  the  father's  heart, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  following  year 
that  Roderic  was  released  from  his  fet- 
ters. Murrough  O'Melaghlin,  king  of 
Meath,  was  seized  at  the  same  time 
with  Roderic  in  spite  of  solemn  guar- 
antees, but  was  set  at  liberty  through 
the   interference   of   his   sureties,  who 


*  See  Dr.  Petrie's  EcdesiaMical  Architecture,  &c.  pp. 
290,  &c.,  -wliere  tlie  question  wlietlier  Cormac  MacCar- 
thy were  a  bishop  as  well  as  king  is  discussed. 


conveyed  him  into  Muuster,  and  his 
territory  was  given  by  Turlough  to 
his  own  son,  Conor,  who  was  killed  the 
following  year  by  the  men  of  Meath  as 
a  usurper.  No  tie  or  obligation  was 
now  allowed  by  Turlough  O'Conor  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  his  caprice  or  am- 
bition. 

Dermot  MacMurrougli,  or  Diarmaid- 
na-Gall,  that  is,  Dermot  of  the  foreign- 
ers, as  he  is  often  called,  the  infamous 
king  of  Leinster  who  betrayed  his 
countiy  to  the  English,  now  appears 
on  the  scene,  and,  from  the  commence- 
ment, his  ill-omened  career  is  marked 
by  crime.  In  the  year  1135,  according 
to  Mageoghegan's  Annals  of  Clonm'ac- 
noise,  he  took  the  abbess  of  Ivildare 
from  her  cloister,  and  compelled  her  to 
marry  one  of  his  men,  at  the  same  time 
killing  170  of  the  people  of  Kildare 
who  attempted  to  prevent  the  sacri- 
legious outrage.  After  being  involved 
in  various  feuds  in  the  interval,  he  en- 
deavored, in  1141,  to  crush  all  resis- 
tance to  his  tyranny  by  a  barbarous 
onslaught  upon  the  nobles  of  his  prov- 
ince. He  killed  Donnell,  lord  of  Hy- 
Faelain,  and  Murrough  O'Tuathail; 
put  out  the  eyes  of  Muirkertach  Mac 
Gillamochalmog,  lord  of  Feara  Cual- 
ann,  or  Wicklow,  and  killed  or  blinded 
seventeen  other  chieftains,  besides  ma- 
ny of  inferior  rank. 

Conor  O'Brien  died  in  1142,  at  Kil- 
laloe,  after  rigid  penance,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother  Turlough,  who 
commenced  his  reign  by  a  war  with 
Turlough  O'Conor,  and  an  invasion  of 


160 


ST.  MALACHY  APPLIES  FOR  THE  PALLIUMS. 


Leinster  *  la  1144,  O'Conor  and  O'Bri- 
en held  a  peace  conference,  but  their 
truce  did  not  extend  beyond  a  year; 
and  in  1145  tlie  Four  Masters  intro- 
duce a  long  catalogue  of  predatory  in- 
cursions in  every  part  of  the  country, 
by  the  expressive  words,  that  this  year 
Ireland  was  made  "  a  trembling  sod." 
The  O'Loughlins  of  Tyrone  were  at 
war  with  their  neighbours,  the  Ulidi- 
ans ;  a  deadly  feud  was  carried  on  be- 
tween Meath  and  Breffny ;  O'Conor 
and  O'Brien  were  engaged  in  hostili- 
ties; and  Teffia  and  other  territories 
were  also  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  de- 
vastation. 

lu  the  midst  of  these  tumults,  the 
church  endeavored  to  carry  on  its  ac- 
tion— internally,  by  the  promotion  of 
discipline  and  morality,  and  externally 
by  efforts,  often  fruitless,  for  the  res- 
toration of  peace.  It  had  long  been  a 
favorite  project  with  St.  Malachy  to 
obtain  from  the  Holy  See  a  formal  rec- 
ognition of  archiepiscopal  sees  in  Ire- 
land, by  the  granting  of  palliums.  For 
that  purpose  he  proceeded  to  Rome 
shortly  after  he  had  become  bishop  of 
Down ;  and  as  the  fame  of  his  sanctity 
and  zeal  had  gone  before  him — a  char- 
acter which  his  mortified  appearance 
was  well  calculated  to  sustain — he  was 
received  with  every  mark  of  love  and  ven- 
eration by  the  reigning  pontiff,  Inno- 


*  WTicri  Turlougli  O'Brien  invaded  Connauglit  in 
1143,  lie  cut  down  the  Ruaidh-Bheithigh,  or  red  birch 
tree  of  Hy-Fiaclira  Aidhne,  Tvliich  was  probably  one  of 
tliose  trees  under  which  the  Irish  kings  were  inaugura- 
ted ;  like  the  BUo  Maighe  Adhair,  of  Thomond,  which 


cent  II.  The  Pope,  descending  from 
his  throne,  placed  his  own  mitre  on  the 
head  of  the  Irish  saint,  presented  him 
with  his  own  vestments  and  other  re- 
ligous  gifts  and  appointed  hira  apostol- 
ic legate,  instead  of  Gilbert,  bishop  of 
Limerick,  who  was  then  a  very  old 
man.  When  St.  Malachy,  however, 
asked  for  the  palliums,  the  Holy  Fath- 
er prudently  observed  that  that  was  a 
matter  of  great  moment,  and  that  the 
demand  should  have  come  from  a  syn- 
od of  the  Irish  church,  which  should, 
he  suggested,  be  held  for  that  purpose. 
After  a  staj'  of  one  month,  visiting  the 
holy  i^laces  in  Rome,  St.  Malachy  set 
out  on  his  return  to  Ireland ;  having, 
both  going  and  returning,  paid  visits 
to  the  great  St.  Bernard,  at  Clairvaux, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  that  friend- 
ship which  forms  so  remarkable  an  in- 
cident in  the  lives  of  both  these  emi- 
nent saints,  and  in  the  history  of  the 
Irish  Church. 

On  his  arrival  in  Ireland,  St.  Malachy 
set  earnestly  about  his  favorite  mission 
for  the  moi'e  regular  organization  of 
church  aflairs.  By  virtue  of  his  lega- 
tine  powers  he  held  local  synods  in  sev- 
eral places,  and  travelled  on  foot  all 
through  Ireland.  He  rebuilt  and  re- 
stored many  churches  that  had,  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country,  been  destroyed 
by  the  Danes,  or  fallen  into  decay  dur- 


was  destroyed  by  Malachy  II.  in  9 1 8 ;  and  the  tree  of  Craev 
Tiilcha  (now  Creeve,  near  Glenavy,  in  Antrim),  under 
which  the  kings  of  Ulidia  were  inauguarated,  and  which 
was  destroyed  by  DonneU  O'Loughlin,  in  1099. 


DEATH  OF  ST.   MALACHY. 


161 


ing  the  constant  wars  of  those  times. 
In  1142,  he  founded,  near  Drogheda, 
the  famous  Cistercian  abbey  of  Melli- 
font,  which  was  liberally  endowed  by 
O'CarroU,  king  of  Oi'ghial  (Oriel),  and 
was  supplied  with  liionks  from  Claii"- 
vaux,  whither  St.  Malachy  had  sent 
some  L'ishmen  to  be  trained  for  the 
purpose.* 

The  synod  from  which  the  formal 
application  for  the  palliums  emanated 
was  convened  by  St.  Malachy  as  legate, 
and  Gelasius  as  primate,  in  1148.  It 
was  held  in  Inis-Padi'iag,  or  St.  Patrick's 
Island,  near  Skerries,f  and  was  attended 
by  fifteen  bishops,  two  hundred  joriests, 
and  several  other  ecclesiastics.  After 
three  days  spent  in  the  consideration 
of  other  matters,  the  synod  treated  of 
the  palliums  on  the  fourth;  and,  al- 
though unwilling  that  St,  Malachy 
should  again  leave  Ireland,  the  assem- 
bled clergy  consented  to  his  departui'e 
on  this  occasion,  as  it  was  known  that 
Eugene  III.,  who  had  been  a  Cistercian 
monk,  was  visiting  Clairvaux,  and  that, 
therefore,  St.  Malachy  would  not  have 

*  St.  Bernard's  letters  to  St.  Malaoliy  on  this  subject 
are  printed  in  Ussher's  Sylloge.  On  the  occasion  of 
building  the  church  of  this  monastery,  some  wrong- 
headed  person  opposed  St.  Malachy's  plan,  urging  that 
the  tmdertaking  greatly  exceeded  the  means  at  his  dis- 
posal ;  that  none  of  them  would  ever  see  the  work  com- 
pleted ;  that  a  wooden  oratory  in  the  old  Irish  fashion 
would  sufSce,  and  that  it  was  wrong  to  introduce  the 
customs  of  other  countries,  even  in  the  shape  of  fine 
architecture  for  God's  house,  adding : — "  we  are  Scots, 
not  Frenchmen."  The  saint  persevered  successfully, 
and  the  objector's  prophecy  was  only  verified  in  himself, 
as  he  died  before  a  year,  and  did  not  see  the  work  fin- 
ished. 

\  The  Synod  was  held  in  the  island  above  mentioned, 
and  not  at  Holm  Patrick,  on  the  mainland,  as  Dr.  Lani- 
21 


to  travel  farther  than  France  to  see  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  The  saint  set  out 
immediately  on  his  journey;  but  hav- 
ing been  detained  some  time  in  Eng- 
land, owing  to  a  prohibition  issued  by 
King  Stephen  against  bishops  leaving 
the  country,  he  found  on  arriving  at 
Clairvaux,  that  the  Pope  had  returned 
to  Rome.  St.  Malachy  was  not  permit- 
ted to  carry  out  his  cherished  project ; 
he  was  seized  with  his  death-sickness 
four  or  five  days  after  his  arrival  at 
Clairvaux,  and  expired  there,  on  the 
2d  of  November  that  year  (1148),  at- 
tended by  St.  Bernard,  and  surrounded 
by  a  number  of  the  abbots  and  religi- 
ous of  the  order.if 

All  this  time  a  fierce  warfare  was 
carried  on  among  the  chieftains  of  the 
north,  but  the  primate  brought  about 
a  meeting  between  them  at  Armagh,  in 
the  latter  part  of  1148,  and  arranged 
terms  of  jDeace,  to  which  they  bound 
themselves  on  the  crozier  of  St.  Patrick ; 
the  chieftains  of  Oriel,  Ulidia,  and  the 
other  northern  territories,  giving  host- 

or 


ages    to    Muirkertach, 


Murtough, 


gan  supposes ;  the  monastic  establishment  not  having 
been  transferred  to  the  latter  place  until  some  time  be- 
tween 1313  and  1238.  ArchdaU,  Monait.  Hib.  p. 
218. 

I  The  festival  of  St.  Malachy  was  transferred  from 
3d  of  November,  the  day  of  his  death,  to  the  following 
day,  owing  to  the  commemoration  of  All  Souls,  which 
would  interfere  with  its  due  solemnization.  This  illus- 
trious man  is  admitted  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest 
saints  not  only  of  the  Irish  but  of  the  universal  Church. 
His  life,  by  St.  Bernard,  which  is  an  important  authority 
in  our  ecclesiastical  history,  was  written  not  later  than 
the  year  1151 ;  and  he  was  solemnly  canonized  in  1190 
by  Pope  Clement  HI.  We  may  here  remark  that  the 
pretended  prophecy  about  the  Popes,  formerly  attributed 
to  St.  Malachy,  has  been  long  rejected  as  aprocryphsd. 


162 


THE  SYNOD  OF  KELLS. 


IVtaurice  O'Louglilin,  king  of  Tyrone,  in 
token  of  submission.  O'Loughlin  pro- 
ceeded to  Dublin  tlie  following  year, 
accompanied  by  O'Carroll,  when  Dermot 
MacMurrougli  also  paid  homage  to  him, 
aud  peace  was  established  in  that  part 
of  Ireland.  In  1150,  the  hostages  of 
Connaught.were  brought  to  O'Loughlin, 
without  a  necessity  for  any  hostile  de- 
monstration, and  his  sovereignty  was 
thus  acknowledged  by  all  Ireland,  with 
the  exception  of  the  southern  pro- 
vince. 

Murrough     O'Melaghlin,     king     of 
Meath,  having  by  his  crimes  incurred 
general  odium,  was  anathematized  by 
the   primate,   and    expelled    from  his 
kingdom  by  the  monarch,  O'Loughlin, 
who  divided  Meath  into  three  parts, 
giving  one  to  Turlough  O'Conor,  king 
of  Connaught,  another  to  O'Rourke  of 
Breffny,  and  the  third  to  O'Carroll  of 
Oriel.      Immediately    after   this,   Tur- 
lough O'Brien,  king  of  Munster,  led  an 
army  to  Dublin,  where  he  received  the 
submission  of  the  Dano-Irish;  and  he 
was    proceeding    to    avenge   a   defeat 
which  some  of  his  subjects  had  received 
shortly  before  from  the  men  of  Breffny 
and  Oriel,  when  O'Loughlin  marched 
from  the  north  to  the  aid  of  the  latter, 
and  the   forces   of   Leath   Cuinn   and 
Leath    Mogha    met    at    Dun   Lochad 
near  Tara,  but  the   Dano-Irish   inter- 
fered, and  arranged  a  year's  truce  be- 
tween them. 

A.  D.  1152. — Cardinal  John  Paparo 
arrived  in  Ireland  about  the  close  of 
1151,  bringing  the  palliums  which  had 


been  solicited  by  St.  Malachy ;  and  the 
following  year  was  rendered  memorable 
by  the  national  council  of  Ceananus,  or 
Kells,  at  which  these  insignia  of  the 
archiepiscopal   dignity  were   confered. 
The  palliums  were  for  the  archbishops  of 
Armagh,  Cashel,  Tuam,  and  Dublin,  the 
two  latter  sees  being  then  for  the  first 
time  regularly  created  archbishoprics; 
although,  as  already  stated,  we  find  the 
bishops  of  Tuam  often  styled  archbish- 
ops long  before  that  period.     Dissatis- 
faction was  felt  in  other  parts  of  Ireland 
that  this  honor  should  be  conferred  on 
Dublin  and  Tuam,  and  it  is  stated  that 
some  of  the    Irish  j^relates   remained 
away  from  the  council  on  that  account. 
The  bishops  who  attended  were  those 
of    Armagh   (St.    Gelasius) ;    Lismore 
(Christian,  the  Pope's  legate  for  Ire- 
land) ;    Cashel  (Donald  O'Lonergan) ; 
Dublin       (Gregory)  ;      Glendalough ; 
Leighlin;     Portlargy,    or    Waterford ; 
the  vicar-general  of  the  bishop  of  Os- 
sory ;  the  bishop  of  Kildare ;  the  vicar- 
general   of  the   bishop  of  Emly;    the 
bishops  of  Cork,  Clonfert,  Kerry,  Lime- 
rick, Clonmacnoise,  East  Connaught,  or 
Roscommon;     Lugnia,     or     Achonry; 
Conmacne  Hy  Briuin,  or  Ardagh ;  Kin- 
el  Eoghain  ;  Dalaradia,  or  Conor  ;  and 
Ulidia,  or  Down.    Cardinal  Paparo  pre- 
sided,  and   about   300   clergy   of    the 
second   order,   and   monks,  were   also 
present.      The  suffragan  sees  for  each 
metropolitan  were  named ;  several  laws 
against  simony,  usury,  and  other  abuses, 
were  framed :  and  the  payment  of  tithes 
for  the  support  of  the  church  was  or- 


BATTLE  OF  MOIN  MOR. 


165 


dained.  This  was  the  firet  introduction 
of  tithes  into  Ireland ;  but  they  were 
not  enforced  until  after  the  English  in- 
vasion. This  synod  of  Kells  is  one 
of  the  incidents  of  Irish  history  which 
have  been  most  frequently  misrepre- 
sented by  English  historians,  and  by 
L'ish  Protestant  writers,  who  pretend 
to  trace  to  it  the  connection  of  Ireland 
with  Rome,  or  the  establishment  of 
"  Popery,"  as  they  call  it,  in  this  coun- 
try; but  how  utterly  unfounded  such 
an  inference  is  we  need  not  impress 
upon  the  unprejudiced  reader,  who  has 
followed  with  us  the  thread  of  our  his- 
tory thus  far.* 

While  the  heads  of  the  Church  were 
thus  occupied  a  civil  war  raged  in  Mun- 
ster.  Turlough  O'Brien  was,  in  1151, 
deposed  by  Teige,  another  son  of  Der- 
mot  O'Brien,  and  the  aid  of  Turlough 
O'Conor  being  solicited  by  Teige,  the 
king  of  Connaught  speedily  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  carry 
desolation  into  the  southern  province. 
O'Conor's  forces  were  joined  by  those 
of  Dermot  MacMm-rough;  and  they 
plundered  Munster  before  them,  as  the 
annalists  say,  until  they  reached  Moin 


*  We  could  not  express  ourselves  more  to  the  purpose 
on  this  subject  than  in  the  words  of  Moore: — "It  is 
true,"  observes  this  vrriter,  "  from  the  secluded  position 
of  Ireland,  and  still  more  from  the  ruin  brought  upon 
all  her  religious  establishments  during  the  long  period 
of  the  Danish  wars,  the  intercourse  with  Home  must 
have  been  not  unfrequently  interrupted,  and  the  pow- 
ers delegated  to  the  prelate  of  Armagh,  as  legatus  natus, 
or,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  may,  in 
such  intervals,  have  served  as  a  substitute  for  the  direct 
exercise  of  the  Papal  authority.  But  that  the  Irish 
Church  has  ever,  at  any  period,  been  independent  of  the 


Mor,f  where  they  encountered  the  Dal- 
cassian  army,  under  Turlough  O'Brien, 
returning  from  the  plunder  of  Des- 
mond ;  and  a  dreadful  battle  was  fought, 
in  which  the  men  of  North  ISIunster  suf- 
fered a  fearful  slaughter,  leaving  7,000 
dead  upon  the  field,  and  among  them  sev- 
eral of  their  chieftains.  This  terrible 
sacrifice  of  life  is  attributed  to  the  ob- 
stinate bravery  of  the  Dalcassians,  who 
would  never  either  demand  quarter  or 
fly  from  the  field  of  battle.  On  this 
occasion  Turlough  O'Brien  was  banish- 
ed, and  Turlough  O'Conor  assumed  the 
sovereignty  of  Munster ;  his  son,  Rode- 
ric,  making  another  raid  into  Tho- 
mond,  and  carrying  fire  and  sword  as 
far  as  Cromadh,  or  Croom,  in  Lime- 
rick. 

A.  D.  1152. — O'Conor  led  a  second 
army  into  Munster  this  year,  and  divid- 
ed the  country,  giving  Desmond  to  the 
son  of  Cormac  MacCarthy,  and  Tho- 
mond  to  Teige  and  Turlough  O'Brien ; 
and  the  annalists  say  that  both  Tho- 
mond  and  Desmond  had  now  suflfered 
so  fearfully  from  their  mutual  wars, 
that  a  dearth  followed,  and  that  the 
peasantry  were    disjiersed   into    Leath 


spiritual  power  of  Rome,  is  a  supposition  which  the 
whole  course  of  our  ecclesiastical  history  contradicts. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  frequently  been  a  theme  of 
high  eulogium  upon  this  country,  as  well  among  for- 
eign as  domestic  writers,  that  hers  is  the  only  national 
Church  in  the  world  which  has  kept  itself  pure  from 
the  taint  of  heresy  and  schism."— fiwiory  of  Ireland 
vol.  u.,  p.  193. 

f  Dr.  O'Donovan  (Four  Masters,  an.  1151,  note),  sug- 
gests, with  great  probability,  that  this  may  have  been 
the  place  now  called  Moanmoro,  in  the  parish  of  Emly 
county  of  Tipperary. 


164 


ABDUCTIOlSr   OF  DERVORGIL. 


Cuiun,  after  many  of  tliem  had  perished 
hj  the  famine. 

This  year,  also,  Meath  was  dismem- 
bered by  the  monarch,  O'Loughlin, 
aided  by  Turlough  O'Conor,  Dermot 
MacMurrough,  and  other  princes.  From 
Clonard  Avestward  was  given  to  Mnr- 
rough  O'Melaghlin,  who  had  been 
formerly  deposed,  and  from  the  same 
point  eastward  to  Murrongh's  son, 
Melaghlin.  Tiernan  O'Rourke,  lord  of 
Breffny,  was  also  dispossessed  of  his 
territory  by  this  host  of  confederated 
princes ;  and  at  the  same  time  another 
mortal  injury  was  inflicted  on  him,  his 
wife,  Dervorgil  (Dearbhforgaill),  being 
carried  off  by  MacMurrongh  the  king 
of  Leinster. 

The  tiine  and  other  circumstances  of 
this  abduction  have  been  strangely  dis- 
torted by  historians  to  give  a  coloring 
of  romance  to  the  account  of  the  Eng- 
lish invasion,  with  which  it  cannot  have 
had  the  least  connection.  It  occurred, 
according  to  our  authentic  annals,  in 
1152,  and  Dermot's  flight  to  England, 
and  invitation  to  the  invaders,  did  not 
take  place  till  1166.  Dervorgil  was  at 
the  former  of  these  dates  forty-four 
years  of  age,  and  her  paramour  sixty- 
two.  She  was  shamefully  encouraged 
by  her  brother,  Melaghlin  O'Melaghlin, 
just  then  made  lord  of  East  Meath,  to 

*  The  Four  Masters  relate,  under  the  year  1128,  that 
a  sacrilegious  attack  was  made  on  St.  Celsus  Ijy  this 
Tigheaman  O'Euarke  and  his  people,  who  robbed  the 
primate  and  killed  one  of  his  clergy  ;  and  that  Conor 
MacLoughliu,  then  lord  of  Cinel  Eoghain,  sent  his 
cavalry,  who  attacked  and  defeated  the  cavalry  of 
O'Ruarke,  and  killed  many  of  his  partisans. 


abandon  her  husband,  who  appears  to 
have  treated  her  harshly  before  that, 
and  to  have  deserved  little  sympathy 
as  a  hero  of  romance.*  On  leaving 
O'Rourke,  she  took  with  her  the  cattle 
and  articles  which  formed  her  dowry ; 
and  the  following  year,  when  she  was 
rescued  from  MacMurrough  by  Tur- 
lough O'Conor,  and  restored  to  her 
famil)^,  the  same  cattle  and  other  pro- 
perty were  also  restored.  It  is  probable 
that  she  did  not  reside  again  with  her 
husband,  but  retired  immediately  to 
Mellifont,  where  she  endeavored  by 
charity  and  rigid  penance  during  the 
remainder  of  a  long  life,  to  expiate  her 
misconduct.f 

A.  D.  1153. — ^The  monarch,  Murtough 
O'Loughlin,  espoused  the  cause  of  Tur- 
lough O'Brien,  and  led  an  army  towards* 
the  south,  to  reinstate  him  in  his  terri- 
tories. Teige  O'Brien,  the  usurper,  and 
his  ally,  Turlough  O'Conor,  marched 
to  oppose  the  northern  army ;  but  be- 
fore their  forces  could  form  a  junction, 
near  Rahin,  in  the  King's  county, 
O'Loughlin,  by  a  rapid  movement  with 
two  battalions  of  picked  men,  encoun- 
tered Teige  O'Brien's  small  force,  which 
he  cut  to  pieces.  Turlough  O'Conor 
was  then  glad  to  retreat  into  Con- 
naught  by  Athlone  ;  and  while  his  son, 
Roderick  O'Conor,  with  a  portion  of 

f  Dervorgil  performed  many  acts  of  generosity  to  the 
Church ;  and  in  1167  erected  a  chapel  for  the  convent 
of  nims  at  Clonmacnoise.  She  died  in  1193  at  the  ven- 
erable age  of  83,  and  her  brother  died  of  iwison,  at  Diir 
row,  in  1155. 


SYNOD   OF  MELLIFOXT. 


165 


Ms  army,  was  preparing  to  encamp, 
O'Louglilin,  with  Ms  nortliern  heroes, 
poured  in  upon  them  unexpectedly, 
and,  slaughtering  great  numbers,  put 
the  rest  to  flight. 

A.  D.  1154. — Turlough  O'Couor  now 
collected  all  the  ships  of  Dun  Gaillve, 
Conmacna-mara,  Umhall,  or  the  O'Mal- 
leys'  country,  Tir-Awley  and  Tir-Fia- 
chrach,  in  northern  Connaught,  and 
with  this  fleet,  which  was  under  the 
command  of  O'Dowda,  he  plundered 
the  coasts  of  Tir-Conaill,  and  Inis  Eog- 
hain.  To  meet  this  aggression,  ^Mur- 
tough  O'Loughliu  hired  ships  from  the 
Gall-Gael  or  Scoto-Danes,  of  the  He- 
brides, from  Ara,  Ceanntire,  Mauainn, 
or  Man,  and  "  the  borders  of  Alba  in 
general;"  and  the  fleet  thus  mustered 
was  commanded  by  MacScelling,  a 
Dano-Gael.  The  two  fleets  engaged 
near  Inis  Eog;hain,  and  fought  with  des- 
perate  fierceness.  A  great  number  of 
Connaught  men,  with  their  admiral, 
O'Dowda,  were  slain,  but  the  victory 
was  nevertheless  on  their  side;  the 
foreign  ships  being  completely  shat- 
tered, so  that  their  crews  were,  for  the 
most  part,  obliged  to  abandon  them, 
and,  as  many  as  could,  to  escape  on 
shore.  MacScelling  came  off  with  the 
loss  of  his  teeth. 

Hostilities  between  O'Loughliu  and 
O'Couor  were  still  carried  on  by  land, 
and  the  corn-crops  of  a  great  part  of 
Connaught  were  destroyed  by  the  for- 
mer in  the  harvest  of  this  year;  but 


*  Synods,  or  rather  mixed  conventions,  had  become 
very  frequent  about  this  time,  being  often,  as  in  this  case. 


two  years  after  (1156),  Turlough 
O'Conor  closed  his  turbulent  career  in 
death,  and  Murtough  O'Loughliu  then 
became  the  unopposed  monarch  of  L-e- 
land ;  his  claims  to  that  honor,  pre- 
viously, having  been  sturdily  contested 
by  the  king  of  Connaught.  Turlough 
died  in  the  sixty-eighth  yeai-  of  his  age, 
and  reigned  over  Connaught  fifty  years. 
He  distributed,  by  his  will,  a  large 
amount  of  gold  and  silver,  with  many 
cows  and  horses,  among  the  churches 
of  Ireland,  and  was  buried  beside  the 
altar  of  St.  Kieran  at  Clonmacnoise. 
His  son,  Eoderic,  succeeded  as  king  of 
Connaught,  and  began  his  ill-fated 
reign  by  imprisoning  three  of  his 
brothers,  one  of  whom  he  blinded. 
During  this  time  Ulidia,  Meatb,  Breff- 
ny,  and  Leinster  were  all  disturbed  by 
war. 

A.  D.  1157. — A  synod,  which  was  at- 
tended by  the  primate,  the  bishop  of 
Lismore,  who  was  legate,  and  seventeen 
other  bishops,  and  at  which  there  were 
also  present  the  monarch,  with  the 
kings  of  Ulidia,  Oriel,  Breffny  (Tier- 
nan  O'Rourke),  and  a  great  number  of 
the  inferior  clergy  and  nobility,  togeth- 
er with  a  multitude  of  the  people  who 
assembled  to  witness  the  proceedings, 
was  held  this  year  in  the  abbey  of  Mel- 
lifout.*  The  primate  ha\nng  solemnly 
consecrated  the  abbey  church,  the  lay 
princes  consulted  with  the  bishops  on 
the  conduct  of  Donough  O'Melaghlin, 
prince  of  Meath,  who  had  become  the 


attended  by  ky  princes  for  the  purpose  of  consulting 
on  measures  for  the  general  management  of  the  state. 


166 


RODERIC  O'CONOR. 


common  pest  of  the  country.  He  was 
the  friend  and  ally  of  Dermot  Mac- 
Murrough,  by  whose  aid  he  had  usurped 
the  kingdom  of  Meath ;  just  before  the 
assembling  of  the  synod  he  murdered 
Cu-ulla  O'Kynelvan,  a  neighboring 
chief,  in  viola+'on  of  solemn  guaran- 
tees ;  and  in  an  old  translation  of  the 
Annals  of  Ulster  he  is  called  a  "  cursed 
atheist."  This  bad  man  was  according- 
ly excommunicated  by  the  clergy,  and 
sentence  of  deposition  being  then  pro- 
nounced against  him  by  the  king  of 
Ireland  and  the  other  princes,  his 
brother,  Dermot,  was  made  king  of 
Meath  in  his  place.  At  this  synod  the 
monarch,  O'Loughlin,  granted  "  to  God 
and  to  the  monastery  of  Mellifont"  the 
lands  of  Finnavai"-na-ninghean,  a  town- 
land  on  the  south  side  of  the  Boyne, 
opjDosite  the  river  INIattock,  together 
with  one  hundred  and  forty  cows  and 
sixty  ounces  of  gold.  O'Carroll,  prince 
of  Oriel,  also  presented  the  monastery, 
on  the  same  occasion,  with  sixty  ounces 
of  gold ;  and  Dervorgil,  the  wife  of 
O'Rourke,  presented  as  many  ounces, 
together  with  a  golden  chalice  for  the 
altar  of  Mary,  and  cloth,  or  sacred 
vestments,  for  each  of  the  other  nine 
altars  of  the  church. 

A  synod  of  the  clergy  was  convened 
the  following  year  (1158)  at  Bri-mic- 
Taidhg,  near  Trim,  and  was  attended 
by  the  legate  and  twenty-five  other 
bishops.  Derry  was  on  this  occasion 
erected  into  an  episcopal  see ;  Flaher- 
tach  O'Brolchain,  the  abbot  of  St.  Col- 
umbkille's  monastery,  there,  being  con- 


secrated the  first  bishop.  The  bishops 
of  Connaught,  while  proceeding  to  this 
synod,  were  intercepted  and  plundered 
by  the  soldiers  of  Dermot,  king  of 
Meath,  on  crossing  the  Shannon,  near 
Clonmacnoise,  and  two  of  their  atten- 
dants were  killed.  They  therefore  re- 
turned to  Connnaught,  and  held  a 
synod  of  their  own  province  in  Ros- 
common. 

Roderic,  king  of  Connaught,  exhib- 
ited great  activity,  and  spared  no  pains 
to  attain  the  position  which  his  father, 
Turlough,  had  held,  and  to  divide  the 
sovereignty  of  Ireland  with  O'Loughlin. 
While  the  latter  was  engaged  in  Mun- 
ster,  in  1157,  expelling  Turlough 
O'Brien  (whom  he  had  formerly  sup- 
ported) from  Thomoncl,  and  dividing 
Munster  between  Dermot,  son  of  Cor- 
mac  MacCarthy,  as  king  of  Desmond, 
and  Conor,  son  of  Donnell  O'Brien, 
whom  he  made  king  of  Thomond,  Ro- 
deric O'Conor  led  an  army  to  plunder 
and  lay  waste  Tyrone,  and,  as  soon  as 
O'Loughlin  had  left  the  south,  proceed- 
ed thither  to  reinstate  Turlough 
O'Brien.  MacCarthy  promised  Roderic 
a  conditional  submission ;  that  is,  in 
case  0'Loug;hlin  should  not  be  able  to 
support  him  against  Roderic.  An  of- 
fensive and  defensive  league  was  en- 
tered into  between  O'Conor  and  Tier- 
nan  O'Rourke;  and  their  combined 
forces,  with  a  battalion  of  the  men  of 
Thomond,  marched  in  1159,  into  Oriel, 
as  far  as  Ardee,  when  they  were  met 
by  Murtough  O'Loughlin  with  the  army 
of  Kinel  Connell  and  Kinel  Eoghain, 


ST.  LAUIIE'XCE  O'TOOLE. 


167 


and  of  tlie  nortli  in  general.  A  battle 
ensued,  in  which  the  Connaught  men 
and  their  allies  were  defeated  with 
great  slaughter ;  and  the  northern  army, 
after  returning  home  in  triumph,  sub- 
sequently entered  Connaught  and  de- 
vastated a  great  portion  of  that  coun- 
try. 

During  the  next  two  years  commo- 
tion and  disorder  reigned  in  various 
parts  of  Ireland.  An  insui-rection  of 
the  Kinel  Eoghain  was  put  down  by 
O'Loughlin,  with  the  aid  of  the  men  of 
Oriel  and  Ulidia ;  and  a  fresh  partition 
was  made  of  Meath.  In  the  latter  part 
of  1161  a  general  meeting  of  the  clergy 
and  chieftains  of  Ireland  took  place  at 
Dervor,  in  Meath,  when  all  the  other 
princes  gave  hostages  to  Mui'tough 
O'Loughlin. 

A.  D.  1162.— The  Irish  Church,  fertile 
in  saints,  now  presents  to  us  another  of 
the  most  illustrious  of  her  sons,  in  the 
person  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole  (or,  as 
his  name  is  called  in  Irish,  Lorcan 
O'Tuathal),  who  was  chosen  this  year 
to  succeed  Greine,  or  Gregory,  the 
Danish  archbishop  of  Dublin.  This 
great  saint,  whom  patriotism  as  well  as 
religion  endears  to  the  hearts  of  Irish- 
men, belonged  to  one  of  the  noblest 
families  of  Leinster,  whose  patrimonial 
territory,  of  which  his  father  was  chief- 
tain, was  called  Hy-Muirahy,  a  district 
nearly  conterminous  with  the  southern 

*  The  true  position  of  Hy-Muireadhaigh  (Hy-Muira- 
hy, or  Hy-Murray),  the  ancient  territory  of  the  O'Tooles, 
is  shown  by  O'Donovan,  in  a  valuable  note  to  the  Pour 
Masters,  a.  d.  1180.    The  mountain  district  of  Imaile,  in 


half  of  the  present  county  of  Kildare.* 
In  his  youth  he  entered  the  monastery 
of  St.  Kevin,  at  Glendalough,  of  which 
he  was  chosen  abbot  when  only  twenty- 
five  years  old ;  and  even  after  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  episcopacy — a  dignity  which 
he  most  reluctantly  accepted — he  con- 
tinued to  practice  all  the  austerities  of 
monastic  discipline.  His  predecessors 
in  the  see  of  Dublin  had  been  conse- 
crated by  the  archbishops  of  Canter- 
bury, to  whose  jurisdiction  they  sub- 
jected themselves;  but  this  external 
authority  was  not  resorted  to  in  his 
case,  as  he  was  consecrated  by  St.  Gela- 
sius,  successor  of  St.  Patrick.  St.  Lau- 
rence O'Toole  was  one  of  twenty-six 
prelates,  who,  with  a  large  number  of 
abbots  and  inferior  clergy,  attended  a 
synod  held  at  Clane,  in  Kildare,  the 
year  of  his  consecration.  At  this  synod 
the  college  of  Armagh  Avas  virtually 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  university,  as  it 
was  decreed  that  no  one  who  had  not 
been  an  alumnus  of  Armagh  should  be 
appointed  lector  or  theological  profes- 
sor in  any  of  the  other  diocesan  schools 
of  Ireland. 

The  extraordinary  energy  displayed 
at  this  period  by  the  hierarchy  and 
clergy  of  Ireland,  in  restoring  discipline 
and  promoting  reforms,  must  soon  have 
produced  the  most  salutary  effect  on 
society,  and  raised  the  country  to  its 
just  position  among  nations;  but,  un- 


Wicklow,  was  not  occupied  by  them  until  after  the  Eng 
lish  invasion,  when  they  were  driven  from  their  origi. 
nal  territory. 


168 


RODERIC   O'CONOR  MONARCH  OF  IRELAND. 


happil}'',  thfcir  efforts  were  about  to  be 
interrupted  and  frustrated.  Even  then 
tlie  scheme  was  hatched  which  was  so 
soon  to  crush  all  these  generous  ten- 
dencies, and  extinguish  for  centuries 
every  native  germ  of  social  progress.* 

Sundry  wars  and  hostile  inroads  oc- 
curred about  this  time,  presenting  no 
peculiar  feature;  but  in  the  year  1166 
a  fatal  outrage  was  committed  by  the 
monarch,  O'Loughlin,  on  Eochy  Mac- 
Dunlevy,  prince  of  Dalaradia.  One  of 
the  petty  wars,  so  usual  at  that  period, 
having  been  arranged  between  these 
two  princes  the  preceding  year,  a 
peace  was  ratified  by  the  successor  of 
St.  Patrick  and  some  of  the  neighboring 
chieftains.  Urged,  however,  by  some 
new  feeling  of  exasperation,  from  what 
cause  we  are  not  told,  O'Loughlin  came 
suddenly  upon  the  Dalaradian  chief, 
put  out  his  eyes,  and  killed  three  of 
his  principal  men.  This  savage  aggi'es- 
sion  so  provoked  the  princes  who  had 
been  guarantees  for  the  treaty,  that 
they  mustered  an  army,  composed  of 
choice  battalions  of  the  men  of  Oriel, 
Breffny,  and  Conmacue,  under  the  com- 
mand    of    Donough     O'CarroU,     and 


*  Tlie  rebuilding  of  tlio  great  clinrcli  of  Derry,  des- 
troyed by  fire  many  years  before,  was  completed,  in 
11G4,  by  Flaliertach  O'Brolchain,  bisbop,  and  formerly 
abbot  of  Derry,  witli  funds  wbicli  be  bad  collected  in 
the  course  of  a  mission  tbat  be  had  undertaken  tbrougb 
a  part  of  Ireland  for  tbat  purpose.  The  primate  bad 
also,  about  this  time,  made  a  visitation  of  Ireland  to  col- 
lect funds  for  rebuilding  the  religious  establisbments  of 
Armagh  destroyed  by  fire  in  1150.  The  contributions 
wbicb  the  primate  received  in  bis  visitation  of  Tyrone 
on  this  occasion,  were  a  cow  from  every  biatacb  or  far- 
mer, a  horse  from  every  chieftain,  and  twenty  cows 
from  the  king  ;  and  when  Flaliertach  O'Brolcbain  made 


marched  to  the  north.  At  Leiter  Luin, 
a  place  in  the  present  barony  of  Upper 
Fews,  county  of  Armagh,  and  then 
part  of  Tir  Eoghaiu,  they  encountered 
O'Loughlin,  who,  although  he  had  but 
a  few  troops,  gave  battle.  In  the  fierce 
contest  which  ensued  the  Kinel  Eog- 
haiu Avere  defeated,  and  the  monarch 
himself  slain ;  and  thus  fell  Murtough 
O'Loughlin,  who,  of  all  the  Irish  kings 
since  the  days  of  Malachy  II.  had  the 
most  unquestionable  right  to  the  title 
of  monarch  of  Ireland. 

A.  D.  1166. — Eoderic  O'Conor  lost  no 
time  in  getting  himself  recognized  as 
sovereign,  on  the  death  of  O'Loughlin ; 
and  this  appears  to  have  been  a  mere 
matter  of  parade  in  his  case,  as  there 
was  no  serious  o^^position  to  his  claim. 
He  first  led  an  army  to  Easrua,  in  Done- 
gal, and  took  the  hostages  of  Kinel 
Connell.  Thence  he  marched  across 
Ireland  to  Dublin,  being  joined  on  the 
way  by  the  men  of  Meath  and  Teffia, 
and  he  was  there  inaugurated  with 
more  pomp  than  any  Irish  king  had 
ever  been  before.  This  was,  indeed,  the 
first  solemn  act  in  which  we  see  Dublin 
treated  as  a  metropolis,  and  on  this  oc- 

a  visitation  of  the  same  territory  to  repair  his  monastery, 
he  obtained  a  horse  from  every  chieftain,  a  cow  from 
every  two  biatachs,  a  cow  from  every  three  freeholders, 
the  same  from  every  four  villains,  and  twenty  cows 
from  the  king.  He  also  got  a  gold  ring  of  five  ounces, 
his  horse  and  kis  battle  axe,  as  a  personal  gift  from  the 
king  (Murtough  O'Loughlin).  A  "wonderful  castle" 
was  built  this  year  (116-1)  by  Roderic  O'Conor,  at  Tuara, 
but  as  the  castle  of  Galway,  and  other  similar  strong- 
holds, had  been  erected  in  Connaught  long  before,  the 
term  "  wonderful"  must  have  been  applied  rather  on 
account  of  the  strength  of  the  building  than  of  its 
singularity. 


GREAT  MEETING  OF  ATHBOT. 


169 


casion  Roderic  paid  the  Dano-Irish  of 
that  city  a  stipend  in  cattle,  and  levied 
for  them  a  tax  of  4,000  cows  on  Ireland 
at  large. 

From  Dublin  he  proceeded  to  Drog- 
heda  (Droicheat-atha),  where  O'Carroll 
and  the  men  of  Oriel  paid  homage,  and 
gave  him  hostages.  Attended  by  a 
great  hosting  of  the  men  of  Connaught, 
Breffny,  and  Meath,  he  marched  back 
to  Leinster,  advancing  into  Hy-Kinsella, 
where  Dermot  MacMuiTough  gave  him 
hostages ;  and  submission  was  made  in 
a  similar  form  by  the  various  chiefs  of 
Leinster  and  Ossory,  and  of  North  and 
South  Munster. 

By  the  death  of  the  late  monarch, 
Dermot  MacMuiTough  was  deprived  of 
his  only  supporter ;  and  on  the  accession 
of  Roderic — ^the  firm  ally  of  his  old  ene- 
my, O'Rourke — he  saw  what  his  fate 
must  inevitably  be.  According  to  the 
friendly  authority  of  Gii'aldus  Cambren- 
sis,  this  prince  was  destested  by  all. 
Equally  hateful  to  strangers  and  to  his 
own  people  "his  hand  was  against 
every  man,  and  every  man's  hand 
against  him."  He  accordingly  prepared 
for  the  worst  by  burning  his  castle  of 
Ferns,  and  soon  saw  his  fears  realized 
by  the  approach  of  an  army  conducted 
by  Tiernan  O'Rourke,  and  composed  of 
the  men  of  Breffny  and  Meath,  of  the 
Dano-Irish  of  Dublin,  and  of  the  chiefs 
of  his  own  kingdom  of  Leinster.  A  j^re- 
cipitate  flight  was  his  only  resource,  and 
while  he  sought  refuge  in  England  his 
kingdom  was  given  to  another  member 
of  his  family. 

22 


A.  D.  1167. — A  great  assembly  of  the 
clergy  and  chieftains  of  Leath  Cuinn, 
or  the  northern  half  of  Ireland,  was 
convened  by  Roderic,  at  Athboy,  in 
Meath,  Amonfj  those  who  attended 
were  the  primate ;  St.  Laurence  O'Toole, 
archbishop  of  Dublin ;  Catholicus 
O'Duffy,  archbishop  of  Tuam ;  and 
the  chieftains  of  Breffny,  Oriel,  Ulidia, 
Meath,  and  Dublin.  Thirteen  thousand 
horsemen  are  said  to  have  assembled 
on  this  occasion ;  and  the  meeting,  from 
its  magnitude,  has  been  supposed  by 
some,  although  incorrectly,  to  have  been 
a  revival  of  the  ancient  Feis  of  Tara. 
It  has  been  also  remarked  how  sadly 
this  display  of  the  resources,  and  awak- 
ening of  the  olden  glories  of  the  coun- 
try, contrasted  with  the  fatal  circum- 
stances of  the  moment ;  and  how  little 
the  men  then  congregated  at  Athboy 
could  anticipate  the  ruin  which  was 
just  about  to  come  upon  themselves  and 
upon  theii-  nation !  Several  useful  regu- 
lations, affecting  the  social  and  religious 
interests  of  the  people,  were  adopted 
on  this  occasion,  and  the  convention 
tended  materially  to  promote  respect 
for  the  laws,  and  to  give  eclat  to  the 
commencement  of  the  new  sovereign's 


reign. 


Roderic,  with  a  large  army  composed 
of  contingents  from  every  other  part  of 
Ireland,  entered  the  territory  of  Tyrone 
(Tir-Eoghain)  and  divided  it  between 
Niall  O'Loughlin  and  Hugh  O'Neill, 
giving  to  the  former  the  country  lying 
to  the  north  of  Slieve  Gallion,  in  the 
present  county  of  Londonderry,  and  to 


170 


THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION. 


the  latter  the  territory  south  of  that 
mountain.  This  might  be  considered 
as  the  last  act  of  undisputed  sover- 
eignty exercised  by  a  native  king  of 
Ireland.  Roderic  "was  a  man  of  parade, 
not  of  action,  and  totally  unfit  for  the 
emergency  in  which  the  unhaupy  des- 


tiny of  Ireland  had  placed  him.  No 
monarch  of  L'eland,  up  to  his  time,  was 
ever  more  implicitly  obeyed,  or  could 
command  more  numerous  hostings  of 
brave  men ;  yet  in  his  hands  all  this 
jiower  was  miserably  worthless  and  in- 
operative. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

^  THE    ANGLO-NOKMAN    INVASION. 

Denuofs  Appeal  to  Henry  H. — His  Negotiations  with  Karl  StTongbow  nnd  others. — Landing  of  the  first  English 
Adventurers  in  Ireland. — Siege  of  Wexford. — First  Eewards  of  the  Adventurers. — Apathy  of  the  Irish. — In- 
cursion into  Ossory. — Savage  Conduct  of  Dermot. — His  Vindictiveness. — Shameful  Feebleness  of  Roderic. — 
The  Treaty  of  Ferns. — Dermot  aspires  to  the  Sovereignty. — Stronghow's  Preparations  for  his  Expedition. — 
Landing  of  his  Precursor,  Raymond  le  Gros. — Massacre  of  Prisoners  by  the  English. — Arrival  of  Strongbow, 
and  Siege  of  Waterford. — Marriage  of  Strongbow  and  Eva. — March  on  Dublin. — Surprise  of  the  City. — Brutal 
Massacre. — The  English  Garrison  of  Waterford  cut  off. — Sacrilegious  Spoliations  by  Dermot  and  the  English. 
— Imbecility  of  Roderic. — Execution  of  Dermot's  Hostages. — Synod  of  Armagh. — English  Slaves,  nefarious 
custom. — ^Horrible  Death  of  Dermot  MacMurrough. 

(A.  D.  116S— 1171.) 


vengeance 


against 


MEDITATING 
the  country  from  which  he  was 
compelled  to  fly  in  disgrace,  the  fugi- 
tive king  of  Leinster  arrived  at  Bristol, 
where  he  learned  that  Henry  II.,  to 
whom  he  had  determined  to  apply  for 
aid,  was  absent  in  Aquitaine.  Thither 
he  immediately  proceeded  ;  and  having 
at  length  found  the  English  king,  he 
laid  before  him  such  a  statement  of  his 
grievances  as  he  thought  fit.  He  of- 
fered to  become  Henry's  vassal,  should 
he,  through  his  assistance,  be  reinstated 
in  his  kingdom,  and  made  the  most  ab- 
ject protestations  of  reverence  and  sub- 


mission. Henry  lent  a  willing  ear  to 
his  statement,  and  must  -have  been  for- 
cibly struck  by  this  invitation  to  carry 
out  a  project  which  he  himself  had  long 
entertained,  and  for  which  he  had  been 
making  grave  preparations  many  years 
before.  That  project  was  the  invasion 
of  Ireland.  As  his  hands  were,  how- 
ever, just  then  full  of  business — for  he 
was  engaged  in  bringing  into  submis- 
sion the  proud  nobles  of  the  province 
in  which  he  then  was,  while  at  home 
the  resistance  of  St.  Thomas  k  Becket, 
who  would  not  sufier  him  to  trample 
on  the  rights  of  the  church  with  impu- 


DERMOT'S  ALLIES. 


lYl 


nity,  was  Ijecome  daily  more  ii-ksorae — 
lie  could  not  occupy  himself  personally 
in  Dermot's  affairs,  but  gave  liim  let- 
ters patent,  addressed  to  all  liis  sub- 
jects— ^English,  Frencb,  and  Welsh — 
recommending  Dermot  to  them,  and 
granting  them  a  general  license  to  aid 
that  prince  in  the  recovery  of  his  ter- 
ritory by  force  of  arras. 

A.  D.  1168. — With  this  authorization 
Dermot  hastened  back  to  Wales,  where 
he  gave  it  due  publicity,  but  for  some 
time  his  efforts  to  induce  any  one  to  es- 
pouse his  cause  were  unavailing.  At 
length,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  find 
some  needy  military  adventurers  suited 
to  his  purpose.  The  chief  of  these  was 
Richard  de  Clare,  commonly  called 
Strongbow  (as  his  father,  Gilbert,  also 
had  been),  from  his  skill  with  the  cross- 
bow. This  man,  who  was  earl  of  Pem- 
broke and  Strigul,  or  Chepstow,  being 
of  a  brave  and  enterprising  spirit,  and 
of  ruined  fortune,  entered  warmly  into 
Dermot's  design.  He  undertook  to 
raise  a  sufficient  force  to  aid  the  king 
of  Leinster  in  the  recovery  of  his  king- 
dom, for  which  Dermot  promised  him 
his  daughter,  Eva,  in  marriage,  and  the 
succession  to  the  throne  of  Leinster. 
Two  Anglo-Norman  knights,  Maurice 
FitzGerald  and  Robert  FitzStephen,  al- 
so enlisted  themselves  in  the  cause  of 
Dermot.  These  men  -were  half-broth- 
ers, being  the  sons  of  Nesta,  who  had 
been  first  the  mistress  of  Henry  I.,  then 
the  wife  of  Gerald  of  Windsor,  gover- 
nor of  Pembroke  and  lord  of  Carew,  to 
whom  she  bore  the  former  of  these  ad- 


venturers, and  finally  the  mistress  of 
constable  Stephen  de  Marisco,  who  was 
the  father  of  Robert  FitzStephen. 
These  knights  were  men  of  needy  cir- 
cumstances, and  Dermot  promised  to 
reward  them  liberally  for  their  servi- 
ces, by  granting  them  the  city  of  Wex- 
ford with  certain  lands  adjoining. 
Such  were  the  obscure  individuals  by 
whom  the  first  introduction  of  Euo-lish 
power  into  Ireland  was  planned  and  car- 
ried out. 

The  year  was  now  drawing  to  a 
close,  and  Dermot  MacMurrough,  re- 
lying on  the  promises  which  he  had 
obtained,  ventured  back  to  Ireland, 
and  remained,  during  the  winter,  con- 
cealed in  a  monastery  of  Augustinian 
canons  which  he  had  founded  at  Ferns. 
There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the 
date  of  the  first  landing  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans  in  Ireland ;  and  it  may  also 
be  doubted,  whether  some  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Dermot  and  his  foreign 
auxiliaries,  mentioned  obscurely  in  the 
native  annals,  occurred  previous  to  the 
arrival  of  FitzStephen,  and  the  surren- 
der of  Wexford,  in  May,  1169,  or  were 
identical  with  those  recorded  after  that 
time.  Thus  it  is  stated,  that  early  in 
the  year  a  few  of  Dermot's  Welsh  aux- 
iliaries arrived,  and  that  with  their  aid 
he  recovered  possession  of  Hy-Kinsel- 
lagh ;  but  that  this  movement  on  his 
part  was  premature,  and  that  at  the 
approach  of  a  force,  hastily  collected  by 
Roderic  O'Conor  and  Tiernan  O'Rourke, 
a  battle  in  which  some  of  the  Welsh 
were  killed,  having  been  fought  at  Cill 


172 


THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION. 


Osnadh,  now  Kellistown,  in  the  county 
of  Carlow,  Dermot,  who  only  -wanted 
to  gain  time,  made  a  hypocritical  peace 
with  the  monarch,  giving  him  seven 
hostages  for  ten  cantreds  of  his  former 
territory.  It  is  added,  that  he  gave  a 
hundred  ounces  of  gold  to  O'Rourke, 
as  an  atonement  for  the  injury  he  had 
formerly  inflicted  on  him ;  but  all  this 
seems  to  be  only  a  confused  version  of 
soine  of  the  events  which  we  are  now 
about  to  relate  in  order,  on  the  author- 
ity of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  and  Mau- 
rice Kegan.* 

A.  D.  1169.  — According  to  the  most 
probable  account  of  the  first  Anglo- 
Norman  descent,  Robert  FitzStephen, 
with  30  knights  all  his  own  kinsmen, 
60  men-at-arms,  and  300  skillful  arch- 
ers, disembarked  in  May,  this  year, 
at  Bannow,f  near  Wexford.  One  of 
the  knights  was  Hervey  de  Monteraar- 
isco,  or  Mountmaurice,  a  paternal  un- 
cle of  earl  Strongbow;  and  the  next 
day,  at  the  same  place,  landed  Maurice 
de  Prendergast,  a  Welsh  gentleman, 
with  10  knights  and  60  archers.  Der- 
mot, on  receiving  notice  of  their  ai-rival, 
marched  Avith  the  utmost  speed  to  join 
them  with  500  men,  being  all  that  he 
could  then  muster ;  and  with  the  joint 
force,  he  proceeded  immediately  to  lay 


*  The  authority  referred  to  as  that  of  Maurice  Regan 
is  a  metrical  narrative  written  by  an  anonymous  Nor- 
man rliymer  from  the  oral  account  which  he  received 
from  Regan,  the  secretary  and  "  Lattimer,"  or  interpre- 
ter, of  Dermot  MacMurrough.  An  old  translation  into 
English,  by  Sir  George  Carew,  was  published  in  Harris's 
Hibernica. 

f  Cuan-an-hhainbh,  "the  creek  of  the  sucking  pigs." 


siege  to  the  town  of  Wexford,  the  in- 
habitants of  which  were  Dano-Irish. 
The  first  assault  was  repelled  Avith 
great  bravery,  the  inhabitants  having 
previously  set  fire  to  the  suburbs,  that 
they  might  not  afford  a  cover  to  the 
enemy ;  but  when  the  Anglo-Normans 
were  preparing  to  renew  the  attack 
next  morning,  the  toAvnspeople  deman- 
ded a  parley,  and  terms  of  capitulation 
were  negotiated  by  the  clergy ;  Der- 
mot, though  with  great  reluctance,  con- 
senting to  pai'don  the  inhabitants  on 
their  returning  to  their  allegiance.  In 
the  first  day's  assault  eighteen  of  the 
English  had  been  slain,  and  only  three 
of  the  brave  garrison.  FitzStephen 
burned  the  shipping  which  lay  before 
the  town ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  des- 
troyed also  the  vessels  which  had  con- 
veyed his  own  troops  from  England,  to 
shoAV  that  they  Avere  resolved  ncA'er  to 
retreat.  The  lordship  of  the  town  Avas 
then,  according  to  the  contract,  made 
over  to  him  and  to  FitzGerald,  who  had 
not  yet  arrived,  and  two  cantreds  of  land, 
lying  between  the  towns  of  Wexford 
and  Waterford,  Avere  granted  by  Der- 
mot to  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice.  J 

Dermot  now  conducted  his  allies  to 
Ferns,  where  they  remained  inactive  for 
three  weeks,  without  molestation,  and 


The  place  of  FitzStephen's  debarkation  is  called  Bagan- 
bum  by  the  Anglo-Irish  historians. 

:j;  This  land  is  comprised  in  the  present  baronies  of 
Forth  and  Bargie,  county  of  Wexford,  and  was  the  first 
place  in  Ireland  colonized  by  the  Enghsh.  The  isolation 
of  its  inhabitants  for  centuries  after  that  time,  and  the 
peculiarities  of  manner  and  language,  of  which  tho  rem- 
nant is  still  preserved  among  them,  are  weU  known  facts 


BRUTALITY  OF  DERMOT. 


173 


indeed  without  appearing  to  excite  any 
attention  on  the  part  of  king  Koderic 
and  the  other  Irish  princes.  This  ap- 
athy of  the  Irish,  which  appears  to  us 
so  unaccountable,  and  which  was  so 
lamentable  in  its  consequences,  partly 
arose,  no  doubt,  from  the  insignificance 
of  the  invaders,  in  point  of  numbers. 
Never  did  a  national  calamity,  so 
mighty  and  so  deplorable,  proceed 
from  a  commencement  more  contempti- 
ble than  did  the  English  occupation  of 
Ireland.  The  Irish  were  accustomed 
to  employ  parties  of  Danish  mercena- 
ries in  their  feuds.  They  had  also 
mixed  themselves  up  more  than  once 
in  the  quarrels  of  the  Welsh ;  and  they 
looked  upon  MacMuri'ough's  handful 
of  Welsh  and  Normans  as  casual  auxil- 
iaries who  came  on  a  special  duty  and 
would  depart  when  it  was  performed. 
The  Irish  annalists  expressly  state  that 
the  monarch,  with  a  number  of  subor- 
dinate princes  and  a  large  army,  en- 
tered Leinster  at  this  very  time,  and 
"went  to  meet  the  men  of  Munster, 
Leinster,  and  Ossory,"  but  "  set  nothing 
by  the  Flemings,"  as  the  first  party  of 
the  invaders  are  called  in  these  records.* 
As   to   Roderic,   he   showed    no   fore- 


*  Four  Masters,  A.  D.  11C9.  No  English  or  Anglo- 
IriBh  authority  makes  any  mention  of  these  Flemings ; 
yet,  observes  Dr.  O'Donovan,  certain  analogies  as  well 
as  the  existence  of  an  ancient  Flemish  colony  ia  Pem- 
brokeshire, ■n'hence  the  first  adventurers  came,  would 
show  that  the  Irish  annalists  had  some  grounds  for  the 
application  of  the  name. 

f  The  annalists  say  that  this  year  (11C9),  "  Eory 
O'Conor  granted  an  (increase  of)  pension  of  ten  cows 
yearly,  from  himself  and  his  successors,  to  the  lector 
(chief  master)  of  Armagh  (seminary),  in  honor  of  Pat- 


sight  or  prudence,  no  energy  of  char- 
acter or  real  bravery,  and  no  regard 
for  the  interests  of  Ireland  as  an  inte- 
gral nation,  throughout  the  whole  of 
this  most  fatal  crisis  in  his  country's 
fortunes.  About  this  time  he  celebra- 
ted the  fair  of  Tailtin,  when  the  con- 
course assembled  was  so  great  that  the 
horsemen  are  said  to  have  been  spread 
over  the  tract  of  country  from  MuUach 
Aiti,  now  the  hill  of  Lloyd,  west  of 
Kells,  to  MuUach  Tailtin,  a  distance  of 
about  six  and  a  half  miles ;  yet,  while 
this  display  of  numbers  was  made  with- 
in a  couple  of  days'  march,  Dermot, 
with  his  handful  of  foreign  auxiliaries, 
was  permitted  to  overrun  the  province 
of  Leinster,  and  to  brave  the  anger  of 
the  imbecile  monarch.f 

Emboldened  by  the  inactivity  of  his 
enemies,  Dermot  resolved  to  act  on  the 
oftensive ;  and  as  he  had  a  cause  of 
quarrel  with  MacGilla  Patrick,  prince 
of  Ossory,  who,  actuated  by  a  feeling 
of  jealousy,  had  put  out  the  eyes  of 
Enna,  a  son  of  MacMurrough's  who  was 
in  his  power  as  a  hostage,  he  determined 
to  make  him  the  first  object  of  his  ven- 
geance. J  Between  the  forces  of  his 
province  and  the  garrison  of  Wexford, 


rick,  to  instruct  the  youth  of  Ireland  and  Alba  in  liter- 
ature." 

I  The  barbarous  custom  of  blinding  was  a  mode  of 
punishment  common  to  other  nations  at  that  period. 
It  was  indeed  only  three  or  four  years  before  the  time 
at  which  we  have  arrived  when  Henry  II.,  king  of  Eng- 
land, took  vengeance  on  the  people  of  Wales  by  causing 
the  chUdren  of  the  noblest  families  of  that  country, 
whom  he  held  as  hostages,  to  be  treated  in  the  same 
manner ;  ordering  the  eyes  of  the  males  to  be  rooted  out, 
and  the  ears  and  lips  of  the  females  to  be  amputated. 


1T4 


THE  ANGLO-NORJVIAN  INVASION". 


Dermot  was  enabled  to  muster  3,000 
men,  but  his  principal  reliance  was  on 
his  foreign  friends,  in  whose  ranks  he 
chiefly  remained ;  and  the  Wexford 
men  were  so  hated  and  distrusted  by 
him,  that  they  were  not  allowed  to  en- 
camp at  night  with  the  rest  of  the 
army.  Thus  Dermot  marched  into  Os- 
sory,  where  the  inhabitants  made  a 
brave  stand ;  but  after  a  good  deal  of 
fighting,  having  been  decoyed  from  a 
strong  position  into  one  where  they 
were  exposed  to  the  Norman  cavalry, 
they  were  ultimately  defeated,  and 
three  hundred  of  their  heads  were  piled 
up  before  Dermot  as  a  trophy  of  vic- 
tory. This  ferocious  monster  is  said  to 
have  leaped  and  clapped  his  hands  with 
joy  at  the  sight;  and  Cambrensis  adds 
that  he  turned  over  the  heads  in  the 
ghastly  heap,  and  that  recognizing  one 
of  them  as  the  head  of  a  man  to  whom 
he  had  particular  aversion,  he  seized  it 
by  both  ears,  and  with  brutal  frenzy 
bit  off  the  nose  and  lips  of  his  dead  en- 
emy. Such  is  the  character  which  we 
receive  of  this  detestable  tyrant,  even 
from  contemporary  English  authori- 
ties. 

Roderic,  awakening  at  length  to  a 
sense  of  the  duty  which  devolved  on 
him,  convened  a  meetiug  of  the  Irish 
princes  at  Tara,  and,  in  obedience  to 
the  summons,  a  large  army  was  mus- 
tered ;  while  Dea'mot,  who  had  already 
carried  desolation  through  a  great  por- 


Hence,  when  we  read  of  such  tortures  in  Irish  history, 
■we  are  not  to  conclude  that  they  were  indicative  of  any 
peculiar  barbarity.    More  than  two  hundred  years  after, 


tion  of  Ossory,  became  dismayed  at  the 
first  symptoms  of  preparations  against 
him,  and,  halting  with  his  English 
friends  in  their  career  of  havoc,  return- 
ed to  Ferns,  and  hastily  entrenched 
himself  there.  Scarcely,  however,  had 
the  Irish  army  assembled,  when  dissen- 
sions broke  out  in  its  ranks,  and  on 
marching  as  far  as  Dublin,  Roderic 
thought  fit  to  dispense  with  the  services 
of  MacDunlevy  of  Ulidia,  and  of  O'Car- 
roll  of  Oriel,  who  accordingly  drew  off 
their  respective  contingents,  and  re- 
turned home.  Still  the  monarch  ar- 
rived before  Fei-ns  with  an  army  sufli- 
cient  to  annihilate  the  small  force  which 
he  found  collected  there  round  Der- 
mot ;  for  it  must  be  observed,  that  on 
the  news  of  an  Irish  army  being  in  the 
field,  the  king  of  Leinster  was  aban- 
doned by  a  great  number  of  his  Irish 
followers. 

The  conduct  of  Roderic  on  this  occa- 
sion lamentably  illustrates  the  weakness 
of  his  character.  Instead  of  proceeding 
at  once  to  crush  the  dangerous  foe,  or  in- 
sistin":  on  the  unconditional  submission 
of  Dermot,  he  entered  into  private  ne- 
gotiations, first  with  FitzStepheu,  and 
then  with  Dermot ;  endeavoring  to  in- 
duce the  former  to  abandon  the  king 
of  Leinster,  and  to  return  to  his  own 
country,  or  to  detach  the  latter  from 
his  foreign  allies,  and  bring  him  to  an 
humble  admission  of  his  allegiance. 
Such  attempts  showed  the  feebleness  of 

in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  this  barbarous  practice  pre- 
vailed in  England,  and  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  law 
against  it. — Hume,  c.  18. 


\ 


DERMOT  ASPIRES  TO  THE  SOVEREIGNITY. 


175 


his  councils,  and  only  excited  the  con- 
tempt of  both  FitzStephen  and  Dermot. 
Roderic's  overtures  were  therefore  re- 
jected with  disdain,  and  preparations 
were  made  on  both  sides  for  battle.  "VVe 
cannot  now  judge  how  far  the  strength 
of  the  position  occupied  by  the  enemy 
justified  the  reluctance  of  the  Irish 
monarch  to  attack;  but  we  find  him 
again  endeavoring  to  avert  the  neces- 
sity of  fighting  by  further  treating  with 
the  perfidious  Dermot,  so  that  it  was 
Roderic,  and  not  the  besieged,  who  ap- 
peared to  supplicate  for  peace.  At 
length  terms  were  agreed  on,  Eoderic 
consenting  to  give  the  full  sovereignty 
of  Leinster  to  Dermot  and  to  his  heus, 
on  his  own  supremacy  being  acknow- 
ledged ;  and  Dermot  on  the  other  part, 
giving  his  favorite  son,  Conor,  as  a  host- 
age to  the  monarch,  and  binding  him- 
self solemnly  by  a  secret  treaty  to  bring 
over  no  more  foreign  auxiliaries,  and  to 
dismiss  those  now  in  his  service,  so  soon 
as  circumstances  would  permit  him  to 
do  so. 

About  this  time  Maurice  de  Pren- 
dergast  withdrew  from  Dermot,  with 
his  followers,  to  the  number  of  200 ; 
and  finding  that  his  departure  from 
Ireland  was  prevented,  he  oftered  his 
services  to  the  king  of  Ossory.  This 
defection  alarmed  Dermot,  and  enabled 
his  enemy,  MacGilla  Patrick,  to  make 
some  reprisals ;  but  Maurice  soon  aban- 
doned the  latter  also,  and  returned  for  a 
short  time  to  Wales. 

Dermot,  who  only  desired  to  gain 
time,  soon  betrayed  the  insincerity  of 


his  consessions  to  Roderic ;  for  Maurice 
FitzGerald  having  in  a  few  days  after 
arrived  with  a  small  party  of  knights 
and  archers  at  Wexford,  he  hastened  to 
meet  his  new  ally,  regardless  of  his 
treaty,  and,  with  this  addition  to  his 
force,  marched  to  attack  Dublin,  which 
had  thi'own  off  its  allegiance  to  him, 
and  was  then  governed  by  Hasculf  Mac- 
Turkill,  a  prince  of  Danish  descent. 
The  territory  around  the  city  was  soon 
laid  waste  in  so  merciless  a  way,  that 
the  inhabitants  were  oblicjed  to  sue  for 
peace ;  and  the  king  of  Leinster  having 
glutted  his  revenge,  accepted  their  sub- 
mission, for  the  purpose  of  being  free 
to  lend  assistance  to  Donnell  O'Brien, 
prince  of  Thomond,  who  had  married  a 
daughter  of  Dermot's,  and  half  sister  of 
Eva,  and  had  just  then  rebelled  against 
the  monarch,  Eoderic.  This  opportu- 
nity of  weakening  the  power  of  the  lat- 
ter was,  to  the  vindictive  king  of  Lein- 
ster, too  gratifying  to  be  neglected ;  and 
Dermot  felt  so  elated  by  repeated  suc- 
cesses, that  he  was  no  longer  content 
with  his  position  as  a  provincial  prince, 
but  set  up  a  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Ireland,  which  he  grounded  on  the 
right  of  an  ancestoi*.  In  this  ambitious 
aim  he  was  encouraged  by  his  English 
auxiliaries ;  and  in  a  consultation  with 
FitzStephen  and  FitzGerald,  it  was 
resolved  that  a  message  should  be  sent 
immediately  to  Strougbow,  pressing 
him  to  fulfill  his  engagements,  and  to 
come  to  their  aid  with  as  little  delay  as 
posible. 

A.  D.  1170. — Strongbow  on  his  part 


1Y6 


THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION. 


felt  himself  in  a  difficult  position.  He 
could  no  longer  act  upon  Henry's  let- 
ters patent,  Dermot  being  now  reinstat- 
ed in  bis  kingdom ;  and  a  new  sanction 
being  necessary  to  authorize  a  hostile 
expedition  to  Ireland,  he  repaired  to 
Normandy,  where  the  English  king 
then  was,  to  solicit  his  permission. 
Henry,  who  was  naturally  jealous  and 
suspicious,  and  entertained  a  particular 
aversion  to  the  ambitous  earl  of  Pem- 
broke, in  order  to  rid  himself  of  his 
importunity,  gave  him  an  equivocal  an- 
swer, which  Strongbow  pretended  to 
understand  as  the  required  permission. 
He  tliereupou  returned  to  Wales,  set 
about  collecting  men  with  all  possible 
diligence,  and  sent  Raymond  le  Gros 
with  ten  knights  and  seventy  archers 
as  his  advanced  guard.  This  party 
landed  at  a  small  rocky  promontory 
then  called  Dundolf,  or  Downdonnell, 
near  Waterford,  and  being  jdined  by 
Hervey  of  Mountmaurice,  they  con- 
structed a  temporary  fort,  to  enable 
them  to  retain  their  position  until 
Strongbow  should  arrive.  The  citizens 
of  Waterford,  aided  by  O'Faelain,  or 
O'Phelan,  prince  of  the  Deisi,  and 
O'Ryan,  of  Idrone,  sent  a  hastily  col- 
lected force  to  dislodge  the  invaders ; 
but  through  the  bravery  of  Raymond, 
aided  by  accident,  the  besieged  were 
not  only  able  to  defend  themselves,  but 
effectually  to  rout  the  undisciplined  mul- 


*  The  English,  on  their  landing,  had,  it  appears, 
swept  off  a  large  number  of  cattle  from  the  surrounding 
country,  and  placed  them  in  the  outer  enclosure  of  their 
camp ;  and  these,  terrified  by  the  noise  of  the  battle, 


titude  who  came  against  them,  killing, 
it  is  said,  500  men,  and  taking  seventy 
of  the  principal  citizens  prisoners.* 
Large  sums  of  money  were  offered  to 
ransom  the  latter,  but  the  English,  as 
some  say,  swayed  by  the  sanguinary 
counsel  of  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice,  re- 
jected these  offers ;  and  for  the  purpose 
of  striking  terror  into  the  Irish,  brutally 
massacred  the  prisoners  by  breaking 
their  limbs,  and  hurling  them  from  the 
summit  of  the  precipice  into  the  sea. 
This  atrocity  was  a  fitting  prelude  to 
the  English  wars  in  Ireland ;  but  most 
historians  vindicate  Raymond  le  Gros 
from  the  stigma  which  it  cast  upon  the 
English  arms. 

In  the  mean  time  Strongbow  had  as- 
sembled his  army  of  adventurers  and 
mercenaries  at  Milford,  and  was  about 
to  embark,  when  he  received  a  perempt- 
ory order  from  Henry  forbidding  the  ex- 
pedition. What  was  to  be  done  ?  His 
hesitation,  if  any,  was  very  brief,  and 
he  adopted  the  desperate  alternative  of 
disobeying  his  king.  He  accordingly 
sailed,  and  with  an  army  of  about  1,200 
men,  of  whom  200  were  knights,  landed 
near  Waterford  on  the  23d  of  August, 
the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day.  Here 
he  was  immediately  joined  by  his  friend 
Raymond  le  Gros,  who  had  been  then 
three  months  in  Ireland  ;  and  the  very 
next  day  he  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to 
Waterford.       The     citizens    displayed 


and  rushing  furiously  out  through  the  Irish  assailants, 
spread  confusion  in  their  ranks,  of  which  their  enemy 
took  deadly  advantage. 


SIEGE  OP  DUBLIN. 


Ill 


great  heroism  in  tlieir  defence,  and 
twice  repulsed  the  attempts  of  the  as- 
sailants. At  length  a  large  breach  was 
made  in  the  wall  by  the  fall  of  a  house 
which  projected  over  it,  and  which 
came  toppling  down  when  the  props  by 
which  it  had  been  supported  were  cut 
by  Raymond's  knights;  and  the  be- 
siegers pouring  into  the  city  made  a 
dreadful  slaughter  of  the  inhabitants. 
A  tower  in  which  Reginald,  or  Gille- 
maire,  as  the  Irish  annalists  call  him, 
a  lord  of  Danish  extraction,  and  O'Phe- 
lan,  prince  of  the  Deisi,  continued  to 
defend  themselves,  was  taken;  and 
these  two  brave  men  were  on  the 
point  of  being  massacred  by  their  piti- 
less captors,  when  Dermot  MacMur- 
rough  arrived,  and  for  the  first  and 
only  time  we  see  mercy  exercised  at 
his  request.  The  carnage  of  the  now 
unresisting  inhabitants  was  suspended. 
Dermot  expressed  great  exultation  at 
the  arrival  of  earl  Strongbow,  and  in- 
sisted upon  paying  him  at  once  his 
promised  guerdon.  He  had  taken  his 
daughter,  Eva,  with  him  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  the  marriage  ceremony  was  hasti- 
ly performed,  and  the  wedding  cortege 
passed  through  streets  reeking  with  the 
still  warm  blood  of  the  brave  and  un- 
happy citizens. 

Immediately  after  the  nuptials  of 
Strongbow  and  Eva,  Dermot  and  his 
allies  set  out  on  a  rapid  march  to  Dub- 
lin, leaving  a  small  party  to  garrison 
Waterford.  Roderic  had  collected  a 
large  army  and  encamjjed  at  Clondal- 
kiu  near  DuMin  ;  and  Hasculf,  the  gov- 

23 


ernor  of  that  city,  encoiu'aged  by  their 
presence,  revolted  against  Dermot. 
Hence  the  haste  of  the  confederate 
army  to  reach  Dublin ;  and  as  they 
proceded  along  the  high  ridges  of  the 
Wicklow  mountains  in  order  to  escape 
the  fortified  passes  by  which  their 
march  would  have  been  impeded  in  the 
valleys,  they  arrived  under  the  walls  of 
Dublin  long  before  their  presence  there 
could  be  calculated  on.  This  rapid 
movement,  and  the  now  formidable  ar- 
ray of  the  Anglo-Norman  army,  filled 
the  citizens  with  consternation,  and  re- 
course was  had  to  negotiation ;  the  il- 
lustrious archbishop  of  Dublin,  St.  Lau- 
rence O'Toole,  being  commissioned  to 
arrange  terms  of  peace  with  Dermot. 
While  the  parley,  however,  was  still 
proceding  in  Strongbow's  camp,  two  of 
the  English  leaders,  Raymond  le  Gros 
and  Milo  de  Cogan,  regardless  of  the 
usages  of  civilized  warfare — though 
some  say  the  time  for  the  conference 
had  expired — led  their  troops  respec- 
tively against  the  weakest  or  most  neg- 
lected parts  of  the  fortifications,  and 
obtained  an  entrance.  The  inhabitants, 
relying  on  the  negotiations  which  were 
going  forward,  were  quite  unprepared 
for  this  assault,  and  flying  panic-strick- 
en, were  butchered  in  the  most  merci- 
less manner.  We  may  conceive  the  hor- 
ror with  which  St.  Laurence,  hastening 
back  to  the  city,  found  its  streets  filled 
with  carnage.  He  exposed  his  life  in 
the  midst  of  the  massacre,  endeavoring 
to  appease  the  fury  of  the  soldiers ;  and 
subsequently  he  had  the  bodies  of  the 


178 


THE  ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION 


slaia  collected  for  decent  burial,  inter- 
ceded for  tlie  clergy  of  tlie  city,  and 
procured  the  restoration  of  the  books 
and  ornaments  of  wliich  the  churches 
had  been  plundered. 

Roderic  would  appear  to  have  had 
some  skirmishes  with  the  enemy  for 
two  or  three  successive  days  previous 
to  this,  and  then  to  have  v^-ithdrawn 
with  his  large  but  ill-organized  army ; 
but  the  Irish  annalists,  in  mentioning 
the  transaction,  accuse  the  citizens  of 
Dublin  of  bad  faith,  probably  for  refu- 
sing to  act  in  concert  with  the  Irish,  or 
for  endeavoring  to  make  a  peace  for 
themselves ;  and  they  also  allude  to  a 
conflagration  produced  in  the  city  by 
lightning,  which,  no  doubt,  added  to 
the  panic.  "  As  a  judgment  upon 
them,"  gay  the  Four  Masters,  "Mac- 
Murrough  and  the  Saxons  acted  treach- 
erously towards  them,  and  made  a 
slaughter  of  them  in  their  own  fortress, 
in  consequence  of  the  violation  of  their 
word  to  the  men  of  Ireland."  Hasculf 
and  a  number  of  the  principal  citizens 
made  their  escape  in  ships,  and  repaired 
to  the  Hebrides  and  Orkneys;  and 
Roderic,  without  striking  a  blow, 
drew  off  his  army  into  Meath  to  sustain 
O'Rourke,  to  whom  he  had  given  the 
eastern  portion  of  that  territory.  About 
the  same  time  the  English  garrison, 
which  had  been  left  in  Waterford,  was 
attacked  and  defeated  by  Cormac  Mac- 
Car  thy,  king  of  Desmond,  but  we  are 
not  told  of  ony  consequence  which  re- 
sulted. 

The  government  of  Dublin  was  now 


entrusted  to  Milo  de  Cogan ;  and  Der- 
mot,  with  his  allies,  marched  into  Meath, 
which  they  ravaged  and  laid  waste  with 
an  animosity  perfectly  diabolical.  Tne 
churches  of  Clonard,  Kells,  Teltown, 
Dowth,  Slane,  Kilskeery,  and  Desert- 
Kieran,  were  plundered  and  burned, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  towns 
or  villages  which  suiTounded  them 
were  not  treated  with  greater  mercy. 
This  predatory  incursion  was  extended 
into  Tir  Briuin,  or  the  country  of  the 
O'Rourkes  and  O'Reillys  in  Leitrim  and 
Cavan ;  and  although  the  monarch  him- 
self appears  to  have  avoided  all  collision 
with  the  enemy,  Ave  are  told  that  at  last 
a  portion  of  the  latter  were  twice  de- 
feated in  Breffny  by  O'Rourke.  Don- 
nell,  prince  of  Bregia,  who  had  been 
deposed  by  Roderic,  sided  with  Mac- 
Mui'rough,  as  did  also  Donnell's  adher- 
ents among  the  people  of  East  Meath, 
and  some  of  the  men  of  Oriel.'"' 

Alarmed  at  these  events,  Roderic 
foolishly  imagined  that  he  could  arrest 
the  progress  of  Dermot  by  threatening 
him  with  the  death  of  his  hostages. 
He  accordingly  sent  ambassadors  to  re- 
monstrate with  him  for  his  perfidy  in 
breaking  his  engagements,  and  for  his 
unprovoked  aggressions,  and  to  an- 
nounce that  if  he  did  not  withdi'aw  his 
army  within  his  own  frontier,  and  dis- 
miss his  foreign  auxiliaries,  the  heads  of 
his  hostages  should  be  forfeited.  Der- 
mot treated  this  menace  with  derision. 
As  far  as  we  can  judge  of  his  character, 


*  Four  Mastersr 


SYNOD  OF  ARMAGH. 


179 


he  would  have  preferred  the  gratification 
of  his  revenge  to  the  lives  of  all  his 
children,  had  they  been  at  stake.  And 
he  sent  back  word  to  Roderic  that  he 
would  not  desist  until  he  had  fully  as- 
serted his  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of 
all  Ireland,  and  had  dispossessed  Eod- 
eric  of  his  kingdom  of  Connaught  in- 
to  the  bargain. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  Roderic  fulfilled  his  threat. 
Cambrensis,  a  contemporary  writer,  in- 
forms us  that  he  did.  Keating  says 
that  he  would  not  expose  himself  to  so 
much  odium  as  the  execution  of  the 
hostages  would  entail ;  but  the  Four 
Masters,  who  are  a  much  better  author- 
ity, and  would  not  have  made  the  state- 
ment without  suflScient  grounds,  say 
that  "the  three  royal  hostages"  were 
put  to  death  at  Athlone.  These  were 
Conor,  the  son  of  Dermot;  his  grand- 
son (the  son  of  Donnell  Kavanagh) ; 
and  the  son  of  his  foster-brother, 
O'Caellaighe.  The  act  was  cruel,  but 
in  it  Roderic  did  not  exceed  his  strict 
right ;  and  the  same  year  Tieruau 
O'Rourke  put  to  death  the  hostages  of 
East  Meath,  which  had  rebelled  against 
him. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis*  furnishes  some 
interesting  particulars  of  a  synod  held 
at  Armagh  about  the  close  of  this  year 
(1170).  It  appears  from  it  that  there 
prevailed  in  England  a  barbarous  cus- 
tom of  selling  children  as  slaves,  and 
that  the  Irisk  were  the  priucijial  pur- 
chasers   in    that    abominable   market. 


•  Hib.  Expug.  i.  18. 


There  are  other  authorities  also  to 
show  this  nefarious  practice  was  preva- 
lent in  England ;  the  twenty-eighth 
canon  of  the  council  of  London,  held  in 
1102  having  been  enacted  for  its  pro- 
hibition, f  The  custom  of  buying 
English  slaves  was  held  by  the  Irish 
clergy  to  be  so  wicked,  that,  after 
deliberating  on  the  subject,  the  synod 
of  Armagh  pronounced  the  invasion 
of  Ireland  by  Englishmen  to  be  a  just 
judgment  upon  the  country  on  account 
of  it;  and  decreed  that  any  of  the 
English  who  were  held  as  slaves  in 
Ireland  should  immediately  be  set  free. 
It  was  a  curious  and  characteristic 
coincidence  that  an  Irish  deliberative 
assembly  should  thus  by  an  act  of  hu- 
manity to  Englishmen,  have  met  the 
merciless  aggressions  which  the  latter 
had  just  then  commenced  against  this 
country. 

A.  D.  1171. — In  the  midst  of  his  am- 
bitious and  vindictive  projects,  Der- 
mot MacMurrough  died  at  Ferns,  on 
the  4th  of  May,  1171.  His  death, 
which  took  place  in  less  than  a  year 
after  his  sacrilegious  church-burnings  in 
Meath,  is  described  as  accompanied  by 
fearful  evidence  of  divine  displeasure. 
He  died  intestate,  and  without  the  sac- 
raments of  the  church.  His  disease 
was  of  some  unknown  and  loathsome 
kind,  and  was  attended  with  insuffera- 
ble pain,  which,  acting  ou  the  natural- 
ly savage  violence  of  his  temper,  ren- 
dered him  so  furious  that  his  ordinary 
attendants  were  compelled  to  abandon 


t  Wilkins'  Consilia,  i.  383  ;  also  Howel,  p.  I 


180 


THE  ANGLO-NORMAlSr  INVASION. 


him ;  and  his  body  became  at  once  a 
putrid  mass,  so  that  its  presence  above 
ground  could  not  be  endured.  Some 
historians  suggest  that  this  account  of 
his  death  may  have  been  the  invention 
of  enemies  ;  yet  it  is  so  consistent  with 
what  we  know  of  MacMurrough's  char- 
acter and  career,  from  other  sources,  as 
to  be  nowise  incredible.  He  reached 
the  age  of  eighty-one  years,  and  is 
known  in  Irish  history  as  Diarmaid-na- 
Gall,  or  Dermot  of  the  Foreigners. 

On  the  death  of  Dermot,  earl  Strong- 
bow,  regardless  of  his  duty  as  an  Eng- 
lish subject,  got  himself  proclaimed 
king  of  Leinster ;  and  as  his  marriage 
with  Eva  could  not  under  the  Irish 
law  confer  any  right  of  succession,  he 
grounded  his  claim  on  the  engagement 
made  by  the  late  king,  when  he  first 
agreed  to  undertake  his  cause.  As 
this  was  the  first  step  in  the  establish- 
ment of  English  power  in  Ireland,  it 
is  well  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind 
the  way  it  was  efifected.  There  was 
here  no  conquest.  The  only  fighting 
which  the  invaders  yet  had  was  with 


the  Dano-Irish  of  Wexford,  Wateiford, 
and  Dublin ;  and  against  these,  as  well 
as  in  their  predatory  excursions,  the 
Anglo-Normans  acted  in  conjunction 
with  their  Irish  allies  in  Leinster. 
They  can  hardly  be  said,  so  far,  to 
have  come  in  collision  with  an  Irish 
army  at  all,  and  most  certainly,  as  Le- 
land  observes,  "the  power  of  the  na- 
tion they  did  not  contend  with."  "  The 
settlement  of  a  Welsh  colony  in  Lein- 
ster," as  the  same  historian,  notwith- 
standing his  strong  anti-Irish  preju- 
dice, continues,  "was  an  incident 
neither  interesting  nor  alarming  to 
any,  except,  perhaps,  a  few  of  most 
reflection  and  discernment.  Even  the 
Irish  annalists  speak  with  a  careless 
indifierence  of  the  event ;"  but  "  had 
these  first  adventurers  conceived  that 
they  had  nothing  more  to  do  but  to 
march  through  the  land,  and  terrify  a 
whole  nation  of  timid  savages  by  the 
glitter  of  their  armor,  they  must  have 
speedily  experienced  the  effects  of  such 
romantic  madness."* 

*  Leland's  History  of  Ireland,  b.  i.,  chap.  i. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  STRONGBOW. 


181 


CHAPTEH  XVIII. 

EEIGN    OF    HENKT    II. 

DifBculfdes  of  Strongbow. — Order  of  Henry  against  the  Adventurers. — Danisli  attack  on  Dublin. — ^Patriotism  of 
St.  Laurence.— Siege  of  Dublin  by  Eoderic. — Desperate  state  of  tlie  Garrison. — Tbeir  Bravery  and  Success.— 
FitzStepheu  Captured  by  the  Wexford  People. — Attack  on  Dublin  by  Tiernan  O'Rourke. — Henry's  Expedi- 
tion to  Ireland. — His  Policy. — Tbe  Irisb  Unprepared. — Submission  of  several  Irish  Princes. — Henry  fixes  Ids 
Court  in  Dublin. — ^Bold  Attitude  of  Koderic. — Independence  of  the  Northern  Princes. — Synod  of  Cashol. — 
History  of  the  Pope's  Grant  to  Henry. — This  Grant  not  the  Cause  either  of  the  Invasion  or  its  Success. — Dis- 
organized State  of  Ireland. — Report  of  Prelates  of  Cashel,  and  Letters  of  Alexander  III. — English  Law 
extended  to  Ireland. — The  "  five  bloods.'" — Parallel  of  the  Normans  in  England  and  the  Anglo-Normans  in 
Ireland. — Fate  of  the  Irish  Church. — Final  Arrangements  and  Departure  of  Henry. 

(A.  D.   1171   AUD   1173.) 


T?ORTUNE  thus  seemed  in  many 
-*-  respects  to  favor  Strongbow  and 
his  band  of  Anglo-Norman  and  "Welsh 
adventurers,  yet  their  position  was  one 
of  considerable  embarrassment.  The 
king  of  England  was  jealous  of  their 
success,  and  indignant  at  the  slight 
which  they  had  put  upon  his  authority. 
He  was  also  annoyed  at  finding  his  own 
designs  against  Ireland  anticipated  by 
men  who  were  likely  to  become  insolent 
and  troublesome;  and  he  accordingly 
(a.  d.  1171)  issued  a  peremptory  man- 
date, ordering  every  English  subject 
then  in  Ireland  to  return  within  a  cer- 
tain time,  and  prohibiting  the  sending 
thither  of  any  further  aid  or  supplies. 
Alarmed  at  this  edict,  Strongbow  dis- 
patched Raymond  le  Gros  to  Henry 
with  a  letter  couched  in  the  most  sub- 
missive terms;  placing  at  the  king's 


disposal  all  the  lands  which  he  had  ac- 
quired in  Ireland.  Henry  was  at  the 
moment  absorbed  in  the  difficulties  in 
Avhich  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas  h  Bec- 
ket — if  not  at  his  command,  at  least 
at  his  implied  desire,  and  by  his  myr- 
midons— had  involved  him,  and  he 
neither  deiorned  to  notice  the  earl's  let- 
ter,  nor  paid  any  further  attention  to 
the  Irish  affair  for  some  time  ;  so  that 
Strongbow,  still  tempting  fate,  contin- 
ued his  course  without  regarding  the 
royal  edict.  To  add  to  his  difficulties, 
his  standard  was  deserted  by  nearly  all 
his  Irish  adherents,  on  the  death  of 
Dermot,  which  took  place  soon  after 
the  date  of  the  royal  mandate;  and 
during  his  absence  from  Dublin  that 
city  was  besieged  by  a  Scandinavian 
force,  which  was  collected  by  Hasculf, 
in  the  Orkneys,  and  conveyed  in  sixty 


182 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


ships,  under  tlie  command  of  a  Dane 
called  John  the  Furious.  Milo  de  Co- 
gan,  whom  Strongbow  had  left  as  gover- 
ner,  bravely  repulsed  the  besiegers,  but 
was  near  being  cut  oif  outside  the  east- 
ern gate,  until  his  brother  Richard  came 
to  his  relief  with  a  troop  of  cavalry, 
whereupon  the  Norwegians  were  de- 
feated with  great  slaughter,  John  the 
Furious  being  slain,  and  Hasculf  made 
captive.  The  latter  was  at  fii'st  reserved 
for  ransom,  but  on  threatening  his  cap- 
tors Avith  a  more  desperate  and  success- 
ful attack  on  a  future  occasion,  they 
basely  put  him  to  death. 

The  great  archbishop  of  Dublin,  St. 
Lorcan,  or  Laurence  O'Toole,  whose 
illustrious  examjjle  has  consecrated  Irish 
patriotism,  perceiving  the  straits  to 
which  the  Anglo-Normans  were  re- 
duced, and  judging  rightly  that  it  only 
required  an  energetic  effort,  for  which 
a  favorable  moment  had  arrived,  to  rid 
the  country  of  the  dangerous  intruders, 
went  among  the  Irish  princes  to  rouse 
them  into  action.  For  this  purpose  he 
proceeded  from  province  to  j)rovince, 
addressing  the  nobles  and  people  in 
spirit- stu'ring  words,  and  urging  the 
necessity  for  an  immediate  and  com- 
bined struggle  for  independence.  Emis- 
saries were  also  sent  to  Godfred,  king 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  to  some  of  the 
northern  islands,  inviting  co-operation 
against  the  common  enemy. 

Earl  Strongbow,  becoming  aware  of 
the  impending  danger,  repaired  in  haste 
to  Dublin,  and  prepared  to  defend  him- 
self; nor  was  he  long  there  when  he  saw 


the  city  invested  on  all  sides  by  a 
numerous  army.  A  fleet  of  thirty  shij^s 
from  the  isles  blocked  up  the  harbor, 
and  the  besieged  were  so  eftectually 
hemmed  in  that  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  obtain  fresh  su23plies  of  men  or 
provisions.  Roderic  O'Conor,  who  com- 
manded in  person,  and  had  his  own 
camp  at  Castleknock,  was  supported  by 
Tiernan  O'Rourke  and  Murrouejh  O'Car- 
roll  with  their  respective  forces,  and  St. 
Laurence  was  present  in  the  camp  ani- 
mating the  men,  or,  as  some  pretend, 
though  very  improbably,  even  bearing 
arms  himself  The  Irish  chiefs,  relying 
on  their  numbers,  contented  themselves 
with  an  inactive  blockade,  and  for  a 
time  their  tactics  promised  to  be  success- 
ful; the  besieged  being  soon  reduced 
to  extremities  from  want  of  food,  Strong- 
bow solicited  a  parley,  and  requested 
that  St.  Laurence  should  be  the  medium 
of  communication.  He  offered  to  hold 
the  kingdom  of  Leinster  as  the  vassal 
of  Roderic ;  but  the  Irish  monarch  re- 
jected such  terras  indignantly,  and  re- 
quired that  the  invaders  should  imme- 
diately surrender  the  towns  of  Dublin, 
Wexford,  and  Waterford,  and  under- 
take to  depart  from  Ireland  by  a  certain 
day.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  under 
the  circumstances,  the  propositions  of 
Roderic  were  even  merciful,  and  for  a 
while  it  was  probable  that  they  would, 
however  unpalatable,  be  accepted. 

At  this  crisis,  Donnell  Kavanagh, 
son  of  the  late  king  of  Leinster,  con- 
trived to  penetrate  in  disguise  into  the 
city,  and  brought  Strongbow  the  intel- 


CAPTURE  OF  FITZSTEPHEN. 


183 


iigence  that  his  friend  FitzStephen  was, 
together  with  his  family  and  a  few  fol- 
'  lowers,  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of  Carrig, 
near  Wexford,  where  he  was  closely 
besieged,  and  must,  unless  immediately 
relieved,  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  exas- 
perated enemies.  This  sad  news  drove 
the  garrison  of  Dublin  to  desperation ; 
and  at  the  suggestion  of  Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald  it  was  determined  that  they 
should  make  a  sortie  with  their  whole 
force,  and  attempt  the  daring  exploit  of 
cutting  their  way  through  the  besiegers. 
To  carry  out  this  enterprise.  Strong- 
bow  disposed  his  men  in  the  following 
order ;  Raymond  le  Gros,  with  twenty 
knights  on  horseback,  led  the  van ;  to 
these  succeeded  thirty  knights  under 
Milo  de  Cogan ;  and  this  body  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  thii'd,  consisting  of  about 
forty  knights,  commanded  by  Strong- 
bow  himself  and  FitzGerald;  the  re- 
mainder of  their  force,  said  to  consist 
only  of  600  men,  bringing  up  the  rear. 
It  was  about  three  in  the  afternoon 
when  this  well  organized  body  of  des- 
perate men  sallied  forth ;  and  the  Irish 
army,  lulled  in  false  security,  and  ex- 
pecting a  surrender  rather  than  a  sortie, 
was  taken  wholly  by  surprise.  A 
great  number  were  slaughtered  at  the 
first  onset;  and  the  panic  which  was 
produced  spreading  to  the  entire  be- 
sieging army,  a  general   retreat  from 


*  Leland  supposes  that  tlie  Irisi  annalists  passed  over 
the  -whole  of  this  transaction  in  silence  ;  hut  the  Four 
Masters  mention  the  siege,  and  their  Tersion  is  as  fol- 
lows : — "  There  were  conflicts  and  skirmishes  between 
them"  (i.  e.  the  besiegers  and  besieged)  "  for  a  fortnight. 


before  the  city  commenced ;  so  that 
Koderic,  who  with  many  of  his  men  was 
enjoying  a  bath  in  the  Liifey,  had  some 
difficulty  in  effecting  his  escape.  The 
English,  on  their  side,  astonished  at 
their  own  unexpected  success,  returned 
to  the  city  laden  with  spoils,  and  with 
an  unlimited  supply  of  provisions.* 

Sti'ongbow  once  more  committed  the 
government  of  Dublin  to  Milo  de  Cogan, 
and  set  out  with  a  strong  detachment 
for  Wexford  to  relieve  FitzStephen ; 
but  after  overcoming  some  difficulty  in 
the  territory  of  Idrone,  where  his 
march  was  o^^posed  by  the  local  chief- 
tain, O'Regan,  he  learned  on  approach- 
ing Wexford  that  he  came  too  late  to 
assist  his  friend.  Carrig  Castle  had  al- 
ready fallen,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Wex- 
ford men  were  not  very  scrupulous  on 
the  occasion  in  their  treatment  of  foes 
who  had  proved  themselves  sufficiently 
capable  of  treachery  and  cruelty.  The 
story  is,  that  FitzStephen  and  his  little 
garrison  were  deceived  by  the  false  in- 
telligence that  Dublin  had  been  cap- 
tured by  the  Irish  army,  that  the  Eng- 
lish, including  Strongbow,  FitzGerald, 
and  Raymond  le  Gros,  had  been  cut  to 
pieces,  and  that  the  only  chance  of 
safety  was  in  immediate  surrender  ;  the 
Dano-Irish  besiegers  undertaking  to 
send  FitzStephen  with  his  family  and 
followers  unharmed  to  England.     It  is 


O'Conor  then  went  against  the  Leinster  men  to  cut 
down  and  bum  the  corn  of  the  Saxons.  The  earl  and 
JElo  afterwards  entered  the  camp  of  Leith  Cuinn,  and 
slew  many  of  the  commonaity,  and  carried  off  their  pro- 
visions, armor,  and  horses. 


184 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  II. 


added,  that  the  bishops  of  "Wexford  and 
Kiklare  presented  themselves  before 
the  castle  to  confirm  this  false  report 
by  a  solemn  assurance ;  but  this  circum- 
stance, if  not  a  groundless  addition, 
would  only  show  that  a  rumor,  by 
which  the  bishops  themselves  had  been 
deceived,  prevailed  about  the  capture 
of  Dublin,  a  thing  not  at  all  improba- 
ble. False  news  of  a  similar  kind  is 
sometimes  circulated  even  in  our  own 
times.  At  all  events,  the  stratagem,  if 
it  was  one,  succeeded ;  and  FitzStephen 
on  yielding  himself  to  his  enemies  was 
cast  into  jDrison,  and  some  of  his  follow- 
ers were  jiut  to  death.  Scarcely  was 
this  accomplished,  when  intelligence 
arrived  that  Strongbow  was  approach- 
ing, and  the  Wexford  men,  finding 
themselves  unable  to  cope  with  him 
single-handed,  and  fearing  his  ven- 
geance, set  fire  to  their  town,  and 
sought  refuge  with  their  prisoners  in 
the  little  island  of  Beg-Erin,  whence 
they  sent  word  to  the  earl  that  if  he 
made  any  attemj)t  to  reach  them  in 
their  retreat  they  would  instantly  cut 
ofl^  the  heads  of  FitzStephen  and  the 
other  English  prisoners.*  Thus  foiled  in 
his  purpose,  Strongbow  with  a  heavy 
heart  directed  his  course  to  Waterford, 
and  immediately  after  invaded  the  ter- 


*  Regan,  or  the  Nonnan  rhj-mer,  relates  an  lionor- 
able  trait  of  Maurice  do  Prcndergast  on  this  occasion. 
The  "Welsh  knight  undertook  to  bring  the  king  of  Os- 
Hory  to  a  conference,  on  obtaining  the  word  of  Strong- 
bow and  O'Brien  tliat  he  should  be  allowed  to  return  in 
safety.  Understanding,  however,  during  tlie  conference, 
that  treachery  was  about  to  be  used  towards  MacGilla 
Patrick,  he  rushed  into  the  earl's  presence,  "  and  sware 


ritory  of  Ossory,  in  conjunction  with 
Donnell  O'Brien. 

During  the  eai'l's  absence,  Tiernan 
O'Rourke  hastily  collected  an  army  of 
the  men  of  Breffny  and  Oriel,  and 
made  an  attack  on  Dublin,  but  he  was 
repulsed  by  Milo,  and  lost  his  son 
under  the  walls.  With  this  exception, 
no  attempt  was  made  to  molest  the 
invaders  at  a  period  when  they  could 
have  been  so  easily  annihilated ;  and 
intestine  wars  were  carried  on  among 
the  northern  tribes,  and  also  between 
Connaught  and  Thomond,  as  if  there 
had  been  no  foreign  enemy  in  the  coun- 
try. 

Strongbow,  on  the  other  side,  learnt 
at  Waterford,  from  emissaries  whom  he 
had  sent  to  plead  his  cause  with  Henry, 
that  his  own  presence  for  that  purpose 
was  indispensable,  and  he  accordingly 
set  out  in  haste  for  England.  He  found 
the  Ene;lish  monarch  at  Newnham  in 
Gloucestershire,  making  active  prepara 
tions  for  an  expedition  to  Ireland. 
Henry  at  first  refused  to  admit  him  to 
his  presence ;  but  at  length  suffered 
himself  to  be  influenced  by  the  earl's 
unconditional  submission,  and  by  the 
mediation  of  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice ; 
and  consented  to  accept  his  homage 
and  oath  of  fealty,  and  to  confirm  him 


by  tho  cross  of  his  sword  that  no  man  there  that  day 
should  dare  lay  hands  handes  on  the  kyng  of  Ossery." 
Having  redeemed  his  word  to  the  Irish  prince  by  con- 
ducting him  back  in  safety,  and  defeated  some  of 
O'Brien's  men  whem  they  met  on  the  way  with  the 
spoils  of  Ossory,  he  spent  that  night  with  MacGilla 
Patrick  in  tho  woods,  and  returned  next  day  to  the 
carl. 


HENRY'S  EXPEDITION  TO  IRELAND. 


185 


in  the  possession  of  his  Ii'isli  acquisi- 
tions, with  the  exception  of  Dublin  and 
the  other  seaport  towns  and  forts, 
which  were  to  be  surrendered  to  him- 
self. He  also  restored  the  earl's  Eng- 
lish estates,  which  had  been  forfeited 
on  his  disobedience  to  the  Mug's  man- 
date ;  but,  as  it  were  to  mark  his  dis- 
pleasure at  the  whole  proceeding  of  the 
invasion  of  Ireland  by  his  subjects,  he 
seized  the  castles  of  the  Welsh  lords  to 
punish  them  for  allowing  the  expedition 
to  sail  from  their  coasts  contrary  to  his 
commands.  ,It  is  probable  that  in  all 
this  hypocrisy  and  tyi'anny  were  the 
king's  ruling  motives.  He  hated  the 
Welsh,  and  took  the  opportunity  to 
crush  them  still  more,  and  to  garrison 
their  castles  with  his  own  men.  These 
events  took  place  not  many  months 
after  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas  k  Beck- 
et,  and  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the 
king's  expedition  to  Ireland,  if  not  pro- 
jected, was  at  least  hastened,  in  order 
to  withdraw  public  attention  from  that 
atrocity,  and  to  make  a  demonstration 
of  his  power  before  the  country  at  a 
moment  when  his  name  was  covered 
with  the  odium  which  the  crime  in- 
volved. 

Henry  II.,  attended  by  Strongbow, 
William  FitzAdelm  de  Burgo,  Humphry 
de  Bohen,  Hugh  de  Lacy,  Robert  Fitz- 
Bernard,  and  other  knights  and  noble- 
men, embarked  at  Milford,  in  Pem- 
brokeshire, with  a  powerful  armament, 
and  landed  at  a  place,  called  by  the 
Anglo-Norman  chroniclers,  Croch — pro- 
bably the  present  Crook — near  Water- 

24 


ford,  on  St.  Luke's  day,  October  18th, 
A.  D.  1171.  His  army  consisted,  it  is 
said,  of  500  knights,  and  about  4,000 
men-at-arms ;  but  it  was  probably  much 
more  numerous,  as  it  was  transported, 
according  to  the  English  accounts,  in 
400  ships. 

Henry  assumed  in  Ireland  the  plaus- 
ible policy  which  seemed  so  natural  to 
him.  He  pretended  to  have  come  rather 
to  protect  the  people  from  the  aggres- 
sions of  his  own  subjects  than  to  acquire 
any  advantage  for  himself;  but  at  the 
same  time,  as  a  powerful  yet  friendly 
sovereign,  to  receive  the  homage  of  vas- 
sal princes,  and  to  claim  feudal  juris- 
diction in  their  country.  It  is  impossible, 
of  course,  to  reconcile  pretences  so  in- 
consistent in  themselves ;  but  they  serv- 
ed the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
invented.  He  put  on  an  air  of  extreme 
affability,  accompanied  by  a  great  show 
of  dignity,  and  paraded  a  brilliant  and 
well-disciplined  army  with  all  possible 
pomp  and  display  of  power. 

The  Irish,  on  the  other  hand,  seemed 
at  a  loss  what  to  think  or  how  to  act. 
An  event  had  occurred  for  which  they 
were  not  prepared  by  any  parallel  case 
in  their  history.  They  neither  under- 
stood the  character  nor  the  system  of 
their  new  foes.  Perpetually  immersed 
in  local  feuds,  they  had  not  gained 
ground  either  in  military  or  national 
spirit  since  their  old  wars  with  the 
Danes.  The  men  of  one  province  cared 
little  what  misfortune  befel  those  of 
another,  provided  their  own  territory 
was  safe.     Singly,  each  of  them   had 


186 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


Ijeen  hitherto  able  to  cope  with  such 
foes  as  they  were  accustomed  to  ;  but 
where  combined  actiou  couhl  alone 
suffice  there  was  nothing  to  unite  them  ; 
they  had  no  sentiment  in  common — no 
centre,  no  rallying  principle. 

MacCarthy,  king  of  Desmond,  was  the 
first  Irish  jDrince  who  paid  homage  to 
Henry.  Marching  from  Waterford  to 
Lismore,  and  thence  to  Cashel,  Henry 
n'as  met  near  the  latter  town  by  Dounell 
O'Brien,  king  of  Thomond,  who  swore 
fealty  to  him,  and  surrendered  to  him 
his  city  of  Limerick.  Afterwards  there 
came  in  succession  to  do  homage,  Mac- 
Gilla  Patrick,  prince  of  Ossory,  O'Phe- 
lan,  prince  of  the  Deisies,  and  various 
other  chieftains  of  Leath  Mosjha.  All 
were  most  courteously  received  ;  many 
of  them  were  of  course  not  a  little  daz- 
zled by  the  splendor  of  Henry's  court 
and  his  array  of  steel-clad  knights;  some 
were  perhaps  glad  to  acknowledge  a 
sovereign  powerful  enough  to  deliver 
them  from  the  petty  warfare  with  which 
they  were  harassed  and  exhausted  ;  but 
none  of  them  understood  Anglo-Norman 
rapacity,  or  could  have  imagined  that 
in  paying  homage  to  Henry  as  a  liege 
lord  they  were  conveying  to  him  the 
absolute  dominion  and  ownership  of 
their  ancestral  territories. 

So  well  was  it  known  in  Ireland  that 
Henry  disapproved  of  the  invasion  of 
that  country  by  Strongbow  and  the 
other  adventurers,  that  the  people  of 
Wexford,  Avho  had  got  FitzStephen 
into  their  hands,  pretended  to  make  a 
merit  of  their  own  exploit,  and  sent   a 


deputation  to  Henry  on  his  arrival  to 
deliver  to  him  the  captive  knight  as 
one  who  had  made  war  without  his 
sovereign's  permission.  Henry  kept  up 
the  farce  by  retaining  FitzStephen  for 
some  time  in  chains  and  then  restored 
him  to  liberty. 

From  Cashel  Henry  returned  to 
Waterford,  and  thence  proceeded  to 
Dublin,  where  he  was  received  in  great 
state,  and  where  a  temporary  pavillion, 
constructed  in  the  Irish  fashion  of  twigs 
or  wickerwork,  was  erected  for  him  out- 
side the  walls,*  no  building  in  the  city 
being  spacious  enough  to  accommodate 
his  court.  Here  he  remained  to  pass 
the  festival  of  Christmas,  and  such  of 
the  L'ish  as  were  attracted  thither  by 
curiosity  were  entertained  by  him  Avith 
a  degree  of  magnificence  and  urbanity 
well  calculated  to  win  their  admiration. 
Among  the  Irish  princes  Avho  paid  their 
homage  to  the  English  king  in  Dublin, 
were  O'Carroll  of  Oriel,  and  the  veteran 
O'Rourke  ;  but  the  monarch  Koderic, 
though  thus  abandoned  by  his  oldest  and 
most  powerful  ally,  the  chief  of  Breftuy, 
as  he  had  been  already  by  so  many 
others  of  his  vassals,  still  continued 
to  maintain  an  independent  attitude. 
He  collected  an  army  on  the  banks  of 
the  Shannon,  and  seemed  resolved  to  de- 
fend the  frontiers  of  his  kingdom  of  Con- 
naught  to  the  last ;  thus  regaining  by 
this  bold  and  dignified  demeanor  some 
at  least  of  the    esteem   and   sympathy 

*  "  Near  the  clinich  of  St.  Andrew,  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  ground  now  kno^^■n  as  Darao  street."  —Gil- 
bert's Hist.  ofDuNin,  vol.  ii.  p.  338. 


THE   SYNOD   OF  CASHEL. 


187 


whicli  by  Lis  former  weakness  of  char- 
acter he  had  forfeited.  Henry,  whose 
object  appeared  to  be  not  fighting,  but 
parade,  did  not  march  against  the  Irish 
monarch,  but  sent  De  Lacy  and  Fitz- 
Adelm*  to  treat  with  him ;  and  Roderic, 
on  his  own  sovereignty  being  recognized, 
was,  it  is  said,  induced  to  pay  homage 
to  Henry  through  his  ambassadors,  as 
it  was  customary  in  that  age  for  one 
king  to  pay  to  another  and  more  potent 
sovereign.  We  have  no  Irish  authority, 
however,  for  this  act  of  submission ;  and 
as  to  the  northern  princes,  they  still 
withheld  all  recognition  of  the  invader's 
swav. 

A.  D.  1172. — At  Henry's  desire,  a  syn- 
od was  held  at  Cashel  in  the  beGjinnins: 
of  this  year.  It  was  presided  over  by 
Christian,  bishoj^  of  Lismore,  who  was 
then  apostolic  legate,  and  was  attended 
by  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  of  Dublin, 
Catholicus  O'Duffy,  of  Tuam,  and  Do- 
nald O'Hullucan,  of  Cashel,  with  their 
suffragan  bishops,  together  with  abbots, 
archdeacons,  <fec. ;  Ralph,  archdeacon  of 
Landaff,  and  Nicholas,  a  royal  chaplain, 
being  present  on  the  part  of  the  king. 
It  was  decreed  at  this  synod  that  the 
prohibition  of  marriage  within  the  can- 
onical degrees  of  consanguinity  and  af- 
finity should  be  more  strictly  enforced ; 
that  children  should  be  catechised  before 


*  Tliis  name  is  variously  written  Aldelm,  Andelm, 
and  Adelm. 

t  The  decrees  of  tliis  synod  refer  solely  to  matters  of 
ecclesiastical  law,  or  cliurch  temporalities  ;  and  the  im- 
munity -wliicli  they  grant  in  one  case  to  the  clergy,  as 
well  as  the  setting  apart  of  a  portion  of  each  testator's 


the  church  door,  and  baptized  in  the 
fonts  in  those  churches  appointed  for 
the  purpose ;  that  tithes  of  all  the  pro- 
duce of  the  land  should  be  paid  to  the 
clergy ;  that  church  lands  and  other 
ecclesiastical  property  should  be  exempt 
from  the  exactions  of  laymen  in  the 
shape  of  periodical  entertainment  and 
livery,  &c. ;  and  that  the  clergy  should 
not  be  liable  to  any  share  of  the  eric  or 
blood  fine  levied  on  the  kindred  of  a 
man  guilty  of  homicide.  There  was  also 
a  decree  regulating  wills,  by  which  one- 
third  of  a  man's  movable  property, 
after  payment  of  his  debts,  was  to  be 
left  to  his  legitimate  children,  if  he  had 
any ;  another  third  to  his  Mafe,  if  she 
survived ;  and  the  remaining  third  for 
his  funeral  obsequies.f 

These  decrees  constitute  the  boasted 
reform  of  the  Irish  Church  introduced 
by  Henry  II.  It  will  be  observed  that 
they  indicate  no  trace  of  doctrinal  eri'or 
to  be  corrected,  or  even  of  gross  abuse 
in  discipline,  unless  it  be  the  too  general 
use  of  private  baptism,  and  the  celebra- 
tion of  marriage  within  the  prohibited 
degrees,  which  at  that  time  extended  to 
very  remote  relationships.  But  the 
subject  of  this  synod  leads  us  to  an 
incident  of  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion 
of  Ireland,  which  has  been  a  fertile 
source  of  controversy — namely,  the  so- 


preperty  for  the  church,  or  for  the  "  good  of  his  soul,"  as 
it  was  generally  expressed,  were  usages  which  existed 
in  Ireland  before  the  coming  of  the  Anglo-Normans.  As 
to  tithes,  they  had  also  been  introduced  by  the  Irish 
synod  ot  Kells.  See  the  observations  on  this  subject  in 
Dr.  Kelly  s  Camhren»is  Eccrsus,  vol.  ii.,  p.  5-10,  &c.,  note. 


188 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


called  subjection  of  Ireland  to  the  do- 
minion of  tlie  king  of  England,  Ly  the 
bulls  of  Adrian  IV.  and  Alexander  III. 

The  temporal  power  exercised  by  the 
popes  in  the  middle  ages  opens  up  a 
question  too  general  for  discussion  here. 
It  is  enoufjh  for  us  to  know  that  modern 
investigation  has  removed  much  of  the 
misrepresentation  by  which  it  was  as- 
sailed. Irrespective  of  religious  con- 
siderations, we  see  in  the  Roman  pon- 
tiflfe  of  that  period  the  steadfast  friends 
of  order  and  enlightenment;  in  their 
power  the  bulwark  of  the  oppressed 
people  against  feudal  tyranny,  of  civili- 
zation against  barbarism ;  and  we  should 
consider  well  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  acted,  and  the  received 
opinions  of  the  age,  before  we  condemn 
these  vicegerents  of  Christ  for  proceed- 
ings in  which  their  authority  was  in- 
voked in  the  temporal  affairs  of  nations. 
If  this  authority  was  sometimes  per- 
verted to  their  own  purposes  by  ambi- 
tious kings,  or  its  exercise  surrejDtitious- 
ly  obtained,  tbat  was  not  the  fault  of 
the  popes  nor  of  the  principle ;  as  we 
shall  find  illustrated  in  the  case  we  are 
now  about  to  consider. 

Nicholas  Breakspere,  an  Englishman, 
was  elected  pope  under  the  title  of  Adri- 
an IV.,  December  3d,  1154,  and  Hen- 
ry II.,  who  bad  come  to  the  throne  of 
England  about  a  month  earlier,  sent 
soon  after  to  congratulate  his  country- 

•  From  an  obscure  expression  used  by  a  contemporary 
writer  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  under  the  date  of  1087, 
it  may  be  inferred  that  even  William  the  Conqueror  had 
•ome  idea  of  invading  Ireland ;  as  it  is  said  that  that 


man  on  his  elevation.  Tbis  embassy 
was  followed  by  another  insidious  one, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  represent  to 
the  jDope  that  religion  and  morality 
were  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb  in  the 
neighboring  island  of  Ireland ;  that  so- 
ciety there  was  torn  to  pieces  by  fac- 
tions, and  plunged  in  the  most  barbar- 
ous excesses ;  that  there  was  no  res- 
pect for  spiritual  authority ;  and  that 
the  king  of  England  solicited  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  Holiness  to  visit  that  un- 
happ3^  country  in  order  to  restore  dis- 
cipline and  morals,  and  to  compel  the 
Irish  to  make  a  respectable  provision 
for  the  church,  such  as  already  existed 
in  England.  This  negotiation,  which 
indicates  how  long  the  idea  of  invading 
Ireland  was  entertained  by  the  English 
king,*  was  entrusted  by  Henry  to  John 
of  Salisbury,  chaplain  to  Theobald, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  urged, 
according  to  an  opinion  then  received, 
that  Constantine  the  Great  had  made  a 
donation  of  all  Christian  islands  to  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter ;  that,  therefore, 
the  pope,  as  owner  of  the  island  of  Ire- 
land, had  the  power  to  place  it  under 
the  dominion  of  Henry ;  ami  that  he 
was  bound  to  exercise  that  power  in 
the  interests  of  religion  and  morality. 

A  hostile  authority  confesses  that 
"  the  popes  were  in  general  superior  to 
the  age  in  which  they  lived  ;"f  but  we 
have  no  right  to  expect  that,  on  a  sub- 
king,  "  if  he  had  lived  two  years  longer  would  have 
subdued  Ireland  by  his  prowess,  and  that  without  a 
battle  ;"  that  is,  that  the  terror  of  his  name  would  have 
been  sufficient.  f  Eoscoe,  "  Leo  X." 


BUXL  OF  ADRIAN  IV. 


189 


ject  of  this  temporal  and  political  nature, 
they  should  have  been  so  far  in  advance 
of  the  ideas  of  their  times  as  to  antici- 
pate the  political  knowledge  and  dis- 
coveries of  subsequent  ages.  We  must 
also  recollect  that,  however  exaggerated 
the  statements  made  to  Adrian  about 
Ireland  may  have  been,  they  were  not 
wholly  without  foundation.  It  is  not 
consistent  with  human  nature  that  so- 
ciety should  not  have  been  disorganized 
more  or  less  by  the  state  of  turbulence 
in  which  we  know,  from  our  authentic 
history,  that  this  country  was  so  long 
plunged  at  that  period.  It  was  precisely 
the  period  when  the  moral  character  of 
Ireland  had  suffered  most  in  the  estima- 
tion of  foreign  nations.  St.  Bernard's 
vivid  picture  of  the  vices  and  abuses 
against  which  St.  Malachy  had  to  strug- 
gle, in  one  jDart  of  Ireland,  had  only  just 
then  been  presented  to  the  world.  St. 
Malachy  was  not  long  dead,  and  his  re- 
forms were  less  known  than  the  abuses 


*  The  following  is  the  bull  of  Pops  Adrian,  as  trans- 
lated by  Dr.  Kelly  from  the  Vatican  version,  published 
by  Lynch  in  the  CambrenHa  Eeertus,  (voL  ii.,  p.  410,  ed. 
of  1850)  :— 

"Adrian,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his 
most  dear  son  in  Christ,  the  illustrious  king  of  the  Eng- 
lish, greeting  and  apostolical  benediction. 

"  The  design  of  your  Greatness  is  praiseivorthy  and 
most  useful,  to  extend  the  glory  of  your  name  on  earth 
and  to  increase  the  reward  of  your  eternal  happiness  in 
jeaven ;  for,  as  becomes  a  CathoUc  prince,  you  intend  to 
extend  the  limits  of  the  Church,  to  announce  the  truth 
of  the  Cliiistian  religion  to  an  ignorant  and  barbarous 
people,  and  to  pluck  up  the  seeds  of  vice  from  the  field 
of  the  Lord,  while,  to  accomplish  your  design  more 
effectually,  you  implore  the  counsel  and  aid  of  the 
Apostolic  See.  The  more  exalted  your  views  and  the 
greater  your  discretion  in  this  matter,  the  more  confi- 
dent are  our  hopes,  that  with  the  help  of  God,  the  result 
will  be  more  favorable  to  you ;  because  whatever  has  its 


which  had  so  loudly  called  for  them. 
The  recent  efforts  of  the  Irish  prelates 
and  clergy  to  restore  discipline  in  the 
church,  and  piety  and  morals  among  the 
people,  had  only  begun  to  produce  their 
effects.  Vices  may  have  been  as  prev- 
alent in  other  countries,  but  this  did  not 
render  Ireland  stainless.  In  fact,  al- 
though Pope  Adrian  IV.  had  been  him- 
self the  pupil  of  a  learned  Irish  monk, 
named  Marianus,  at  Paris,  and  had  other 
sources  of  information  on  the  subject, 
we  are  not  to  wonder  that  he  should 
have  formed  a  low  estimate  of  the  state 
of  religion  and  morals  in  Ireland,  and 
lent  a  credulous  ear  to  the  exaggerated 
representations  of  Henry's  emissary. 
Little  knowing  the  mind  of  the  ambi- 
tious king,  he,  therefore,  addressed  to 
him  his  memorable  letter,  or  bull,  which 
was  accompanied  by  a  gold  ring  en- 
riched with  a  precious  emerald,  as  a 
sio-n  of  investiture.* 

The  importance  of  this  bull  in  our 


origin  in  ardent  faith  and  in  love  of  reUgion,  always  has 
a  prosi)erous  end  and  issue.  Certainly  it  is  beyond  a 
doubt  (and  thy  nobility  itself  has  recognized  the  truth 
of  it),  that  Ireland,  and  all  the  islands  upon  which 
Christ,  the  sun  of  justice,  has  shone,  and  which  have 
embraced  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith,  belong  of 
right  to  St.  Peter  and  the  holy  Roman  Church.  We, 
therefore,  the  more  willingly  jjlant  them  with  a  faithful 
plantation,  and  a  seed  pleasing  to  the  Lord,  as  we  know 
by  internal  examination,  that  a  very  rigorous  accomit 
must  be  rendered  of  them.  Thou  liast  communicated 
to  us,  our  very  dear  son  in  Christ,  that  thou  wouldst 
enter  the  island  of  Ireland,  to  subject  its  people  to  obe- 
dience of  laws,  to  eradicate  the  seeds  of  vice,  and  also  to 
make  every  house  pay  the  annual  tribute  of  one  peney 
to  the  Blessed  Peter,  and  preserve  the  rights  of  the 
Church  of  that  land  whole  and  entire.  Receiving  your 
laudable  and  pious  desire  with  the  favor  it  merits,  and 
granting  our  kind  consent  to  your  petition,  it  is  our 
wish  and  desire  that,  for  the  extension  of  the  limits  oi 


190 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  II. 


history  lias  been  monstrously  exagger- 
ated. It  can  liave  had  little,  if  any, 
influence  on  the  destinies  of  Ireland. 
After  the  bull  had  been  obtained  on  a 
false  pretence,  and  to  give  a  color  to  an 
ambitious  design,  a  council  of  state  Avas 
held  in  England  to  consider  the  pro- 
jected invasion;  but  partly  through 
deference  to  his  mother,  the  empress, 
who  was  opposed  to  it,  and  partly  from 
the  pressure  of  other  affairs,  the  project 
was  for  the  present  abandoned  by  Hen- 
rj,  and  the  papal  document  deposited 
in  the  archives  of  Winchester.  Thir- 
teen years  after  we  have  seen  Dermot 
MacMurrough  at  the  feet  of  Henry,  im- 
ploring English  aid.  A  few  years  more 
pass  away,  and  we  behold  the  English 
monarch  making  a  triumphant  progress 
through  Leinster,  and  receiving  the  sub- 
mission of  the  kings  of  Desmond  and 
Thomond,  and  Ossory,  and  Breffny,  and 
Oriel,  if  not  that  of  Roderic  himself; 
3^et,  not  one  word  is  breathed,  all  this 
time,  about  the  grant  from  Adrian  IV. 
We  have  no  ground  for  supposing  that 
the  existence  of  that  grant  was  even 

the  Churcli,  the  checking  of  the  torrent  of  vice,  the  cor- 
rection of  morals,  tlie  sowing  of  the  seeds  of  virtue,  and 
the  propagation  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  thou  shouldst 
enter  that  island,  and  there  execute  whatever  thou  shalt 
think  conducive  to  the  honor  of  God  and  the  salvation 
of  that  land,  and  let  the  people  of  that  land  receive  thee 
with  honor,  and  venerate  thee  as  their  lord,  saving  the 
right  of  the  Church,  which  must  remain  untouched  and 
entire,  and  the  annual  payment  of  one  penny  from  each 
house  to  Saint  Prter  aud  the  holy  Church  of  Rome.  If 
then  thou  wishest  to  carry  into  execution  what  thou 
hast  conceived  in  thy  mind,  endeavor  to  form  that 
people  to  good  morals  ;  and  both  hy  thyself  and  those 
men  whom  thou  hast  proved  duly  qualified  in  faith,  in 
words,  and  in  life,  let  the  Church  of  that  country  he 
ndorncd,  let  the  religion  of  the  faith  of  Christ  be  planted 


known  to  the  Irish  prelates,  who,  fol- 
lowing the  examjile  of  their  respective 
princes,  also  paid  their  homage,  and 
assembled  at  the  call  of  Henry  in  the 
synod  of  Cashel ;  nor  does  one  word 
about  it  appear  to  have  transpired 
among  the  clergy  or  people  of  Ireland 
until  it  was  promulgated,  together  with 
a  confirmatory  bull  of  Alexander  HI., 
at  a  synod  held  in  Waterford  in  1175, 
some  twenty  years  after  the  grant  had 
been  originally  made,  aud  when  the 
success  of  the  invasion  had  been  an 
accomplished  fact.  Some  Irish  histori- 
ans have  questioned  the  authenticity  of 
Pope  Adrian's  bull ;  but  there  appeai-s 
to  be  no  solid  reason  for  doubt  upon 
the  subject.*  Others,  like  Dr.  Keating, 
assign,  as  a  ground  for  the  right  assumed 
by  the  pope,  a  tradition  that  Donough, 
son  of  Brian  Borumha,  had  made  a 
jiresent  of  the  crown  of  Ireland  to  the 
reigning  pontiff,  when  he  went  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome  about  the  year 
1064;  but  this  story  merits  no  atten- 
tion. The  equally  fabulous  donation  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  even  if  it  had 


and  increased,  and  all  that  concerns  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  salvation  of  souls  be  so  ordained  by  thee,  that 
thou  mayest  deserve  to  obtain  from  God  an  increase  of 
thy  everlasting  reward,  and  a  glorious  name  on  earth 
in  all  ages.     Given  at  Rome,  &c.,  &c." 

*  See  this  point  ably  handled  by  Dr.  Lanigan,  Eccl. 
Hist.,  vol.  iv.  p.  164,  &c.,  also  the  notes  and  illustrations 
of  the  MaearicB  Excidium,  p.  343,  &c.  Adrian's  bull  ap- 
pears in  the  BuUarium  Romanum,  though  Alexander's 
bull  does  not.  It  was  inserted  by  Radulfus  of  Diccto,  a 
contemporary  writer,  in  his  Tmagines  Historiarum,  and 
was  published  by  Cardinal  Baronius  from  a  Codex 
Vaticanus.  It  was  recited  by  the  Irish  princes  in  their 
remonstrance  to  John  XXII.,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II., 
and  appears  in  the  Scoti-Chronicen  of  John  of  Fordun, 
and  in  other  old  writers. 


BULL   OF  ADRIAN  IV. 


191 


been  made,  could  not  have  included 
Ireland,  to  which  the  power  of  the 
Roman  empire  never  had  extended. 
Irish  Catholic  historians  have  always 
been  sufficiently  free  in  their  animad- 
versions on  the  "English  pope,"  as 
Adrian  IV.  is  styled,  for  his  grant ;  but 
a  consideration  of  the  real  circumstan- 
ces, as  Ave  have  endeavored  to  explain 
them,  would  show  how  unwarrantable 
Buch  severity  has  been.  The  character  of 
that  pontiff  was  altogether  too  exalted 
to  afford  any  ground  for  supposing  that 
he  acted  from  an  unworthy  motive. 
"We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  his 
intentions  were  other  than  the  religious 
ones  he  expresses,  or  that  they  were  not 
wholly  opposed  to  the  ambitious  views 
of  the  English  monarch ;  and  we  know 
how  utterly  the  conditions  specified  in 
the  bull  were  disregarded  in  the  Anglo- 
Norman  invasion  and  subsequent  gov- 
ernment of  Ireland.  Some  show  of  ful- 
filling these  conditions  was  necessaiy, 
and  hence  the  pretended  reform  of  the 
Irish  Church,  which  the  synod  of  Cashel 
was  summoned  to  effect.  We  have 
enumerated  the  decrees  of  that  synod 
to  show  in  what  the  reform  consisted. 
The  prelates  assembled  at  Cashel,  and 
who  acted  only  from  a  sense  of  duty, 
joined  in  a  report  or  wrote  letters  for 
transmission  to  the  then  pope,  Alexan- 
der III.,  and  it  would  appear  that  what- 
ever faults  were  laid  to  the  charge  of 
the  Irish  were,  in  this  document  or 
documents,  neither  diminished  nor  ex- 
cused. The  Archdeacon  of  Llaudaff  ac- 
companied this  report  by  a  more  ample 


one,  in  which  the  representations  as  to 
the  vices  of  the  people,  the  power  and 
magnanimity  of  the  king,  and  the  salu- 
tary effect  which  his  authority  had  al- 
ready produced,- were  no  doubt  highly 
colored.  Just  as  Adrian's  letter  had 
been  granted  to  Henry  before  that 
prince's  vicious  character  was  developed, 
and  before  he  had  begun  to  wao^e  war 
on  the  church  in  England ;  so  had  tlie 
same  un2:)riucipled  and  hypocritical  mo- 
narch contrived  to  expiate  his  crimes  in 
the  eyes  of  the  pope,  and  to  exhibit 
himself  as  an  humble  son  of  the  church 
before  Alexander  was  called  upon  to 
interpose  in  his  favor.  Hence,  appeased 
by  the  king's  submission,  which  was  the 
humblest  and  seemingly  the  most  con- 
trite possible,  and  with  the  bull  of  his 
predecessor,  Adrian,  and  the  reports  he 
had  just  received  from  Ireland  before 
him,  the  sovereign  pontiff  was  induced 
to  confirm  the  former  grant.  At  the 
same  time  he  issued  three  other  letters, 
dated  September  20th,  one  addressed 
to  Henry  himself,  approving  of  his 
proceedings ;  another  to  "  the  kings 
and  i^rinces  of  Hibernia,"  commending 
them  for  their  "  voluntary"  and  "  pru- 
dent" submission  to  Henry,  admonish- 
ing them  to  preserve  unshaken  the 
fealty  which  they  ^had  sworn  to  him, 
and  expressing  joy  at  the  jirospect  of 
peace  and  tranquillity  for  their  country, 
"with  God's  help,  through  the  power 
of  the  same  kins'."  The  third  letter 
was  addressed  to  the  four  archbishoj^s 
of  Ireland  and  their  suffragaus ;  and  in 
it  the  pope  refers  to  the  information 


192 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


which  he  had  received  from  "other 
reliable  sources,"  as  well  as  from  their 
communications  relative  to  "the  enor- 
mous vices  with  which  the  Irish  people 
were  infected ;"  he  designates  that 
people  as  "barbarous,  rude,  and  ig- 
norant of  the  divine  law ;"  rejoices  at 
the  improvement  which  had  already 
beguu  to  manifest  itself  in  their  man- 
ners; and  exhorts  and  commands  the 
prelates  to  use  all  diligence  in  promot- 
ing and  maintaining  a  reform  so  happi- 
ly commenced,  and  in  taking  care  that 
the  fidelity  plighted  to  the  king  should 
not  be  violated*  Such  is  the  history 
of  those  famous  papal  grants,  of  which 
sectarian  industry,  as  well  as  wounded 
national  feelings,  has  greatly  magnified 
the  importance  and  misrepresented  the 
origin. 

Besides  the  synod  of  Cashel,  which 
was  convoked  for  ecclesiastical  purpo- 
ses, a  council  was  held  about  this  time 
at  Lismore,  in  which  it  was  decreed  that 
the  laws  and  customs  of  England  should 
be  introduced  into  Ireland,  for  the  use 
of  the  British  subjects  settling  there. 
The  native  Irish,  however,  still  lived 
under  their  own  laws  and  traditional 
usages ;  but  the  protection  and  benefits 
of  English  law  were  extended  in  process 
of  time  to  five  Irish  septs  or  families, 
who  in  the  law  documents  of  the  peri- 
od are  called  the  "  five  bloods."  These 
were  the  O'Neills  of  Ulster,  the  O'Me- 
laghlins  of  Meath,  the  O'Conors  of  Con- 

*  These  three  letters,  which  escaped  the  attention  of 
preceding  Irish  Wstorians,  are  published  in  Mr.  O'Cal- 
laghan's  Maearim  Exeidium,  p.  225,  et  scq.,  and  again 


naught,  the  O'Briens  of  Thomond,  and 
the  MacMurroughs  of  Leinster.  It  was 
several  hundred  years  later,  namely, 
in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  when  English 
law  was  extended  to  Ireland  in  general, 
and  even  then  it  was  found  necessary 
to  modify  it  for  the  jjurpose  of  adapta- 
tion. 

Henry  made  a  new  grant  of  the 
principality  of  Leinster  to  Strongbow, 
subject  to  the  feudal  condition  of  hom- 
age and  military  service.  He  appoint- 
ed Hugh  de  Lacy  justiciary  of  Ireland, 
and  granted  him  the  territory  of  Meath, 
to  be  held  by  similar  feudal  service. 
A  large  territory  in  the  south  of  Ire- 
land was  conferred  about  this  time  on 
FitzGerald,  the  ancestor  of  the  earls  of 
Desmond ;  and  thus  was  commenced,  on 
a  large  scale,  that  wholesale  confiscation 
by  which  the  land  of  Ireland  was  taken 
indiscriminately  from  its  a,ncieut  pos- 
sessors, and  granted,  without  any  show 
of  title,  to  the  Anglo-Norman  adven- 
turers. This  was  only  a  repetition  of 
what  had  taken  place  in  England  itself 
on  the  conquest  of  that  country  by  Wil- 
liam the  Norman.  The  Saxons  in- 
curred the  contempt  of  their  invaders 
from  the  facility  with  which  they  suf- 
fered themselves  to  be  subdued,  and 
their  property  was  everywhere  confis- 
cated ;  so  that  the  Saxon  element  in  the 
English  character  affords,  historically 
sj)eaking,  no  ground  for  national  boast- 
ing.    The  descendants  of  the  pluuder- 


from  another  source  in  the  Appendix  to  that  learned  and 
laborious  work. 


I 


SPOLIATION  OF  THE  IRISH. 


193 


ers,  equally  rapacious,  found  a  new  field 
for  spoliation  in  Ireland,  and  carried 
out  their  old  system  there  with  a  total 
disregard  of  both  mercy  and  justice. 
Subduing  a  territory  generally  signified 
among  the  ancient  Irish  only  a  transi- 
tory act  of  plunder  or  the  exacting  of 
hostages.  With  the  Anglo-Normans  of 
the  days  of  Henry  II.  and  of  after  times, 
to  obtain  superiority  of  power  in  a 
country,  whether  by  conquest  or  other- 
wise, signified,  on  the  contrary,  the  com- 
plete transfer  to  themselves  of  every 
foot  of  land  in  the  country,  and  the 
plunder,  and,  if  possible,  extermination 
of  its  ancient  population. 

Nor  did  the  Church  of  Ireland  fare 
better  than  the  laity,  notwithstanding 
the  provision  of  Pope  Adrian's  bull, 
that  it  should  be  preserved  intact  and 
inviolate.  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  des- 
cribin2c  what  he  witnessed  himself,  and 
certainly  without  any  friendly  leaning 
towards  the  Irish,  says : — "  The  misera- 
ble clergy  are  reduced  to  beggary  in 
the  island.  The  cathedral  churches 
mourn,  having  been  robbed  by  the 
aforesaid  persons  (the  leading  adventu- 
rers) and  others  along  with  them,  or 
who  came  over  after  them,  of  the  lands 
and  ample  estates,  which  had  been  for- 
merly granted  to  them  faithfully  and 
devoutly.  And  thus  the  exalting  of 
the  church  has  been  changed  into  the 
despoiling  or  plundering  of  the  church." 
And  again  he  confesses  that  "  while  we 
(the  Anglo-Normans)  conferred  nothing 
on  the  church  of  Christ  in  our  new  prin- 
cipality, we  not  only  did  not  think  it  wor- 


thy of  any  important  bounty,  or  of  due 
honor ;  but  even,  having  immediately 
taken  away  the  lands  and  possessions, 
have  exerted  ourselves  either  to  muti- 
late or  abrogate  its  former  dignities 
and  ancient  privileges."* 

Besides  the  princely  rewards  bes- 
towed on  Hugh  de  Lacy,  as  already 
mentioned,  he  was  also  appointed  lord 
constable ;  Strongbow  is  supposed  to 
have  borne  the  dignity  of  lord  marshal ; 
the  ofiice  of  high  steward  or  seneschal 
was  conferred  on  Sir  Bertram  de  Ver- 
non; and  Sir  Theobald  Walter,  ances- 
tor of  the  earls  of  Ormonde,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  then  high  ofiice  of  king's 
butler,  whence  his  descendants  derived 
their  family  name.  By  the  creation  of 
these  and  other  offices,  the  king  organ- 
ized a  system  of  colonial  government 
in  Ireland. 

Intercourse  with  England  having 
been  for  a  long  while  interrupted  by 
tempestuous  weather,  Henry,  while  at 
Wexford,  whither  he  had  removed  from 
Dublin,  at  length  received  alarming  in- 
telligence, to  the  efi*ect  that  an  investi- 
gation relative  to  the  murder  of  St. 
Thomas  h  Becket  was  proceeding  by 
the  pope's  orders  in  Normandy,  and 
that  if  he  did  not  speedily  appear  there 
to  defend  himself,  his  dominions  were 
threatened  with  an  interdict.  He  ac- 
cordingly prepared  to  depart  from  Ire- 
land without  waiting  to  complete  his 
arrangements  there,  and  sailed  on  Eas- 
ter Monday,  April  iTth.     On  landing 

*  Hib.  Expug.,  aa  quoted  by  Dr.  Lanigan.    Ecd.  Eitt. 
vol.  iv.  p.  256. 


25 


194 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  H. 


the  same  day  ia  Wales,  he  went  as  a 
pilgrim  to  St.  David's  church,  and  thence 
hastened  to  Normandy,  where  he  hum- 
bled himself  in  the  presence  of  the  pa- 
pal legates  and  of  the  bishops  and  bar- 
ons; sparing  no  humiliation  to  purge 
himself  of  his  crimes  in  the  eyes  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff,  who  thus,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  became  reconciled  to  him. 
The  city  of  Dublin  was  granted  by 
Henry  to  the  inhabitants  of  Bristol, 
and  Hugh  de  Lacy  left  as  governor, 
with  Maurice  Fitz  Gerald  and  Robert 
Fitz  Stephen  to  assist  him,  each  of  the 
three  having  a  guard  of  twenty  knights. 
The  city  of  Waterford  was  given  in 


charge  to  Humphry  de  Bohen,  who 
had  under  him  Robert  FitzBernard 
and  Hugh  de  Gundeville,  with  a  com- 
pany of  twenty  knights ;  while  Wex- 
ford was  committed  to  William  Fitz- 
Adelm,  whose  lieutenants  were  Philip 
de  Hastings  and  Philip  de  Breuse,  with 
a  similar  guard.  Henry  also  ordered 
strong  castles  to  be  built  without  delay 
in  these  towns;  and  thus  after  a  six- 
months'  stay  in  Ireland,  did  he  aban- 
don that  unhappy  country  as  a  prey  to 
a  host  of  greedy,  upstart  adventurers, 
whom  he  enriched  with  its  sj)oils,  that 
they  might  have  an  interest  in  defend- 
ing their  common  plunder. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


KEIGN    OF   HENRY   II.    CONTINUED. 

Deatli  of  Tiernan  O'Rourko  and  treachery  of  the  Invaders. — Strongbow's  Expedition  to  Offaly,  and  Defeat. — The 
earl  called  to  Normandy. — His  speedy  Eetum. — Dissensions  among  tho  Anglo-Normans. — Kaymond's 
Popularity  with  the  Army. — His  Spoliations  in  Offaly  and  lismore. — His  Amhition  and  Withdrawal  from 
Ireland. — An  English  Army  cut  to  pieces  at  Thurles. — Raymond's  Return  and  Marriage. — Roderic's  Expe- 
dition to  Meath. — The  Bulls  Promulgated. — Limerick  Captured  hy  Raymond. — Serious  Charges  against  him. 
— His  Success  at  Cashcl,  and  Submission  of  O'Brien. — Treaty  between  Roderic  and  Henry  II. — Attempt  to 
Murder  St.  Laurence  O'Toole. — Death  of  St.  Gelasius.— Episode  of  the  Blessed  Cornelius.— Raymond  le  Qros 
in  Desmond. — Hostile  Proceedings  of  DonneU  O'Brien. — Death  of  Strongbow. — His  Character. — Massacre  at 
the  Invaders  at  Slano. — De  Courcy's  Expedition  to  Ulster. — Conduct  of  Cardinal  Viviiin. — Battles  with  the 
Ulidians.^Snpposed  Fulfilment  of  Prophecies. — The  Legate's  Proceedings  in  Dublin. — De  Cogan's  Expe- 
dition to  Connaught,  and  Retreat. — John  made  King  of  Ireland. — Grants  by  Henry  to  the  Adventurers. 

(A.  D.  1173  TO  A.  D.  1178.) 


O'ROURKE,  to  whom  the  territory 
of  East  Meath  had  been  given  by 
the  monarch,  Roderic,  on  the  expulsion 
of  the  usurper  O'Melaghlin,  called  Don- 
neU of  Bregia,  in  11G9,  did  not  submit 


without  remonstrance  to  the  encroach- 
ments of  Hugh  De  Lacy ;  who,  by  no 
other  title  than  that  which  he  obtained 
from  the  king  of  England,  claimed  the 
whole  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Meath 


MURDER  OF  TIERNAN" .  O'ROURKE. 


195 


as  liis  property ;  and  a  conference  was 
arranged  between  them  shortly  after 
the  departure  of  Henry.  The  interview 
took  place  at  Tlachtgha,  now  the  Hill 
of  Ward,  near  Athboy,  and  it  was  set- 
tled that  the  two  chieftains  should  meet 
alone  and  unarmed  on  the  summit  of 
the  hill.  The  Irish  prince  had  left  the 
party  of  foot  soldiers  by  whom  he  was 
escorted  at  some  distance  from  the  foot 
of  the  hill ;  but  De  Lacy  came  attended 
by  a  small  band  of  well-mounted  knights 
in  armor,  who  tilted  around  the  hill  and 
on  its  side ;  but  while  displaying,  as  it 
were,  their  skill  with  lance  and  buckler, 
were  intent  upon  a  more  serious  game. 
Maurice  Fitzgerald,  w^hose  nephew,  Grif- 
fith, was  in  command  of  this  guard,  also 
accompanied  De  Lacy.  We  are  told  by 
Giraldus  that  this  Griffith  dreamt  the 
preceding  night  that  O'Eourke  would 
attack  his  master ;  that  the  movements 
of  the  mounted  troop  were  consequently 
dii'ected  to  guard  against  such  a  con- 
tingency ;  and  that  the  dream  was,  in 
fact,  on  the  point  of  being  fulfilled,  as 
they  saw  O'Rourke  beckon  to  his  men 
to  approach,  and  then  raise  a  battle-axe 
to  strike  De  Lacy.  The  chiefs  having 
met  without  arms,  we  should  have  been 
told  where  O'Eourke  found  the  battle- 
axe.  It  is  said  that  De  Lacy  fell  twice 
in  his  endeavors  to  escape — a  circum- 
stance not  much  to  his  credit,  consider- 
ing that  his  antagonist  was  a  very  old 


*  The  Four  Masters,  under  the  year  1175,  say  that 
"  Manus  O'MelagUin,  lord  of  East  Meath,  was  hanged  by 
the  English  after  thoy  had  acted  treacherously  towards 
him  at  Trim ;"  and  it  appears  that  some  writers  have 


man.  The  arm  of  the  interpreter  was  cut 
ofl^  by  a  blow  from  O'Eourke's  battle- 
axe  aimed  at  De  Lacy,  and  it  was  only 
then,  foreooth,  that  the  knights  rushed 
to  the  rescue,  cut  down  O'Eourke,  and 
slaughtered  the  party  of  Irish  infantry, 
who  were  coming  to  their  prince's  aid. 
As  related  thus  by  their  own  historian, 
the  story  indicates  a  premeditated  act 
of  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans  ;  and  the  Foui'  Masters  are,  we 
may  be  sure,  justified  in  saying  that 
O'Eourke  was  treacherously  slain  by 
Hugh  De  Lacy  and  Donnell  O'Eourke, 
his  own  kinsman,  who  was  probably 
the  interpreter  alluded  to.  He  was  be- 
headed, and  his  remains  conveyed  iguo- 
miniously  to  Dublin,  where  his  head 
was  placed  over  the  gate  of  the  fortress, 
and  his  body  gibbeted  with  the  feet 
upwards  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
city.  The  English  account  adds,  that 
the  head,  after  this  insulting  treatment, 
was  sent  into  England  to  Henry.  Thus 
perished  the  brave  and  unfortunate 
Tieruan  O'Eourke,  after  a  long  and 
eventful  career.* 

About  this  time  Strougbow  led  an 
army  of  1,000  horse  and  foot  into  Of- 
faly,  to  lay  waste  the  territory  of 
O'Dempsey,  who  had  refused  to  attend 
his  court ;  and  meeting  with  no  ojiposi- 
tiou,  he  spread  desolation  wherever  he 
came.  Eetarning,  however,  through  a 
defile,   ladf/n   with   spoils,   he  was   set 


confounded  this  act  of  treachery  with  that  mentioned 
above.  Moore  charges  MacGeoghegan  with  an  in- 
tentional error  on  this  subject ;  but  unjustly,  for  Ware 
and  Cox  had  fallen  into  the  same  mistake  before  him. 


196 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  II. 


upon  in  the  rear  by  O'Dempsey,  who 
had  been  collecting  his  adherents,  and 
who  gave  the  English  a  serious  over- 
throw, slayiug  several  of  their  knights, 
and  among  them  young  Robert  De 
Quincy,  who  had  only  just  been  married 
to  Strongbow'a  daughter  by  a  former 
marriage,  with  whom  he  had  obtained  a 
large  territory  in  Wexford  as  a  dowry. 
Before  he  could  take  any  step  to  repair 
this  defeat,  the  earl  received  an  order 
from  Henry  to  attend  him  with  a  rein- 
forcement of  men  in  Normandy,  where 
the  king  was  endeavoring  to  make  head 
asjainst  a  formidable  league  entered  into 
against  him  by  his  own  sons.  The 
prompt  obedience  of  Strongbow  on  this 
occasion  was  commended  and  rewarded 
by  Henry;  but  as  the  Irish  chieftains 
had  begun  to  repent  of  their  hasty  and 
humiliating  submission,  and  disunion 
had  appeared  in  the  Anglo-Norman 
ranks  in  Ireland,  the  king  thought  it 
better  to  send  the  earl  back,  and  in 
doing  so  invested  him  with  the  rank  of 
viceroy,  and  granted  to  him,  in  addition 
to  his  other  possessions,  the  city  of 
Waterford,  and  a  castle  at  Wicklow. 

A.  D.  1173. — A  jealousy  had  arisen 
between  Strongbow's  uncle,  Hervey  of 
Mountmaurice,  who  held  chief  com- 
mand in  the  army  of  Ireland,  and 
his  lieutenant,  Raymond  le  Gros.  The 
latter  was  the  favorite  of  the  soldiers, 
who  presented  themselves  in  a  body 
before  the  earl  on  his  return,  and  threat- 
ened that  if  Raymond  did  not  get  the 
command,  they  would  either  abandon 
the  country  or  go  over  to  the  Irish. 


Strongbow  was  compelled  to  yield  to 
their  mutinous  demand,  and  Raymond, 
who  understood  their  wishes  and  was 
willing  to  indulge  them,  led  them  forth 
to  plunder  the  Irish.  They  first  marched 
into  the  centre  of  Offaly,  and  having 
ravaged  that  territory,  they  next  en- 
tered Munster,  and  proceeded  as  fiu-  as 
the  ancient  town  of  Lismore,  which,  as 
well  as  the  surrounding  districts,  was 
also  abandoned  to  their  merciless  spolia- 
tion. Of  the  immense  quantity  of  plun- 
der collected,  a  large  portion  was  placed 
on  board  some  boats  which  had  just 
arrived  at  Lismore  from  Waterford,  for 
conveyance  to  the  latter  city.  The 
convoy  was  attacked  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  by  a  squadron  of  small  vessels 
sent  for  the  purpose  by  the  Ostmen  of 
Cork,  but  after  a  sharj)  conflict  the 
latter  were  defeated,  and  the  booty  was 
carried  off  in  triumph.  MaeCarthy, 
prince  of  Desmond,  was  coming  to  the 
aid  of  his  subjects  of  Cork,  when  Ray- 
mond, with  a  strong  body  of  cavalry, 
encountered  him  on  the  way,  and  fortune 
again  favored  the  Anglo-Normans,  who 
drove  before  them  4,000  cows  and  sheep 
along  the  coast  to  Waterford.  Upon 
this,  Raymond,  whose  ambition  rose 
with  his  success,  demanded  of  Strong- 
bow his  sister,  Basilia,  in  marriage, 
and  the  appointment  of  constable  and 
standard-bearer  of  Leiuster,  that  is,  the 
civil  and  military  command  of  that 
province,  which  had  been  held  by  the 
earl's  son-in-law,  De  Quincy ;  but  the 
haughty  request  was  rejected,  and  Ray- 
mond   retired    in    disgust    to    Wales, 


i 


X 


\ 


*» 


4 


THE  ENGLISH  DEFEATED  AT  THURLES. 


197 


wliere  his  father  had  died  about  this 
time. 

A.  D.  11 74. — Oa  the  departure  of 
Raymond,  the  command  of.  the  army 
once  more  devolved  on  Hervey,  by 
whose  advice  an  expedition,  with  Strong- 
bow  himself  at  its  head,  was  undertaken 
against  Donnell  O'Brien.  This  cam- 
paign was  disastrous  to  the  English. 
The  earl,  finding  that  he  had  a  more 
powerful  army  than  he  expected  to 
contend  with,  sent  to  Dublin  for  rein- 
forcements, which  were  to  meet  him  at 
Cashel ;  but,  according  to  the  Anglo- 
Norman  accounts,  these  fresh  troops, 
which,  say  they,  consisted  of  the  Ostmen 
of  Dublin  in  thoJ^uglish  service,  were 
set  upon  by  O'^len  in  their  march, 
and  while  overc^e  by  sleep  at  their 
quarters,  were  cut  off  almost  to  a  man, 
400  of  them  having  been  slaughtered 
nearly  without  resistance.  This  account 
is  framed  to  conceal  the  diso;race  of  the 
defeat;  but  the  Irish  annalists  give  a 
different  version.  They  say  tliat  king 
Roderic  marched  to  the  aid  of  th"^  Jmg: 
of  Thomond,  and  that  the  En^.isa  on 
hearing  of  his  arrival  in  Munster  solici- 
ted the  assistance  of  the  Ostmen  of 
Dublin,  who  obeyed  the  summons,  and 
made  no  delay  till  they  came  to  Durlas 
of  Eliogarty,  the  modern  Thurles.  Here 
they  were  attacked  by  Donnell  O'Brien, 
with  his  Dalcassians,  who  were  sup- 
ported by  the  battalions  of  West  Con- 
naught  and  of  the  Sil-Murray,  or 
O'Conor's     country,    and,    after    hard 


*  Tlie  Four  Masters  say  that  Donnell  Kavanagh,  who 
was  BO  called  from  Kilcavan,  near  Qorey,  in  Wexford, 


fighting,  the  English  (or,  rather,  Ost- 
men) were  defeated,  seventeen  hundred 
of  them  according  to  the  Four  Masters, 
or  seven  hundred,  according  to  the  annals 
of  lunisfalleu — which  is  probably  the 
correct  number — havins:  been  slain  in 
the  battle.  Strongbow  fled,  with  the 
few  men  who  remained,  to  Waterford, 
where — or  as  some  say,  in  the  Little 
Island  near  that  city — he  shut  himself 
up  in  a  state  of  deep  afilictiou. 

This  success  over  the  invaders  was  a 
signal  to  the  Irish  chieftains  in  general 
to  throw  off  the  foreign  yoke.  Even 
Donnell  Kavanagh  set  up  a  claim  to  his 
father's  territory,*  and  Gillamochalmog, 
and  other  Leinster  chiefs  who  had  been 
in  alliance  with  the  English,  revolted. 
The  loss  of  their  properties  and  the 
system  of  military  raj^ine  to  which  their 
country  was  subjected,  drove  them  to 
this  course.  At  the  same  time  Roderic 
O'Conor,  with  a  numerous  army,  invaded 
Meath,  causing  the  Anglo-Norman  gar- 
risons to  fly  in  trepidation  from  the 
castles  which  they  had  erected  at  Trim 
and  Duleek.  In  this  emergency  Strong- 
bow  had  no  resource  but  to  send  to 
Raymond  le  Gros  in  Wales,  inviting 
him  to  return  sj)eedily  with  all  the 
tit)ops  he  could  raise,  and  promising 
him  the  hand  of  Basilia  and  the  offices 
which  he  had  demanded.  Raymond 
joyfully  obeyed  this  summons,  and 
arrived  in  Waterford  with  the  least 
possible  delay,  accompanied  by  a  force 
of  thirty  knights,  all  of  his  own  kin- 

where  he  was  fostered,  was  treacherously  slain,  in  1175, 
by  O'Foixtohern  and  O'Nolan. 


198 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


dred,  100  men-at-arms,  and  300  archers. 
This  succor  was  most  timely,  as  the 
Ostmen  of  Waterford  were  meditating 
a  massacre  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  which 
was  actually  carried  into  execution  after 
Strongbow  and  his  immediate  followers 
had  left  the  city  to  accompany  the 
newly-arrived  force  to  Wexford.  From 
the  Annals  of  Innisfallen  it  would  aj")- 
pear  that  this  massacre,  in  which  200 
of  the  Anglo-Worman  garrison  fell,  took 
place  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Thurles,  but  the  more  consistent  ac- 
count is  that  just  given ;  and  it  happened 
that  a  number  of  the  garrison  escaped 
into  Reginald's  tower,  from  which  they 
were  subsequently  able  to  recover  pos- 
session of  the  city,  compelling  the  Ost- 
men to  submit  to  severe  terms. 

The  nuptials  of  Basilia  and  Raymond 
were  celebrated  with  great  pomp  and 
rejoicings  at  Wexford,  but  in  the  midst 
of  the  festivities  news  of  Roderic's  ad- 
vance almost  to  the  gates  of  Dublin  was 
received,  and  the  next  morning  the 
bridegroom  was  obliged  to  march  with 
all  the  available  troops  towards  the 
north.  Accustomed  only  to  desultory 
warfare,  the  Irish  were  always  content 
with  the  success  of  the  moment,  and 
rarely  thought  of  following  up  a  blow ; 
so  that  Roderic's  army,  satisfied  with 
the  destruction  of  a  few  of  the  enemy's 
strongholds,  and  with  the  devastation 
of  the  territory,  had  already  broken  up, 
and  each  detachment  had  Avithdrawn  to 
its  own  district  before  Raymond  could 
arrive ;  although  it* is  said  the  latter  fell 
on   the   rear  of  some   of  the  retiring 


parties  and  cut  off  150  men.  Husfh 
Tyrrel,  who  had  been  left  by  de  Lacy 
in  command  of  the  castle  of  Trim,  was 
now  ordered  to  restore  the  forts  which 
the  Irish  army  had  demolished;  and 
thus  Roderic's  expedition  ended  like 
any  ordinaiy  foray. 

A.  D.  1175. — In  this  posture  of  affixirs 
Henry  II.  thought  it  high  time  to  try 
the  effect  of  the  Papal  bulls,  which, 
although  mentioned  already  in  connec- 
tion with  the  events  of  a  preceding 
year,  now  came,  for  the  first  time,  to 
the  knowledge  of  either  the  clergy  or 
the  people  of  Ireland.  For  this  purpose 
he  commissioned  William  FitzAdelm 
and  Nicholas,  prior  of  Walliugford,  to 
carry  these  documents  to  Ireland,  where 
they  were  publicly  read  at  a  synod  of 
the  bishops  convened  for  the  occasion 
at  Waterford ;  but  how  the  bulls  were 
received,  or  what  effect  they  produced 
at  the  moment,  we  are  not  told. 

For  the  twofold  purpose  of  gratifying 
the  insatiable  rapacity  of  the  soldieiy 
and  of  taking  revenge  on  Donnell 
O'Brien  for  the  defeat  at  Thurles,  Ray- 
mond led  an  army  against  Limerick, 
which  was  captured  through  the  gallant 
conduct  of  his  nephews  and  himself  in 
fording  the  Shannon,  and  was  then 
abandoned  to  carnage  and  plunder. 
But  on  the  return  of  FitzAdelm  and 
Nicholas  of  Wallingford,  they  repre- 
sented to  Henry  that  these  sanguinary 
exploits  of  Raymond's  led  to  the  disor- 
ganization of  the  army,  and  to  outbreaks 
and  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Irish. 
The  soldiers,  they  said,  were  converted 


CAPTURE  OF  LIMERICK  BY  RAYMOND. 


199 


into  mere  rapacious  raarauders,  and  the 
liostility  of  the  Irisli  rendered  doubly 
inveterate ;  while,  to  make  tlie  complaint 
more  serious,  it  was  stated  that  the 
popular  general  had  formed  a  plan  to 
usurp,  by  the  aid  of  the  army,  the 
dominion  of  the  island.  This  report 
emanated  from  Hervey,  who  detested 
Raymond ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  a  great  portion  of  it  was  strictly 
true,  although  the  last-mentioned  charge 
was  probably  malicious  and  unfounded. 
Commissioners  were  immediately  des- 
patched by  the  king  to  bring  Raymond 
before  him  in  Normandy;  but  at  this 
juncture,  and  when  Raymond  seemed 
most  desirous  to  obey  the  summons  in 
order  to  vindicate  his  character,  news 
arrived  that  the  ever-active  king  of 
Thomond  had  laid  siege  to  Limerick, 
where  the  Anglo-Norman  garrison  could 
not  long  hold  out.  Strongbow  ordered 
an  army  to  march  from  Dublin  to  their 
relief,  but  the  men  refused  to  move  un- 
less their  favorite  general  was  put  at 
their  head.  The  royal  commissioners 
were  consulted,  and,  by  their  advice, 
Raymond  was  once  more  placed  in  com- 
mand, and  marched  towards  Limerick 
with  a  force  consisting  of  nearly  300 
cavalry,  of  whom  foui'score  were  heavy 


*  Altliough  the  Bignatuie  of  St.  Laurence  was  one  of 
those  attached  to  the  treaty  of  Windsor,  Dr.  Lanigan 
docs  not  seem  to  think  he  was  identical  with  "  Master 
Laurence,"  Eoderic's  chancellor. — (Eccl.  Hist.,  chap, 
ixix.,  sec.  ix.)  It  is  probable  that  the  good  archbishop 
had  gone  to  England,  on  business  connected  with  his 
diocese ;  and  it  was  on  this  occasion,  while  proceeding 
one  day  to  celebrate  mass  in  the  cathedral  of  Canter- 
bury, where  he  was  received  with  great  veneration  by 
the  monks,  that  a  madman  who  had  heard  a  great  deal 
of  his  sanctity,  and  thought  it  would  be  a  good  action  to 


armed,  and  300  archers,  a  large  body  of 
L'ish  infantry  under  the  princes  of  Ossory 
and  Hy-Kinsellagh  joining  them  on  the 
route.  At  the  aj^proach  of  this  army, 
O'Brien  raised  the  siege,  and  took  up  a 
position  in  a  pass  near  Cashel,  where  he 
hoped  to  intercept  their  march.  The 
prince  of  Ossory,  seeing  his  Anglo- 
Norman  allies,  as  he  thought,  hesitate 
in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  addressed  them 
menacingly,  and  told  them  that  if  they 
allowed  themselves  to  be  vanquished 
they  would  have  to  fight  against  the 
men  of  Ossory  as  well  as  against  those 
of  Thomond.  Meyler  FitzHenry  led 
the  vanguard  and  forced  the  pass,  and 
the  Thomond  army  was  routed  with 
considerable  slaughter. 

The  result  of  this  defeat  was  the  sub- 
mission of  O'Brien,  and  some  negotia- 
tions on  the  part  of  Roderic  with 
Raymond.  But  the  Irish  monarch, 
instead  of  treating  definitively  with  a 
subordinate,  sent  ambassadors  to  Henry 
IL  himself,  and  in  ^Sejitember,  1175, 
Cadhla  or  Catholicus  O'Duffy,  arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  Concors,  abbot  of  St. 
Brendan's  of  Clonfert,  and  the  illustri- 
ous archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  is  here 
called  "Master  Laurence,  his  chancel- 
lor,"*    proceeded   to    England   as    his 

confer  on  him  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  attempted  to 
kill  him  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  by  striking  him  on  the 
head  with  a  huge  club.  The  monks,  in  great  alarm, 
believed  that  the  holy  archbishop  was  mortally  wounded, 
but  he  desired  them  to  wash  the  wound  on  his  head 
with  some  water,  over  which  he  had  previously  said  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  he  was 
immediately  healed  and  enabled  to  go  through  the  sacred 
ceremonies.  The  king,  who  was  then  at  Canterbury, 
condemned  the  intended  assassin  to  be  hanged,  and  St. 
Laurence  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  his  pardon. 


200 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  II. 


plenipotentiaries.  A  council  was  held 
at  Windsor,  within  tlie  octave  of 
Michaelmas,  and  a  treaty  was  agreed 
on,  the  articles  of  which  were  to  the 
effect  that  Koderic  was  to  be  king  under 
Henry,  rendering  him  service  as  his 
vassal ;  that  he  was  to  hold  his  heredi- 
tary territory  of  Connaught  in  the  same 
way  as  before  the  coming  of  Henry  into 
Ireland;  that  he  was  to  have  jurisdic- 
tion and  dominion  over  the  rest  of  the 
island,  including  its  kings  and  princes, 
whom  he  should  oblige  to  pay  tribute, 
through  his  hands,  to  the  king  of 
England ;  that  these  kings  and  princes 
were  also  to  hold  their  respective 
tei'ritories  as  long  as  they  remained 
faithful  to  the  king  of  England  and 
paid  their  tribute  to  him;  that  if 
they  departed  from  their  fealty  to  the 
king  of  England,  Roderic  was  to  judge 
and  depose  them,  either  by  his  own 
power,  or,  if  that  were  not  sufficient, 
b}^  the  aid  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
authorities;  but  that  his  jurisdiction 
should  not  extend  to  the  territories 
occupied  by  the  English  settlers,  which 
at  a  later  period  was  called  the  English 
Pale,  and  then  comprised  Meath  and 
Leinster,  Dublin,  with  its  dependent 
district,  Waterford,  and  the  country 
thence  to  Dungarvan.  The  annual  trib- 
ute required  from  the  Irish  was  a 
merchantable  hide  for  every  tenth  head 
of  cattle  killed  in  Ireland;  and  the 
princes  who  gave  hostages  were,  besides, 
for  feudal  service,  to  give  presents  of 
Irish  wolf-dogs  and  hawks ;  any  of  the 
L'ish  who  had  fled  from  the  territories 


occupied  by  the  English  barons  were  to 
be  at  liberty  to  return  and  to  reside 
there  in  peace ;  and  the  king  of  Con- 
naught  might  compel  any  of  his  own 
subjects  to  come  back  from  the  other 
territories,  and  to  remain  quietly  in  his 
land. 

The  terms  of  this  remarkable  treaty 
fix  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  power 
which  Henry  II.  claimed  in  Ireland. 
Nothing  was  added  to  it  to  the  extent 
of  territory  within  which  the  dominion 
of  the  king  of  England  was  acknowl- 
edged. He  was  recognized  as  a  superior 
feudal  sovereign ;  but,  a's  we  have  al- 
ready remarked,  the  Irish  princes  did 
not  conceive  that  by  these  new  relations 
the  fee-simple  of  the  soil  was  transferred 
to  Henry.  So  fixr,  the  territory  over 
which  his  actual  dominion  extended, 
seems  to  have  been  almost  unresistingly 
yielded  up  to  him ;  but,  as  if  to  compen- 
sate for  the  fatal  apathy  with  which 
this  intrusion  was  allowed  to  take  place, 
every  further  encroachment  was  resisted 
by  the  Irish  of  that  and  of  subsequent 
times  with  manful  and  desperate  en- 
ergy. Thus,  not  only  was  the  English 
colony  long  circumscribed  within  its 
first  limits,  which  comprised  less  than  a 
third  of  the  island,  but  it  became 
after  a  few  reigns  much  more  re- 
stricted ;  while  throughout  the  rest  of 
the  country  the  Irish  language,  laws, 
and  usages  jirevailed  as  they  had 
hitherto  done.  Yet  we  constantly 
hear  of  the  "  conquest"  of  Ireland  by 
Henry  II. 

As  the  first  exercise  of  his  authority 


THE   BLESSED   CORNELIUS. 


201 


iiuder  the  treaty,  Heniy  appointed  an 
Irishman  named  Augustin  to  the  then 
vacant  see  of  Waterford,  and  sent  him, 
under  the  care  of  St.  Laurence,  to  receive 
consecration  from  the  archbishop  of 
Cashel,  as  his  metropolitan.  This  act 
was  intended  as  a  concession  to  the 
Irish  clergy. 

The  venerable  primate,  Giolla  Mac- 
liag,  or  St.  Gelasius,  as  he  is  called  by 
Colgan,  died  in  the  year  1173,  at  the 
patriarchal  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 
He  did  not  attend  the  synod  of  Cashel 
in  1172,  although  he  went  on  a  visitation 
of  Connaught,  and  presided  at  a  synod 
of  that  province  the  same  year,  on  which 
occasion  three  churches  were  conse- 
crated. He,  however,  paid  his  respects 
to  Henry  11.  in  Dublin,  and  the  circum- 
stance of  his  having  in  his  train  a  vrhite 
cow,  on  the  milk  of  which  he  chiefly 


*  Very  soon  after  his  consecration  as  archbishop, 
Conor  or  Conchobhar  MacConcoille  proceeded,  on  the 
affairs  of  his  diocese,  to  Rome,  and  was  supposed  to  have 
died  there,  his  death  being  recorded  in  the  Irish  chron- 
icles as  having  occurred  in  Eome  in  1175  or  1176.  It 
appears,  however,  that  the  holy  prelate  had  left  Eome, 
■where  he  was  treated  with  great  distinction  by  Pope 
Alexander  III.,  and  that  hastening  towards  his  own 
afflicted  country,  he  had  got  on  his  return  as  far  as  Sa- 
voy, where  he  fell  sick,  and  died  in  1176,  in  the  monas- 
tery of  St.  Peter  of  Lemenc,  near  the  city  of  Chamberry. 
The  sanctity  of  his  manners  and  of  his  death  inspired 
both  the  monks  and  the  people  with  singular  veneration 
for  his  memory.  Several  miracles  are  recorded  as  hav- 
ing been  performed  at  his  shrine,  from  the  time  imme- 
diately following  his  death  down  to  a  very  recent  date, 
and  his  festival  is  annually  celebrated  there,  with  great 
solemnity,  on  the  4th  of  June,  the  anniversary  of  his 
death.  By  providential  circumstances,  the  fact  of  this 
veneration  for  an  ancient  archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  a 
distant  country,  was  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
present  distinguished  successor  of  St.  Patrick,  the  Most 
Eov.  Dr.  Dixon,  while  visiting  Eome  in  1854,  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  declaration  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate 
20 


subsisted,  is  mentioned  by  Cambrensis. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  see  of  Armagh 
by  Conor  MacConcoille,  previously  ab- 
bot of  the  church  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul 
in  that  city,  and  who  has  recently 
become  familiar  to  Irish  readers  as  the 
Blessed  Cornelius,  under  circumstances 
of  an  interesting  character.*  Among 
other  remarkable  Irish  ecclesiastics  who 
closed  their  career  about  this  time,  was 
Flahertach  O'Brollachan,  comharb  of 
St.  Colurabkille,  and  first  bishop  of 
Deny,  a  man  eminent  for  his  learning 
and  liberality.  He  died  in  1175,  having 
resigned  his  see  some  years  before  and 
retired  to  his  monastery ;  and  from 
his  time  the  ancient  Columbian  order 
would  seem  to  have  almost  wholly 
given  way  to  the  continental  religious 
orders.f 

On  the  overthrow  of  O'Brien,  near 


Conception.  His  Grace  directed  his  homeward  route 
through  Chamberry,  obtained  some  of  the  rehcs  of  his 
sainted  predecessor  for  his  own  ancient  church  of*  Ar- 
magh, and,  on  his  return,  wrote  a  very  interesting  book^ 
in  which  all  the  facts  relating  to  this  subject,  so  full 
both  of  historical  and  religious  interest,  are  detailed. 
[See  "  The  Blessed  Cornelius ;  or,  some  tidings  of  an 
archbishop  of  Armagh  who  went  to  Eome  in  the  12th 
century,  and  did  not  return,"  &c.  By  the  Most  Eev. 
Joseph  Dixon,  archbishop  of  Armagh.  Dublin :  James 
Duffy.]  The  Irish  name  of  Conchobhar,  now  pronounced 
Conor,  sounded  to  foreign  ears  like  the  French  word 
Concord,  which  is  the  name  by  which  this  holy  Irish 
prelate  has  been  known  in  Savoy.  It  has  been  tradi- 
tionally Latinized  Cornelius.  The  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  Blessed  Cornelius  afford  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  veneration  paid  in  foreign  countries 
to  Irish  saints,  whose  names  havo  almost  dropped  from 
the  memory  of  their  own. 

f  A  holy  person,  whoso  name  appears  in  the  Irish 
Calendars  as  St.  QUda-Mochaibeo,  and  who  is  praised 
for  superior  learning  and  wisdom  as  well  as  piety,  died 
the  preceding  year.  He  was  a  contemporary  of  St.  Mal- 
achy,  and  was  abbot  of  the  Angnstinian  Canons  Eegulor 


202 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


Cash  el,  in  1175,  Raymond  was  invited 
into  Desmond  by  Dermot  MacCartliy, 
to  aid  Lim  in  putting  down  the  rebel- 
lion of  his  sou  Cormac.  The  invitation 
was  eagerly  accepted.  Dermot  was  re- 
instated, and  he  rewarded  Raymond 
with  the  district  in  Kerry  of  which 
Lixnaw  is  the  centre,  where  his  young- 
est sou,  Maurice,  became  the  founder  of 
the  family  of  Fitzmaurice,*  while  the 
troops  returned  to  Limerick,  glutted 
with  plunder.  MacCarthy  was  again 
assailed  by  his  unnatural  son,  and  cast 
into  prison ;  but,  while  there,  he  found 
means  to  procure  the  death  of  the  rebel 
Cormac,  whose  head  was  cut  off.  The 
Anglo-Normans,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
sequel,  sided  with  equal  readiness  with 
a  son  against  his  father,  or  with  a  father 
against  his  son.  They  only  sought  pay 
aud  plunder,  and  increase  of  territory 
for  themselves. 

The  Irish  Annals,  under  the  date  of 
1175,  accuse  Donnell  O'Brien  of  sundry 
acta  of  aggression.  Donald  MacGilla- 
patrick,  son  of  the  j^rince  of  Ossory,  was 
slain  by  him,  and  he  also  slew  the  son 
of  O'Conor  of  Corcomroe,  a  Thomond 
prince  ;  and  put  out  the  eyes  of  his  own 
relatives,  Dermot,  son  of  Tiege  O'Brien, 
and  Mahon,  son  of  Turlough  O'Brien, 
in  their  house  at  Castleconnell,  the 
death  of  Dermot  following  from  the 
outrage.  Upon  this  Roderic  O'Connor 
marched   into   Munster,  and   expelled 


of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  Armagli ;  and  in  the  same  year, 
1174,  is  recorded  the  death  of  Flann  O'Qorman,  chief 
lecturer  of  Armagh,  "a  learned  sage,  versed  in  sacred 
and  profane  philosophy ;"  and  who  is  said  to  have  spent 


Donnell  O'Brien  from  Thomond,  which 
he  laid  waste.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  this  expedition  was  undertaken  by 
Roderic  in  compliance  with  the  terms 
of  his  treaty  with  Henry;  but  it  was 
only  the  course  which  his  duties  as 
monarch,  even  without  that  treaty,  re- 
quired him  to  adopt.  As  to  the  expul- 
sion, it  was  of  short  duration. 

A.  D.  1176. — While  Raymond  was 
still  at  Limerick,  earl  Strongbow  died 
in  Dublin ;  and  as  it  was  important,  in 
the  precarious  state  of  the  colony,  to 
keep  his  death  a  secret  until  some  one 
adequate  to  fill  his  place  should  be  at 
hand,  his  sister  Basilia  sent  an  enigmati- 
cal message  to  Raymond,  stating  that 
"her  great  tooth,  which  had  ached  so 
long,  had  fallen  out,"  and  begging  him 
to  return  to  Dublin  with  all  j)ossible 
speed.  Raymond  understood  the  mes- 
sage, and  perceived  that  not  a  moment 
was  to  be  lost ;  but  he  could  not  afford 
to  leave  a  garrison  behind  in  Limerick, 
and  how  was  he  to  abandon  a  place 
which  had  cost  so  dearly?  In  this 
emergency  he  applied  to  Donnell 
O'Brien,  whom  he  solicited  to  take 
charge  of  the  city  as  one  of  the  king's 
barons  !  The  mockery  of  a  formal  sur- 
render of  trust  was  gone  through ;  but 
as  the  last  man  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
garrison  had  recrossed  the  Shannon, 
they  saw  the  bridge  broken  down  be- 
hind them,  and  the  city  in  flames  in 


twenty-one  years  studying  in  Franco  and  England,  and 
twenty  years  in  the  direction  of  the  schools  of  Ireland. 

*  The  Marquis  of  Landsowno  is  the  present  repr& 
Bcntativo  of  this  family. 


DEATH  OF  STRONGBOW. 


20b 


four  different  points.  English  liistorians 
Lave  accused  O'Brien  of  perfidy  for  this 
act ;  but  the  mock  trust  could  have  de- 
ceived no  man.  It  was  an  insult  which 
the  warlike  prince  of  Thomoud  was  not 
likely  to  brook;  and,  in  destroying 
Limerick,  he  said  it  should  never  again 
be  made  a  nest  of  foreigners.* 

On  Raymond's  arrival  in  Dublin  the 
obsequies  of  earl  Strongbow  were  per- 
formed with  great  solemnity.  St.  Lau- 
rence, as  archbishop  of  Dublin,  presided 
at  the  ceremony ;  and  the  remains  were 
dejDosited  in  the  Cathedral  Church  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  now  Christ's  Church. 
Strongbow's  celsbrity  has  been  entirely 
due  to  his  fortuitous  position.  He  pos- 
sessed none  of  the  qualities  of  mind 
that  constitute  a  great  man.  Even  his 
eulogist,  Cambrensis,  states  that  he 
formed  no  plans  of  his  own,  but  exe- 
cuted those  of  others.  To  the  Irish  he 
was  a  rapacious  and  a  merciless  foe.  The 
native  annalists  call  him  "the  greatest 
destroyer  of  the  clergy  and  laity  that 
came  to  Ireland  since  the  time  of  Tur- 
gesius;"  and  they  attribute  his  death, 
which  was  caused  by  an  ulcer  in  his 
foot,  to  a  judgment  of  heaven.f  He 
died  about  the  1st  of  May,  according  to 
some  authorities,  and  about  the  last  of 
that  month,  according  to  others ;  and 
left,  by  his  wife  Eva,  daughter  of  Mac- 
Murrough,  an  infant  daughter,  Isabel, 
who  was  heiress  to  his  vast  possessions, 
and  was  afterwards  married  to  William 


Marshal,  earl  of  Pembroke.  Strons^bow 
founded  and  richly  endowed  a  priory 
for  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 
at  Kilraainham,  near  Dublin. 

As  soon  as  Henry  II.  received  notice 
of  the  earl's  death,  he  appointed  William 
FitzAndelm  seneschal,  or  justiciary,  with 
John  de  Courcy,  Robert  FitzStephen, 
and  Milo  de  Cogan  as  coadjutors,  and  a 
suitable  number  of  kniofhts  to  serve  as 
a  guard  for  each.  Raymond,  who  was 
still  an  object  of  jealousy  and  sus2:)icion 
to  the  king,  hastened  to  Wexford  to 
meet  the  new  viceroy,  and  surrendered 
to  him,  with  good  grace,  the  authority 
which  he  had  temporarily  held.  It  is 
said,  that  on  seeing  Raymond  approach 
at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and  brilliant 
staff  of  knights,  all  of  his  own  kindred, 
and  with  the  same  arms  blazoned  on 
their  shields,  FitzAdelm  vowed  that  he 
would  check  that  pride  and  disperse 
those  shields ;  and  even  to  that  early 
period  is  traced  the  origin  of  the  jeal- 
ousy so  often  exhibited  by  the  British 
government,  in  after  times,  towards  the 
illustrious  family  of  the  Geraldines,  of 
which  Raymond  was  a  member. 

Meanwhile  a  disaster  befel  the  in- 
vaders in  Meath.  The  Hy-Niall  prince, 
MacLoughlin,  with  the  men  of  Kiuel- 
Owen  and  Oriel,  attacked  the  castle  of 
Slane,  which  was  held  for  De  Lacy  by 
Richard  le  Fleming,  and  from  which  it 
was  usual  to  send  parties  to  plund'er  the 


neighboring  territories. 


The  garrison 


*  The  Four  Masters  state  that  he  recovered  Limerick       f  Annals  of  Innisfallen,  and  Annals  of  the  Feu. 
by  siege,  but  this  is  evidently  a  mistake.  I  Masters. 


204 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


and  inmates,  to  the  number  of  five  hun- 
dred, were  all  put  to  the  sword ;  and 
this  act  of  vengeance  so  terrified  the 
adventurers,  that  next  day  they  aban- 
doned three  other  castles  which  they 
had  erected  in  Meath,  namely,  those  of 
Kells,  Galtrim,  and  Derrypatrick. 

A.  D.  1177. — FitzAdelm's  administra- 
tion soon  became  unpoj^ular  with  the 
colony.  Whether  his  policy  was  dic- 
tated by  king  Henry  himself  or  not,  it 
is  certain  that  he  was  now  decidedly  op- 
posed to  the  system  of  military  plunder 
and  aggression  which  had  hitherto  been 
the  only  principle  recognized  by  the 
Anglo-Normans  in  Ireland.  He  dis- 
countenanced spoliation,  and  was  open- 
ly accused  of  partiality  to  the  Irish.  De 
Courcy,  one  of  his  aids  in  the  govern- 
ment, became  so  disgusted  with  his  in- 
activity, that  he  set  out,  in  open  defiance 
of  the  viceroy's  prohibition,  on  an  ex\)e- 
dition  to  the  north,  having  selected  a 
small  army  of  22  knights  and  300  sol- 
diers, all  picked  men,  to  accompany 
him.  It  is  said  that  he  obtained  a  con- 
ditional grant  of  Ulster  from  Henry  II., 
though  by  what  right  the  grant  was 
made  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine, 
as  the  northern  princes  had  never  given 
the  English  king  even  a  colorable  pre- 
tence for  dominion  over  them.  John 
De  Courcy  was  a  man  of  great  stature 
and  enormous  physical  strength ;  to 
which  qualities  he  added  great  courage 
and  daring,  with  military  ardor  and  im- 
petuosity fitted  for  the  most  desperate 
enterprise.  By  rapid  marches  he  arrived 
the  fourth  day  at  Downpatrick,  the  chief 


city  of  Uladh  or  Ulidia,  and  the  clangor 
of  his  bugles  rinmnsr  throutrh  the  streets, 
at  the  break  of  day,  Avas  the  firet  inti- 
mation which  the  inhabitants  received 
of  this  wholly  unex^iected  incursion.  In 
the  alarm  and  confusion  which  ensued 
the  people  became  easy  victims;  and 
the  English,  after  indulging  their  rage 
and  rapacity,  entrenched  themselves  in 
a  corner  of  the  city.  Cardinal  Vivian, 
who  had  come  as  legate  from  pope 
Alexander  III.  to  the  nations  of  Scot- 
land and  Ireland,  and  who  had  only 
recently  arrived  from  the  Isle  of  Man, 
happened  to  be  then  in  Down,  and  was 
horrified  at  this  act  of  aggression.  He 
attempted  to  negotiate  terms  of  peace, 
and  proposed  that  De  Courcy  should 
withdraw  his  army  on  condition  that 
the  Ulidians  paid  tribute  to  the  English 
king ;  but  any  such  terms  being  sternly 
rejected  by  De  Courcy,  the  cardinal  en- 
couraged and  exhorted  MacDunlevy,* 
the  king  of  Ulidia  or  Dalaradia,  to  de- 
fend his  territories  manfully  against  the 
invaders.  Coming,  as  this  advice  did, 
from  the  pope's  legate,  we  may  judge 
in  what  light  the  grant  of  Ireland  to 
Henry  II.  was  regarded  by  the  pope 
himself. 

Dunlevy  returned  at  the  end  of  a 
week  with  a  large  undisciplined  force, 
Avhich  he  had  collected  in  the  mean 
time ;  and  the  English  took  their  stand 
in  a  favorable  position  outside  the  town, 
to  give  him  battle.     The  Irish  fought 

*  Tho  original  name  of  the  Ulidian  kings  was 
O'Haugliy  (Uah  Eochadba),  which  from  Dunslevj 
O'Haughy  hecamo  MacDunalevy,  or  Dunlevy. 


DE 


COUECY'S  INVASION  OF  ULSTER. 


205 


Tvitli  great  bravery,  but  owing  to  the 
turuultuaiy  nature  of  their  army,  to  the 
eifect  of  their  former  panic,  which  had 
not  yet  wholly  subsided,  and,  in  a  great 
measure  also,  to  the  singular  personal 
strength  and  prowess  of  De  Courcy 
himself,  who  was  bravely  seconded  by 
a  young  man  named  Roger  le  Poer,  they 
were  vanquished  in  the  conflict.  This 
battle  was  fought  about  the  beginning 
of  February,  and,  on  the  24th  of  the  fol- 
lowing June,  De  Courcy  again  defeated 
the  Ulidians ;  one  of  his  knights,  who 
was  wounded  in  this  second  conflict, 
being  Armoric  de  St.  Lawrence,  ancestor 
of  the  noble  family  of  Howth. 

A  notion  prevailed,  among  both  Irish 
and  English,  that  certain  prophecies  of 
Merlin  and  of  Saint  Columbkille  were 
fulfilled  in  this  invasion  of  Down,  and 
while  the  idea  encouraged  the  latter  it 
had  a  contrary  effect  on  the  former.  De 
Courcy  assumed  that  he  was  "  the  White 
Knight,  mounted  on  a  white  steed,  with 
birds  upon  his  shield,"  as  described  by 
the  British  prophet,  and  he  took  care 
that  the  resemblance  should  be  as  per- 
fect as  possible.  It  was  also  understood 
that  he  answered  the  description  of  the 
"  certain  poor  and  needy  fugitive  from 
abroad,"  who,  according  to  the  words 
ascribed  to  the  Irish  saint,  was  to  be 
the  conqueror  of  Down.  De  Courcy 
carried  about  with  him  a  book  of  St. 
Columbkille's  prophecies,  and  turned 
the  popular  interpretation  of  them  to 
his  account. 

Cardinal  Vivian,  having  proceeded  to 
Dublin,  held  a  synod  of  bishops  and 


abbots,  at  which  he  set  forth  the  obli- 
gation of  yielding  obedience  to  the 
authority  of  Henry,  in  virtue  of  the 
papal  bulls.  He  was  probably  induced 
by  the  English  functionaries  to  take 
this  step,  as  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
had  any  commission  from  the  pope  to 
do  so.  On  his  passage  through  Eng- 
land, when  coming  from  Rome,  he  had 
even  been  treated  with  much  discour- 
tesy, and  was  not  permitted  to  proceed 
on  his  mission  until  he  had  bound  him- 
self by  oath  to  do  nothing  against  the 
king's  interests.  He  was  further  in- 
duced, at  the  synod,  to  grant  a  general 
leave  to  the  Enerlish  soldiers  to  take 
whatever  provisions  they  might  want 
on  their  expeditions  out  of  the  churches, 
in  which  the  Irish  were  accustomed  to 
deposit  them  as  in  an  inviolable  sanctu- 
ary ;  but  he  required  that  a  reasonable 
price  should  be  paid  to  the  rectors  of 
these  churches  for  what  might  be  thus 
taken  away. 

The  celebrated  abbey  of  St.  Thomas 
the  Martyr  (k  Becket),  was  founded  in 
Dublin  by  FitzAdelm,  b}^  order  of 
Henry  II.  The  site  was  the  place  now 
called  Thomas'-court ;  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  cardinal  Vivian  and  St.  Laurence 
O'Toole,  the  deputy  endowed  it  with  a 
carucate  of  land  called  Donore,  in  the 
Liberties  of  the  city.  After  the  synod 
the  cardinal  passed  over  to  Chester  on 
his  way  to  Scotland. 

Murrouffh,  one  of  the  sons  of  Roderic 
O'Conor,  rebelled  against  his  father, 
and,  at  his  solicitation,  Milo  de  Cogan 
was  sent  by  the  deputy  with  a  hostile 


206 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


force  into  Connanglit,  in  direct  violation 
of  the  treaty  of  Windsor.  Eoderic  was 
then  in  lar  Connaught,  and  De  Cogan, 
in  his  progress,  found  the  country- 
abandoned  ;  the  inhabitants  having 
burned  the  houses  and  fled  to  their 
woods  or  mountains,  taking  with  them, 
or  concealing  in  subterranean  granaries, 
all  their  provisions,  so  that  the  English 
could  find  neither  food  nor  plunder. 
Having  penetrated  as  far  as  Tuam,  which 
they  found  also  deserted,  the  invaders 
were  obliged  to  retrace  their  steps ;  but 
Roderic  hastened  from  the  west,  pressed 
on  their  rear,  and  at  length  came  up 
with  them,  or,  as  others  say,  lay  in  wait 
for  them,  in  a  wood  near  the  banks  of 
the  Shannon,  where  he  defeated  them 
with  considerable  slaughter.  The  un- 
natural Murrough,  who  had  acted  as  a 
guide  to  the  English,  was  made  prisoner, 
and  being  condemned  by  the  Connacians 
with  the  consent  of  his  father  his  eyes 
were  put  out — a  punishment  which,  in 
the  case  of  this  traitor,  was  too  merciful. 
To  the  credit  of  the  men  of  Connaught, 
not  one  of  them  joined  the  rebellious 
son  on  this  occasion. 

In  the  course  of  May,  this  year  (1177), 
Henry  H.,  having  previously  obtained 
the  sanction  of  pope  Alexander  IH.,  as- 
sembled a  council  of  prelates  and  barons 
at  Oxford,  and  in  their  presence  solemn- 
ly constituted  his  youngest  son,  John, 
still  only  a  child,  "king  in  Ireland." 
This  stej),  which  was  another  violation 
of  the  treaty  of  Windsor,  by  conferring 
on  John  a  title  recognized  as  belonging 
to  Eoderic  O'Conor,  did  not  lead  to  the 


settlement  of  Irish  affairs,  which  Henry 
may  have  anticipated  from  it ;  nor  did 
John  ever  assume  any  other  title  in  this 
country  but  that  of  lord  of  Ireland  and 
earl  of  Moreton. 

A  new  grant  of  Meath  to  Hugh  de 
Lacy  was  made  out  in  the  joint  names 
of  Henry  II.  and  John ;  and  Desmond, 
or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  kingdom 
of  Cork,  Avas  granted  by  charter  to 
Robert  FitzStephen  and  Milo  de  Cogan, 
with  the  exception  of  the  city  of  Cork 
and  the  adjoining  cantreds,  which  the 
kinsT  reserved  to  himself  For  some 
years  after,  however,  they  were  able  to 
obtain  possession  of  only  seven  cantreds 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city.  In  the 
same  way  the  kingdom  of  Limerick,  .or 
Thomond,  was  granted  to  two  English 
noblemen,  brothers  of  the  earl  of  Corn- 
wall, who  declined  the  dangerous  gift. 
It  was  then  given  by  Henry  to  another 
baron,  Philip  de  Braosa ;  and  this  new 
claimant,  on  coming  in  sight  of  the  city, 
accompanied  by  De  Cogan  and  Fitz- 
Stephen, with  an  army  to  put  him  in 
possession,  was  seized  with  such  fear, 
that,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of 
his  confederates,  he  fled  to  Cork  and 
left  the  country. 

De  Braosa  was  not  a  coward,  as  his 
actions  in  subsequent  years  clearly 
proved ;  but  the  determination  exhi- 
bited by  the  inhabitants  of  Limei-ick, 
who  fired  their  city  on  liis  approach, 
that  it  might  not  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  invaders,  inspired  him  with  awe ; 
and  he  had  no  confidence  in  his  own 
followers,  who  are  said  to  have  been 


GRANTS  TO  ADVENTURERS. 


207 


tlie  scum  of  society  from  tlie  Welsli 
marclies.  The  territory  of  "Waterford 
■was  granted  to  Roger  le  Poer,  the  an- 
cestor of  the  le  Poers,  or  Powers ;  but, 
as  in  other  cases,  the  city,  wdth  the  dis- 
trict immediately  adjoining,  was  re- 
served by  Henry  for  himself. 

Grants  were  also  made  to  other 
hungry  adventurers,  with  total  indiifer- 
ence,  as  in  the  case  of  those  already 
mentioned,  to  the  rights  of  the  Irish 
themselves,  or  to  any  treaty  existing 


*  A  family  connection  existed  between  several  of  the 
first  English  invaders,  as  appears  from  the  following 
account : — Nesta,  daughter  of  Eees  ap  Twyder,  prince 
of  South  Wales,  had,  while  mistress  of  king  Henry  I.,  a 
son,  Henry,  who  was  the  father  of  Meyler  and  Robert 
FitzHenry.  While  wife  (or,  as  some  say,  mistress)  of 
Stephen,  constable  of  Cardigan,  she  bore  Robert  Fitz- 
Stephen ;  and,  finally,  when  married  to  Gerald  of 
Windsor,  she  had  three  sons :  first,  William,  the  father 
of  Raymond  le  Gros,  or  the  Corpulent  (who  married 
BasUia,  Strongbow's  sister,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Graces  of  Wexford,  and  of  the  FitzMaurices  of  Kerry), 
and  of  Griflith  ;  second,  Maurice  FitzGerald  (ancestor  of 
the  Geraldines  of  Kildare  and  Desmond),  who  had  four 
sons,  William,  who  married  EUen,  another  sister  of 
Strongbow,  or,  as  some  say.  Alma,  a  daughter  of  Strong- 
bow,  Gerald,  Alexander,  and  Milo ;  and  third,  David, 
bishop  of  St.  David's.  There  was  another  Nesta,  the 
daughter,  according  to  some,  and  the  grand-daughter, 
according  to  others,  of  the  former  one,  and  she  was 
married  to  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice,  the  uncle  of 
Strongbow.  A  daughter  of  the  first  Nesta  was  married 
to  William  de  Barri,  a  Pembrokeshire  knight,  by  whom 
she  had  four  sons,  Robert,  Philip,  Walter,  and  Gerald, 
the  last-named  being  the  well-known  chronicler  of  the 
invasion,  Giraldos  Cambrensis.   The  other  leading  men 


with  them,  and  even  without  any  right 
established  by  force  of  arms;  so  that 
Sir  John  Davies,  the  English  attorney- 
general  of  James  I.,  remarked,  that  "all 
Ireland  was,  by  Henry  II.,  cantonized 
among  ten  of  the  English  nation ;  and 
though  they  had  not  gained  possession 
of  one-third  of  the  kingdom,  yet  in  title 
they  were  ownere  and  lords  of  all,  so  as 
nothing  was  left  to  be  granted  to  the 
natives."* 


of  the  early  adventurers,  not  mentioned  among  the  pre- 
ceding, were:  Robert  de  Bermingham,  Walter  Bluet, 
Humphrey  do  Bohnn,  William  and  Philip  do  Braosa, 
Adam  Chamberlain,  Milo  and  Richard  de  Cogau,  Ray- 
mond Canteton,  or  Kantune,  Hugh  Cantwell  (according 
to  Hanmcr),  or  GnndeviUe  (according  to  Camden)  or 
Hugh  CantUon  (according  to  Cambrensis),  John  de 
Courcy,  Reginald  de  Courtenay,  Adam  Dullard,  WUliam 
FitzAdelm  de  Burgo  (ancestor  of  the  Burkes),  William 
Ferrand,  Robert  FitzBernard,  Richard  and  Robert  Fitz- 
Godobert,  Raymond  FitzHugh,  Theobald  FitzWalter 
(ancestor  of  the  Butlers),  Richard  and  Thomas  lo 
Fleming,  Adam  de  Gememie,  Reginald  de  Glanvil, 
Geoflfry  de  Hay,  Philip  de  Hastings,  Adam  do  Hereford, 
Hugh  de  Lacy,  William  Makrell,  Gilbert  Nangle,  or  de 
Angulo,  William  Nott,  Gilbert  de  Nugent,  Richard  and 
WUliam  Petit,  Robert,  Roger,  and  William  le  Poer, 
Maurice  and  Philip  de  Prendergast,  Purcell,  Robert  de 
Quiney,  or  Quincy,  John  and  Walter  de  Ridelsford,  or 
Ridensford,  Adam  de  Rupe,  or  Roche,  Robert  de  Salis- 
bury, Robert  Smith,  Almerio  de  St.  Laurence  (ancestor 
of  the  Howth  family),  Hugh  Tyrrell,  Richard  Tuite, 
Bertram  de  Verdon,  PhUip  Welsh,  Philip  de  Worcester, 
&c.,  &c. —  Vide  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Camden's  Hibemia, 
Hanmer's  Chronicle,  Harris's  Hibcrnica,  and  the  Rev. 
C.  P.  Meehan's  translation  of  Tl^e  Geraldines.  p.  23. 


208 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  II. 


CHAPTER 


XX. 


EEIGN    OF   HENKY   n.    CONCLUDED.      EEIGN   OF    RICHARD   I. 

Reverses  of  De  Courcy  in  tlie  Nortli. — Feuds  of  Desmond  and  Tliomond. — Unpopularity  of  FitzAdelm  with  the 
Colonists. — Irish  Bishops  at  the  Council  of  Lateran. — Death  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole. — His  Charity  and 
Poverty. — Dc  Lacy  suspected  hy  Henry  II. — Death  of  Milo  de  Cogan. — Arrival  of  Cambrcnsis. — Death  of 
Hervey  of  Mountmaurice. — Eoderic  Abdicates  and  Retires  to  Cong. — Archbishop  Comyn. — Exactions  of 
Philip  of  Worcester. — Prince  John's  Expedition  to  Ireland. — His  Failure  and  Recall. — English  Mercenaries 
in  the  Irish  Service. — Singular  Death  of  Hugh  de  Lacy. — Synod  in  Christ  Church. — Translation  of  the  Eehcs 
of  SS.  Patrick,  Columba,  and  Brigid  to  Down. — Expedition  of  De  Courcy  to  Connaught. — His  Retreat. — 
Death  of  Henry  H. — Death  of  Conor  Moinmoy,  and  P^esh  Tumults  in  Connaught. — Last  Exploits  and  Death 
of  Donnell  More  O'Brien. — Dissensions  in  the  EngUsh  Colony. — Successes  of  Donnell  MacCarthy. — Death  of 
Roderic  O'Conor. — His  Character. — Foundation  of  Churches,  &c. — The  Anglo-Irish  and  the  "  mere"  Irish. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popos  Lucius  III.,  Urban  III.,  Gregory  VIII.,  Clement  III.,  and  Cclcstine  III.- 
King  of  France,  Philip  Augustus.— Third  Cnis:ide  (118S-1194). 


(A.  D.  1178  TO  1190.) 


JOHN  DE  COURCY,  notwithstand- 
ing the  prestige  of  his  successes  in 
the  north,  was  not  invincible.  After 
sweeping  off,  in  11Y8,  a  large  spoil  of 
cattle  from  Machaire  Conaille,  or  the 
plain  of  Louth,  he  encamped,  on  his 
return  to  Down,  in  Glenree,  the  vale  of 
ISTewry  river,  and  was  there  attacked  by 
O'Carroll  of  Oriel,  and  MacDunlevy  of 
Ulidia,  and  defeated  with  great  slaugh- 
ter. On  this  occasion  he  lost  450  men, 
many  of  whom  were  drowned  in  at- 
tempting to  cross  the  river,  while  the 
Irish  had  only  100  killed.  Some  time 
after  he  went  on  a  plundering  excursion 
into  Dalaradia,  and  was  defeated  by 
Cumee  O'Flynn,  lord  of  Hy-Tuirtre  and 


Firlee,  in  Antrim,  when,  according  to 
Giraldus,  he  escaped  from  the  field  on 
foot,  with  only  eleven  followers,  and 
reached  his  camp  after  a  flight  of  two 
days  and  nights  without  food.  The 
English  historians  attribute  this  disaster 
to  the  number  of  cattle  which  he  was 
carrying  away,  and  which,  being  driven 
back  upon  his  ranks  by  the  Irish,  caused 
such  confusion  that  his  men  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  the  enemy. 

The  Annals  of  Innisfalleu  mention  a 
desolating  war  which  raged  this  year 
between  the  Irisb  of  Thomond  and  Des- 
mond, in  which  the  latter  territory  was 
so  wasted  that  some  of  its  ancient  fami- 
lies, as  the  O'Donovans,  princes  of  Hy- 


THE  COUlSrCIL  OF  LATERAL". 


209 


Figeinte,  and  the  O'Collinses,  subordi- 
nate chiefs  of  Hy-Conail  Gavra,  an 
ancient  sub-division  of  the  former  terri- 
tory, -were  driven  from  their  patrimonies 
to  seek  refuge  in  the  southern  parts  of 
the  present  county  of  Cork.  The  native 
chroniclers  also  record  internecine  quar- 
rels, at  the  same  period,  between  the 
Irish  of  Ulster  and  those  of  "West  Meath 
and  Offaly,  the  English  acting  as  allies 
in  the  ranks  of  the  latter. 

FitzAdelm,  as  ali'eady  observed,  had 
become  so  unpopular  with  the  English 
colonists,  from  his  opposition  to  rapine 
and  suspected  partiality  to  the  Irish, 
that  Henry  found  it  necessary  to  remove 
him,  and  appointed  De  Lacy  in  his  stead, 
with  the  title  of  procurator.  FitzAdelm 
was,  however,  made  constable  of  Lein- 
ster;  Wexford  was  entrusted  to  his 
care,  and  Waterford  to  that  of  Robert 
le  Poer. 

A.  D.  11Y9. — Several  Irish  bishops 
proceeded  this  year  to  Rome,  on  the 
summons  of  Alexander  III.,  to  attend 
the  third  general  council  of  Lateran. 
These  prelates  were — St.  Lorcan,  or  Lau- 
rence, of  Dublin;  O'Duffy,  of  Tuam; 
O'Brien,  of  Killaloe ;  Felix,  of  Lismore ; 
Augustine,  of  Waterford ;  and  Brictius, 
of  Limerick.  In  passing  through  Eng- 
land they  were  obliged  to  take  an  oath 
not  to  act  in  any  manner  prejudicial  to 
that  country  or  its  king.  The  pope 
treated  St.  Laurence  with  special  kind- 
ness, appointed  him  his  legate  for  L'e- 
land,  and  conferred  particular  favors  on 
the  diocese  of  Dublin,  confirming  its 
jurisdiction  over  the  suffragan  sees  of  its 


province.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  Holy  Father  learned,  on  this  occa- 
sion, the  unhappy  results  which  had 
followed  from  the  Anglo-Norman  inva- 
sion of  Ireland. 

A.  D.  1180. — Having  returned  from 
Rome,  St.  Laurence  devoted  himself, 
with  his  accustomed  zeal,  to  his  archi- 
episcopal  and  legatine  duties;  and  he 
was  particularly  strict  in  punishing  the 
lax  manners  of  some  of  the  Anglo-Nor- 
man and  Welsh  clergy  who  had  come 
over  with  the  ad  venturer.  In  the 
course  of  this  year  he  went  to  England 
on  a  mission  from  Roderic  O'Conor,  one 
of  whose  sons  accompanied  him  as  a 
hostage ;  but  the  English  king  refused 
either  to  listen  to  his  representations  or 
to  permit  him  to  return  to  Ii'eland,  and 
left  for  Normandy,  whither  the  saint, 
after  a  few  weeks'  stay  at  the  monastery 
of  Abingdon,  in  Berkshire,  set  out  to 
follow  him.  The  holy  archbishop,  how- 
ever, was  able  to  proceed  no  further 
than  Augum,  or  Eu,  on  the  borders  of 
Normandy,  in  a  monastery,  at  which 
place  he  fell  sick,  and  died  on  the  14th 
of  November,  1180.  When  asked  by 
the  monks  to  make  his  will,  he  called 
God  to  witness  that  "he  had  not  as 
much  as  one  penny  under  the  sun;" 
and  a  little  before  he  expired  he  said  in 
Irish,  speaking  of  his  unhappy  country- 
men, "Alas,  foolish  and  senseless  people ! 
What  will  you  now  do  ?  Who  will  heal 
your  differences  ?  Who  will  have  pity 
on  you  ?"  His  charity  was  unbounded. 
During  a  famine  which  prevailed  for 
three  years  in  Dublin,  he  made  extra- 


210 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


ordinary  sacrifices  to  relieve  tlie  poor. 
His  spirit  of  mortification  was  worthy 
of  the  primitive  saints.  His  love  for 
his  ill-fated  country  was  that  of  an 
ardent  jiatriot,  yet  his  country's  enemies 
were  compelled  to  confess  and  revere 
his  virtues.  Several  miracles  are  re- 
corded of  him,  and  he  was  canonized 
by  Honorius  IH.,  in  the  year  1226.* 

At  this  time  the  power  of  Hugh  de 
Lacy  greatly  exceeded  that  of  any  other 
English  baron  in  Ireland.  Giraldus 
observes  that  "  he  amply  enriched  him- 
self and  his  followers  by  oppressing 
others  with  a  strong  hand ;"  yet  he  was 
less  hateful  to  the  Irish  than  most  of 
the  other  foreigners.  He  married,  as 
his  second  wife,  a  daughter  of  Roderic 
O'Conor,  without  previously  asking  the 
permission  of  Henry  II. ;  and  this  alli- 
ance, together  with  the  popularity 
which  he  enjoyed,  excited  the  jealousy 
of  the  English  monarch,  who  abruptly 
removed  him  from  the  government. 
De  Lacy's  ready  obedience  in  yielding 
up  his  office  restored  him,  however,  to 
the  king's  confidence,  and  he  was  rein- 
stated in  power  with  Robert,  bishop  of 
Shrewsbury,  as  his  counsellor,  or  rather 
as  a  spy  on  his  proceedings. 

A.  D.  1182 — Milo  de  Cogan,  one  of 
the  most  chivalrous  of  the  first  adven- 
turers, fell  a  victim  this  year  to  the 


*  See  his  life,  by  tlie  Rev.  John  O'Hanlon,  of  Dublin ; 

also  Sarins,  quoted  by  Ussher,  in  the  Sylloge,  note  to 
Epist.  xlviii.  "  The  beautiful  church  of  Eu,  in  which 
the  remains  of  St.  Laurence  are  preserved,  has  been 
recently  restored,  and  on  the  walls  of  the  little  oratory 
which  marks  on  the  hiU  over  the  town  the  spot  where 
the  saint  exclaimed, '  hxc  est  requies  meal  &c.,  the  names 


hostility  which  the  aggressions  of  the 
English  stirred  up  in  every  quarter. 
He  was  proceeding  from  Cork  to  Lis- 
more,  accompanied  by  a  son  of  Robert 
FitzStephen  and  a  few  other  knights,  to 
hold  a  conference  with  some  of  the  people 
of  Waterford,  when  he  was  set  upon  by 
MacTire,  prince  of  Imokilly,  and  cut  off 
with  aP  his  party.  Giraldus  says  that 
he  was  invited  by  MacTire  to  pass  the 
night  in  his  house,  and  that  he  was 
treacherously  murdered  when  seated 
with  his  knights  in  a  field ;  but  this 
statement  appearing,  as  it  does,  in  the 
midst  of  a  tissue  of  slanders,  merits 
little  credit.  The  event  was  a  signal 
for  a  general  rising  of  the  chieftains  of 
Muuster,  and  FitzStephen  was  so  close- 
ly besieged  by  them  in  the  city  of  Cork, 
that  he  was  on  the  point  of  succumbing, 
when  his  nephew,  Raymond  le  Gros, 
brought  succor  by  sea  from  Wexford, 
and  raised  the  siege.  Richard  de  Cogan, 
brother  of  Milo,  was  sent  over  by  Henry 
to  aid  FitzStephen  in  the  government 
of  Cork,  and  was  accompanied  by  two 
of  FitzStephen's  nephews,  Philip  and 
Gerald  Barry.* 

As  new  adventurers  appear,  the  earl- 
ier ones  vanish  from  the  scene.  Among 
the  latter  was  Hervey  of  Mountmaur- 
ice,  whose  opposition  to  the  more  war- 
like Raymond  has  been  so  often  noticed. 


of  several  Irishmen  are  inscribed."    (Dr.  Kelly's  Canib. 
Ever.,  vol.  ii,,  p.  648,  d) 

*  The  latter  was  the  oft-quoted  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
a  vain,  conceited  writer,  and  compiler  of  sUly  fables  and 
mahcious  calumnies  about  Ireland  and  her  people, 
although  his  Ilibernia  Expugnata  is  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant record  we  possess  of  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion. 


ABDICATION  OF  RODERIC  O'CONOR. 


211 


He  founded  the  beautiful  abbey  of 
Dunbrody,  in  Wexford ;  and  disgusted, 
as  it  would  seem,  with,  the  scenes  of  ra- 
pine which  he  had  witnessed  in  Ireland, 
he  retired  from  the  strife  of  the  world, 
and  became  a  monk  at  Canterbury, 
giving  to  the  abbey  there  a  portion  of 
the  property  which  he  had  acquired  in 
Ireland.  We  find  De  Lacy,  in  Meath, 
and  De  Courcy,  in  Ulster,  also  founding 
religious  houses  with  a  portion  of  the 
plunder  which  they  had  unscrupulously 
taken  from  the  native  clergy  and  peo- 
ple of  Ireland. 

De  Courcy  obtained,  this  year,  at 
Dunbo,  in  Dalaradia,  a  decisive  victory 
over  Donuell  O'Loughlin  and  the  Kinel 
Owen,  which,  for  some  time,  checked 
the  heroism  of  the  northern  chieftains, 
and  enabled  him  to  strengthen  his 
position  and  overrun  the  province 
without  opposition. 

A.  D.  1183. — The  Irish  annals  are 
filled,  at  this,  as  at  other  periods,  with 
atcounts  of  feuds  among  the  native 
princes,  but  such  of  them  as  left  no 
visible  traces  on  our  history  we  pass  in 
silence.  The  strife  which  had  long 
existed  in  the  family  of  the  unhappy 
monarch,  Roderic,  broke  out  now  with 
increased  violence;  and  after  vain 
efforts,  on  the  part  of  neighboring 
princes,  to  settle  the  differences,  even 
at  the  point  of  the  sword,  the  wretched 
king,  according  to  the  annals  Kilronan, 
retired  this  year  to  the  abbey  of  Cong, 
leaving  the  kingdom  of  Connaught  to 
his  son,  Conor  Moinmoy. 

A.  D.  1184.— On    the    death   of    St. 


Laurence  O'Toole,  Henry  sent  a  com- 
missioner to  collect  the  revenues  of  the 
diocese  of  Dublin  into  the  royal  coffers. 
He  then  caused  a  number  of  the  Dub- 
lin clergy  to  assemble  at  Evesham,  in 
Worcestershire,  and  at  his  recommen- 
dation they  elected  John  Comyn,  or 
Cumming,  an  Englishman,  to  the- vacant 
see.  Comyn  proceeded  to  Rome,  and 
was  ordained  priest,  and  subsequently 
consecrated  archbishop,  by  pope  Lu- 
cius HI.,  at  Veletri.  The  pope  also 
granted  him  a  bull,  exempting  the  dio- 
cese of  Dublin  from  the  exercise  of  any 
other  episcopal  authority  within  its 
limits  and  without  the  permission  of  its 
archbishop.  This  privilege  was  intended 
as  a  protection  against  the  power  of  the 
primate,  who  could  not,  at  that  time,  be 
considered  as  a  subject  of  the  Englisli 
kins: ;  and  it  was  the  first  of  a  series  of 
acts,  upon  which  the  controversy  which 
subsequently  arose  as  to  the  relative 
prerogatives  of  the  sees  of  Armagh  and 
Dublin  was  founded.  The  new  arch- 
bishoj)  did  not  come  to  Dublin  until 
1184,  and  his  presence  then  was  in- 
tended as  a  preparation  for  the  ap- 
proaching visit  of  prince  John. 

A.  D.  1185. — Henry's  suspicions  of  De 
Lacy  were  not,  it  appears,  unfounded, 
as  that  ambitious  baron  is  understood 
to  have  really  aspired  to  the  soverflgnty 
of  Ireland.  He  was,  therefore,  once 
more  deprived  of  the  government,  in 
1184,  and  in  his  stead  was  sent  over 
Philip  of  Worcester,  who  eclipsed  all 
his  predecessors  by  his  exactions  and 
injustice.     This  man's  first  act  was  to 


212 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  II. 


resume,  for  the  king's  use,  lands  which 
had  been  sold  to  O'Casey  by  his  prede- 
cessor. He  levied  contributions  without 
regard  to  justice  or  mercy ;  and  pro- 
ceeding with  an  army  to  Ulster,  a  terri- 
tory which  had  been  hitherto  left  ex- 
clusively to  De  Courcy's  enterprise,  he 
exacted  money  from  all  parties,  but 
chiefly  from  the  clergy.  He  was  ac- 
companied by  a  worthy  coadjutor,  Hugh 
Tyrrel,  who  stripped  the  clergy  of  Ar- 
magh by  his  extertions,  carrying  off, 
among  other  things,  their  large  brewing 
pan,  which  he  was  obliged  to  abandon 
on  the  way,  as  the  horses  which  drew 
it  were  burned  in  a  stable  where  they 
halted  for  the  night,  and  he  himself  was 
seized  with  violent  griping  pains,  which, 
in  the  opinion  of  his  contemporaries, 
were  a  just  punishment  for  his  rapine.* 
This  year  is  memorable  for  the 
wretched  experiment  which  Henry 
made  to  govern  Ireland  through  his 
son  John,  a  step  which  proved  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  king's  boasted 
wisdom.  The  young  prince,  then  in 
his  nineteenth  year,  arrived  at  Water- 
ford  from  Milford  Haven  the  week 
after  Easter,  with  400  knights  and  a 
well-equipped  force  of  horse  and  foot, 
conveyed  in  sixty  transports.  He  as- 
sumed simply  the  title  of  earl  of  More- 


*  Thia  plunder  of  the  clergy  of  Armagh  took  place  in 
the  course  of  the  Lent,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  was 
then  the  celebrated  crozier  of  St.  Patrick,  caUed  the 
Staff  of  Jesus,  was  removed  from  the  primatial  city  to 
Dublin,  although  it  is  usually  stated  that  this  transfer 
was  made  by  FitzAdelm,  who  does  not  appear  to  have 
exercised  any  authority  in  the  north. 

t  When  John  was  about  to  proceed  to  Ireland,  in 
1185,  his  father  applied  to  popo  Lucius  III  for  permis- 


ton  and  lord  of  Ireland,  although  he 
had  been  invested  some  years  before 
with  the  nominal  rank  of  king.f  He 
was  attended  by  Gerald  Barry,  or  Cam- 
brensis,  as  his  tutor,  and  by  Ranulph 
de  Glanville,  justiciary  of  England ;  but 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  retinue  of  in- 
solent young  Norman  courtiers  of  as 
profligate  manners  as  he  notoriously  was 
himself  The  proceedings  of  the  new 
visitors  were  most  inauspiciously  com- 
menced. Some  Leinster  chieftains 
waited  upon  John,  at  his  arrival,  to 
pay  their  respects,  but  their  costume 
and  appearance  excited  the  mirth  of 
him  and  his  brainless  attendants,  who 
treated  them  with  derision,  and  went  so 
far  as  to  pluck  their  beards.  Justly 
incensed  at  the  insults  offered  them,  the 
Irish  princes  hastily  quitted  the  camp 
and  removing  their  families  and  follow- 
ers from  the  territory  occupied  by  the 
English,  repaired  to  Connaught  and 
those  parts  of  Munster  yet  free  from 
the  foreign  yoke,  proclaiming  every- 
where the  insolent  treatment  which 
they  had  received,  and  stirring  up  their 
countrymen  to  resistance. 

John  and  his  courtiers  pursued  their 
mad  career,  regardless  of  the  storm 
which  was  gathering.  Some  Irish  septs, 
who  had  hitherto  remained  peaceably 

sion  to  crown  the  young  prince,  but  the  Pope  declined 
giving  his  sanction.  On  the  accession  of  Urban  III.,  at 
the  close  of  the  same  year,  the  application  was  renewed, 
and  this  time  the  required  leave  was  granted,  and  a 
crown,  made  of  peacock's  feathers  interwoven  with  gold, 
was  sent  from  Rome  by  the  Pontiff,  on  the  occasion  ;  but 
John's  expedition  having  in  the  mean  time  failed,  his 
intended  coronation  was  abandoned. 


PRINCE  JOHN  IN  IRELAND. 


213 


in  the  English  territory,  were  expelled, 
and  driven  to  swell  the  ranks  of  their 
disaffected  countrymen,  their  lands 
being  given  to  the  new  comers;  the 
old  "Welsh  settlers  were  forced  to  leave 
the  towns  and  reside  in  the  marches, 
and  the  early  Anglo-Norman  colonists 
were  harassed  with  exactions.  Castles 
were  erected  by  John's  orders  at  Tip- 
raid-Fachtna,  now  Tibraghny,  in  the 
county  of  Kilkenny,  at  Ardfinan,  over- 
looking the  Suii',  in  Tipperary,  and  at 
Lismore;  and  from  these  strongholds 
parties  were  sent  to  plunder  the  lands 
of  Munster.  But  the  indomitable  Don- 
nell  O'Brien  took  the  field,  and  the 
English  were  defeated  by  him  in  several 
encounters.  He  took  the  castle  of  Ard- 
finan, by  stratagem,  and  put  the  garrison 
to  the  sword.  Several  of  the  bravest 
English  knights  were  cut  off  in  battle : 
Roger  le  Poer  was  slain  in  Ossory, 
Robert  Barry  at  Lismore,  Raymond 
FitzHugh  at  Olechan,  and  Raymond 
Canton  in  Idrone.  After  being  deci- 
mated in  detail,  the  remnant  of  John's 
discomfited  army  retired  to  the  cities, 
where  the  men,  following  the  example 
of  their  captains,  indulged  in  every  vice, 
and  left  the  surrounding  country  ex- 
posed to  the  incursions  of  the  Irish,  who 
destroyed  the  crops  of  the  colonists. 
The  money  collected  by  oppressive  exac- 
tions was  squandered  in  dissipation  by 
John,  while  the  troops  were  left  unpaid, 
and  the  whole  colony  was  reduced  by 
famine  and  losses  to  the  very  brink  of 
ruin. 

Things  had  been  going  on  thus  for 


several  months  before  king  Heni-y 
became  aware  of  the  real  state  of  affairs. 
He  then  hastily  recalled  his  hopeful 
son,  who,  on  his  return  to  England, 
threw  the  whole  blame  of  his  disasters 
upon  De  Lacy,  whom  he  represented  as 
leagued  with  the  L-ish,  and  as  setting 
himself  up  for  king.  It  is  indeed  as- 
serted that  De  Lacy  had  at  this  period 
assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Meath,  and 
that  he  received  tribute  as  such  from 
Connaught,  and  had  got  a  diadem  made 
for  himself;  but  so  far  from  his  being 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  native  Irish, 
the  territory  of  Meath  was,  at  this  very 
period,  invaded  by  an  Irish  army,  which 
was  defeated  by  William  Petit,  a  feuda- 
tory, or  liegeman  of  De  Lacy.  About 
this  time  Dermot  MacCarthy,  king  of 
Desmond,  was  killed  at  a  conference  in 
Cork,  by  Theobald  Fitz Walter,  the  chief 
butler.* 

Parties  of  the  older  English  adven- 
turers were  now  in  the  habit  of  hirins: 
themselves  as  auxiliaries  to  different 
Irish  princes.  Thus  some  English  aided 
Donnell  O'Brien  in  an  inroad  which  he 
made  this  year  into  West  Connaught, 
while  another  party  of  them  served  in 
the  army  of  Conor  Moinmoy,  when  he 
retaliated  by  plundering  Killaloe  and 
pillaging  Thomond.  "The  English," 
say  our  annalists,  on  this  latter  occasion, 
"  came  as  far  as  Roscommon  with  the 
son  of  Roderic,  who  gave  them  3,000 


cows  as  wages. 


*  MacCarthy  was  not,  as  Moore  says,  defeated  in  battld 
— See  Ware's  Annals. 


214 


REIGlSr  OF  HENRY  H. 


A.  D.  1186. — Hugli  de  Lacy  did  not 
live  to  vindicate  himself  from  the 
charges  laid  against  him  by  prince 
John.  This  remarkable  man,  whom  the 
Irish  annals  describe  as  the  "  profauer 
and  destroyer  of  many  churches,"  and 
the  "  lord  (or  king)  of  the  English  of 
Meath,  Breffny,  and  Oriel;  of  whose 
English  castles  all  Meath,  from  the 
Shannon  to  the  sea,  was  full,"  was  killed 
this  year  while  inspecting  the  works  of 
a  castle  which  he  had  just  completed  on 
the  site  of  St.  Columbkille's  great  mon- 
astery of  Durrow,  in  the  present  King's 
county.  He  was  accompanied  by  three 
Englishmen,  and  was  stooping  to  direct 
the  operations  of  the  workmen,  when  a 
young  man  named  O'Meyey,  or  Meey, 
belonging  to  an  ancient  family  of  that 
country,  finding  the  enemy  of  his  race 
in  his  power,  smote  him  with  a  battle- 
axe  which  he  had  carried  concealed,  and 
with  one  blow  severed  his  head  from 
his  body,  both  head  and  trunk  rolling 
into  the  castle  ditch.  Fleet  as  a  grey- 
hound, the  young  man  bounded  away, 
and  was  soon  safe  from  pursuit  in  the 
wood  of  Killcare;  nor  did  he  stop 
until  he  announced  his  success  to  the 
Sinnagh  (the  Fox)  O'Caharny,  whose 


*  Sir  Hagh  de  Lacy  left  two  sons  by  Ms  first  wife, 
Rosa  de  Munemene,  Walter,  lord  of  Meath,  and  Hugh, 
earl  of  Ulster ;  by  his  second  wife,  the  daughter  of  Rod- 
eric  O'Conor,  he  had  a  son  called  William  Gorm,  from 
whom  (according  to  Duald  MacFirbis)  the  celebrated 
rebel,  Pierce  Oge  Lacy  of  Brurec  and  Bruff,  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  was  the  eighteenth  in  descent,  and  from 
whom  also  the  Lynches  of  Galway  are  descended.  Wal- 
ter and  Hugh  left  no  male  issue,  but  Walter  had  two 
daughters,  who  were  married,  one  to  Lord  Theobald 
Verdon,  and  the  other  to  Geoffry  Genevillo  ;  and  Hugh 


territoiy  of  Teffia  at  one  time  included 
Durrow ;  and  at  whose  instigation,  the 
annalists  say,  this  perilous  exploit  was 
undertaken. 

Thus  perished  the  most  powerful  of 
the  English  invaders ;  and  Henry  H., 
who  feared  or  suspected  him,  did  not 
conceal  his  satisfaction  at  his  death. 
The  king's  first  step,  on  hearing  the 
news,  was  to  order  his  son,  John,  to 
return  to  Ireland  and  take  jiossession  of 
De  Lacy's  lands  and  castles  during  the 
minority  of  the  late  baron's  eldest  son, 
but  the  death  of  the  king's  third  son, 
Geoffry,  duke  of  Bretagne,  caused  this 
arransjement  to  be  abandoned.* 

Archbishop  Comyn  held  a  provincial 
synod  this  year  in  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  in  Dublin.f  This  year, 
also,  on  the  9th  of  June,  the  solemn 
translation  of  the  relics  of  SS.  Patrick, 
Colomba,  and  Brigid,  took  place  in  the 
cathedral  of  Down.  The  remains  of 
these  great  saints  of  the  primitive  church 
of  Ireland  Avere,  it  is  alleged,  discovered 
in  a  miraculous  manner  in  an  obscure 
part  of  that  church  the  preceding  year , 
and  the  permission  of  the  pope  having 
been  obtained  for  the  purpose,  they 
were  solemnly  transferred  to  one  suita- 


had  one  daughter,  Maude,  who  married  Walter  de  Bur. 
go  (grandson  of  FitzAdelm  de  Burgo),  who  became,  in 
her  right,  earl  of  Ulster.  See  Four  Masters,  vol.  iii.,  p. 
75,  note  ;  also,  O'Flaherty's  lar  Connnvght,  p.  30. 

f  The  synod  was  opened  on  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
Lent,  and  the  canons  which  were  adopted  at  it,  and  were 
soon  after  confirmed  by  Pope  Urban  HI.,  are,  says  Har- 
ris, extant  among  the  archives  of  Christ  Church.  See 
abstracts  of  these  canons  by  Harris,  in  Ware's  Bish- 
ops, p.  310;  and  by  Lanigan,  Eccl.  Hist.,  ch.  xxx., 
sect.  7. 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  II. 


215 


ble  monument,  cardinal  Vivian,  who 
was  sent  over  on  tlie  occasion,  being 
present  at  the  ceremony. 

A.  D.  1188. — Divided  and  weakened 
by  mutual  and  implacable  dissensions, 
the  northern  chieftains  were  yet  able  to 
check  the  foreigners  by  some  serious 
defeats.  On  one  of  these  occasions  a 
strong  foi'ce  of  the  invaders  issued  from 
their  castle  of  Moy  Cova  in  Down,  and 
were  plundering  the  territory  of  Ty- 
rone, when  they  were  met  at  a  place 
called  Cavan  na  Crann-ard,  or  the  hol- 
low of  the  lofty  trees,  by  Donnell 
O'Loughlin,  lord  of  Aileach,  and  de- 
feated with  great  slaughter,  although 
the  brave  Irish  chieftain  himself  fell  in 
the  conflict.  The  death  of  this  gallant 
chief  left  De  Courcy  at  liberty  to  turn 
his  arms  against  Connaught ;  Conor 
Moiumoy,  with  Melaghlin  Beg,  of  Meath, 
having  burnt  the  English  castle  of  Kil- 
lare  in  "West  Meath,  and  cut  off  its 
garrison  the  preceding  year.  The  Con- 
naught  chieftains  rallied  at  the  call  of 
their  prince,  who  also  obtained  the  aid 
of  Donnell  O'Brien,  and  Conor  Moiu- 
moy was  thus  able  to  present  such  an 
array  that  De  Courcy  avoided  a  col- 
lision with  him.  The  English  army 
then  marched  northward  with  the  in- 
tention of  penetrating  into  Tirconnell, 
and  had  advanced  as  far  as  Easdara,  or 
Ballysadere,  in  Sligo,  when  they  found 
the  Tirconnellian  chief,  Flaherty  O'Mul- 
dory,  prepared  with  a  sufficient  force  to 
receive  them.  De  Courcy  once  more 
made  a  disgraceful  retreat,  having  first 
burnt  the   town,  but  in   crossing  the 


Curlieu  mountains  he  was  attacked  by 
the  Connaught  men  and  the  Dalcassians, 
and  after  suffering  considerable  loss, 
escaped  to  Leinster  with  difficulty. 

A.  D.  1189. — The  troubled  and  event- 
ful career  of  Henry  II.  was  at  length 
brought  to  a  close.  That  profligate  and 
ambitious  monarch  died  in  France, 
broken-hearted  and  defeated,  cursius: 
his  rebellious  sons  with  his  dying  words. 
Some  think  that  it  was  unfortunate  for 
Ireland  that  the  pressure  of  other  cares 
had  prevented  Henry  from  devoting 
more  attention  to  the  government  of 
that  country ;  and  regret  that  he  was 
unable  to  follow  up  his  invasion  by  a 
complete  conquest.  "  The  world  would 
in  that  case,"  observes  Mr.  Moore, 
"  have  been  spared  the  anomalous  spec 
tacle  that  has  been  ever  since  presented 
by  the  two  nations:  the  one,  subjected, 
without  being  subdued ;  the  other,  rulers 
but  not  masters ;  the  one  doomed  to  all 
that  is  tumultuous  in  independence, 
without  its  freedom  ;  the  other  endued 
^vith  every  attribute  of  despotism  ex- 
cept its  power."* 

But  we  cannot  sympathize  in  any 
such  vain  regret.  Divided  as  the  Irish 
were,  Henry  might  have  done  much  to 
exterminate  or  crush  them  in  detail. 
But  that  he,  or  any  English-  king  of  his 
period,  would  have  governed  them  with 
justice  and  moderation,  or  that  the 
Irish  chieftains  woald  have  patiently 
submitted  to  the  wholesale  spoliation 
of  their  country,  are  hypotheses  which 

*  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  299. 


216 


REIGN   OF  RICHARD  I. 


we  cannot  make.  Had  the  native  Irisli 
race  been  extinct,  Ireland  would  not 
the  less  have  been  ruled  as  a  colony 
and  for  the  supposed  interests  of  Eng- 
land exclusively;  and  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  Anglo-Irish  will  show  us, 
that  the  hap2")iness  or  tranquillity  of 
this  country  would  not  have  been  a 
whit  more  secure. 

The  chivalrous  Richard  I.,  occupied, 
during  his  short  reign,  with  the  Cru- 
sades, left  Ireland  wholly  to  the  man- 
agement of  his  unprincipled  brother, 
John,  who  does  not  seem  to  have  given 
himself  much  trouble  about  its  affairs. 
John  appointed  as  lord  justice  Hugh 
de  Lacy,  son  of  the  former  lord  of 
Meath,  to  the  great  disgust  of  John  de 
Courcy,  who  felt  himself  slighted,  and 
retired  to  Ulster;  but  the  English  bar- 
ons were  allowed  to  prey  on  the  Irish 
as  best  they  could,  and  this  they  con- 
trived to  do  effectually  by  enlisting  in 
the  service  of  the  Irish  princes  indis- 
criminately, scarcely  any  battle  being 
fought  in  which  English  and  Irish  were 
not  in  the  armies  on  both  sides. 

Conor  Moinmoy,  as  a  just  punish- 
ment for  his  rebellion  against  his  father, 
fell  a  victim,  in  1189,  to  a  conspiracy  of 


*  Moore  and  some  other  Irisli  historians  ■would  make 
it  appear,  that  it  was  to  commemorate  a  victory  on  this 
occasion  that  Cathal  Crovdcrg  founded  the  celebrated 
abbey  of  Knoc  Moy,  or  Dc  CoUe  Victoria,  in  the  county 
of  Galway ;  and  Hanmer,  MRand,  and  others  after  the 
Book  of  Howth,  which  Leland  only  knew  as  "  Lambeth 
MSS.,"  repeat  a  romantic  story  about  Sir  Armoric  St. 
Laivrence,  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  same  abbey ; 
but  Dr.  O'Douavan  (Four  Masters,  an.  1318,  note  q),  ex- 
plodes the  popular  errors  on  this  subject,  and  shows  that 
the  name  was  Cnoc  Muaidhe,  or  the  bill  of  Muaidhe  (a 


his  own  chieftains.  He  was,  however, 
distinguished  by  courage  and  generosity, 
and  was  acknowledged  as  sovereign  by 
the  majority  of  the  Irish  princes,  who 
accepted  stipends  from  him,  even  the 
unhappy  Eoderic  submitting  patiently 
to  his  usurpation.  On  his  death  Con- 
naught  was  once  more  plunged  into 
domestic  strife.  Eoderic  was  recall- 
ed, and  received  homage  from  several 
chiefs;  but  his  brother,  Cathal  Crov- 
derg  (Croibhdhearg),  or  the  Redhanded, 
and  his  grandson,  Cathal  CaiTagh,  the 
son  of  Conor  Moinmoy,  were  rival 
claimants  for  the  sovereignty.  The 
attempt  to  settle  the  matter  by  nego- 
tiation proving  fruitless,  Cathal  Crov- 
derg  next  year  established  his  rights 
either  by  battle  or  by  the  show  of 
superior  force,  there  being  some  ob- 
scurity in  our  annals  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  event  was  brought  about.* 
As  to  Roderic,  he  went  from  province 
to  province  among  the  Irish  chieftains 
and  the  English  barons,  soliciting  help 
to  restore  him  to  the  throne  of  Con- 
naught,  but  his  applications  were  re- 
jected by  all;  and  he  was  at  length 
recalled  by  his  sept  and  received  the 
lands    of  Tir   Fiachrach   Aidhue   and 


jyoman's  name),  and  that  "  Collis  Victoria,"  by  which 
the  stories  in  question  were  suggested,  is  but  a  fanciful 
translation  of  the  name,  as  if  it  had  been  Cnoc  mbuaidh. 
It  may  be  well  to  correct  another  popular  error  with 
reference  to  this  abbey,  viz.,  the  idea  that  the  almost  ob- 
literated frescoes  still  traceable  on  the  walls  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, represent  the  execution  of  MacMurrough's  son  and 
other  points  of  Irish  history;  the  subjects  being  un- 
questionably those  favorite  ones  of  the  mediaeval  artists, 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Sebastian,"  the  "  Three  Kings,' 
&c. 


DEATH  OF  DONNELL  MORE  O'BRIEN^. 


217 


Kinelea  of  Auglity,  or  the  O'Sliauglines- 
sy's  country,  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  present  county  of  Galway. 

A.  D.  1192. — The  indomitable  kinsr  of 

o 

Thomond  again  appears  in  arms  against 
the  English,  who,  with  a  powerful  army 
collected  from  all  Leinster,  marched  as 
far  as  Killaloe.  Here  they  were  re- 
pulsed by  O'Brien  and  his  Dalcassians ; 
and  at  Thurles,  in  Eliogarty,  they  were 
completely  overthrown  by  the  same 
brave  men  of  Thomond.  In  the  coui'se 
of  this  expedition  the  English  erected 
the  castles  of  Kilfeakle  and  Knock- 
grafon,  in  Tipperary. 

Two  years  after,  the  English  were  de- 
livered by  the  death  of  Donnell  More 
O'Brien  from  the  most  formidable  anta- 
gonist whom  they  had  yet  met  in  Ire- 
land. Brave  and  liberal,  but  capricious, 
this  prince,  as  soon  as  the  real  intentions 
of  the  invaders  became  obvious,  was  the 
first  to  break  through  the  formal  sub- 
mission which  had  been  made  to  the 
English  king;  and  with  few  and  brief 
intervals  he  continued  ever  after  in 
arms  against  the  enemies  of  his  country. 
About  the  same  time  fell  two  other  fa- 
mous Ii-ish  chieftains :  Cumee  O'Flynn, 
who  had  defeated  De  Courcy  at  Firlee, 
was  slain  by  the  English  in  1194  ;  and 
O'CarroU,  prince  of  Oriel,  having  been 
taken  by  them  the  year  before,  was  first 
deprived  of  his  eyes  and  then  hanged. 

The  affairs  of  the  English  colony  were 
at  this  time  any  thing  but  prosperous. 
New  lords  justices  followed  each  other 
in  quick  succession.  Hugh  de  Lacy  was 
succeeded  by  "William  Petit,  in  1191, 

28 


and  he  again,  the  same  year,  by  William, 
earl  of  Pembroke,  and  earl  marshal  of 
England,  who  had  married  Isabel,  the 
daughter  of  Strongbow,  and  obtained 
all  the  Irish  possessions  of  that  noble- 
man. The  insolence  of  this  latter  gover- 
nor did  more  to  rouse  the  Irish  princes 
to  resistance  than  the  spoliation  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected  by 
others,  and  it  was  during  his  adminis- 
tration that  Donnell  O'Brien,  as  we 
have  seen,  so  severely  chastised  the 
invaders  in  Thomond.  Peter  Pipard 
succeeded  him  as  lord  deputy,  and 
was  followed  by  Hamon  de  Valois, 
who,  finding  the  treasury  empty,  seized 
without  scruple  the  church  property. 
Archbishop  Comyn  strenuously  remon- 
strated, but  seeing  that  the  pillage  of 
the  church  went  on,  and  that  he  could 
obtain  no  redress  from  the  Ii-ish  govern- 
ment, he  laid  the  diocese  under  an  inter- 
dict, and  proceeded  to  England  to  make 
complaints,  which  were  equally  un- 
heeded there. 

Meanwhile  the  fatal  dissensions  of  the 
Irish  princes  continued  to  do  the  work 
of  the  common  enemy  most  eftectually ; 
Murtough  O'Loughlin,  lord  of  Kinel- 
Owen,  was  slain,  in  1196,  by  Blosky 
O'Kane,  a  subordinate  chief ;  and  Eory 
MacDunlevy  having  thereupon  raised 
an  army,  composed  partly  of  English 
and  Connaught  auxiliaries,  marched 
against  the  Kinel-Owen,  but  was  de- 
feated with  dreadful  slaughter,  on  the 
plain  of  Ai-magh.  The  men  of  the  south, 
however,  at  this  moment  exhibited  a 
brUliaut  exception  to  this  state  of  parri- 


2X8 


REIGN   OF   RICHARD   I. 


cidal  warfare.  DonneH  M'Carthy,  son  of 
Dermot,  the  late  king  of  Desmond,  aided 
by  the  forces  of  Cathal  Crovderg,  and  of 
Donogh  Cairbrach  O'Brien,  defeated  the 
Euoflish  in  several  battles  in  the  course 
of  the  year  1196.  He  destroyed  their 
castles  of  Kilfeacle  and  Imokilly,  for 
some  time  held  possession  of  the  city  of 
Limerick,  and  it  is  asserted  that  he  re- 
duced the  English  of  Cork  to  submission. 

The  English  had  also  some  reverses 
in  the  north.  One  Rotsel,  or  Russel, 
whom  De  Courcy  had  left  in  command 
of  a  castle  at  Eas  Creeva,  or  the  Salmon 
Leap,  near  Coleraine,  was  defeated  on 
the  strand  of  Lough  Foyle  by  Flaherty 
O'Muldory,  who  was  now  recognized  as 
chief  of  both  Kinel-Conell  and  Kinel- 
Owen.  O'Muldory,  however,  died  very 
soon  after  (in  1197),  and  Eachmarcach 
O'Dohorty,  who  then  assumed  the  chief- 
tainship of  Kinel-Conell,  was  killed  in  a 
fortnight  after  this  event,  together  with 
200  of  his  people,  in  a  sanguinary  en- 
gagement with  De  Courcy,  at  the  hill 
of  Knoc  Nascain,  near  Lough  Swilly,  in 
Inishowen. 

A.  D.  1198. — This  year  died  the  de- 
posed and  unfortunate  monarch,  Roderic 
O'Conor.  If  individual  misfortune  could 
have  expiated  the  fatal  imbecility  of  his 
earlier  life,  he  suffered  enough  to  merit 

*  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  340.  It  is  only  fair  to 
Btate  that  a  different  estimate  of  Roderic's  character  is 
formed  by  some  ;  and  an  accomplished  writer  has  not 
hesitated  to  describe  his  efforts  against  the  Norman 
power  as  heroic  and  self-devoted,  and  liimself  as  "  a 
jreat  warrior  and  a  fervent  patriot."  "  Brave,  learned, 
just,  and  enlightened  beyond  his  age,"  ■NTritcs  his  ami- 
able apologist,  "  he  alone,  of  all  the  Irish  princes,  saw 
the  direful  tendency  of  the  Norman  inroad.     All  the 


our  forgiveness.  The  unnatural  rebel- 
lion of  his  children,  and  the  iiTetrievable 
downfall  of  his  country,  which  he  wit- 
nessed, and  which  a  few  years  before  he 
could  so  easily  have  prevented,  might 
well  have  broken  a  more  manly  heart 
than  his.  "  The  only  feeliug  his  name 
awakens,"  observes  Moore,  "  is  that  of 
pity  for  the  doomed  country  which  at 
such  a  crisis  in  its  fortunes,  when  honor, 
safety,  independence,  national  existence, 
were  all  at  stake,  was  cursed,  for  the 
crowning  of  its  evil  destiny,  with  a  ruler 
and  leader  so  utterly  unworthy  of  his 
high  calling."*  He  died  at  the  advanced 
age  of  82,  after  several  years  spent  in  pen- 
itential exercises  in  the  beautiful  abbey 
which  he  had  founded  himself  at  Cong, 
on  the  shores  of  Lough  Corrib,  and  his 
remains  were  conveyed  toClonmacnoise, 
where' they  were  interred  at  the  north 
side  of  the  altar  of  the  great  church. 

To  the  events  connected  with  our 
ecclesiastical  history,  which  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  course  of  this  chapter, 
may  be  added  the  building  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's cathedral,  in  Dublin,  by  arch- 
bishop Comyn,  in  1190 ;  the  translation 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  relics  of  St. 
Malachy  from  Clairvaux  to  Ireland  in 
119-4  ;f  the  building  of  the  cathedrals 
of  Limerick  and  Cashel,  and  the  founda- 


records  of  his  reign  prove  that  he  was  a  wise  and  power- 
ful monarch." — Dublin  University  Mag.  for  March,  1856. 
The  descendants  of  Eoderic,  in  the  male  line,  have  been 
long  extinct ;  but  it  is  said  that  the  Lynches  of  Galway 
descend  from  him  in  the  female  line,  as  also  the  Lacies 
of  Limerick. —  Vide  svpra,  page  233,  note. 

■j-  For  the  disposal  of  the  relics  of  St.  Malachy,  see  the 
Rev.  >Ir.  O'llanlon's  admirable  life  of  that  great  saint 
chap,  xviii. 


FOUNDATION   OF  MONASTERIES. 


219 


tion  of  several  religious  houses  by  Don- 
nell  More  O'Brien.  Several  of  the 
uoblesfc  reli£:ioug  foundations  of  Ireland 
date  from  this  period ;  and,  if  some  of 
them  were  the  oiFeriugs  made  by  rapine 
to  religion,  or  were  erected  by  such  men 
as  Dermot  MacMurrough,  the  fact  only 
illustrates  one  point  of  distinction  be- 
tween the  bad  men  of  that  age  who  may 
have  founded  monasteries,  and  those  of 
the  present  who  do  not ;  namely,  that 
the  former  were  not  able,  like  the  latter, 
wholly  to  throw  off  the  trammels  of 
faith,  to  which  they,  sooner  or  later, 
repentantly  returned,  or,  at  least,  offered 
a  tribute  of  recoornition.* 

Henceforth  we  shall  have  to  treat  of 

*  From  the  list  of  the  Cistercian  Abbeys  of  Ireland 
preserved  in  Trinity  College  library,  and  published  in 
an  appendix  to  Grace's  annals  (p.  1G9),  it  appears  that 
many  of  them  were  founded  before  the  English  invasion. 
They  appear  in  the  following  order  in  this  list,  but  the 
founders'  names,  and  some  of  the  dates,  are  added  from 
other  authorities : — St.  Mary's,  Dublin  (founded  by  the 
Danes  for  Benedictines  in  948,  and  reformed  to  Cistercian 
in  1139) ;  Mellifont,  in  Louth,  by  O'CarroU  of  Oriel,  in 
1142 ;  Bective,  Meath,  by  O'Melaghlin,  in  1148  ;  Baltin- 
glass,  Wicklow,  by  Dermot  MacMurrough,  in  1148  or 
1151 ;  Boyle,  Roscommon,  in  1148  ;  Monasternenagh,  or, 
de  Maggio,  Limerick,  by  O'Brien,  in  1148 ;  Athlone, 
Roscommon,  in  1152  ;  Newry,  Down,  by  MacLoughlin, 
king  of  Ireland,  in  1153 ;  Odoruey,  Kerry,  in  1154 ; 
Inislounagh,  Tipperary,  by  DonneU  O'Brien,  in  1159 ; 
Fermoy,  in  1170 ;  Maur,  in  Cork,  by  Dermot  MacCarthy, 
in  1172  ;  Inis  Samer,  Donegal,  by  Rory  O'Canannan,  in 
1179  ;  Jerpoint,  Kilkenny,  by  MacGillapatrick  of  Ossory, 
in  1180 ;  Middleton,  Cork,  by  the  Barrys,  in  1180  ;  Holy 
Cross,  Tipperary,  by  DonneU  O'Brien,  in  1181  ;  Dun- 
brody,  Wexford,  by  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice,  in  1182  ; 
Abbeyleix,  Queen's  Co.,  by  Cuchry  O'More,  in  1183 ; 
Inis  Courcy,  Down,  by  John  de  Courcy,  in  1188,  as 
restitution  for  the  Irisli  abbey  of  Carraig,  destroyed  by 
him ;  Monasterevan,  Kildare,  by  O'Dempsey  of  Offaly, 
in  1189 ;  Kuockmoy,  Galway,  by  Cathal  Crovderg 
O'Conor,  in  1190 ;  Grey  Abbey,  Down,  by  Affrica,  wife 
of  John  de  Courcy,  in  1193 ;  Cumber,  Down,  in  1198  ; 
Tintern,  Wexford,  by  William  Marshall,  in  1200  ;  Cor- 
comroe,  Oare,  by  Donat  O'Brien,  in  1194;   Kilcooly, 


two  races  as  constituting  the  population 
of  Ireland,  namely,  the  Anglo-Irish  and 
the  "  mei'e  Irish."  The  latter  were,  with 
certain  exceptions,  excluded  from  the 
privileges  and  protection  of  the  English 
law,  and  were  legally  known,  even 
during  peace,  as  the  "  Irish  enemy." 
Dissensions  were  constantly  fomented 
among  them  by  the  powerful  English 
barons,  who  thus  made  them  an  easy 
prey,  and  stripped  them  gradually  of 
their  territories ;  while  the  Anglo-Irish, 
especially  when  residing  beyond  the 
English  Pale,  often  shared  the  fate  of 
the  original  Irish,  with  whom  they  be- 
came, in  course  of  time,  identified  in 
language,  manners,  and  interests. 

Tipperary,  by  Donat  O'Brien,  in  1200 ;  Kilbeggan, 
West  Meath,  by  the  Daltons,  about  1200;  Douske, 
Kilkenny,  by  William  Marshall,  about  1200  ;  Abingdon, 
or  Wothenay,  Limerick,  by  Theobald  Fitz Walter,  in 
1205 ;  Abbeylorha,  Longford,  about  1205 ;  Tracton, 
Cork,  by  the  MacCarthys,  about  1205,  or  1224  ;  Moycos- 
quin,  Derry,  about  1205  ;  Loughseudy,  West  Meath, 
about  1205  ;  and  Cashel,  Tipperary,  by  Archbishop  Mac- 
Carwell,  in  1272.  All  these  Cistercian  abbeys  were 
dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  except  that  of  Holy 
Cross,  and  the  abbey  of  Athlone,  dedicated  to  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Benedict.  There  were,  also,  minor  houses,  cells 
to  some  of  the  preceding.  Archdeacon  Lynch  enumerates 
about  40  monasteries  erected  by  Irishmen  about  the 
period  of  the  invasion,  several  of  them  being  included 
in  the  preceding  list.  One  was  the  Dominican  house  of 
Derry,  founded  by  Donuell  Oge  O'DonneU,  prince  of 
TirconneU,  at  the  request  of  St.  Dominic  himself,  who 
sent  him  two  brothers  of  the  order.  Vide  Cambrensii 
Ecersus,  ii.,  535,  &c. ;  O'Sullivan's  Deais  Patriciana, 
lib.  9,  c.  2 ;  and  Lanigan,  vol.  iv.  The  last-named 
writer  enumerates  the  following  primitive  monastic 
institutions  as  existing  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury : — viz.,  Armagh,  Derry,  Bangor,  Maghbile,  or 
MoviUe,  Devenish,  Clogher,  Clones,  Louth,  Cloufert, 
Inchmacnerin,  Aran  Isles,  Cong,  Mayo,  Clonard,  Kells, 
Lusk,  Kildare,  Trim,  Clonmacnoise,  Killeigh,  Glenda- 
longh,  Saiger,  Isle  of  All  Saints  on  Lough  Ree,  Roscom- 
mon, BaUygadare,  Drumcliff,  Aghaboe,  Lorra,  Lismore, 
Molana,  Cork,  Iniscathy,  Inisfallen,  &c.,  &c. 


220 


REIGN   OF  JOHN. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

KEIGN   OF   JOIIK. 

Renewed  Wars  of  Catlial  Carragli  and  Cathal  Crovderg. — Tergiversation  of  William  de  Bnrgo,  and  Deatli  of 
Cathal  Carragli  at  Boyle  Abbey. — Massacre  of  the  Englisli  Archers  in  Connauglit. — Wars  in  Ulster. — Fate  of 
John  de  Courcy. — Legends  of  the  Book  of  Howth. — Death  and  Character  of  William  de  Burgo. — Tumults 
and  Rebellions  of  the  English  Barons. — Second  Visit  of  King  John  to  Ireland. — Alarm  of  the  Barons. — 
Submission  of  Irish  Princes. — Independence  of  Hugh  O'Neill. — Division  of  the  English  Pale  into  Counties. — 
Money  Coined. — Departure  of  John. — The  Bishop  of  Norwich  Lord  Justice. — Exploits  of  Cormac  O'Melaghlin 
and  Hugh  O'Neill. — War  in  the  South. — Catastrophe  at  Athlone. — Adventures  of  Murray  O'Daly,  the  Poet  ol 
Lissadill. — Ecclesiastical  Occurrences. 


Contemporary  Soverelgm  and  EoenU. — Pope  Innocent  III. — King  of  France,  Philip  Augustus. — Emperor  of  Germany, 
Frederick  II.— King  John  resigned  his  dominions  to  the  Pope,  and  did  homage  for  tliem,  1213. — Magna  Charta  signed  at 
Rimnjmead,  1215.] 


(A.  D.  1199  TO  A.  D.  1216.) 


ONE  of  the  first  acts  of  John,  on 
ascending  the  throne  of  England, 
in  1199,  Tvas  to  appoint  Meyler  Fitz- 
Heniy  chief  governor  of  Ireland.  At 
that  time  a*  fierce  war  was  raging  in 
Connaught  between  the  rival  factions  of 
the  O'Conor  family.  Cathal  Carragh, 
son  of  Conor  Moinmoy,  engaged  the 
services  of  William  Bm-ke,  or  De  Burgo, 
better  known  to  the  reader  as  William 
FitzAdelm,  and  of  the  English  of  Lim- 
erick, and  by  their  aid  he  expelled 
Cathal  Crovderg,  and  re-established 
himself  on  the  throne  of  Connaught. 

*  The  collateral  Hy-Niall  branch  of  MacLoughlin 
(sometimes  also  called  O'Loughlin),  which  had  taken  its 
name  from  Lochlainn,  the  fourth  in  descent  from  Niall 
Glundubh,  and  had  given  two  distinguished  monarchs 
to  Ireland,  disappears  in  the  books  of  genealogy  with 


The  expelled  prince  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathy of  Hugh  O'Neill,  who  had  recent- 
ly appeared  as  chief  of  Tyrone,  and  had 
distinguished  himself  both  in  1198  and 
1199,  by  successes  against  De  Courcy 
and  the  English  of  Ulster.*  Cathal  Crov- 
derg and  Hugh  entered  Connaught  with 
an  army,  but  finding  their  force  inade- 
quate, commenced  a  retreat,  when  they 
were  overtaken  at  Ballysadare  in  Sligo 
by  Cathal  Carragh  and  his  English  auxil- 
iaries, and  routed  with  great  loss ;  O'Heg- 
ny,  then  chief  of  Oriel,  being  among  the 
slain  in  the  northern  ai'mj^ 

Muircheartach,  or  Murtough  MacLoughlin,  monarch  of 
Ireland,  who  was  slain  11G6.  With  the  Hugh  mentioned 
above,  called  Aedh  Toinleasc,  the  O'NeUls  resume  their 
sway  na  chiefs  of  Tyrone. 


TERGIVERSATION  OF  DE  BURGO. 


221 


Cathal  Ci'ovderg  next  succeeded  in 
securing  the  aid  of  John  de  Courcy  and 
of  young  De  Lacy,  and  marched  with  a 
strong  English  force  as  far  as  Kilmac- 
duagh,  where  Cathal  Carragh  and  the 
Connacians  gave  them  battle.  Cathal 
of  the  Red  Hand  was  once  more  un- 
fortunate, and  his  army  was  defeated 
with  such  slaughter  that  only  two  out 
of  five  battalions,  of  which  it  consisted, 
escajjed,  and  these  were  pursued  as  far 
as  the  peninsula  of  Rinn-duin,  or  Rin- 
down*  on  the  shore  of  Lough  Ree, 
where  they  were  hemmed  in  and  many 
of  them  killed,  others  being  drowned  in 
endeavoring  to  cross  the  lake  in  boats. 

Meyler,  the  lord  justice,  now  marched 
against  Cathal  Carragh,  and  plundered 
Clonmacnoise ;  and  Cathal  Crovderg, 
undaunted  by  his  former  losses,  resolved 
to  try  the  expedient  of  detaching  De 
Burgo  from  the  side  of  his  enemy,  and 
of  purchasing  his  services  for  himself. 
The  result  proved  that  he  calculated 
rightly  on  the  mercenary  character  of 
the  Anglo-Norman.  The  English  barons 
recognized  no  principle  in  these  wars 
but  their  own  interest,  and  were  only 
too  glad  to  help  the  Irish  in  extermi- 
nating each  other,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  could  aggrandize  and  enrich 
themselves.  Crovderg  proceeded  to 
Munster,  where,  by  large  promises,  he 
purchased  the  aid  of  De  Burgo,  and 
obtained  also  that  of  MacCarthy  of 
Desmond.  Some  of  our  annals  state 
that  a  war  raged  about  this  very  time 


*  This  point  is  now  called  St.  John's,  and  contains  the 
magnificent  ruins  of  a  castle  built  in  1237,  by  QeofOy 


between  the  O'Briens  and  the  Desmond 
families,  and  that  William  de  Burgo 
with  all  the  English  of  Munster  joined 
the  former ;  but  the  contest  to  which 
this  account  refers  did  not  interfere 
with  that  between  the  O'Conoi-s,  and 
most  probably  followed  it. 

A.  D.  1201. — Cathal  Crovderg,  with 
William  de  Burgo,  the  sons  of  Donnell 
O'Brien  and  Fineen  or  Florence  Mac- 
Carthy, and  their  respective  forces, 
marched  from  Limerick  to  Roscommon, 
where  the  army  took  up  its  quarters  in 
the  abbey  of  Boyle.  Every  part  of  the 
sacred  precincts  was  desecrated  by  the 
soldiery,  and  nothing  was  left  of  the 
abbey  but  the  walls  and  roof,  even 
these  being  partially  destroyed.  De 
Burgo  had  begun  to  surround  the  mon- 
astery with  an  entrenchment,  when 
Cathal  Carragh  arrived,  and  several 
skirmishes  took  place  between  the  two 
armies,  in  one  of  which  Cathal  Carragh 
himself,  having  got  mixed  up  with  some 
retreating  soldiers,  was  slain  in  the 
melee.  This  event  decided  the  struggle ; 
Crovderg's  Munster  auxiliaries  were  dis- 
missed to  their  homes,  and  Cathal  and 
De  Burgo  repaired  to  the  abbey  of 
Cong,  where  they  passed  the  Easter, 
having  first  billeted  the  English  archers 
through  Connaught  for  the  purpose,  as 
some  accounts  express  it,  of  "distraining 
for  their  wages."  The  Four  Masters 
say  that  De  Burgo  and  O'Flaherty  of 
West  Connaught  entered  iuto  a  con- 
spiracy against  Cathal  the  Red  Handed, 


Mares,  or  De  Marisco. — See  Dr.  Petrie's  account  of  it  in 
the  Irish  Penny  Journal,  pp.  73,  &c 


222 


REIGN  OF  JOHN. 


•ffhicli  the  latter  timely  discovered ;  and 
that  De  Burgo  having  then  demanded 
the  wages  of  his  men,  the  Connacians 
rose  upon  them  and  killed  700  of  them. 
The  Annals  of  Kilronan,  however,  ex- 
plain the  event  differently,  for  they  say 
that  a  rumor  got  abroad  in  some  mys- 
terious manner  to  the  effect  that  De 
Burgo  was  killed,  and  that  by  a  simul- 
taneous impulse  the  whole  population 
rose  and  slew  all  the  English  soldiers 
who  were  dispersed  among  them.  De 
Burgo  then  demanded  an  interview  with 
Cathal,  but  the  latter  avoided  seeing 
him ;  and  the  Anglo-Norman,  whose 
rapacity  was  foiled  for  once  in  so  fearful 
a  manner,  set  off  for  Muuster  with  such 
of  his  men  as  had  escaped  the  massacre. 
Three  years  after  he  took  ample  ven- 
geance by  the  plunder  of  the  whole  of 
Connaught,  "  both  lay  and  ecclesi- 
astical." 

Ulster  during  this  time  was  a  scene 
of  constant  warfare  between  the  Kinel- 
Connell  and  the  Kinel-Owen,  and  of 
domestic  strife  among  the  latter.  Hugh 
O'Neill  was  deposed  and  Conor  O'Lough- 
lin  substituted ;  but  the  former  appears 
to  have  been  restored  in  a  few  yeare, 
after  some  sanguinary  conflicts. 

A.  D.  1204. — This  year  exhibited,  in 
the  downfall  of  John  De  Courcy,  one  of 
the  many  instances  of  retribution  with 
which  the  history  of  tlie  first  English 
settlers  in  Ireland  is  filled.  It  is  said 
that  De  Courcy  incurred  the  anger  of 
John,  by  openly  speaking  of  him  as  a 
usurper,  and  as  the  murderer  of  the 
young  prince  Arthur,  the  rightful  heir 


to  the  crown  of  England;  but  at  all 
events  the  "  Conqueror  of  Ulidia"  was 
proclaimed  a  rebel,  and  his  old  enemies, 
the  De  Lacys,  were  ordered  to  deprive 
him  of  his  lands,  and  seize  his  person. 
The  English  army  of  Meath,  therefore, 
marched  against  him,  and  he  was  driven 
to  seek  protection  from  the  Irish  of 
Tyrone.  It  would  appear  that  he  was 
ultimately  captured  at  Downpatrick, 
after  a  long  siege,  and  sent  to  Loudon, 
where  he  was  confined  iu  the  tower  for 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  Book  of 
Howth  relates  how  he  was  treacherously 
taken  on  Good  Friday,  when  unarmed 
and  engaged  in  his  devotions  in  the 
church-yard  of  Downpatrick ;  how  he 
seized  a  wooden  cross  and  slew  thirteen 
of  his  assailants  on  that  occasion ;  how 
De  Lacy  jjuuished,  instead  of  rewarding, 
these  persons  who  had  betra3"ed  their 
master  by  indicating  when  he  might  be 
found  without  arms;  how  De  Courcy 
was  afterwards  liberated  from  the  tower 
to  fight  a  French  chamjaion,  who  fled 
from  the  lists  on  beholding  him ;  how 
he  then  showed  his  strength  by  cleaving 
a  helmet  and  coat  of  mail  with  his  sword ; 
how  John  thereupon  pardoned  him,  and 
granted  him  the  privilege  which  he 
asked  for  himself  and  his  successors,  to 
remain  with  his  head  covered  in  the 
i-oyal  presence ;  and  how,  by  some  mys- 
terious agency,  he  was  prevented  from 
returning  to  Ireland ;  but  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  all  this  is  mere  fiction,  al- 
though it  has  been  mixed  up  with  real 
history  by  Hanmer,  and  subsequent 
Irish  historians,  on  no  better  authority 


DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OP  DE  BURGO. 


223 


than  that  repertory  of  Anglo-Irish  le- 
gends the  Book  of  Howth.  As  to  Hugh 
De  Lacy,  who  was  then  lord  justice,  he 
was  rewarded  by  John  with  the  pos- 
sessions of  De  Courcy  and  the  title  of 
earl  of  Ulster  * 

The  same  year  our  annals  record  the 
death  of  the  famous  William  FitzAdelm 
de  Burgo,  the  ancestor  of  the  Burke 
family  in  Ireland.  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
describes  him  as  a  man  addicted  to  many 
vices ;  bland,  and  crafty ;  sweet-tongued 
to  an  enemy,  and  oppressive  to  those 
under  him :  as  a  man  full  of  wiles,  and 
concealing  enmity  under  a  smooth  ex- 
terior. The  Four  Masters  state  that  he 
died  unshriven,  and  of  some  disgusting 
disease,  in  punishment  of  his  sacrilegious 
plundering  of  churches ;  but  other  old 
wi'iters,  as  Duald  MacFirbis,  and  the 
translator  of  the  Annals  of  Clonmac- 
noise,  endeavor  to  vindicate  his  char- 
acter.f 

About  this  period  the  utmost  disor- 
ganization prevailed  among  the  English 
barons  in  Ireland,  their  mutual  feuds 


*  Nothing  authentic  is  known  of  the  fate  of  Sir  John 
De  Courcy,  save  that  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  De  Lacy, 
who  took  him  by  the  king's  orders,  and  that  he  was 
confined  in  the  tower  of  London.  His  wife,  Affrica, 
daughter  of  Qodfred,  king  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  died  A.  D. 
1193,  and  he  left  no  male  issue ;  the  MacPatricks  or  De 
Courcys  of  Cork,  who  claim  descent  from  him,  being 
possibly  the  descendants  of  his  brother  who  was  kiUed 
during  Sir  John's  lifetime.  The  privilege  claimed  by 
the  barons  of  Kinsale,  as  De  Courcys,  to  wear  their  hats 
in  the  presence  of  royalty  is  only  supported  by  modem 
practice  suggested  by  the  above-mentioned  legend. — 
See  the  subject  amply  discussed  by  Dr.  O'Donovan, 
Four  Masters,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  139-144,  note  n. 

t  Giraldus,  who  was  prejudiced  against  FitzAdelm, 
Bays  he  was : — "  Vir  corpulentus,  tarn  staturse  qnam 
facturae — vir  dapsilis  et  curialis ImbeUium 


being  as  capricious  and  sanguinary  as 
any  which  we  have  had  to  lament 
among  the  native  Irish.  In  1201, 
Philip  of  Wigornia,  or  Worcester,  and 
William  de  Braose,  laid  waste  a  great 
part  of  Munster  in  their  broils.  King 
John  sold  to  the  latter  for  four  thou- 
sand marks  the  lands  of  the  former  and 
of  Theobald  Walter;  but  Walter  re- 
deemed his  own  for  five  hundred  marks, 
and  Philip  re-entered  upon  his  by  force 
of  arms.  A  few  years  later,  the  tables 
are  turned,  and  De  Braose  appears  as  a 
defeated  rebel,  fljnng  from  the  country, 
and  his  family  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  tyrant  John,  who  barbarously  caused 
his  wife  and  his  son  to  be  starved  to 
death  in  Corfe  castle.  J  Geoffrey  Mares, 
orDeMarisco,also  rebelled,  and  Munster 
was  once  more  laid  waste  by  contending 
English  armies.  Confusion  was  worse 
confounded  by  the  rebellion  of  the  De 
Lacys,  between  whom  and  Meyler  a 
bloody  civil  war  was  waged,  until 
"  Leinster  and  Munster,"  as  our  annals 
say,   "  were  brought  to  utter  destruc- 


debeUator,  rebellium  blanditor ;  indomitis  domitus, 
domitis  indomitus  ;  hosti  suavissimus,  subdito  graviiisi- 
mus :  nee  iUi  formidabUis,  nee  isti  fidelis.  Vir  dolosus, 
blandus,  meticulosus,  vir  vino  Venerique  datus,  &c." — 
Hib.  Esp.,  ii.,  cap.  svi.  The  Annals  of  KUronan  mention, 
under  the  date  of  1303,  the  erection  of  a  castle  at  Meelick, 
on  the  Shannon,  in  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  present 
county  of  Galway,  by  William  Burke,  who  had  been 
previously  seated  at  Limerick,  and  the  English  of 
Munster,  and  that  in  constructing  the  castle  they  filled 
up  a  church  with  stones  and  earth.  This  would  appear 
to  have  been  De  Burgo's  only  occupation  of  territory  in 
Connaught,  although  he  is  called  the  conqueror  of  that 
province. 

X  On  returning  from  Ireland,  in  August,  1310,  John 
took  ■n'ith  him  the  captives,  Maude,  wife  of  William  de 
Breusa,  or  Braose,  and  her  son,  the  father  having  some 


224 


REIGN  OF  JOHN. 


tion."  Catlial  Crovderg  and  O'Brien 
of  Tlioraond  aided  the  lord  justice, 
Meyler,  in  besieging  Limerick  and  re- 
ducing De  Burgo  to  subjection.  Some 
of  the  English  fortified  themselves  in 
their  castles,  and  plundered  the  country 
indiscriminately  like  highwaymen,  as  we 
find  one  Gilbert  IN^ansfle  to  have  done 
until  he  was  obliged  to  fly  from  Ireland. 
A.  D.  1209. — Dublin  having  been  des- 
olated by  pestilence,  was  partly  re- 
peopled  from  Bristol,  to  which  city  the 
Irish  metropolis  had  been  capriciously 
granted  by  Henry  II.  The  new  colo- 
nists not  understanding,  as  it  would 
seem,  the  actual  state  of  society  in  Ire- 
land, were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  on 
holidays  for  amusement  to  Cullen's 
Wood,  in  the  southern  suburbs.  A 
great  number  were  thus  assembled  on 
Easter  Monday,  this  year,  when  a  party 
of  the  Irish  septs  of  O'Byrne  and 
O'Toole,  who  had  been  deprived  of 
their  patrimonies,  and  forced  into  the 
the  mountains  of  Wicklow  by  the  Eng- 
lish, poured  down  ujjon  them,  and  cut 
to  pieces  some  three  hundred  men. 
The  citizens  of  Bristol  repaired  the  loss 
by  a  fresh  supply  of  colonists,  but  for 
hundreds  of  years  after,  Black  Monday, 
as  it  was  called,  was  commemorated  as 

time  before  having  escaped  to  France.  They  -were  com- 
mitted to  Corfe  Castle,  in  the  Isleof  Purbeck,  where,  by 
the  king's  orders,  they  were  confined  in  a  room,  with  a 
sheaf  of  wheat  and  a  piece  of  raw  bacon  for  their  only 
provisions.  On  the  eleventh  day  their  prison  was  opened 
and  both  were  found  dead,  in  a  sitting  posture,  the 
mother  between  her  son's  legs,  with  her  head  leaning 
on  his  breast.  In  the  last  pangs  of  hunger  she  had 
gnawed  her  son's  cheeks,  probably  after  his  death. 
When  "William  de  Braose  heard  the  tragical  end  of  his 


a  festival  by  the  citizens,  who  paraded 
in  arms  on  the  field  of  slaughter,  and 
made  a  show  of  challenging  the  Irish 
enemy  to  the  fight. 

A.  D.  1210. — While  matters  were  go- 
ing on  thus  in  Ireland — England,  all 
this  while  lying  under  the  spiritual 
horrors  of  an  interdict,  or  deprivation 
of  the  sacraments,  and  the  king  himself 
uuder  a  sentence  of  excommunication  in 
punishment  of  his  sacrileges  and  his 
contumacy  against  the  church — John 
resolved  to  visit  his  Irish  dominions  for 
the  purpose  of  restoring  order  there. 
Some  of  the  oppressive  exactions,  under 
which  the  unhappy  Jews  groaned  in 
this  tyrant's  reign,  were  levied  for  the 
expenses  of  this  expedition.  He  landed 
at  Crook,  near  Waterford,  on  the  20th 
June,  this  year,  with  a  numerous  and 
well-equipped  army,  which  was  con 
veyed  in  700  ships.  The  presence  of 
the  king,  with  so  powerful  a  force, 
struck  awe  into  his  rebellious  sub- 
jects, and  produced  an  immediate  calm 
throughout  the  land.  The  De  Lacys 
fled  to  France  at  his  approach.*  Others, 
like  De  Braose,  followed  their  examj^le. 
As  to  the  Irish,  they  were,  in  fact,  not  at 
war  with  the  English  government  at 
that  moment,  and  as  many  as  twenty 


wife  and  son,  he  died  in  a  few  days.  Such  is  the  ac- 
count given  by  a  contemporary  Flemish  writer,  who 
appears  to  have  been  in  the  service  of  John. — See 
Wright,  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  1.,  p.  120. 

*  One  of  the  crimes  with  which  the  De  Lacys  were 
charged  was  the  murder  of  Sir  John  De  Courcy,  lord  ol 
Eahcny  and  Kilbarrack,  near  Dublin,  a  relative  of  the 
famous  earl  of  Ulster,  says  Ware  (Annals,  an.  1213). 
See  O'Donovan's  note  on  the  De  Courcys,  quoted 
above. 


DIVISION  OF  COUISTTIES. 


225 


Irish  cliieftains  are  said  to  have  done 
homage  to  him  during  his  stay  in  this 
country.  He  proceeded  to  Dublin,  and 
thence  to  Meath,  where  Cathal  Crov- 
dersf  made  his  submission  to  him.*  In 
compliance  with  the  king's  summons, 
Hugh  O'Neill  also  repaired  to  the  royal 
presence ;  but  departed  without  agree- 
ing to  any  terms  of  submission.  He 
appears  to  have  encamped  with  a 
numerous  force  near  the  English  camp, 
and  on  leaving  carried  off  considerable 
spoils  from  the  neighboring  country. 
John  took  Carrickfergus  Castle,  after  a 
short  siege,  from  De  Lacy's  people,  and 
placed  a  garrison  of  his  own  there ;  and 
the  king  of  Connaught,  who  had  accom- 
panied him  with  a  great  retinue,  then 
returned  home.  Shortly  after,  John 
was  at  Kathguaire,  now  Eathwire,  near 
Kinnegad,  in  West  Meath,  and  Cathal 
Crovderg  again  came,  bringing  four 
hostages,  but  not  his  son,  whom  it 
appears  he  had  promised  to  bring,  and 
whom  John  was  to  have  taken  under 
his  special  charge. 

There  being  no  military  operations 
to  occupy  the  king,  he  set  about  intro- 
ducing English  laws  and  customs  into 
Ireland.  He  divided  Leinster  and 
Munster  into  twelve  shires  or  counties, 
namely,  Dublin,  Kildare,  Meath,  Uriel 
(Louth),   Catherlough    (Carlow),   Kil- 


*  Cathal  Crovderg,  appears  to  have  entered  into  terms 
with  Meyler  FitzHenry  a  few  years  before  this,  and  to 
have  consented  to  yield  two  parts  of  Connaught  to  the 
English  king,  retaining  the  third  part  as  his  feudatory, 
and  paying  for  it  an  annual  sum  of  one  hundred  marks. 
The  Close  rolls  contain  an  entry  of  the  letter,  in  which 
John  expresses  his  satisfaction  to  Meyler  at  thisarrange- 
20 


kenny,  Wexford,  Waterford,  Cork,  Lim- 
erick, Kerry,  and  Tipperary ;  but,  as  Sir 
John  Davies  observes,  "these  counties 
stretched  no  further  than  the  lands  of 
the  English  colonists  extended.  In 
them  only  were  the  English  laws  pub- 
lished and  put  into  execution ;  and  in 
them  only  did  the  itinerant  judges  make 
their  circuits,  and  not  in  the  countries 
possessed  by  the  Irish,  which  contained 
two-thirds  of  the  kingdom  at  least."  f 
John  also  caused  sterling  money  to  be 
coined  in  Ireland  of  the  same  standard 
as  that  of  England,  and  took  his  de- 
parture from  this  country  in  the  last 
week  of  August,  leaving  as  lord  justice, 
John  de  Gray,  bishop  of  Norwich,  the 
man  whom  he  wished  to  make  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  in  spite  of  the 
pope,  and  who  was  thus  the  cause  of  his 
quarrel  with  the  Holy  See. 

The  remaining  events  of  our  history 
during  John's  reign  are  not  of  much 
importance,  and  have  no  relation  to  the 
memorable  transactions  of  which  Eng- 
land was  at  that  period  the  scene — the 
final  submission  of  John  to  the  pope, 
his  war  with  the  barons,  the  granting 
of  the  magna  charta,  &c.  Cormac,  head 
of  the  ancient  Meath  family  of  O'Me- 
laghHn,  wrested  Delvin,  in  West  Meath, 
from  the  English,  and  carried  on  a  long 
war  with  them  and  their  auxiliaries ;  and 


ment.  On  John's  arrival  at  Waterford,  in  1310,  Don- 
ough  Cairhreagh  O'Brien,  son  of  Donnell  More,  made  his 
submission,  and  received  a  charter  for  CarrigogonneU 
and  the  lordship  thereto  belonging,  for  which  ho  was  to 
pay  sixty  marks. 

f  Davis'  Hist.  Tracts,  p.  93. 


226 


REIGN   OF   JOHN. 


Hugli  O'Neill  of  Tyrone,  and  Donnell 
O'Donnell  of  Tyrconnell,  having  settled 
their  old  differences,  co-operated  in  beat- 
ing the  English  on  two  or  three  occa- 
sions. The  castle  erected  by  the  Eng- 
lish at  Caol  Uisge,  on  the  Erne,  was 
captured  by  them,  and  its  commandant, 
MacCostello,  slain;  and  Hugh  O'Neill 
burned  the  castle  of  Carlingford  and 
slaughtered  its  garrison. 

A.  D.  1215. — In  the  south,  we  are 
told  by  the  Annals  of  Innisfallen,  that 
a  Avar  in  which  the  English  took  part, 
as  usual,  on  both  sides,  and  which  was 
probably  fomented  by  them,  raged  be- 
tween the  two  brothers,  Dermot  and 
Cormac  Finn  MacCarthy,  princes  of 
Desmond  ;  and  that  the  result  was  the 
acquisition  by  the  English  of  an  enor- 
mous increase  of  territory  in  that  quarter, 
where  they  fortified  themselves  by  the 
erection  of  about  twenty  strong  castles 
in  Cork  and  Kerry. 

The  "  English  bishop,"  as  De  Gray  is 
called,  built  a  bridge  of  stone  over  the 
Shannon  at  Athlone  in  1210  (1211), 
and  erected  a  castle  there  on  the  site  of 
one  which  had  been  built  by  Turlough 
More  O'Conor  in  1129  ;  but  one  of  the 
towers,  when  just  finished,  fell  and 
crushed  beneath  its  ruins  Kichard  Tuite, 
the  most  powerful  of  the  English  barons 
since  the  departure  of  the  De  Lacys, 
together  with  his  chaplain  and  seven 
other  Englishmen.  The  outworks  of 
the  castle  extended  into  the  sanctuaries 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Kiernan,  and  the 
Irish  attributed  the  catastrophe  to  this 
desecration. 


The  Four  Masters,  under  the  date  of 
1213,  relate  a  story  which  curiously 
illustrates  the  manners  of  the  period. 
Donnell  More  O'Donnell,  lord  of  Tir- 
connell,  sent  a  steward  named  Finn 
O'Brallaghan  into  Connaught  to  collect 
a  tribute  which  he  claimed  in  the  north- 
ern portion  of  that  province.  One  of 
the  first  places  which  the  steward  vis- 
ited was  the  house  of  the  poet,  Murray 
O'Daly,  at  Lissadill,  in  Sligo ;  and  being 
a  coarse,  ignorant  fellow,  he  began  to 
wrangle  with  the  poet,  who,  enraged  at 
his  conduct,  seized  a  battle-axe  and 
killed  him  on  the  spot.  To  escape  the 
anger  of  O'Donnell,  the  poet  fled  to 
Clanrickard  in  the  present  county  of 
Galway,  whither  he  was  pursued  by  the 
angry  prince  of  Kinel-Connell,  so  that 
Mac  William  (that  is,  Richard  Burke, 
son  of  the  late  "William  de  Burgo)  was 
obliged  to  send  him  to  seek  refuge  else- 
where. Thus  was  the  unfortunate 
O'Daly  compelled  to  fly  to  Limerick, 
and  thence  to  Dublin,  and  finally  to 
Scotland ;  O'Donnell  pursuing  him  with 
an  army,  besieging  towns,  and  plunder- 
ing the  country  to  compel  the  inhab- 
itants to  surrender  the  fugitive.  In  his 
last  asylum  O'Daly  found  time  to  com- 
pose three  poems  in  praise  of  O'Donnell, 
which  soothed  the  anger  of  the  latter, 
and  procured  the  poet's  pardon.  In  one 
of  these  poems  he  complains  that  the 
cause  of  the  hostility  against  him  was 
very  small  indeed,  namely,  the  killing 
of  a  clown  who  had  insulted  him  ! 

Cadhla,  or  Catholicus  O'Dufiy,  the 
venerable  archbishop  of  Tuam,  a  con- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  AFFAIRS. 


221 


temporary  of  St.  Malachy  and  St.  Lau- 
rence O'Toole,  died  at  an  advanced  age 
in  tlie  abbey  of  Cong,  in  1201 ;  and  the 
same  year  John  de  Monte  Celio,  the 
pope's  legate,  came  to  Ireland,  and  held 
synods  at  Dublin  and  Athlone.  John 
Comyn,  the  fii-st  English  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  died  in  1213,  and  was  interred 
in  Christ  Church ;  and  his  successor 
was  Heniy  de  Londres,  a  great  friend 
and  adherent  of  king  John's,  through 
all  his  troubles,  and  who,  with  William 
Marshall,  earl  of  Pembroke,  was  among 


*  Besides  several  of  tlie  religious  houses  enumerated 
in  the  note  at  the  end  of  the  last  chapter,  the  following 
were  also  founded  in  Ireland,  about  the  period  treated 
of  in  the  present  chapter ;  viz. : 

The  Priory  of  Kells,  in  Kilkenny,  founded  in  1193,  by 
Geoffiry  FitzRobert,  for  canons  regular  of  St.  Angustin, 
under  the  Invocation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary ;  the 
Priory  of  Kilrush,  in  KUdare,  for  canons  regular,  and 
the  commandery  of  St.  John  and  St.  Brigid,  in  Wexford, 
for  knights  hospitallers,  by  William  Marshall,  earl  of 
Pembroke  ;  the  Priory  of  Tristemagh,  in  West  Meath, 
for  canons  regular,  by  Qeoflfiy  De  Constantine,  in  1300 ; 


the  few  on  the  king's  side  at  Ruuney- 
mead,  and  signed  the  magna  charta  as 
such.  Some  Irish  bishops  attended  the 
fourth  general  council  of  Lateran,  in 
1215 ;  as  we  find  that  Dionysius  O'Lon- 
ergan,  archbishop  of  Cashel,  died  at 
Rome  that  year;  that  Cornelius  O'He- 
ney,  bishop  of  Killaloe,  died,  on  his 
return  from  Rome ;  and  that  the  death 
of  Eugene  MacGillavider,  ai'chbishop  of 
Armagh,  took  place  in  the  Eternal  City 
the  following  year.* 


the  Priory  of  Great  Conall,  on  the  banks  of  the  Liffey,  in 
Kildare,  for  the  same,  by  Meyler  FitzHenry,  in  1203 ; 
the  Priory  of  Canons  Regular,  at  Inistiogue  in  Kilkenny 
by  Thomas,  Seneschal  of  Leinster,  in  1306 ;  and  the 
Priory  of  the  same  order  at  Newtovra,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Boyne,  by  Simon  Rochford,  bishop  of  Meath, 
in  the  same  year.  Earl  Marshall  founded  the  Convent 
of  St.  Saviour  on  the  site  occupied  by  the  present  Law 
Courts  in  Dublin,  in  1316 — it  was  first  held  by  the  Cis- 
tercians, but  was  transferred  eight  years  after  to  the  Do 
minican  friars. 


228 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  lU. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

EEIGN     OF     nENEY     XH. 

Extension  of  Magna  Charta  to  Ireland. — Return  of  Hugh  de  Lacy. — ^Wars  between  De  Lacy  and  Earl  Mareliall. — 
Surrender  of  Territory  to  the  Crown  by  Irish  Princes. — Connaught  granted  by  Henry  to  Do  Burgo. — Domestic 
Wars  in  Connaught. — Interference  of  the  English. — Famine  and  PcstUence. — Hugh  O'Conor  Seized  in  Dublin 
and  Rescued  by  Earl  Marshall. — His  Retaliation  at  Athlone. — Death  of  Hugh,  and  Fresh  Wars  for  the 
Succession  in  Connaught. — Felim  O'Conor. — English  Castles  in  Connaught  Demohshed. — The  Islands  of 
Clew  Bay  Plundered. — Melancholy  Fate  of  Earl  Marshall. — Connaught  Occupied  by  the  Anglo-Irish. — 
Divisions  and  War  in  Ulster. — Felim  O'Conor  Proceeds  to  England. — Deaths  of  Remarkable  men. — Expe- 
ditions to  France  and  Wales. — The  Geraldines  make  War  at  their  own  Discretion. — Rising  of  the  Toung 
Men  in  Connaught. — Submission  of  Brian  O'NeiU. — Battle  of  Creadrankille  and  Defeat  of  the  English. — 
Death  of  FitzQerald  and  O'DonneU. — Domestic  War  in  the  North. — Battle  of  Downpatrick. — Wars  of  De 
Burgo  and  FitzQerald. — Defeat  of  the  English  near  Carrick-on-Shannon. — General  View  of  this  Reign. 


ConUmporary  Soverdgna  and  Events. — Popes :  Gregory  IS.  to  Clement  IV. — St.  Louis  IX.,  king  of  France,  died  1270 ; 
St.  Dominiok  died  1221 ;  St.  Francis  died  1226.— Guelpha  and  Guibelines  in  Italy,  1230.— Seventh  Crusade,  1248 ;  Eighth 
Crusade,  1268.  


(A.  D.  1316  TO  1373.) 


HENRY  III.,  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  John,  iu  1216,  ascended 
the  throne,  while  yet  in  his  tenth  year, 
and  William  Marshall,  earl  of  Pembroke 
and  lord  of  Leinster,  was  appointed 
protector  both  of  the  king  and  king- 
dom; Geoffry  de  Marisco  being  con- 
tinued in  the  office  of  custos,  or  chief 
governor  of  Ireland.  The  great  power 
enjoyed  by  earl  Marshall,  his  intimate 
ties,  both  of  family  and  property,  with 
Ireland,  and  his  wisdom  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  state,  secured  special  at- 
tention at  court  to  the  affairs  of  this 
country ;  and,  accordingly,  we  find  that 
a  statement  of  grievances,  made  by  the 
English  settlers,  was  immediately  fol- 


lowed by  the  transmission  to  Ireland  of 
a  duplicate  of  the  magna  charta,  altered 
in  some  points  to  suit  the  difference  of 
circumstances.  Legal  privileges  were, 
however,  only  conceded  to  persons  of 
English  descent,  and  general  extension 
of  them  to  the  Irish  being  opposed  by 
the  barons ;  although,  in  individual 
cases,  charters  of  "  English  law  and 
liberty"  were  granted  to  some  Irish 
who  applied  for  them. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  reign  was 
the  pardon  of  Hugh  de  Lacy,  and  an 
invitation  to  him  to  return  to  his  Irish 
estates ;  but  William  Marshall,  who 
performed  this  service  for  him,  having 
died  soon  after  (a.  d.  1221),  and  being 


RETURN  OF  HUGH  DE  LACY. 


229 


succeeded  by  his  son,  William,  a  feud 
arose  between  De  Lacy  and  the  latter, 
whose  father  had  obtained  some  of  De 
Lacy's  lands  while  this  nobleman  was 
in  exile,  and  all  Meath  was  ravaged  in 
the  fierce  war  which  raged  between 
them.  The  fact  of  Hugh  de  Lacy  being 
supported  by  Hugh  O'Neill  in  this  con- 
test, led  the  Irish  annalists  to  suppose 
that  the  former  had  returned  to  Ireland 
without  the  king's  permission,  and  that 
he  had  joined  O'Neill  in  a  war  against 
the  English.  "The  English  of  Ireland," 
they  tell  us,  "mustered  twenty-four 
battalions  at  Dundalk,  whither  Hugh 
O'Neill  and  De  Lacy  came  against  them 
with  four  battalions ;  and  on  this  occa- 
sion the  English  conceded  his  own  de- 
mands to  O'Neill."  In  this  war  Trim 
was  gallantly  defended  by  De  Lacy 
against  William  Marshall ;  and  imme- 
diately after  the  war,  a  strong  castle 
was  erected  there. 

About  this  time  died  Henry  de  Lon- 
dres,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  lord 
justice  of  L-eland,  by  whom  the  chief 
part  of  Dublin  Castle  was  erected.* 
There  is  great  confusion  as  to  the  order 
in  which  the  lords  justices  then  suc- 
ceeded ;  the  names  of  William  Marshall, 
Geoffiy  de  Marisco,  and  Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald,  appearing  in  a  different  order, 
according  to  different  authorities. 


*  This  English  prelate  was  nick-named  "  Born-bill," 
from  a  very  improbable  circumstance  related  of  him. 
It  is  said  that,  having  got  aU  the  instrnments  by 
which  the  tenants  of  the  Irish  arcHepiscopal  estates 
held  their  lands  into  his  hands,  on  the  pretence  of 
examining  them,  he  cast  them  into  the  fire ;  but  that 
a  tumult  thereupon  arose  which  compelled  him  to 
fly,  and  that  he  was  subsequently  obliged  to  confirm 


The  Anglo-Irish  historians  tell  us 
that  several  of  the  Irish  chieftains  sur- 
rendered their  territories  to  the  English 
king,  receiving  back  a  portion  of  their 
lands,  for  which  they  paid  rent  as 
tenants  of  the  crown.  Thus  O'Brien, 
of  Thomond,  made  a  formal  surrender, 
and  received  from  Henry  this  year 
(1221)  a  great  part  of  his  own  terri- 
tory, for  which  he  was  to  pay  an  annual 
rent  of  one  hundi-ed  and  thirty  marks ; 
this  desperate  course  being  resorted  to 
by  the  Irish  chiefs  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  protection  of  government 
against  the  aggressions  of  the  unprin- 
cipled and  rapacious  barons.  How 
futile,  however,  their  hopes  of  security 
against  wrong  were,  even  purchased  by 
such  sacrifices,  was  soon  evinced  in  the 
treatment  of  the  Connacians  by  Henry 
HI.,  who,  notwithstanding  such  an  ar- 
rangement with  Cathal  Crovderg,  made 
a  grant  of  the  whole  province  of  Con- 
naught  to  Richard  de  Burgo,  to  take 
effect  on  the  death  of  Cathal.f 

A.  D.  1224. — This  year,  in  which  an 
awful  shower  is  said  to  have  fallen  in 
Connaught,  and  to  have  been  followed 
by  murrain,  Cathal  Crovderg,  who  was 
distinguished  not  less  for  the  purity  of 
his  morals  than  for  his  valor,  died  in  the 
habit  of  a  grey  friar  at  Knockmoy,  or, 
as  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise  have  it,  at 

the  tenants'  tenures.     The  story  rests  on  an  old  tra- 
dition. 

f  Cox,  Leland,  &c.  The  Irish  annalists  make  no 
mention  of  this  surrender  of  their  territories  by  the 
Irish  princes.  The  particulars  of  the  Connaught  war, 
which  foUow  in  the  text,  are  taken  exclusively  from 
our  native  annals,  the  accounts  of  it  published  on  Anglo- 
Irish  authority  being  full  of  error 


230 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  m. 


Briola,  uear  the  Suck,  in  Roscommon, 
and  liis  son,  Hugh,  assumed  the  govern- 
ment of  Connaught ;  but  the  succession 
became  the  source  of  a  most  lamentable 
and  desolating  war.  Henry  issued  a 
mandate,  dated  June,  1225,  to  earl 
Marehall,  ordering  him  to  seize  the 
whole  country  of  Connaught,  as  for- 
feited by  O'Conor,  and  to  deliver  it  to 
Richard  de  Burgo ;  but  the  Irish  appear 
not  to  have  been  aware  of  any  such 
order,  or,  if  they  were,  to  have  treated 
it  with  contempt.  Alas  !  there  needed 
not  the  mandate  of  the  English  king  to 
kindle  the  flame  of  war  on  the  occasion, 
or  to  instigate  the  destruction  which  the 
infatuated  people  were  too  ready  to 
execute  upon  themselves ! 

A.  D.  1225. — The  claims  of  Hugh,  son 
of  Cathal  Crovderg,  to  the  crown  of 
Connaught,  were  immediately  disputed 
by  his  cousins,  Turlough  and  Hugh, 
sons  of  Roderic ;  and  OWeill,  urged  by 
Mageraghty,  chief  of  Sil-Murray,  from 
motives  of  private  vengeance,  mustered 
a  large  force  and  marched  into  Con- 
naught to  assist  the  two  latter  princes. 
Upon  this  all  the  Connaught  chieftains, 
with  the  exception  of  MacDermot,  of 
Moylurg,  and  a  few  minor  chiefs,  rose 
against  Hugh,  son  of  Cathal ;  and 
O'Neill,  having  inaugurated  Turlough 
at  Carnfree,*  and  paid  himself  by  the 
plunder  of  Hugh's  house  at  Lough  Nen, 
returned  with  his  army  to  Tyrone.  The 
English  barons  had  a  large  army  assem- 

*  TMs  was  the  usual  inauguration  place  of  tlie 
O'Conors,  and  has  been  identified  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  as 
a  BmaU  cairn  ot  stones  and  earth  near  the  village  of 


bled  at  this  time  at  Athlone,  either  for 
the  purpose  of  executing  king  Henry's 
orders,  or  of  watching  the  progress  of 
affairs  in  Connaught.  To  them  Huorh, 
the  son  of  Cathal,  repaired,  and  he  was 
received  with  open  arms.  Most  of  them 
had  already  been  bountifully  rewai'ded 
by  his  father  or  himself  for  military 
services,  and  they  rejoiced  at  the  present 
prospect  of  an  inroad  into  Connaught 
under  his  standard.  A  strong  English 
army,  with  the  lord  justice  himself  at  its 
head,  and  Donough  Cairbrach  O'Brien, 
and  O'Melaghlin,  with  their  forces,  as 
auxiliaries,  besides  the  forces  of  Mac- 
Donough  and  other  friends  of  Hugh, 
now  entered  Connaught,  where,  after 
the  departure  of  O'Neill,  there  was  no 
adequate  force  to  oppose  them,  and  the 
enemies  of  Hugh  fled  in  various  direc- 
tions  at  their  approach,  carrying  off  their 
families,  cattle,  and  other  movables. 
After  some  skirmishing  with  detached 
parties,  Hugh  led  the  English  army  in 
pursuit  of  the  sons  of  Roderic,  by  a 
route  which  they  could  not  have  dis- 
covered themselves,  as  far  as  Attymas, 
in  the  north-east  of  Mayo,  and  they 
plundered  and  depopulated  several  dis- 
tricts. Numbers  of  fugitives,  endeavor- 
ing to  effect  their  escaj)e  across  Bally- 
more  Lough,  in  the  present  parish  of 
Attymas,  were  drowned,  and  the  baskets 
of  the  fishing  weira  were  found  filled 
with  the  bodies  of  children.  "  Such  of 
them,"  say  the  Annals,  "  as  escaped,  on 


Tulsk,  about  three  miles  S.  E.  of  Rathcroghan,  in  the 
county  of  Roscommon. — Fmvr  Mast&is,  vol.  iii.,  p.  331, 

note  (a). 


THE  WAES  OF  THE  O'CONORS. 


231 


this  occasion,  from  the  English  and  from 
drowning,  passed  into  Tirawley,  where 
they  were  attacked  by  O'Dowda,  who 
left  them  not  a  single  cow."  The  sons 
of  Eoderic  now  resolved  to  defer  any 
further  effort  untQ  Hugh's  English  allies 
should  have  left  him ;  and  some  of  theii- 
staunchest  adherents  accordingly  made 
a  feigned  submission  to  Hugh,  who  soon 
after  dismissed  the  English  battalions, 
to  whom  he  delivered,  as  hostages  for 
their  wages,  several  of  the  Connaught 
chiefs,  who  were  subsequently  obliged 
to  ransom  themselves,  while  he  himself 
remained  with  his  Irish  friends  to  watch 
the  O'Flahertys  and  others,  whose  fidel- 
ity he  with  good  reason  suspected. 

During  these  hostilities,  the  English 
of  Desmond  and  Murtousrh  O'Brien, 
one  of  the  Thomond  princes,  without 
any  invitation  from  Hugh  O'Conor, 
made  an  irruption  into  the  south  of 
Connaught,  bm-ning  villages  and  slay- 
ing the  inhabitants  where  they  could 
be  found,  and  all  this  only  to  share  in 
the  spoils  which  the  lord  justice  and 
his  followers  were  enjoying  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  province.  "  Wo- 
ful,  indeed,  was  the  misfortune,"  as  the 
annalists  exclaim,  "  which  God  permit- 
ted to  fall  upon  the  best  province  in 
Ireland  at  that  time!  For  the  young 
warriors  did  not  spare  each  other,  but 
preyed  on  and  plundered  each  other  to 
the  utmost  of  their  power.  Women 
and  children,  the  feeble  and  the  lowly 

*  Annals  of  Kilronan  and  of  tlie  Four  Masters.  Dr. 
WUde  thinks  "tlie  hot,  he&yj  death-sickness  which 
succeeded  to  th6  war  and  famine,  that  desolated  large 


poor,  perished  of  cold  and  famine  in 
that  war !" 

The  respite  which  ensued  was  very 
brief.  As  soon  as  the  main  body  of 
the  English  ai-my  had  left,  the  Con- 
naught chieftains  again  revolted,  and 
again  Hugh,  son  of  Cathal,  was  obliged 
to  call  on  the  foreigners  for  help.  The 
call  was  responded  to  cheerfully  and 
without  delay ;  and  well  was  the 
promj)titude  of  the  English  rewarded, 
"for  their  spoil  was  great,  and  their 
struggle  trifling."  The  country  was  once 
more  overrun  with  armies ;  but  the  sons 
of  Roderic  were  ultimately  deserted  by 
theii-  adherents,  who  judged  their  cause 
to  be  hopeless,  and  they  sought  refuge, 
together  with  Donn  Oge  Mageraghty, 
at  the  court  of  Hugh  O'lSTeill. 

Year  after  year  the  crops  had  been 
left  on  the  ground  all  the  winter :  "  the 
corn  remained  uureaped  until  after  the 
festival  ^f  St.  Bridget"  (the  1st  of  Feb- 
ruary), "  when  the  ploughing  had  com- 
menced ;"  fearful  dearth  and  sickness 
were  the  consequence;  and,  as  the 
words  of  the  old  chronicles  affectingly 
describe  it, "  the  tranquillity  which  now 
followed  was  wanting,  for  there  was 
not  a  chm'ch  or  territory  in  Connaught 
which  had  not  been  destroyed  by  that 
day.  After  the  plundering  and  kUliug 
of  the  cattle,  people  were  broken  do^vn 
by  cold  and  hunger,  and  a  violent  dis- 
temper* raged  throughout  the  whole 
country — a  kind  of  burning  disease  by 

portions  of  Ireland  at  this  period,  was  our  Irish  ty- 
phus."— Census  of  Ireland  for  1853 ;  Beport  on  Tablet 
of  Deaths. 


1 


232 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  HI. 


wliicli  the  towns  were  desolated,  and 
left  without  a  single  living  being." 

A.  D.  1227. — Very  soon  after  the 
events  just  described — some  say  in 
1226 — Hugh  O'Conor  was  inveigled 
into  the  power  of  his  late  English  allies 
in  Dublin  ;  and  under  the  form  of  some 
pretended  criminal  proceedings  they 
were  alDout  to  take  away  his  life,  when 
earl  Marshall  came  to  his  rescue,  and 
taking  him  by  force  out  of  the  court, 
escorted  him  safely  to  Conuaught — his 
son  and  daughter  remaining  in  the 
hands  of  the  English.  The  king:  of 
Connaught  found  an  opportunity  in  a 
week  after  to  retaliate,  and  he  availed 
himself  of  it  without  scruple.  A  con- 
ference between  him  and  William  de 
.  Marisco,  son  of  Geoffry,  the  lord  justice, 
was  appointed  to  take  place  at  the 
Lathach,  or  slough,  to  the  west  of  Atli- 
lone.  Hugh  was  accompanied  J)y  a  few 
chosen  men,  and  William  came  to  the 
rendezvous  attended  by  eight  mounted 
knights.  As  soon  as  they  met,  Hugh 
seized  De  Marisco,  and  the  other  Irish 
chiefs  rushing  upon  his  companions, 
overpowered  them,  one  English  knight, 
the  constable  of  Athlone,  being  killed 
in  the  fray.  Hugh  then  proceeded  to 
plunder  and  burn  the  market-place  of 
Athlone,  which  had  become  an  En- 
glish garrison ;  and  in  exchange  for  his 
prisoners  he  obtained  his  own  son  and 


"  The  cause  of  killing  the  king  of  Connaught,"  say 
Magcoghegan's  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  "  was  that  after 
the  wife  of  an  Englishman"  (who  was  an  attendant  in 
the  deimty's  house)  "  had  so  washed  his  head  and  body 
with  sweet  balls  and  other  things,  he,  to  gratifie  her  for 
her  service,  kissed  her,  which  the  Englishman  seeing, 


daughter,  and  some  Connaught  chiefs 
whom  the  English  had  got  in  their 
power. 

A.  D.  1228.— The  career  of  Hugh 
O'Conor  was  as  brief  as  it  was  troubled. 
Before  the  close  of  1227,  the  sons  of 
Koderic,  to  whose  side  the  English  had 
turned,  once  more  made  their  appear- 
ance in  Connaught ;  Hugh,  the  younger 
brother,  with  Richard  de  Burgo  and  a 
great  army,  in  the  northern  districts,  and 
Turlough,  with  the  lord  deputy,  in  the 
central  plain  of  Connaught,  where  they 
erected  a  strong  castle  on  the  peninsula 
of  llindown  in  Lough  Ree.  The  son  of 
Crovderg  fled  to  Tirconnell,  but  his  re- 
ception there  was  not  encouraging ;  and 
returning  with  his  family,  almost  unat- 
tended, he  had  a  narrow  escape  from  his 
enemies  near  the  Curlieu  mountains,  his 
wife  fivlling  into  their  hands,  and  being 
delivered  by  them  to  the  English.  Next 
year  (1228)  he  and  the  lord  deputy, 
Geoffiy  de  Marisco,  were  apparently 
reconciled,  and  he  was  in  the  house  of 
the  latter  when  an  Englishman,  inflamed 
with  jealousy  at  an  act  of  levity  on 
Hugh's  part,  rushed  up>on  him  and  slew 
him  on  the  spot.* 

The  removal  of  one  competitor  for 
the  crown  of  Connaught  left  the  affairs 
of  that  unhappy  province  as  complicated 
as  ever.  The  brothers  Hugh  and  Tur- 
louffh  now  strufrgled  aijainst  each  other 

for  mere  jealosie,  kUled  O'Conor  presently  at  unawares." 
The  murderer  was  hanged  next  day  by  the  deputy's  or- 
ders. The  Four  Masters  say  Hugh  "  was  treacherously 
klQed  by  the  English  in  the  mansion  of  Geoffrey  Mares 
(de  Marisco),  after  he  had  been  expelled  by  the  Conna- 


i  R''. ;.  A,  NQ  Si;  R,  ES 


'  £  A  .N 


hitnsniurrtivc'      /^^m^  ^-^ij^ 

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SCALE  OF  MILLS 


;  J!ll>.?.(.l.  it-  «0S',  NKW  YORK 


THE  WARS  OF  CONNAUGHT. 


233 


for  the  prize — so  completely  had  the 
principle  of  succession,  according  to  the 
Irish  law,  ceased  to  be  respected.  Hugh, 
the  younger  brother,  was  supported  by 
Kichard  de  Burgo,  now  justiciary  of  Ire- 
land, and  he  was  also  recognized  by  the 
majority  of  the  Connaught  chieftains 
as  their  king,  although  Turlough  had 
been  already  inaugurated  by  O'Neill. 
There  was  also  a  new  competitor  in  the 
person  of  Felim,  brother  of  the  late 
king,  Hugh,  son  of  Cathal  Crovderg. 
"  An  intolerable  dearth,"  say  the  Four 
Masters,  "prevailed  in  Connaught  in 
consequence  of  the  war  of  the  sons  of 
Eoderic.  They  plundered  churches 
and  territories  (that  is,  the  property  of 
the  church  and  of  the  laity) ;  they  ban- 
ished the  clergy  and  ollaves  into  foreign 
and  remote  countries,  and  others  of  them 
perished  of  cold  and  famine." 

A.  D.  1229  (or  1230).— The  scene  in 
Connaught  now  presents  some  redeem- 
ing features,  although  it  is  still  one  of 
bloodshed  and  anarchy.  Several  of  the 
chieftains  declared  that  they  would  not 
serve  a  prince  who  would  keep  them  in 
subjection  to  the  English;  and  Hugh, 
who  had  just  received  his  crown  at  the 
hands  of  Englishmen,  complied,  not  un- 
willingly perhaps,  with  their  wishes. 
But  this  step  comes  to  late,  after  exaust- 
ing  themselves  by  so  much  mutual 
slaughter.  Hostilities  ensue.  Eichard 
de  Burgo  enters  Connaught  with  an 
overwhelming  force ;  desolates  a  large 
portion  of  the  country;  slays,  among 
many  others,  Donn  Oge  Mageraghty, 
the  most  indomitable  of  the  chieftains ; 

30 


hurls  Hugh,  son  of  Eoderic,  from  his 
precarious  throne,  and  proclaims  Felim, 
sou  of  Cathal  Crovderg,  king  in  his 
stead.  Hugh  finally  seeks  refuge  with 
Hugh  O'Neill,  king  of  Tyrone — a  prince 
who  had  never  yielded  hostages  or  tri- 
bute to  the  foreigners,  nor  indeed  ac- 
knowledged any  superioi',  Irish  or  En- 
glish, and  whose  death, in  1230,  removed 
another  b^^lwark  of  Irish  iudependence. 

Thus  does  this  sad  and  dreary  Con- 
naught history  proceed.  Insane  coun- 
sels, hopeless  strife,  pitiless  devastation, 
make  up  the  sickening  tale ;  while  the 
foreign  enemy,  who  has  been  goading  on 
the  infatuated  combatants,  and  aiding 
them  in  their  work  of  mutual  destruc- 
tion, strides  in  grim  triumph  over  the 
wreck  which  he  and  they  conspired  to 
make,  uses  the  rival  princes  as  puppets, 
and  seizes  their  territories  with  impuni- 
ty. In  1231  Felim  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Meelick,  in  violation  of  solemn  guar- 
antees, by  Eichard  de  Burgo,  who  had 
two  years  before  made  him  king ;  and 
nest  year  Hugh,  son  of  Eoderic,  went 
through  the  mockery  of  recognition  as 
king  of  Connaught,  although  before  the 
end  of  the  year  Felim  was  set  at  liberty 
by  the  English,  and  thus  placed  in  a 
position  to  re-assert  his  rights. 

A.  D.  1233. — ^Felim  O'Conor  once  more 
raised  his  standard,  round  which  his 
friends  soon  rallied  in  sufiicient  numbers 
to  enable  him  to  take  the  field.  He  went 
in  pursuit  of  Hugh,  and  in  his  encounter 
with  him  slew  that  prince,  together  with 
one  of  his  brothei-s,  his  son,  and  many  of 
his  leading  men,  both  English  and  Irish. 


234 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  HI. 


He  next  demolished  tlie  castle  Biin- 
galvy,  or  Galway,  which  had  been 
erected  the  j^receding  year  by  Kichard 
de  Burgo,  and  also  castle  Kirk,  on 
Lough  Corrib,  the  Hag's  castle  on 
Lough  Mask,  and  the  castle  of  Duna- 
mon  on  the  river  Suck,  in  Roscommon, 
all  of  which  had  been  built  or  fortified 
by  the  sons  of  Roderic  and  the  English. 
A.  D.  1235. — Felim's  hardihood,  how- 
ever, was  speedily  punished ;  for  Richard 
de  Burgo  entered  Connaught  with  an 
enormous  force,  and  plundered  the 
country  without  mercy.  Not  meeting 
any  resistance,  he  proceeded  to  Tho- 
mond,  at  the  instigation  of  O'Heyne, 
who  desired  to  be  revenged  on  Donough 
Cairbrach  O'Brien,  and  was  committins: 
great  depredations  there,  when  Felim, 
although  he  could  not  save  his  own  ter- 
ritory, flew  to  the  aid  of  his  southern 
ally.  A  pitched  battle  was  fought. 
Their  cavalry,  archers,  and  coats  of 
mail,  gave  the  English  an  advantage ; 
and  O'Brien,  to  whose  rashness  the  de- 
feat was  partly  due,  having  made  peace 
with  the  invaders,  the  Connacians  re- 
turned home,  the  English  army  follow- 
ing close  in  their  rear.  Felim  now  fled 
with  his  cattle,  and  all  those  who  chose 
to  follow  his  fortunes,  to  the  north,  and 
sought  refuge  with  O'Donnell  of  Tircon- 
nell,  while  the  English  scoured  the  entire 
province  for  spoils.  O'Flaherty,  who 
had  been  all  along  hostile  to  Felim, 
joined  the  English  (who  would  other- 
wise have  plundered  his  own  territory), 
and  conveyed  his  flotilla  of  war  boats 
from  Lough  Corrib,  by  land,  to  the  sea 


at  Leenaun,  the  head  of  Killery  bay. 
With  these  boats  the  English,  who  had 
already  marched  as  far  as  Achil,  which 
they  plundered,  were  enabled  to  lay 
waste  the  Insi  Modh,  or  islands  of  Clew 
bay,  in  which  Manus  O'Conor,  son  of 
Murtough  Muimhneach  had,  with  many 
others  from  the  main  laud,  sought  re- 
fuge. Numbers  were  thus  slaughtered 
on  the  islands,  but  Manus  fled  in  his 
vessels;  the  O'Malleys,  who  always 
possessed  a  numerous  fleet,  remaining 
inactive  spectators  of  the  scene,  as  they 
were  not  on  friendly  terms  with  him. 
There  was  not  a  cow  left  on  the  islands, 
and  those  to  whom  the  cows  belonged 
would  have  been  compelled  by  hunger 
and  thirst,  say  the  annalists,  to  abandon 
them,  had  they  not  been  themselves 
killed  by  the  English,  or  carried  off  as 
prisoners.  After  devastating  all  Umal- 
lia,  and  taking  a  prey  from  O'Donnell 
at  Easdara,  the  English  army  laid  siege 
to  the  castle  held  for  O'Conor  by  Mac- 
Dermot  on  the  Rock  of  Lough  Key,  in 
Roscommon,  and  captured  it  by  the  aid 
of  "wonderful  machines;"  but  a  few 
nights  after  MacDermot  recovered  the 
castle  by  the  help  of  an  Irishman,  who 
closed  the  gate  against  the  English 
garrison  when  they  had  left  on  a 
marauding  party ;  and  the  fortress  was 
then  demolished,  that  it  might  not  again 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  By 
this  expedition  the  English  left  the 
Connacians  "  without  food,  raiment,  or 
cattle,  and  the  country  without  peace, 
the  Irish  themselves  plundering  and 
destroying  one  another ;  but  they  did 


THE  WARS  OF  CONNAUGHT. 


235 


not  obtain  hostages  or  submission.  Felim 
made  peace  the  same  year  witli  the  lord 
justice,  and  was  left  in  possession  of 
"  the  king's  five  cantreds"  (or  baronies), 
which  were  probably  the  mensal  lands 
of  the  kings  of  Connaught. 

We  now  turn  to  an  episode  in  the 
history  of  the  Pale. 

William  Marshall,  the  powerful  earl 
of  Pembroke,  and  protector  of  the  realm 
during  the  king's  minority,  left  at  his 
death  five  sons,  all  of  whom  inherited 
in  succession  his  title  and  estates ;  but 
as  all  died  childless,  the  family  became 
extinct  in  the  male  line.  It  is  said  that 
the  father  died  under  the  ban  of  ex- 
communication, inflicted  on  him  by  an 
Irish  bishop  for  his  plunder  of  the 
church,  and  that  the  sons  refused  to 
yield  up  any  of  the  wealth  which  their 
sire  had  taken  by  the  sword,  whether 
sacrilegiously  or  otherwise.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  misfortunes  fell  heavily  upon 
them  in  the  sequel.  Earl  Richard,  one 
of  the  brothers,  having  taken  a  leading 
part  in  the  rebellious  proceedings  of  the 
English  barons,  was  deprived  of  his 
vast  possessions,  and,  taking  up  arms, 
he  joined  the  standard  of  Llewellyn, 
tlie  heroic  prince  of  Wales.  He  de- 
fended himself  successfully  against  the 
royal  troops  in  one  of  his  own  castles ; 
but  a  most  vile  and  treacherous  con- 
spiracy, to  which  he  fell  a  victim,  was 
now  formed  against  him.  Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald  (the  lord  justice),  Hugh  and 
Walter  de  Lacy,  Richard  de  Burgo, 
Geoffry  de  Marisco,  and  in  fact  aU  the 
leading  Anglo-Irish  barons,  are  said  to 


have  been  led  by  the  English  minister 
into  this  nefarious  plot,  the  object  of 
which  was,  to  inveigle  earl  Richard  to 
Ireland,  and  to  get  him  by  some  means 
into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  the  bribe 
oifered  being  no  less  than  the  distribu- 
tion among  them  of  all  the  eai-l's  Irish 
possessions.  The  plan  succeeded  so 
well  that  in  1234  the  earl  came  to  Ire- 
land with  a  few  followers,  and  took  the 
field  in  the  assertion  of  his  rights.  He 
recovered  some  of  his  own  castles,  and 
captured  Limerick  after  a  siege  of  four 
days ;  but  this  was  all  brought  about 
to  hasten  his  ruin.  A  truce  was  now 
proposed,  and  a  mock  conference  took 
place  on  the  Curragh  of  Kildare.  At  a 
signal  given,  the  great  body  of  his  fol- 
lowers suddenly  deserted,  drawn  off  by 
De  Marisco,  who  is  called  a  deceitful 
old  man,  and  who  had  treacherously 
urged  him  on  from  the  beginning. 
Seeing  that  he  was  betrayed,  he  took  an 
affectionate  leave  of  his  young  brother, 
Walter,  who  is  described  as  a  youth  of 
beautiful  mien,  and  whom  he  directed  a 
servant  to  conduct  from  the  field  ;  and 
then,  with  scarcely  any  one  by  him  but 
fifteen  knights  who  had  accompanied 
him  from  England,  and  assailed  by 
overwhelming  numbers,  he  continued 
bravely  to  defend  himself;  until  at 
length,  after  being  unhorsed,  a  traitor 
from  behind  plunged  a  knife  into  his 
back.  He  was  then  conveyed,  all  but 
lifeless,  to  one  of  his  own  castles,  of 
which  Maurice  FitzGerald  was  in  pos- 
session, and  there  he  expired  in  the 
midst  of  his  enemies.     Thus  perished 


236 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  III. 


"  the  flower  of  the  chivahy  of  his  time." 
His  sad  end,  and  the  base  means  em- 
ployed against  him,  excited  a  strong 
feeling  both  in  England  and  Ireland ; 
tumults  took  place  in  London ;  the  king 
became  alarmed,  as  it  was  discovered 
that  the  royal  seal  had  been  employed 
to  give  sanction  to  the  first  suggestion 
of  the  plan;  and  Maurice  FitzGerald 
repaired  to  England  to  clear  himself  by 
oath  from  the  guilt  of  the  foul  trans- 
action. But  the  affair  merits  our  at- 
tention chiefly  as  illustrating  the  char- 
acter of  the  men  who  then  held  in  their 
hands  the  destinies  of  Ireland. 

A.  D.  1236. — A  conference  was  the 
usual  mode  with  the  unprincipled  men 
of  that  time  to  get  an  enemy  into  theu* 
.power,  and  Felim  O'Conor  was  invited, 
for  that  purpose,  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
the  English  at  Athlone.  He  came,  but 
having  received  timely  intimation  of 
their  object,  he  made  his  escape,  al- 
though pursued  as  far  as  Sligo,  and 
repaired  to  Tirconnell,  his  usual  asylum 
on  such  occasions.  The  government  of 
Connaught  was  then  committed  by  the 
English  to  Brian  O'Conor,  son  of  Tur- 
lough,  sou  of  Roderic ;  but  all  the  power 
of  his  foreign  patrons  was  insufficient  to 
keep  him  in  the  office.  Felim  returned 
the  following  year,  and  took  the  field 
against  his  competitors.  His  first  en- 
counter was  with  the  soldiers  of  the 
lord  justice,  who  were  overwhelmed  at 
the  onset  by  the  imj^etus  of  Felim's 
attack ;  and  Brian's  people,  seeing  the 
English  soldiers  routed,  took  to  flight 
themselves,  and  were  so  dispersed  that. 


after  that  day,  none  of  the  descendants 
of  Roderic  had  a  home  in  their  ancestral 
territory  of  the  Sil-Murray.  Felim 
plundered  their  lands,  and,  among  other 
deeds  of  vengeance,  expelled  Cormac 
MacDermot,  chief  of  Moylurg,  from  his 
territory. 

A.  D.  1238. — About  this  time  we  find 
in  our  annals  the  significant  entry  that 
"the  barons  of  Ireland  went  to  Con- 
naught,  and  commenced  erecting  castles 
there."  The  country  had  been  made  a 
wilderness,  and  they  had  little  more  to 
do  than  to  enter  and  take  possession. 
The  expulsion  of  the  O'Flahertys  from 
their  hereditarj'^  territory  of  Muintir- 
Morroughoe,  on  the  east  shores  of  Lough 
Corrib,  to  the  bogs  and  mountains  west 
of  that  lake,  where  they  became  very 
powerful  in  after  times,  dates  from  this 
year,  but  they  are  styled  lords  of  West 
Connaught,  long  before  this  period. 

A.  D.  1239. — The  scene  now  shifts 
from  Connaught  to  Ulster,  where  Fitz- 
Gerald, the  lord  justice,  with  Hugh  de 
Lacy,  and  others,  entered  with  a  large 
army,  deposed  Donnell  MacLoughlin, 
who  had  succeeded  Hugh  O'Neill,  as 
lord  of  Tyrone,  and  placed  Brian  O'Neill 
in  his  stead ;  but  the  former  recovered 
his  position  after  a  battle  fought  the 
same  year  at  Carnteel.  This  was  the 
game  which  the  English  had  played  so 
successfully  in  Connaught.  In  that 
period  of  disorganization  there  were 
always  half  a  dozen  claimants  for  the 
chieftaincy  in  each  territory,  and  it  was 
only  necessary  to  pit  them  against  each 
other  to  secure  the  ruin  of  all. 


EXPEDITIONS  TO  FRANCE  AND  WALES. 


237 


A.  D.  1240. — Wearied  with  the  ag- 
gressions of  Kichard  de  Burgo,  and 
with  the  elements  of  strife,  English  and 
Irish,  which  that  nobleman  kept  con- 
stantly in  motion,  the  unhappy  king  of 
Connaught  proceeded  to  England,  and 
complained  bitterly  to  Henry  III.  of  the 
injustice  with  which  he  had  to  contend. 
The  English  king  soothed  him  with 
empty  honors,  confirmed  to  him  the 
five  cantreds  already  mentioned,  and 
soon  after  wrote  to  Maui'ice  FitzGerald, 
the  lord  justice,  ordering  him  "  to  pluck 
out  by  the  root  that  fruitless  sycamore, 
De  Burgo,  which  the  earl  of  Kent,  in 
the  insolence  of  his  power,  had  planted 
in  those  parts."* 

A.  D.  1241.— Donnell  More  O'Donnell, 
the  warlike  lord  of  Tirconnell,  who  also 
asserted  the  right  of  chieftainship  over 
Lower,  or  Northern  Connaught,  as  far 
as  the  Curheu  mountains,  died  in  the 
monastic  habit,  among  the  monks  of 
Assaroe,  and  was  succeeded  by  Melagh- 
lin  O'Donnell,  who  aided  Brian  O'Neill 
in  recovering  Tyrone  from  MacLoughlin, 
the  latter  chieftain  being  killed  in  battle, 
with  ten  of  his  family,  and  several  chiefs 
of  the  Kinel-Owen.  Some  other  cele- 
brities of  Irish  history  made  their  exit 
about  the  same  time.  Walter  de  Lacy 
died  this  year;  Donough  Cairbrach 
O'Brien,  son  of  Donnell  More,  lord  of 
Thomond,  the  following  year ;  and  the 


*  The  earl  of  Kent  here  mentioned  was  Hubert  de 
Burgo,  who  had  been  chief  justice  of  England.  There 
ia  extant  a  letter  from  Felim  O'Conor  to  Henry  HI., 
thanking  him  for  the  many  favors  which  he  had  con- 
ferred upon  him,  and  especially  for  having  written  in 


great  earl,  Richard  de  Burgo,  the  year 
after  (1243),  while  proceeding  with 
some  troops  to  join  Henry  HI,  in  an 
expedition  against  the  king  of  France. 

A.  D.  1245.— The  king  of  England 
being  hard  pressed  in  a  war  with  the 
Welsh,  summoned,  or  rather  invited, 
the  Irish  chiefs,  and  the  Anglo-Irish 
barons,  to  muster  round  his  standard 
in  the  principality.  At  this  time  these 
barons  claimed  exemption  from  attend- 
ing the  king  outside  the  realm  of  Ire- 
land, and  Henry  would  appear  to  have 
conceded  the  privilege,  as,  in  his  writ  of 
summons,  he  expressly  stated  that  their 
attendance  on  that  occasion  should  not 
be  made  a  precedent  against  them. 
Felim  O'Conor  accompanied  the  lord 
justice,  FitzGerald,  on  this  expedition, 
and  was  treated  with  great  honor  by 
Henry;  but  FitzGerald  incurred  the 
king's  weighty  displeasure  by  the  tardi- 
ness of  his  attendance,  and  was  conse- 
quently deprived  of  office ;  Sir  John,  son 
of  Geoflfry  de  Marisco,  being  appointed 
justiciary  in  his  stead.  The  English 
army  in  Wales  had  suifered  a  great 
deal,  waiting  for  the  Lish  reinforcement, 
and  the  king's  feelings  were  embittered 
by  the  subsequent  failure  of  the  expedi- 
tion. After  this  time  we  find  the  Ger- 
aldines  in  L-eland  acting  independently 
of  the  royal  authority,  and  making  war 
and  peace  at  their  own  discretion. 


his  behalf  against  Walter  de  Burgo,  to  his  justiciary 
William  Dene ;  but  this  letter,  although  published  in 
Rymer  (vol.  i.,  p.  340)  under  the  date  of  1340,  must  refer 
to  a  period  not  earlier  than  1360,  when  William  Dene 
was  justiciary. 


238 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  m. 


A.  D.  1247. — Maurice  FitzGerald  led 
au  army  this  year  into  Tirconnell,  and 
by  a  stratagem,  cleverly  carried  out  by 
one  of  his  Ii'ish  auxiliaries,  Cormac,  a 
grandson  of  Roderic  O'Conor,  he  gained 
a  victory  at  the  ford  of  Ballyshannon 
over  O'Donnell,  who  was  slain.  A  great 
number  of  FitzGerald's  men  were,  how- 
ever, killed  in  the  fight  or  drowned.  A 
rivalry  for  the  chieftainship  of  Tircon- 
nell was  then  promoted  between  God- 
frey O'Donnell  and  Rory  O'Canannan, 
and  in  the  domestic  strife  which  ensued 
the  English  were  able  for  a  while  to 
crush  the  patriotic  ardor  of  the  Tircon- 
nellians.  Meanwhile  another  army 
penetrated  into  Tyrone  under  Theobald 
Butler,  now  lord  justice ;  and  the  Kinel- 
Owen  held  a  council,  at  which  they 
came  to  the  prudent  conclusion,  "that 
the  English  having  now  the  ascendency 
over  the  Irish,  it  was  advisable  to  give 
them  hostages,  and  to  make  peace  with 
them  for  the  sake  of  their  country." 

A.  D.  1248.— Urged  by  the  frightful 
state  of  oppression  under  which  their 
country  groaned,  the  young  men  of  the 
ancient  families  of  Counaughnas  rose  in 
arms  against  the  English,  devastated 
their  possessions,  and  left  them  no  se- 
curity outside  the  walls  of  their  castles. 
Turlough,  son  of  Hugh  O'Conor,  and 
FitzPatrick,  of  Ossory,  entered  Con- 
naught,  and  burned  the  town  and  castle 
of  Galway,  and  the  O'Flaherties  de- 
feated an  English  plundering  party, 
w^ho  had  penetrated  into  Connemara. 
The  leader  of  the  youthful  warriors, 
who  thus  harassed  the  invaders  in  Con- 


naught,  was  Hugh,  son  of  Felim ;  and 
when  Maurice  FitzGerald  arrived,  in 
1249,  with  two  armies,  to  avenge  the 
English  settlers,  Felim,  dreading  the 
storm  which  his  son's  rash  heroism  had 
brought  about  his  ears,  retired,  as  usual, 
to  the  north,  with  his  movable  proper- 
ty ;  and  his  nephew  Turlough  accepted, 
at  the  hands  of  the  English,  the  office 
of  ruler  in  his  stead.  Next  year  Felim 
came  back  with  a  numerous  force,  ex- 
pelled Turlough,  and  was  again  return- 
ing northward,  across  the  Curlieu  moun- 
tains, sweeping  off  all  the  cattle  of  the 
land,  when  the  English,  thinking  it 
better  to  make  peace  on  any  terms, 
sent  after  him  to  offer  propositions,  and 
restored  him  to  his  kingdom. 

Florence  or  Fineen  MacCarthy,  who 
had  given  the  English  very  little  rest 
in  Desmond,  was  slain  by  them  this 
year,  and,  after  long  and  sanguinary 
hostilities,  peace  was  restored  for  a 
while  in  that  quarter.  In  the  north, 
Brian  O'Neill,  lord  of  Tyrone,  made  his 
submission  to  the  lord  justice  in  1252  ; 
yet,  the  very  next  year  his  territory  was 
invaded  by  Maurice  FitzGerald,  with  a 
great  hosting  of  the  English,  who,  how- 
ever, were  defeated  with  considerable 
slaughter. 

Felim  O'Conor  held  a  friendly  confer- 
ence in  1255,  with  MacWilliam  Burke, 
as  Walter,  the  son  of  Richard  More,  and 
chief  of  the  De  Burgo  fomily,  was  styled ; 
and  the  following  year  Hugh,  son  of 
Felim,  who  appears  to  have  particijiated 
in  his  father's  authority  at  this  time, 
met  Alan  de  la  Zouch,  the  justiciary,  at 


DEATH  OF  FITZGERALD  AND  O'DONNELL. 


239 


Rinn  Duin,  and  ratified  a  peace  witli 
him.  The  next  year,  Felim  got  a  charter 
for  his  five  cantreds.  Thus,  the  English 
alTvays  contrived  to  keep  some  of  the 
Irish  jirinces  on  theii'  hands,  while  they 
carried  on  an  exterminating  war  against 
others,  and  at  this  moment  their  main 
object  was  to  crush  the  independence  of 
Tirconnell.  A  furious  battle  was  fought 
in  1257,  between  Godfrey  O'Donnell, 
lord  of  that  territory,  and  a  numerous 
English  army,  under  the  command  of 
Maurice  FitzGerald,  who  was  once  more 
lord  justice.  The  armies  engaged  at 
Creadran-Kille,  in  a  district  to  the  north 
of  Sligo,  now  called  the  Rosses.  O'Don- 
nell and  FitzGerald  met  in  single  com- 
bat, and  severely  wounded  each  other ; 
and  after  a  fierce  and  protracted  struggle 
the  English  were  defeated,  the  result 
being  their  expulsion  from  Lower  Con- 
naught.  Godfrey  was  unable,  from  his 
wound,  to  follow  up  his  success ;  but  he 
demolished  the  castle  which  the  Eng- 
lish, to  overawe  the  Kinel-Connell,  had 
erected  at  Caol  Uisge,  now  Belleek,  on 
the  Erne  river. 

The  deaths  of  the  two  chiefs  who 
fought  so  bravely  against  each  other,  at 
this  battle,  followed  soon  after.  Maurice 
FitzGerald  retired  into  a  Franciscan 
monastery  which  he  had  founded  at 
Youghal,  and,  after  putting  on  the  habit 
of  a  monk,  departed  tranquilly  in  the 
bosom  of  religion ;  the  only  stain  which 
historians  have  observed  in  his  character, 
being  the  part,  whatever  that  may  have 
been,  which  he  took  in  the  ruin  and 
death  of  Richard,  earl  Marshall.     The 


death  of  Godfrey  O'Donnell  was  not  so 
peaceable.  Hearing  that  O'Donnell  was 
on  his  death-bed,  from  the  wound  he  re- 
ceived at  Creadran-Kille,  Brian  O'Neill 
sent  to  require  hostages  from  the  Kinel- 
Connell,  but  the  messengers  who  carried 
the  insolent  demand,  fled  the  moment 
they  delivered  their  errand,  and  the 
dying  chieftain  only  answered  it  by 
ordering  a  general  muster  of  his  people. 
He  then  du-ected  his  men  to  place  him 
on  the  bier  which  should  take  him  to 
the  grave,  and  to  cany  him  on  it  at  the 
head  of  his  forces.  Thus  did  the  Tir- 
connellian  army  march  to  meet  that  of 
Tyrone,  A  sanguinary  battle  was  fought 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Swilly,  in  Don- 
egal, and  victory  declared  for  O'Don- 
nell, whose  bier  was  then  laid  down  in 
the  open  street  of  a  village,  which,  at 
that  time,  existed  at  the  place  now  called 
Conwal,  near  Letterkenny,  and  there  he 
ex]3ired.  What  a  pity  that  such  heroism 
should  have  been  perverted  by  Irishmen 
to  their  mutual  destruction,  while  the 
common  enemy  was  driving  them  from 
the  green  fields  of  their  forefathers !  On 
hearing  of  O'Donnell's  death,  O'Neill 
sent  again  to  demand  hostages,  but 
while  the  men  of  Tirconnell  were  de- 
liberating on  an  answer,  a  youth  only 
eighteen  years  of  age,  the  son  of  Don- 
nell  More  O'Donnell,  having  just  arrived 
from  Scotland,  presented  himself  in  the 
council  and  was  elected  chieftain.  He 
is  called  Donnell  Oge  in  the  Irish  an- 
nals. 

That  O'Neill's  pretensions  were  not 
without  some  foundation  may  be  con- 


240 


REIGN"  OF  HENRY  IH. 


eluded  from  the  fact,  that  the  same 
year  (1259)  these  transactions  took 
place,  Hugh,  son  of  Felim,  and  Teige 
O'Brien,  of  Thomond,  probably  with 
other  chieftains,  met  him  at  Caol  Uisge, 
and  conferred  on  him  the  sovereignty 
of  Ireland — an  empty  title,  it  is  true,  at 
that  time* 

A.  D.  1260.— The  result  of  the  con- 
ference of  Irish  chiefs  at  Caol  Uissfe, 
•was  that  O'Neill  and  O'Couor  turned 
whatever  forces  they  could  muster 
against  the  English,  and  that  a  battle, 
in  which  the  Irish  were  defeated,  was 
fought  at  Druim-dearg,  near  Down- 
patrick.  Brian  himself  was  killed, 
together  with  fifteen  of  the  O'Kanes, 
and  many  other  chiefs,  both  of  Ulster 
and  Connaught.  Cox  says,  the  battle 
took  place  in  the  streets  of  Down, 
and  that  three  hundred  and  fifty-two 
of  the  Irish  were  killed.  The  English 
were  commanded  in  this  encounter  by 
the  lord  justice,  Stephen  Longespe. 

A.  D.  12G1. — In  the  south  the  English 
were  not  so  fortunate.  The  Geraldines 
were  defeated  in  Thomond  by  Conor 
O'Brien,  and  suffered  fearful  loss  in  an- 
other battle  at  Kilgarvan,  near  Ken- 
mare,  in  which  they  were  defeated  by 
MacCarthy;  their  loss,  according  to 
English  accounts,  including  Thomfis 
FitzThomas  FitzGerald  and  his  son, 
eiglit  barons,  fifteen  knights,  and  a 
countless  number  besides.  William 
Denn,  the  justiciary,  Walter  de  Burgo, 


*  Some  Munster  Listorians  deny  that  Teige  O'Brien 
joined  in  conferring  this  distinction  on  O'Neill. 
f  See  note,  page  237. 


earl  of  Ulster,  and  Donnell  Roe,  son  of 
Cormac  Finn  MacCarthy,  with  several 
other  leading  men,  aided  the  Geraldines 
in  this  battle.  Nearly  all  the  English 
castles  of  Hy  Conaill  Gavra,  and  other 
parts  of  Desmond,  were  demolished  by 
the  Irish  after  this  victory ;  and  Han- 
mer  says,  "the  Geraldines  dm'st  not 
put  a  plough  into  the  ground  in 
Desmond."  The  next  year  (1262)  an- 
other sanguinary  struggle  took  place 
between  the  English  under  Mac  William 
Burke  and  MacCarthy  at  Mangerton,  in 
Kerry,  and  both  sides  suffered  severely. 
A.  D.  1264. — Walter  de  Burgo  (who 
was  earl  of  Ulster  by  right  of  his  wife, 
tlie  daughter  of  Hugh  de  Lacy)  and 
FitzGerald  now  waged  war  against  each 
other,  and  a  great  part  of  Ireland  was 
desolated  in  their  hostilities.  The  lord 
justice  took  part  against  De  Burgo,  and 
this  circumstance  drew  from  Felim 
O'Conor  the  expression  of  gratitude  to 
Henry  III.  already  alluded  to.f  De 
Burgo,  however,  succeeded  in  taking 
all  FitzGerald's  Connaught  castles.  To 
such  a  pitch  did  the  feuds  among  the 
Anglo-Irish  barons  proceed  at  this 
time,  that,  in  one  of  them,  Maurice 
FitzMaurice  FitzGerald,  aided  by  others 
of  his  family,  seized,  at  a  conference, 
the  persons  of  the  lord  justice  and 
other  noblemen,  and  confined  them  in 
castles  until  they  were  released  by  a 
parliament  or  council,  held  in  Kilkenny 
for  the  purpose.^ 

J  For  a  most  interesting  illostration  of  the  state  of 
society  at  this  turbulent  period,  we  may  refer  tlie  reader 
to  the  Anglo-Norman  ballad  of  the  "  Entrenchment  of 


ENGLISH  DEFEATED  NEAR  CARRICK-ON-SIIANNON. 


241 


War  and  peace  continued  to  alternate 
in  rapid  succession  in  Connauglit  until 
1265,  when  Felim  O'Conor  died,  and 
■was  succeeded  by  liis  son,  Hugh,  wlio, 
in  the  following  year,  having  recovered 
from  an  illness,  during  which  Connauglit 
was  trodden  under  foot  by  the  English, 
luustered  a  large  force,  and  with  re- 
newed energy  carried  on  the  war  against 
Walter  de  Burgo.  The  lord  justice.  Sir 
James  Audley,  alarmed  at  the  formid- 
able I'ising  of  the  Irish,  at  length  came 
to  the  aid  of  De  Burgo  with  an  army, 
and  some  Irish  auxiliaries  also  fought 
under  his  standard.  De  Burgo  thoucrht 
to  patch  up  a  peace  in  the  usual  way, 
until  a  better  opportunity  to  strike 
would  offer;  but  Hugh  was  a  match 
for  him  in  the  treacherous  diplomacy 
of  the  time.  When  the  two  armies  were 
in  the  vicinity  of  a  ford  near  the  modern 

New  Eoss,''  publislied  in  Crofton  Croker's  "Popular 
Songs  of  Ireland,"  from  Harleian  MSS.,  913,  in  the 
British.  Museum,  with  a  translation  by  the  gifted  Mrs. 
Maclean  (L.  E.  L.),  and  introductory  observations  by  Sir 
Frederick  Madden  and  Mr.  Croker  himself.  The  ballad 
describes  how  the  biirgesses  of  New  Eoss  resolved,  in 
the  year  12G5,  to  fortify  their  town  with  a  wall  and  foss, 
to  protect  it  against  the  hostUo  inroads  of  the  contending 
barons ;  how  a  widow,  named  Eose,  first  suggested  the 
plan,  and  offered  large  contributions  to  carry  it  out; 
how  the  burgesses  subscribed  liberally  for  the  purpose, 
and,  finding  that  the  work  proceeded  too  slowly,  labored 
at  it  with  their  own  hands ;  the  different  professions  and 
guilds  working  in  companies  with  banners  flying  and 
music  playing ;  and  how  the  ladies  worked  on  Simdays, 
carrying  stones  while  the  men  reposed.  New  Eoss, 
which  was  called  by  the  Irish,  Eos-mic-Triuin,  appears 
to  have  been  at  that  time  a  considerable  town. 

*  The  following  account  of  this  transaction  is  given 
in  Connel  Mageoghegan's  translation  of  the  Annals  of 
Clonmacnoise : — After  relating  how  the  earl  of  Ulster 
(Walter  Burke),  with  the  lord  deputy,  and  all  the  Eng- 
lish forces  of  Ireland,  marched  against  O'Conor,  and 
describing  the  position  of  the  armies  near  Ath-Cora- 
ConneU,  a  ford  on  the  Shannon,  near  Carrick-on-Shaunon 
31 


Carrick-on-Shannon,  De  Burgo  proposed 
negotiations ;  but  Hugh  contrived  to  get 
the  earl's  brother,  William  Oge,  into  his 
hands  before  the  parley  commenced,  and 
then  treated  him  as  a  prisoner,  and  slew 
some  of  the  English.  The  earl  flew  into 
a  rage,  and  an  obstinate  battle  ensued. 
Turlough  O'Brien,  who  was  coming  to 
the  aid  of  the  Connacians,  was  met  be- 
fore he  could  form  a  junction  with  them, 
and  slain  in  single  combat  by  De  Burgo ; 
but  Hugh's  people  avenged  his  death 
by  a  fearful  onslaught,  in  which  great 
numbers  of  the  English  were  slain,  and 
immense  spoils  taken  from  them.  Wil- 
liam Oge,  the  earl's  brother,  was  put  to 
death  after  the  battle,  which  was,  on 
the  whole,  a  disastrous  one  to  the  Eng- 
lish.* Walter  Burke  died  the  following 
year  in  the  castle  of  Galway,  and  Hugh 
O'Connor  survived  him  three  years. 

(the  name  being  now  obsolete),  the  annalist  proceeds : 
— "  The  Englishmen  advised  the  Earle  to  make  peace 
with  Hugh  O'Connor,  and  to  yeald  his  brother,  William 
Oge  mac  William  More  mac  William  the  Conqueror,  in 
hostage  to  O'Connor,  dureing  the  time  he  shou'd  remain 
in  the  Earles's  house  concluding  the  said  peace,  which 
was  accordingly  condescended  and  done.  As  soone  as 
WLUiam  came  to  O'Connor's  house  he  was  taken,  and 
also  John  Dolphin  and  his  son  wore  killed.  Wben 
tyding  came  to  tlie  ears  of  the  Earle  how  his  brother 
was  thus  taken,  he  took  his  journey  to  Athenkip  (the 
name,  now  obsolete,  of  a  ford  on  the  Shannon,  near 
Carrick-on-Shannon),  where  O'Connor  beheaved  himself 
as  a  fierce  and  froward  lyon  about  his  prey,  without 
sleeping  or  taking  any  rest ;  and  the  next  day,  soon  in 
the  morning,  gott  upp  and  betook  him  to  his  arms :  the 
Englishmen,  the  same  morning,  came  to  the  same 
foorde,  called  Athenkip,  where  they  were  overtaken  by 
Terlogh  O'Bryen.  The  Earle  returned  upon  him  and 
killed  the  said  Terlogh,  without  the  help  of  any  other 
in  that  pressence.  The  Connoughtmen  pursued  the 
Englishmen,  and  made  their  hindermost  part  runn  and 
break  upon  their  outguard  and  foremost  in  such  manner 
and  foul  discomfiture,  that  in  that  instant  nine  of  their 
chiefest  men  were  killed  upon  the  bogge  about  Eichard 


242 


DEATH  OF  HENRY  EI. 


This  long  reign  was  at  length  brought 
to  a  close  by  the  death  of  Henry  III.,  in 
1272.  During  its  troubled  course,  the 
feuds  of  the  native  Irish  among  them- 
selves had  done  more  to  establish  the 
English  p^wer  in  this  country  than  all 
that  could  be  effected  merely  by  Eng- 
lish arms.  Above  all,  the  insane  and 
deadly  contention  of  the  O'Conors  Avas 
most  fatal  to  Ireland.  Connaught  was 
for  the  first  time  overrun  by  the  new 
settlers;  the  first  submission  was  ob- 
tained from  the  princes  of  Tyrone ;  and 
in  the  south  the  Geraldines  had  besrun 
to  assume  the  title — as  yet  an  unsub- 
stantial one — of  lords  of  Desmond. 
Henry  changed  his  viceroys  frequently, 

ne  Koylle  (Richard  of  the  Wood)  and  John  Butler,  who 
were  killed  over  and  above  the  said  knights.  It  is 
unknown  how  many  were  slain  in  that  conflict,  save 
only  that  a  hundred  horses  with  their  saddles  and 
furniture,  and  a  hundred  shirts  of  mail  were  left.  After 
these  things  were  thus  done,  O'Connor  killed  William 
Oge,  the  Earle'a  brother,  that  was  given  him  before  in 
hostage,  because  the  Earle  killed  Terlogh  O'Bryen." — 
See  Four  Makers,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  408,  &c.,  note. 

*  A  great  many  religious  houses  were  founded  in 
Ireland  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  Among  them 
were,  a  priory  of  canons  regular  at  Tuam,  by  the  De 
Burgos,  about  1220 ;  one  at  MuUingar,  in  1237,  by  Ralph 
le  Petit,  bishop  of  Meath ;  one  at  Aughrim,  in  the  county 
of  Galway,  by  Theobald  Butler ;  also  the  priories  of 
Ballybeg,  in  Cork  ;  Athassal  and  Nenagh,  in  Tipperary ; 
Enniscorthy,  St.  Wolstan's,  Carrick-on-Suir,  and  St. 
Jolm's,  in  the  city  of  Kilkenny ;  the  Cistercian  Abbey 
of  Tracton,  in  Cork,  by  Maurice  MacCarthy,  in  1234 ; 
the  Dominican  convent  of  Drogheda,  by  Luke  Netter- 
■»iile,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  1234 ;  the  Black  Abbey 
(Dominican)  in  Kilkenny,  by  Wm.  Marshall,  jun.,  in 
122o  ;  the  Dominican  convent  of  St.  Saviour,  Waterford, 
by  the  citizens,  in  122G ;  the  Dominican  convent  of  St. 
Mary,  in  Cork,  by  Philip  Barry,  in  1229  ;  the  convents 
of  the  sdmo  order  in  MuUingar  (A.  D.  1337),  by  the 
family  of  Nugent :  Athenry  (1341),  by  Meyler  de  Bir- 
mingham;  Caahel  (1243),  by  MacKelly,  archbishop  of 


but  with  little  advantage  to  his  Irish 
colony.  With  some  difficulty  he  estab- 
lished a  free  commerce  between  the 
colony  and  England ;  but  his  efi'orts  to 
introduce  the  English  laws  into  Ireland 
were  sternly  resisted  by  his  own  refrac- 
tory bai'ons.  In  1254  he  made  a  grant 
of  Ireland  to  his  son  Edward,  with  the 
express  condition,  that  it  was  not  to  be 
separated  from  the  crown  of  England ; 
and,  lest  the  grant  might  lead  to  any 
such  result,  he  took  care  to  assert  his 
own  paramount  authority  by  super- 
seding some  of  the  acts  done  by  his  son 
in  virtue  of  his  title  of  lord  of  Ireland. 
It  is  generally  understood  that  prince 
Edward  visited  L-eland  in  1255.* 

Cashel ;  Tralee  (1343),  by  lord  John  FitzThomas  ;  Col- 
eraine  (1344),  by  the  MacEvelins;  SUgo  (1353),  by 
Maurice  FitzQerald  ;  St.  Mary,  Roscommon  (1353),  by 
Felim  O'Conor ;  Athy  (1357),  by  the  families  of  Boi?eles 
and  Hogans ;  St.  Mary,  Trim  (12G3),  by  Geoflfry  do 
Geneville ;  Arklow  (13G4),  by  Tlieobald  Pitz Walter  ; 
Rosbercan,  in  Kilkenny  (1268) ;  Youghal  (1368),  by  the 
baron  of  OfFaly  and  Lorrah,  in  Tipperary  (1369),  by 
Walter  Burke,  earl  of  Ulster  ;  the  Franciscan  convents 
of  Youghal  (1231),  by  Maurice  FitzQerald ;  Carrick- 
fergus  (1232),  by  Hugh  de  Lacy ;  Kilkenny  (1234),  by 
Richard  Marshall ;  St.  Francis,  in  Dublin  (1230) ;  Multi- 
farnham,  in  West  Meath  (1236),  by  William  Delamer ; 
Cork  (1240),  by  Philip  Prendergast ;  Drogheda  (1340), 
by  the  Plunkets ;  Waterford  (1340),  by  Sir  Hugh  Pur- 
cel ;  Ennis  (1340),  by  Donough  Carbreach  O'Brien ; 
Athlone  (1341),  by  Cathal  O'Conor;  Wexford,  about 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  limerick,  by 
Walter  de  Burgh  ;  Cashel,  by  WUliam  Hackett ;  Dun- 
dalk,  by  De  Verdon  ;  Ai-dfert  (1353),  by  Thomas,  lord 
of  Kerry ;  Kildare  (1360),  by  De  Vescy ;  Clane  (1360),  by 
Gerald  FitzMaurico  ;  Armagh  (1363),  by  Scanlan,  arch- 
bishop of  Armagh  ;  Clonmel  (1369),  by  Otho  de  Granison , 
Nenagh,  by  the  Butlers  ;  Wicklow,  by  the  O'Byrnes  and 
O'Tooles,  and  Trim,  by  the  family  of  Phmket.  The  Au- 
gustiuian  convent  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  Crow-street, 
Dublin,  was  founded  by  the  Talbot  family  in  1359,  and 
that  of  Tipperary,  also  in  the  course  of  this  reign. 


\ 

STATE  OF  IRELAND   ON"  ACCESSION   OF   EDWARD  I. 


243 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

EEIGN     OF     EDWARD     I. 

State  of  Ireland  on  the  Accession  of  Edward  I. — Feuds  of  the  Baron3. — Exploits  of  Hugh  O'Conor. — Fearful  Con- 
fusion in  Connaught. — Incursion  from  Scotland,  and  Retaliation. — Irisli  Victory  of  Glendelory. — Horrible 
Treachery  of  Thomas  De  Clare  in  Thomond. — Contentions  of  the  Clann  Murtough  in  Connaught. — English 
Policy  in  the  Irish  Feuds. — Petition  for  English  Laws. — Characteristic  Incidents. — Victories  of  Carbry  O'Me- 
la^^in  over  the  English. — Feiids  of  the  De  Burghs  and  Qeraldines. — The  Red  Earl. — His  great  Power. — 
English  Laws  for  Ireland. — Death  of  O'Melaghlin. — Disputes  of  De  Vescy  and  FitzQerald  of  Offaly. — Singular 
Pleadings  before  the  King. — A  Truee  between  the  Qeraldines  and  De  Burghs. — The  Kilkenny  Parliament  of 
1295. — Continued  Tumults  in  Connaught. — Expeditions  against  Scotland. — Calvagh  O'Conor. — Horrible  Mas- 
sacre of  Irish  Chieftains  at  an  English  Dinner-table. — More  Murders. — Rising  of  the  O'KeUys. — Foimdation 
of  Religions  Houses.  . 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes:  Gregory  X.  died  1276  ;  luuocont  V.  and  Adrian  V.  tlie  same  year  ;  John 
XXI.,  1277;  Nicholas  IIL,  12S1 ;  Martin  IV.,  1285;  Honorius  IV.,  1237  ;  Nicholas  IV.,  1292;  Cclestine  V.,  1294;  Boniface 
VIII.,  1303;  and  Benedict  XI.,  1304.— King  of  France,  Philip  IV. ;  Emperor  of  Germany,  Eodolph  of  Uapsburg  (first  of 
the  Austrian  Family),  died  1291. — Kings  of  Scotland,  John  Baliol  and  Robert  Bruce. — Llewellyn  Killed,  and  Wales  sub- 
jected to  the  Power  of  England,  12S2. — St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  St.  Bonaventuro  died,  1274. — Alberius  Magnus  died, 
1232. — Roger  Bacon  died,  12S4.— Uninterrupted  Scries  of  Parliaments  Commenced  in  England,  1293.— William  Wallace, 
the  Scottish  hero,  executed,  1304. 


(A.  D.  1273  TO  A.  D.  1307.) 


TT^DWARD  I.,  surnained  Longshauks, 


Xh 


was  proclaimed  king  ou  tlie  death 


of  his  father,  Henry  III.,  in  1272,  while 
on  a  crusade  in  the  Holy  Land,  and 
until  his  return  to  England,  in  July, 
1274,  the  government  was  administered 
by  lords  justices.  The  new  king's  ab- 
sence gave  free  scope  to  strife  in  Ire- 
land ;  but  in  general  the  movements  in 
this  country  depended  but  little  on  the 
course  of  events  in  England.  Just  a 
century  had  elapsed  from  the  coming 
of  the  Anglo-Normans  into  Ireland,  and 
their  power  was  scarcely  acknowledged 
beyond  the  limits  which  it  had  reached 


in  the  days  of  Strongbow.  The  resist- 
ance to  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  becom- 
ing more  formidable ;  and  the  English 
suffered  numerous  defeats  on  a  small 
scale,  which  showed  how  easily  a  com- 
bined action  of  the  Irish  might  have 
ovei'thrown  their  settlement,  had  these 
seriously  contemj^lated  any  thing  more 
than  the  temporary  liberation  of  theu- 
respective  territories  from  the  foreign 
yoke,  or  the  gratification  of  enmity  by 
some  local  act  of  spoliation.  The  do- 
mestic feuds  of  the  Irish  were  as  rife  as 
ever,  but  the  English  barons  were 
equally  prone  to  strife ;    and  the  op- 


2U 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD  I. 


pression  and  rapacity  of  the  latter  did 
more  tLan  the  turbulence  of  the  former, 
to  produce  the  miserable  disorders  by 
which  the  whole  country  was  laid  waste. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  reconcile  the 
native  race  to  the  new  order  of  things, 
or  to  consolidate  the  two  races  into  one 
nation.  To  supplant  or  exterminate 
the  old  Celtic  population  had  all  along 
been  the  policy  of  the  invaders ;  and,  to 
effect  this  object,  means  more  diabolical 
than  human  were  resorted  to :  feuds 
were  fomented ;  under  the  pretence  of 
crushing  rebellion,  incessant  hostilities 
were  kept  up ;  and  by  every  kind  of 
provocation  and  injustice,  national  ran- 
cor was  perpetrated.  Three  or  four 
times  the  English  monarch  urged  the 
expediency  of  extending  the  laws  and 
constitution  of  England  to  the  Ii'ish ; 
but  this  attempt  was  always  sternly 
resisted  by  the  Anglo-Irish  oligarchy 
who  ruled  the  country.  The  barons 
found  their  account  in  their  own  lawless 
and  inhuman  system  of  war  and  rapine. 
Hugh  O'Conor  was  at  this  time  the 
most  formidable  champion  of  the  Irish 
cause,  and  in  1273  he  renewed  hostili- 
ties by  demolishing  the  English  castle 
of  Roscommon.  He  then  crossed  the 
Shannon  into  Meath,  where  he  carried 
desolation  as  far  as  Granard,  and  on  his 
return  burned  Athlone,  and  broke  down 
its  bridge.  Two  years  after,  this  prince, 
who  was  son  of  Felim,  son  of  Cathal 
Crovderg,  died,  and  another  Hugh 
O'Conor,  grandson  of  Hugh,  the  brother 
of  Felim,  was  elected  king.  His  reign 
was  short,  for  in  three  months  he  was 


slain  by  a  kinsman  in  the  Dominican 
church  of  Roscommon,  and  another 
Hugh,  son  of  Cathal  Dall,  or  the  blind, 
son  of  Hugh,  son  of  Cathal  Crovderg, 
was  chosen  his  successor.  A  fortnicjht 
after,  this  prince  was  slain  by  Tomal- 
tagh  Mageraghty  and  O'Beirne ;  and 
Teige,  sou  of  Turlough,  son  of  Hugh, 
son  of  Cathal  Crovderg,  was  elected 
king.  Such  was  the  state  of  anarchy  in 
which  the  royal  succession  was  at  that 
time  involved  in  Connaught;  and  it 
became  still  more  complicated  in  1276, 
when  Hugh  IMuineagh,  or  the  Munster 
man,  an  illegitimate  and  posthumous 
son  of  Felim,  son  of  Cathal  Crovderg, 
arrived  from  Munster,  and,  by  the  aid 
of  O'Donnell,  assumed  the  government 
of  Connaught.  In  the  midst  of  incessant 
contentions  he  retained  his  power  until 
1280,  when  he  was  slain  by  another 
branch  of  the  O'Conor  family. 

Sir  James  Audley,  the  lord  justice, 
was,  according  to  Irish  accounts,  slain 
by  the  Connacians,  in  1272,  although 
the  English  say  he  was  killed  by  a  fall 
from  his  horse  in  Thomond.  The  same 
year  his  successor,  Maurice  FitzMaurice 
FitzGerald,  was  betrayed  by  his  follow- 
ers, and  seized  in  Offaly  by  the  Irish,  in 
whose  hands  he  remained  for  some  time. 
Lord  Walter  Geneville,  recently  re- 
turned from  the  Holy  Laud,  succeeded 
to  the  office,  and  during  his  administra- 
tion there  was  an  incursion  of  the 
"  Scots  and  Redshanks"  from  tlie  high- 
lands of  Scotland ;  Richard  de  Burgo, 
with  Sir  Eustace  le  Poer,  retaliating 
with   an   Anglo-Irish   army,  when   he 


DE  CLARE  m  THOMOXD. 


245 


carried  fire  and  sword  into  tlie  Scottisli 
islands  and  biglilands,  and  smoked  out 
or  suffocated  those  wlio  liad  sought 
refuse  in  rocks  and  caverns. 

A.  D.  1275. — Our  annals  mention  a 
victory  gained  this  year  over  the  Eng- 
lish in  Ulidia,  "  when  200  horses  and 
200  heads  were  counted  (on  the  field), 
besides  all  who  fell  of  their  plebeiajis ;" 
but  this  is  believed  to  be  identical  with 
a  slaughter  of  the  English  at  Glande- 
lory,  now  Glanmalure,  in  Wicklow, 
which  is  recorded  by  Anglo-Irish  chroni- 
clers about  this  time.  The  same  year 
the  Kinel-Connell  and  the  Kinel-Owen 
wasted  each  other's  territories  by  mu- 
tual depredations. 

A.  D.  1277. — One  of  the  blackest  epi- 
sodes of  even  that  dark  a2:e  of  Irish 
history  was  enacted  about  this  time  in 
Thomond.  Thomas,  son  of  Gilbert  de 
Clare,*  and  son-in-law  of  Maurice  Fitz 
]\Iaurice  FitzGerald,  obtained  from  Ed- 
ward I.  a  grant  of  Thomond,  or  of  some 
considerable  portion  of  it ;  the  deed  by 
which  it  was  secui'ed,  by  a  former  Eng- 
lish king,  to  its  rightful  ownei-s  the 
O'Briens  being  wholly  overlooked  on 
the  occasion.  De  Clare  had  little  chance 
of  asserting  his  unjust  claim  against  the 
heroic  princes  of  the  Dalgais  in  the  open 
field,  and  he  had  recourse  to  the  favor- 
ite English  policy  of  that  "time.  He 
entered  into  an  intimate  alliance  with 

*  Gilbert  de  Clare,  earl  of  Gloucester,  was  one  of  the 
lords  justices  to  ■svhom  the  government  of  England  was 
intrusted,  on  the  accession  of  Edward  I.,  then  absent  on 
the  Crusades. 

t  The  Irish  annalists  say  that  De  Clare  bound  him- 
self to  Brian  Eoe  O'Brien,  by  ties  of  gossipred  and  vows 


Brian  Eoe  O'Brien  against  Turlough, 
son  of  Teige  Caoluisge  O'Brien,  another 
competitor  for  the  crown  of  Thomond  ; 
and  the  latter  having  been  defeated  in 
battle,  he  turned  suddenly  to  the  side 
of  Turlough,  and  getting  Brian  Koe 
treacherously  into  his  hands,  put  him  to 
death  in  a  most  inhuman  manner,  caus- 
ing him,  it  is  said,  to  be  dragged  be- 
tween horses  until  he  died.  This  atrocity, 
it  is  added,  was  perpetrated  at  the 
instance  of  De  Clare's  wife  and  father- 
in-law.f  He  then  disj)Ossessed  the  old 
inhabitants  of  that  part  of  Thomond 
east  of  the  Fergus  called  Tradry,  giving 
the  land  to  his  own  followers,  and 
erected  the  strong  castles  of  Bunratty 
and  Clare.  His  power  was,  however, 
short-lived.  The  sons  of  Brian  Koe 
gained  a  victory  over  him  the  following 
year  at  Quinn,  where  several  of  his 
people  were  burned  to  death  in  an  old 
Irish  church,  which  was  set  on  fire  over 
their  heads.  At  another  time  De  Clare 
and  FitzGerald  were  so  hard  pressed  in 
a  pass  of  Slieve  Bloom,  as  to  be  com- 
pelled to  surrender  at  discretion,  after 
being  obliged  to  subsist  some  days  on 
horse-flesh.  The  captives  were  subse- 
quently liberated  on  undertaking  to 
make  satisfaction  for  O'Brien's  death 
and  to  surrender  the  castle  of  Ros- 
common. The  unprincipled  earl  next 
(1281)    set  up  Donough,   son    of   the 


of  friendship,  ratified  by  the  ceremony  of  mingling  their 
blood  together  in  a  vessel.  In  the  remonstrance  sent 
by  the  Irish  chieftains  to  pope  John  XXII.,  tlus  mur- 
der was  referred  to  as  a  striking  instance  of  English 
treachery 


246 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I 


murdered  Brian  Roe,  against  Turlough ; 
but  two  years  after  his  jprotege  was 
slain  by  Turlough,  who  continued  in 
possession  in  Thomond  until  his  death 
in  1306.*  De  Clare  himself  was  slain 
by  the  O'Briens  in  1286. 

A.  D.  1280. — We  are  again  recalled  to 
the  dissensions  in  Counaught,  where 
Hugh  Muineach,  son  of  Felim,  was 
slain  in  the  wood  of  Dangan,  by  the 
sept  of  Murtough  Muineach  O'Conor, 
one  of  whom,  Cathal,  sou  of  Conor  Roe, 
son  of  Murtough  Muineach,f  was  inau- 
gurated king.  This  sept,  henceforth 
called  in  the  annals  the  Clann  Mur- 
tough or  Muircheartaigh,  was  excessively 
contentious,  and  kept  the  province  in 
turmoil  for  many  years  after.J 

About  this  time  a  petition  was  pre- 
sented to  the  English  king,  from  what 
he  calls  "  the  community  of  Ireland" — 
most  probably  from  the  native  Irish 
dwelling  in  the  vicinity  of  the  English 
settlements — praying  that  the  2:)rivileges 
of  England  might  be  extended  to  them. 
Edward,  who  wished  to  see  that  object 
effected,  issued  a  writ  to  the  lord  justice, 
Uftbrd,  directing  him  to  summon  the 
lords  spiritual  and  temporal  of  the 
"  Land  of  Ireland" — as  the  Ensclish  ter- 
ritory  in  this  country  was  then  called — 
to  deliberate  on  the  prayer  of  the  peti- 


*  These  transactions  are  related  in  full  in  the  Annals 
of  I/misfalleii  from  the  work  called  Caiihreim  Thoird- 
Utalbhaigli,  or  the  Wars  of  Turlough  0  Brien. 

f  Murtough  Muineach  (Muircheartach  Muimlineach) 
was  son  of  Turlough  More  O'Conor,  and  brother  of 
Koderic. 

\  Apropos  of  the  feuds  which  existed  this  year  in 
Connaught,  between  the  O'Conors  and  MacDermots,  an 
incident  is  related  by  Ilanmer  and  Ware,  highly  char- 


tiou.  He  insultingly  describes  the  Irish 
or  Brehon  laws  as  "  hateful  to  God,  and 
repugnant  to  all  justice;"  and,  inform- 
ing the  lord  justice  that  the  petitioners 
had  offered  8,000  marks  for  the  conces- 
sion which  they  demanded,  urges  him 
to  obtain  the  best  terms  he  can  from 
them  ;  stipulating  in  particular  that  they 
should  hold  a  certain  number  of  soldiers 
in  readiness  to  attend  him  in  his  wai-s. 
The  writ  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
attended  to,  and  no  further  step  seems 
to  have  been  taken  in  the  matter.  The 
Irish  continued  to  feel  the  English  law 
only  as  an  instrument  of  oppression,  and 
were  excluded  wholly  from  its  privileges 
— a  mode  of  treatment,  as  it  has  been 
justly  remarked,  wholly  different  fi'ora 
that  adopted  by  the  Romans  in  their 
conquered  provinces. 

Among  the  detached  occurrences 
which  indicate  the  character  of  the 
times,  we  find  that  in  1281  a  bloody 
battle  was  fought  between  the  Barretts 
and  the  Cusacks,  at  Moyne,  near  the 
old  church  of  Kilroe,  in  the  barony  of 
Tirawly  in  Mayo.  William  Barrett 
and  Adam  Fleming  were  slain,  and 
O'Boyd  and  O'Dowda,  two  Irish  chief- 
tains, who  helped  Adam  Cusack  to  gain 
the  victory,  are  described  as  having 
"excelled  all  the  rest  that  day  in  deeds 

acteristic  of  the  spirit  of  English  rule  in  those  days. 
Edward  summoned  the  lord  justice,  Ufford,  to  account 
for  his  permitting  such  "  shameful  enormities,"  and  the 
latter  pleaded,  through  Fulburn,  bisliop  ofWaterford, 
whom  ho  had  deputed  in  his  stead,  "  that  in  policie,  he 
thought  it  expedient  to  winke  at  one  knave  cutting  off 
another,  and  that  would  save  the  king's  coffers  and  pur- 
chase jieaco  to  tho  land ;  whereat  the  lung  smiled  and 
hid  him  return  to  Ireland!" 


DEFEATS  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 


247 


of  prowess;"  yet  the  very  next  year 
O'Dowda  was  killed  by  Adam  Cusack. 
This  year  is  also  remarkable  for  a  battle 
fought  at  Desertcreaght,  in  Tyrone, 
between  the  Kinel-Connell  and  the 
Kiuel-Owen,  in  which  the  former  were 
defeated,  and  theii'  chieftain,  Doonell 
Oge  O'Donnell,  slain ;  Hugh,  his  son, 
being  aftei'wards  inaugurated  in  his 
stead.  The  English  of  Ulster  took  part 
with  the  men  of  Tyrone.  Murrough 
MacMurrough,  whom  the  annalists  style 
"  king  of  Leinster,"  and  his  brother  Art, 
were  taken  by  the  English,  and  put  to 
death  at  Arklow  in  1282 ;  Hugh  Boy 
O'Neill,  lord  of  Kinel-Owen,  was  slain 
by  Brian  MacMahon  and  the  men  of 
Oriel,  in  1283 ;  Ai-t  O'Melaghlin,  the 
native  prince  of  Meath,  who  had  de- 
molished twenty-seven  castles  in  his 
wars,  died  penitently  that  year ;  and  in 
the  same  year  a  great  part  of  Dublin, 
and  the  tower  and  other  parts  of  Christ 
Church  were  burned,  the  citizens  show- 
ing their  piety  by  restoring  the  sacred 
edifice  before  they  set  about  rebuilding 
their  own  houses  after  the  fire. 

A.  D.  1285.— Theobald  Butler,  with 
some  Irish  auxiliaries,  invaded  Delvin 
MacCoghlan,  and  was  defeated  at  Lum- 
cloon  by  Carbry  O'Melaghlin ;  Sir 
William  de  la  Eochelle  and  other 
English  knights  being  among  the  slain. 
Butler  died  soon  after  at  Beerehaven. 
A  large  army  was  then  mustered  by 
lord  Geoifry  Geneville,  Theobald  Ver- 
don,  and  others,  and  they  marched  into 

*  This  incident,  it  ■wUl  be  observed,  is  mentioned  al- 
most in  tbe  same  terms  as  a  similar  one  in  1372. 


Ofialy,  where  the  Irish  had  just  seized 
the  castle  of  Ley.  The  people  of  Offaly 
solicited  the  aid  of  Carbry  O'Melaghlin, 
and  he,  with  his  gallant  followers,  re- 
sj)onded  to  their  call.  The  Irish  army 
poured  down  impetuously  upon  the 
English,  who  were  overthrown  with 
great  slaiighter,  and  according  to  the 
English  accounts,  "Theobald  de  Ver- 
don  lost  both  his  men  and  horses;" 
Gerald  FitzMaurice  also  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Irish  the  day  after  the 
battle,  owing  it  is  said,  to  the  treachery 
of  his  followers.*  The  Anglo-Irish  ac- 
counts also  mention  another  defeat  ot 
the  English  about  the  same  year,  but 
they  add  that  these  losses  were  followed 
by  some  compensating  successes  the  next 
year.  * 

A.  D.  1286. — The  country  had  been 
for  a  long  period  convulsed  by  the  feuds 
of  the  two  great  Anglo-Norman  families, 
the  Geraldines  and  De  Burgos  ;  but  the 
death  of  Maurice  FitzMaurice  FitzGer- 
ald  and  of  his  son-in-law,  lord  Thomas 
de  Clare,  which  took  place  this  year, 
turned  the  scale  decidedly  in  favor  of 
the  De  Burgos.  Kichard  de  Burgo, 
earl  of  Ulster,  commonly  known  as  the 
red  earl,  whose  power  was  so  generally 
recognized,  that  even  in  official  docu- 
ments his  name  took  precedence  of  that 
of  the  lord  dejiuty  himself,  now  led  his 
armies  through  the  country  almost 
Avithout  meeting  any  resistance.f  In 
Connaught  he  plundered  several  church- 
es and  monasteries,  and  compelled  the 


f  The  red  earl,  wlio  fills  bo  prominent  a  place  in  our 
historj  at  this  early  period,  was  son  of  Walter  de  Burgo 


248 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD  I. 


Counaciaus  to  accompany  liim  to  the 
uoi'tb,  where  he  took  hostages  from  the 
Kinel-Conuell  and  Kiuel-Owen,  depos- 
ing Donuell  O'Neill,  lord  of  the  latter, 
and  substituting  Niall  Culanagh  O'Neill 
in  his  stead.  He  laid  claim  to  the 
poi-tion  of  INIeath  which  Theobald  de 
Verdou  held  in  right  of  his  mother,  the 
daughter  of  Walter  de  Lacy,  and  be- 
sieged that  nobleman  (a.  d.  1288)  in 
the  castle  of  Athlone,  but  with  what 
result  we  are  not  informed.  In  Con- 
naught  Cathal  O'Conor  was  deposed  by 
his  brother  Manus,  and  the  red  earl 
marched  against  the  latter,  who  had  the 
Geraldines  on  his  side,  but  the  contest 
was  not  brought  to  the  issue  of  a 
battle. 

A.  D.^289.— Carbry  O'Melaghlin,  who 
is  styled,  in  the  Anglo-Irish  chronicles, 
"  king  of  the  Irishry  of  Meath,"  gave 
great  trouble  to  the  English  authorities 
at  this  jieriod ;  and  overrun  as  his  ter- 
ritory was,  by  the  foreign  race,  retained 
nevertheless  a  considerable  amount  of 
power.  An  army,  composed  of  the 
English  of  Meath,  under  Richard  Tuite, 
called  the  great  baron,  with  Manus 
O'Couor,  king  of  Connaught,  as  an 
auxiliary,  marched  this  year  against 
him,  and  was  defeated  in  battle ;  Tuite, 
with  several  of  his  adherents,  being 
slain.      The  following   year,   however, 


first  earl  of  Ulster  of  that  family,  son  of  Eicliard,  wlio 
was  called  the  great  lord  of  Connaught,  and  was  the  son 
of  William  FitzAdulm  de  Burgo  by  Isahelle,  natural 
daughter  of  Ricliard  Coeur-de-lion,  and  -widow  of  Lle- 
weUyn,  prince  of  Wales.  Walter  had  become  earl  of 
Ulster  in  right  of  his  wife,  Maud,  daughter  of  the 
younger  Hugh  dc  Lacy.     The  red  carl's  grandson,  Wil- 


O'Melaijhlin — "the  most  noble-deeded 
youth  in  Ireland  in  his  time" — was 
slain,  by  hi^  gossip,  David  MacCoghlan, 
prince  of  Delvin ;  David  himself  deal- 
ing the  first  blow,  which  was  followed 
up  by  wounds  from  seventeen  other 
members  of  the  MacCoghlan  family. 
The  lord  of  Delvin  now  in  his  tui'n  be- 
came troublesome,  and  defeated  William 
Burke,  who  had  marched  against  him  ; 
but  in  1292  he  was  taken  prisoner  by 
MacFeorais,*  or  Bermingham,  and  put 
to  death  by  order  of  the  red  earl. 

A.  D.  1290-1293.— Sir  William  de 
Vescy,  a  Yorkshire  man,  and  a  great 
favorite  of  king  Edward,  having  been 
sent  over  as  lord  justice,  a  quarrel  appeal's 
to  have  immediately  sprung  up  between 
him  and  John  FitzThomas  FitzGerald, 
baron  of  Offixly.  To  such  a  height  did 
their  mutual  animosity  rise,  that  De 
Vescy  chai-ged  the  baron  with  being 
"  a  supporter  of  thieves,  a  bolsterer  of 
the  king's  enemies,  an  upholder  of  trait- 
ors, a  murderer  of  subjects,  a  firebrand 
of  dissention,  a  rank  thief,  an  arrant 
traytoi',"  adding,  "before  I  eat  these 
words,  I  will  make  thee  eat  a  piece  of 
my  blade."  FitzThomas  retorted  in  an 
equally  courteous  strain ;  and  both  par- 
ties having  appeared  before  the  king 
with  their  complaints,  maintained  their 
respective  causes  in  the  royal  presence 

liam,  who  was  murdered  in  1333,  was  the  third  and  last 
of  the  De  Burgo  earls  of  Ulster.  The  Burkes  of  Con- 
naught descend  from  William,  the  younger  brother  of 
Walter,  the  first  earl  of  Ulster. 

*  This  name,  now  pronounced  Keorish,  was  the  Irish 
surname  assumed  by  the  Berminghams,  from  Pierce,  or 
Piarus,  son  of  Meyler  Bermingham,  their  ancestor. 


FETID   OF  DE  YESCT   AND   FITZGERALD. 


249 


with  tirades  ■n'orthy  of  Billingsgate ;  if 
we  may  credit  the  annalist  Holiushed, 
who  pretends  to  record  the  proceedings 
with  accuracy.  FitzThoraas  concluded 
his  speech  with  a  defiance,  sayiug— 
"  wherefore,  to  justify  that  I  am  a  true 
subject,  and  that  thou,  Vescy,  art  an 
arch  traytor  to  God  and  my  king,  I 
here,  in  the  presence  of  his  highness, 
and  in  the  hearing  of  this  honorable 
assembl)',  challenge  the  combat."  The 
council  shouted  applause ;  the  appeal 
to  single  combat  was  admitted ;  but 
when  the  day,  named  by  the  king,  had 
arrived,  it  was  found  that  De  Vescy 
had  fled  to  France.  Edward  then  be- 
stowed on  the  baron  of  OflPaly  the  lord- 
ships of  Kildare  and  Rathangan,  which 
had  been  held  by  his  antagonist,  ob- 
serving, that  "although  De  Vescy  had 
conveyed  his  person  to  France,  he  had 
left  his  lands  behind  him  in  Ireland."* 
A.  D.  1294 — For  some  years  Kichard, 
the  red  earl,  had  been  riding  rough- 
shod over  the  necks  of  the  jDCople,  both 
within  the  English  territory  and  out- 
side. He  created  and  deposed  the  prin- 
ces of  Ulster,  plundered  Connaught 
more  than  once,  and  was  mixed  up  in 
various  feuds  through  the  country ;  but 
the  great  accession  of  power  which  the 
chief  of  the  Geraldines  had  acquired,  by 
his  triumph  over  De  Vescy,  placed  an 
old  rival,  once  more,  in  a  position  to 

*  The  above  mentioned  John  FitzThomas  FitzGerald, 
baron  of  Oflaly,  was  the  common  ancestor  of  the  two 
great  branches  of  the  Geraldines ;  one  of  his  two  sons, 
John,  the  eighth  lord  of  Offaly,  being  created  earl  of 
Kildare,  and  the  other,  Maurice,  earl  of  Desmond. — 
See  AxchdaU's  Lodge's  Irish  Peerage,  vol.  i.,  63 ;  also 

33 


cojie  with  him.  FitzThoraas  seized  the 
earl  and  his  brother,  William  de  Burgo, 
in  Meath,  and  confined  them  in  the  cas- 
tle of  Ley,  an  event  which  threw  the 
whole  country  into  commotion ;  and 
immediately  after,  along  with  MacFeo- 
rais,  he  made  an  inroad  into  Connaught, 
and  devastated  the  country.  The  fol- 
lowing year  De  Burgo  was  liberated 
by  the  king's  order,  or,  as  Grace  says, 
by  that  of  the  king's  parliament,  at  Kil- 
kenny ;  the  lord  of  Ofiuly,  as  the  same 
annalist  tells  us,  forfeiting  his  castles  of 
Sligo  and  Kildare,  and  his  possessions 
in  Connaught,  as  a  penalty  for  his  ag- 
gression. 

A.  D.  1295. — Sir  John  "Wogan  was 
appointed  lord  justice,  and  having,  by 
his  wise  and  conciliatory  policy,  brought 
about  a  truce  for  two  years  between 
the  Geraldines  and  De  Burgos,  he  sum- 
moned a  parliament  which  met  this 
year  at  Kilkenny.  The  roll  of  this 
parliament  contains  only  twenty-seven 
names,  Kichard,  earl  of  Ulster,  being 
first  on  the  list ;  and  among  the  acts 
passed  was  one  revising  king  John's 
division  of  the  country  into  counties; 
another  provided  for  a  more  strict 
guarding  of  the  marches  or  boundaries 
against  the  Irish ;  by  a  third  a  tax  was 
levied  on  absentees,  to  support  a  mili- 
tary force  to  defend  the  colony ;  and  a 
fourth  enacted  that  private  or  separate 

O'Daly's  Geraldines,  by  the  Kev.  M.  Meehan.  The 
lands  which  were  delivered  to  FitzThoraas  on  this 
occasion  appear  to  have  been  the  principal  subject 
of  dispute  between  him  and  De  Vescy,  who  claimed 
them  in  right  of  his  wife,  an  heiress  of  the  Marshal, 
family. 


250 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD  I. 


truces  should  not  be  made  witli  the 
Irish,  or  war  waged  by  the  barons, 
without  the  license  of  the  lord  justice, 
or  the  mandate  of  the  king.  Other 
laws  restricted  the  number  of  retainers 
whom  the  barons  should  keep,  and  en- 
acted other  regulations.* 

All  this  time  Connanght  and  Ulster 
continued  to  be  desolated  by  fearful 
discord  among  the  Irish  themselves; 
but  the  narrative  would  be  too  monot- 
onous were  we  to  mention  each  melan- 
choly feud  as  it  is  recorded  in  the  faith- 
ful pages  of  our  annalists.  The  whole 
countiy  was  laid  waste;  neither  the 
property  of  church  nor  laymen  was 
spared;  and  dearth  and  pestilence 
stalked  through  the  land.  The  feuds 
of  the  De  Burgos  and  the  Geraldines 
were  once  more  arranged,  in  1298,  and 
among  the  Anglo-Irish  peace  for  a  while 
prevailed. 

A.  D.  130.^. — King  Edward's  expedi- 
tions against  Scotland  were  attended  by 
many  of  the  native  Irish,  as  well  as  by 
the  principal  barons  of  the  Pale,  with 
their  ti-oops.  The  earl  of  Ulster  and 
John  FitzThomas  FitzGerald  accompa- 
nied the  lord  justice  Wogan  on  the 
expedition  of  1296.  It  is  said  that  king 
Edward's  army,  in  1299,  was  composed 
chiefly  of  Irish  and  Welsh.  They  all 
came  in  their  best  array,  and  were 
royally  feasted  at  Roxburgh  castle. 
The  Irish  also  mustered  very  strong  on 

*  A  statute  framed  in  England,  and  entitled  "  an  Or- 
dinance for  the  state  of  Ireland,"  was  sent  over,  in 
1289,  to  be  acted  upon  as  law  in  tliis  country;  and 
shortly  after  (in  1293)  it  was  enacted  that  the  treas- 


the  expedition  of  1303,  when  the  sub- 
jugation of  Scotland  was  temporarily 
eflfected.  Before  leaving  Ireland  on  this 
occasion,  the  red  earl  created  thirty- 
three  knights  in  Dublin  castle.  On  his 
departure  for  the  Scottish  wars,  lord 
justice  Wogan  left  as  his  deputy  Wil- 
liam de  Ross,  prior  of  Kilmainham ;  but 
the  absence  of  so  many  of  the  leading 
men  invariably  gave  occasion  to  insur- 
rectionary movements ;  and  Lelaud  re- 
marks that  at  this  time  "the  utmost 
efforts  of  the  chief  governor  and  of 
the  well-afltected  lords  were  scarcely 
sufficient  to  defend  the  province  of 
Leinster." 

A.  D.  1305. — The  warlike  sept  of 
O'Conor  Faly,  princes  of  Offaly,  had 
for  some  time  shown  themselves  to  be 
among  the  most  dangerous  of  the  "  Irish 
enemies,"  and  the  heroic,  but  hopeless 
struggle,  which  they  continued  to  sus- 
tain for  more  than  two  hundi-ed  years 
after,  iu  their  ancestral  woods  and  fast- 
nesses, against  the  foreign  enemy,  had 
begun  to  occupj'  a  prominent  place  in 
the  records  of  the  time.  Maurice 
O'Conor  Faly,  and  his  brother  Calvagh, 
were  now  the  chiefs  of  the  sept,  and 
the  latter  in  particular  was  called  "  the 
Great  Rebel."  At  one  time  he  defeated 
the  English  in  a  battle  in  which  Meyler 
de  Exeter  and  several  others  were  slain ; 
at  another  he  took  the  castle  of  Kildare, 
and  burned  all  the  records  and  accounts 


urer  of  Ireland  should  account  annually  to  the  exche- 
quer of  England— proceedings  whicli  show  that  on  one 
side,  at  least,  the  ojiinion  was  then  held  that  Ireland 
might  be  bound  by  laws  made  in  England. 


MURDER   OF  THE   CHIEFS   OF   OFFALY. 


251 


relating  to  the  county.  In  order  to  get 
rid  of  so  dangerous  a  foe,  a  deed  of  the 
blackest  treachery  was  resorted  to.  The 
chiefs  of  OfFaly  were  invited  to  dinner 
on  Trinity  Sunday  this  year,  in  the 
castle  of  Peter,  or  Pierce  Bermingham, 
at  Carrick-Carbury,  in  Kildare ;  the 
feast  proceeded,  but  at  its  conclusion, 
as  the  guests  were  rising  fi-oni  the  table, 
every  man  of  them  was  basely  murdered. 
In  this  way  fell  Maurice  O'Conor,  his 
brother  Calvagh,  and  in  all  about  thirty 
chiefs  of  his  clan.  Grace  says  the  mas- 
sacre was  pei'petrated  by  Jordan  Cumin 
and  his  comrades  at  the  court  of  Peter 
Bermingham.  This  Peter  was  ever  after 
'nicknamed  the  "  treacherous  baron."  He 
was  arraigned  before  king  Ed\vard  ;  but 
no  justice  was  ever  obtained  for  this 
most  nefarious  and  treacherous  murder.* 
The  Anglo-Irish  chronicles  record 
several  other  deeds  of  blood  about  the 
conclusion  of  this  reign,  such  as  the 
murder  of  Sin-  Gilbert  Sutton,  in  the 
house  of  Hamon  le  Gras,  or  Grace,  at 
Wexford ;  the  murder  of  O'Brien,  of 
Thomoud ;  the  slaying  of  Donnell,  king 
of  Desmond,  by  his  son  ;  the  slaughter 


*  In  tlie  Harleian  5IS.,  whicli  contains  the  contem- 
porary Anglo-Irisli  song,  on  the  walling  of  New  Ross, 
already  referred  to,  there  is  preserved  an  old  ballad 
celebrating  the  praises  of  the  above-named  Pierce 
Bermingham,  as  a  famous  "  hunter  of  the  Irish  ;"  he 
was  killed  in  1308,  in  battle  with  the  Irish. 

f  Amongst  the  religious  houses  founded  in  Ireland, 
in  the  course  of  the  first  Edward's  reign,  were  the 
Dominican  convent  of  Kilmallock,  founded  by  Gilbert, 
son  of  John  FitzThomas,  lord  of  Offaly,  in  1291 ;  that  of 
Derry,  by  Donnell  Oge  O'Donnell,  in  1274 ;  and  that  of 
Eathbran,  in  Mayo,  the  same  year,  by  Sir  William  de 
Burgo ;  the  Franciscan  convent  of  Clare-Gal  way,  by 
John  de  Cogan,  in  1290  ;  that  of  Buttevant.  the  same 
year,  by  David  Oge  Barry ;   that  of  Galway,  by  Sir 


of  the  O'Conors,  of  Offaly,  by  the 
O-'Dempseys,  near  Geashill ;  the  defeat 
of  Pierce  Bermingham  in  Meath,  and 
the  burning  of  the  town  of  Ballymore 
by  the  Irish  ;  the  narrow  escape  of  the 
English -from  defeat  in  a  well-contested 
battle  at  Glenfell;  and  the  execution 
of  an  English  knight.  Sir  David  Canton, 
or  Condon,  for  the  murder  of  an  Irish- 
man, named  Murtouorh  Balloch.  The 
O'Kellys,  of  Hy-Many,  rose  and  took 
vengeance  on  Edmund  Butler,  for  the 
burning  of  their  town  of  Ahascragh,  in 
the  east  of  the  present  county  of  Gal- 
way, the  English  being  defeated  on  this 
occasion  with  considerable  slaughtei-. 

The  coin  struck  in  England  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
was  made  current  in  Ireland ;  and  in  a 
few  years  after,  the  base  money  called 
crockards  and  pollards  was  condemned 
by  proclamation. 

The  events  in  our  church  history 
during  this  reigil  are  not  very  impor- 
tant.f  The  Four  Masters  and  the  An- 
nals of  Ulster  mention  the  discovery  of 
the  relics  of  SS.  Patrick,  Bridget,  and 
Columbkille,    at   Sabhall,    or   Saul,   in 


■William  de  Burgo,  in  1296 ;  ajid  those  of  Galbally,  In 
Limerick,  by  the  03riens ;  Killeigh,  in  the  King's 
county,  by  the  O'Conors  Faly ;  and  Ross,  in  Wexford, 
by  Sir  John  Devereus ;  the  Augustiniau  convents  of  the 
Red  Abbey  in  Cork ;  Limerick  (by  the  O'Briens) 
Drogheda  ;  Clonmines,  in  Wexford  (l>y  the  Kavanaghs) ; 
and  Dungarvan,  by  FitzThomas,  of  Offaly  ;  and  finally 
the  Carmelite  convents  of  Dublin  (Whitefriar-street),  by 
Sir  Richard  Bagot ;  Ardee,  by  Ralph  Peppard ;  Drogh- 
eda, by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  ;  Galway,  by  the  De 
Burgos ;  RathmuUin,  in  Donegal ;  Castle  Lyons,  in 
Cork,  by  the  Barrys ;  Kildare,  by  De  Vescy,  in  1290  ; 
and  Thurles,  by  the  Butler  family,  about  the  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 


OK'^ 


REIGlSr  OF  EDWARD  II. 


Down,  by  Nicholas  MacMaelisa,  arcli- 
bishop  of  Armagh,  ia  1293  ;  whence  it 
is  clear  that  our  native  annalists  either 
had  not  heard  of,  or  did  not  believe, 


the  statement  which  has  already  been 
noticed  on  the  authority  of  Cambreusis, 
of  the  discovery  of  these  relics  in  the 
cathedral  of  Down,  in  the  year  1185. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


EEIGlSr     OF     EDWAED     H. 

Piers  Gaveston  in  Ireland. — Fresli  Wars  in  Connaught — tlie  Clann  Murtougli. — Civil  Broils  in  Thomond.— Feud 
of  De  Clare  and  De  Burgo. — Growth  of  National  Feelings. — Invitation  to  King  Botiert  Bruce. — Memorial  of 
the  Irish  Princes  to  Pope  John  XXII. — The  Pope's  Letter  to  the  English  king. — The  Scottish  Expedition  to 
Ireland. — Landing  of  Edward  Bruce. — First  Exploits  of  the  Scottish  Army. — Proceedings  of  Felim  and  Rory 
O'Connor. — Disastrous  War  in  Connaught. — The  Battle  of  Athenry. — Siege  of  Carrickfergus. — General  Rising 
of  the  Irish. — Campaign  of  1317. — Arrival  of  Robert  Bruce. — Arrest  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster. — Consternation  in 
Dublin. — The  Scots  at  Castleknock. — Their  March  to  the  South. — Their  Retreat  from  Limerick. — Effects  of 
the  Famine. — Retreat  of  the  Scots  to  Ulster. — Robert  Bruce  Returns  to  Scotland. — Liberation  of  the  earl  of 
Ulster. — Battle  of  Faughard,  and  Death  of  Edward  Bruce. — National  Prejudices. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Seenta.—Fope  John  XXII. — Kings  of  France :  Louis  X.,  Philip  V.,  and  Cliarles  IV. — 
King  of  Scotland,  Robert  Bruce.— Suppression  of  tlie  Knights  Templars,  1312. — William  Tell  flourished,  and  Switzerland 
became  Independent,  1315.— Dante  died,  1321.  ^ 


(A.  D.  1307  TO  A.  D.  1337.) 


TNDIGNANT  at  the  honors  conferred 
-*-  by  Edward  II.  on  his  favorite.  Piers 
Gaveston,  who  was  recalled  from  ban- 
ishment by  that  weak-minded  prince  on 
his  accession  to  the  throne,  the  barons 
loudly  expressed  their  anger  and  dis- 
gust; and  parliament  demanded,  in  a 
peremptory  tone,  the  expulsion  of  the 
royal  minion.  Edward  made  a  show  of 
compliance,  but  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  the  place  he  had  selected  for  his 
favorite's  exile  was  Ireland,  where,  in 


1308,  he  invested  him  with  the  dignity 
of  lord  lieutenant,  accompanying  him 
on  his  journey  as  far  as  Bristol.  Not- 
withstanding his  vices,  Gaveston  pos- 
sessed some  of  the  qualities  of  a  good 
soldier.  In  the  lists  he  had  shown  him- 
self a  match  for  any  knight  in  England, 
and  in  his  Irish  office  he  displayed  no 
small  amount  of  energy.  He  led  an 
army  against  the  O'Dempseys  of  Clau- 
malier,  in  Leinster,  and  killed  their  chief, 
Derraot,  at  Tullow.     He  next  defeated 


FRESH  WARS  IN   CONNAUGHT. 


253 


the  O'Byrnes,  of  Wicklow,  and  opened 
a  road  between  castle  Kevin  and  Glen- 
dalougb,  in  that  territory.  He  also 
rebuilt  some  castles  whicli  tlie  Irish 
had  demolished ;  but  his  career  in  this 
country  was  brief.  Twelve  months 
after  his  arrival  he  was  recalled  to 
England  by  his  royal  master,  and  three 
years  later  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
barons,  at  Scarborough  castle,  and  ^yith 
their  sanction  beheaded  by  the  earl  of 
Warwick.* 

A.  D.  1309. — Connanght  still  contin- 
ued to  be  torn  by  discord.  Hugh,  son 
of  Owen,  of  the  race  of  Cathal  Crovderg, 
was  slain  this  year  by  Hugh  O'Couor, 
surnamed  Breifneach,  one  of  the  restless 
and  ambitious  Clann  Murtough,  and  a 
fresh  war  arose  for  the  succession.  Mac- 
William,  as  the  head  of  the  Burkes  of 
Conuaught,  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Cathal  Crovderg  branch.  A  conference 
was  held  near  Elphiii  between  him  and 
Rory,  Hugh  Breifneach's  brother,  who 
had  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  Con- 
naught;  but,  as  often  happened  on 
these  occasions,  the  conference  was  con- 
verted into  a  battle,  and  Rory  being 
defeated,  was  driven  beyond  the  Curlieu 


*  Piers  Gaveston,  thoiigli  of  humble  birth,  was  mar- 
ried to  a  niece  of  the  king's,  that  is,  to  a  sister  of  De 
Clare,  earl  of  Gloucester.  De  Clare's  second  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  the  carl  of  Ulster  ;  and  De  Clare's  daughter, 
by  a  former  marriage,  was  married  to  the  earl  of  Ulster's 
son.  Notwithstanding  these  alliances,  Gaveston  was 
despised  and  hated  by  the  haughty  Anglo-Irish  barons  ; 
and  the  earl  of  Ulster,  in  order  to  despite  him,  kept  up 
a  kind  of  royal  state  at  Trim. — See  Grace')  Annals. 

f  Grace's  Annals,  p.  56,  note  k.  The  principle  of  ex- 
cluding those  of  the  hostile  race,  was  acted  upon  in  the 
religious  establishments  of  both  Irish  and  English  ;  but 
in  the  former  it  evinced  no  little  courage  on  the  part  of 


mountains.  Next  year  Hugh  Breifneach 
was  treacherously  killed  by  one  Johnock 
MacQuillan,  who  was  on  bonaght  with 
him,  and  was  hired  by  MacWilliam 
Burke  to  commit  the  murder ;  but  Mac- 
Quillan himself  was  slain  the  following 
year  at  Ballintubber  with  the  same  axe 
which  he  had  used  in  killing  the  Clann 
Murtough  prince.  Felim,  son  of  Hugh, 
son  of  Owen  O'Conor,  of  the  race  of 
Cathal  Crovderg,  was  now,  by  the  in- 
fluence of  his  foster-father,  Mulrony 
MacDermot,  chief  of  Moylurg,  inau- 
gurated king  of  Connanght  while  still 
almost  in  his  boyhood;  and  was,  for 
several  years,  maintained  in  his  author- 
ity by  that  clan. 

Sir  John  Wogan  being  re-appointed 
lord  justice  for  the  third  time,  sum- 
moned a  parliament,  which  met  this 
year  (1309)  at  Kilkenny.  Some  strin- 
gent laws  were  here  made  to  repress 
robbery,  particularly  that  committed 
by  persons  of  noble  birth,  and  their 
retainers  ;  forestalling  was  prohibited  ; 
and  it  is  sujjposed  that  the  law  by 
which  Irish  monks  were  excluded  from 
religious  houses  within  the  English 
pale,  was  repealed  on  this  occasion.f 

the  defenceless  monks.  "  In  the  abbey  of  Mellifont," 
Bays  Cos,  quoting  from  a  record  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don, "a  regulation  was  made  in  1323  that  no  person 
should  be  admitted  into  that  house  until  he  had  made 
oath  that  he  was  not  of  English  descent."  Dr.  Kelly 
(Camh.  Ever.,  ii.,  p.  543,  note)  says,  "  In  1250,  Innocent 
rV.  addressed  a  letter  to  the  archbishop  of  Dublin  and 
the  bishop  of  Ossory,  complaining  that  Irish  bishops 
excluded  aU  Anglo-Irish  from  canonries  in  their 
churches:  he  ordered  them  to  rescind  that  rule  one 
month  after  the  receipt  of  his  letter,  on  the  Christian 
principle  that  the  sanctuary  of  God  should  not  be  held 
by  hereditary  right.    This  principle,  however,  became 


254 


REIGN"   OF  EDWARD  II. 


A  scarcity  prevailed  the  following 
year,  when  a  crannoc,  or  bushel,  of 
wlieat  sold  for  203.,  and  the  bakers 
were  di-asfcjed  on  hurdles  throusfh  the 
streets  for  usinfj  false  weiijhts. 

A.  D.  1311. — Civil  broils  raged  in 
Thomoud  between  the  MacNaniaras 
and  O'Briens,  the  former  being  defeated; 
and  subseqiiently  the  chieftain  Don- 
uongh  O'Brien  was  treacherously  slain 
by  Murrough,  son  of  Mahon  O'Brien ; 
but  these  feuds  were  thrown  into  the 
shade  by  those  which  prevailed  in  the 
same  province  between  De  Clare  and 
William  de  Burgo,  the  latter  and  John 
FitzWalter  Lacj''  lieiiig  made  prisoners 
at  Bunratty  by  De  Clare.*  The  lord 
justice  was  defeated  in  attempting  to 
put  down  a  revolt  of  Sir  Robert  Verdon ; 
and  the  O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles  of 
Wicklow  menaced  the  walls  of  Dub- 
lin. 

A.  D.  1315. — AVe  have  arrived'  at  an 
epoch  in  our  history,  memoi-able  not 
only  for  the  importance  of  its  events, 
but  for  the  dawn  of  an  intelligible 
national  feeling  among  the  Irish  ^irinces, 
and  for  the  first  movement  which  merits 

the  exception  in  Ireland,  in  all  churclies  and  religious 
houses  under  the  English  power,  down  to  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  the  contrary  principle  was  enacted  as  the  rule  by 
the  statute  of  Kilkenny  (of  A.  D.  13G7),  which  excluded 
all  Irish  from  English  churches  and  religious  houses, 
unless  they  had  been  qualified  by  a  royal  letter  of 
denizenship.  The  effect  of  this  law  was  to  exclude  the 
Irish  not  only  from  almost  all  the  houses  founded  by 
tlie  Anglo-Irish,  but  from  a  very  great  number  founded 
by  themselves,  which  had  fallen  under  the  English 
power.  A  few  years  (1515)  before  Luther  began  to 
preach  his  opinions,  Leo  X.  issued  a  bull  confirming  the 
exclusion  of  the  native  Irish,  even  though  qualified  by 
a  royal  letter,  from  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Dublin ; 
and  on  the  same  principle,  a  few  years  before,  Dean 


the  name  of  a  patriotic  effort  to  shake 
off  the  English  yoke.  The  Scots  had 
just  set  a  noble  example  by  their  suc- 
cessful struggle  for  national  indepen- 
dence. By  their  glorious  victory  at 
Baunockburn,  on  June  25th,  1314,  they 
had  effectually  rid  their  country  of 
English  bondage.  A  strong  sympathy 
had  been  excited  in  the  north  of  Ireland 
for  their  cause.  In  the  early  days  of 
his  struggle  (1306),  Robert  Bruce,  the 
now  triumphant  king  of  Scotland,  had 
found  shelter  and  succor  in  the  island 
of  Rathlin,  on  the  Irish  coast.  Some  of 
the  Ulster  chieftains  subsequently  joined 
in  an  expedition  in  his  aid ;  but  their 
attempt  Avas  aboi'tive,  for  on  landing  in 
Scotland,  they  were  encountered  by  the 
English  army,  and  almost  all  cut  to 
pieces.  The  summons  of  the  English 
king,  when  mustering  an  army  against 
Scotland,  in  this  war,  was  not  responded 
to  by  the  native  Ii'ish ;  and  when  the 
Scots  M'ere  triumphant,  the  Irish  of  the 
northern  province  lost  no  time  in  ap- 
pealing to  them,  as  a  kindred  people, 
to  help  them  in  ridding  themselves  of 
the  same  foreign  thraldom,  and  proposed 


Allen  bequeathed  charities  to  the  poor,  provided  they 
were  Anglo-Irish. 

*  Connell  Mageoghegan,  wlio  translated  the  Annals 
of  Clonmacnoise  in  1627,  appends  to  the  record  of  the 
last  event  mentioned  above,  the  following  note: — 
"  This  much  I  gather  out  of  this  historian,  whom 
I  take  to  be  an  authentic  and  worthy  prelate  of  the 
church,  that  would  tell  nothing  but  truth,  that  there 
reigned  more  dissensions,  strife,  warrs,  and  debates,  be- 
tween tiie  English  themselves  in  the  beginning  of  the 
conquest  of  this  kiugdome,  than  between  the  Irishmen, 
as  by  perusing  the  warrs  between  the  Lacies  of  Meath, 
John  Courcey,  earle  of  Ulster,  William  Marshall,  and 
the  English  of  Meath  and  Munster,  MacGerald,  the 
Burkes,  Butler  and  Cogan,  may  appear." 


MEMORIAL  TO   THE  POPE. 


to  Robert  Bruce  to  make  bis  brother, 
Edward,  king  of  Ireland. 

About  tliis  time  Donnell  O'Neill, 
king  of  Ulster,  with  other  Irish  princes 
of  that  ])roviuce,  acting  in  the  name  of 
the  Irish  in  general,  addressed  a  me- 
morial, or  remonstrance,  to  the  sover- 
eign pontiff,  John  XXII.,  setting  forth 
the  grievances  which  their  country  suf- 
fered under  the  English  3'oke.*  This 
interesting  document  glances  at  the 
early  history  of  Ireland,  to  show  the 
right  of  the  Ii-ish  to  national  indepen- 
dence ;  it  then  refers  to  the  false  state- 
ments by  which  his  Holiness's  predeces- 
sor, Adrian  IV.,  had  been  induced  to 
transfer  the  sovereignty  of  their  country 
to  Henry  11. ;  it  points  out  how  utterly 
unworthy  that  impious  king  was  of  the 
confidence  which  pope  Adrian  had  re- 
posed in  him — how  he  had  perverted 
the  papal"  grant  to  his  own  unjust  pur- 
poses ;  how  he  and  his  successors  had 
violated  the  conditions  under  which  his 
entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  Ireland 
had  been  sanctioned ;  how  the  church 
of  Ireland  had  been  plundered  by  the 
English,  the  church  lands  confiscated, 
and  the  pereons  of  the  clergy  as  little 
respected  as  their  property ;  how  vices 
had  been  imported,  and  the  Irish,  in- 
stead of  being  reformed,  deprived  of 
their  primitive  candor  and  simplicity; 
how  the  protection  of  the  English  laws 
was  denied  to  them,  so  that  when  an 
Englishman  murdered  an  Irishman,  as 

*  This  memorial  would  appear  to  have  been  ■nTitten 
during  the  period  of  Bruce's  invasion,  and  afcer  the  pope 
had  heeu  induced  by  the  English  government  to  con- 


frequently  happened,  his  ciime  was  not 
punishable  before  an  English  tribunal ; 
and  how  the  English  clergy  treated 
them  with  shameful  injustice  by  refusing 
to  Irish  religious  admission  even  into 
the  monastic  institutions  which  had 
been  founded  and  endowed  by  their 
Irish  ancestors.  The  memorial  enumer- 
ates some  of  the  atrocities  of  the  Eno^- 
lish  in  Ireland,  such  as  the  treacherous 
massacre  of  the  chiefs  of  Offaly  at  the 
dinner-table  of  Pierce  Bermin2:ham,  and 
the  murder  of  Brian  Roe  O'Brien  by 
Thomas  de  Clare:  and  it  proceeds:  — 
"Let  no  person,  then,  wonder  if  we 
endeavor  to  preserve  our  lives  and 
defend  our  liberties,  as  best  we  can, 
against  those  cruel  tyrants,  usurpers  of 
our  just  properties,  and  murderers  of 
our  persons.  So  far  from  thinking  it 
unlawful,  we  hold  it  to  be  a  meritorious 
act;  nor  can  we  be  accused  of  perjury 
or  rebellion,  since  neither  our  fathers 
nor  we  did  at  any  time  bind  oureelves, 
by  any  oath  of  allegiance,  to  their 
fathers  or  to  them ;  wherefore,  Avithout 
the  least  remorse  of  conscience,  while 
breath  remains,  we  shall  attack  them  in 
defence  of  our  just  rights,  and  never  lay 
down  our  arms  until  we  force  them  to 
desist."  In  conclusion,  the  Irish  princes 
inform  his  Ploliness,  "  that  in  order 
to  attain  their  object  the  more  speedily 
and  surely,  they  had  invited  the  gallant 
Edward  Bruce,  to  whom,  being  de- 
scended from  their  most  noble  ancestors, 

demn  the  proceedings  of  the  Scots.  It  makes  no  aUu- 
eion  to  this  condemnation,  but  adopts  a  dignified  tona 
of  justification. 


256 


REIGN   OF   EDWARD   II. 


the}'    had    transferred,   as    tliey  justly 
might,  their  own  right  of  royal  domin- 


ion. 


IMovcd  by  the  repi-esentations  con- 
tained in  this  memorial,  pope  John 
addressed,  a  few  years  later,  a  strong 
letter  to  Edward  III.,  in  which,  refer- 
ring to  the  bull  granted  by  pope  Adrian 
to  Henry  II.,  his  Holiness  says,  that  "  to 
the  object  of  that  bull  neither  Henry 
nor  his  successors  paid  any  regard,  but 
that,  passing  the  bounds  that  had  been 
prescribed  to  them,  they  had  heaped 
upon  the  Irish  the  most  unheard  of 
miseries  and  persecution,  and  had,  during 
a  long  period,  imposed  on  them  a  yoke 
of  slavery  which  could  not  be  borne." 
His  Holiness  earnestly  urges  the  Eng- 
lish king  to  adopt  a  different  policy ; 
to  reform  as  speedilj^  as  possible,  and  in 
a  suitable  manner,  the  evils  under  which 
the  Irish  labored,  and  to  remove  their 
just  causes  of  complaint,  "lest  it  might 
be  too  late  hereafter  to  apply  a  remedy, 
when  the  spirit  of  revolt  has  grown 
stronger."  f 

Kobert  Bruce  received  with  avidity 
the  invitation  of  the  Insh,  as  it  j^romised 
a  favorable  field  for  the  military  energy 
and  ambition  of  his  brother,  Edward, 
who  had  already  begun  to  demand  a 
share  in  the  sovereignty  of  Scotland. 
An  expedition  to  Ireland  Avas,  there- 
fore, prepared  as  soon  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  and  on  the  26th  of  May, 


*  The  original  Latin  of  this  memorial  is  preserved  by 
Fordun. 

Translations  of  the  memorial  will  be  found  in  PloiB- 
den' s Historical  Ecvicw,  Charles  0' Conor's  Suppressed  Me- 


131.5,  Edward  Bruce,  who  was  stjded 
earl  of  Cai-rick,  arrived  oif  the  coast  of 
Antrim  with  a  fleet  of  300  sail,  from 
which  an  army  of  6,000  men  was  disem- 
barked at  Larne — or  as  some  say,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Glendun  rivei-,  in  the 
county  of  Antrim.  He  was  accompa- 
nied by  the  earl  of  Moray,  John  Mon- 
teith,  John  Stewart,  John  Campbell, 
Thomas  Randolph,  sou  of  the  earl  of 
Moray,  Fergus  of  Ardossan,  John  de 
Bosco,  <fec.  This  event  filled  the  coun- 
try with  excitement  and  consternation. 
The  Irish  flocked  in  great  numbei's  to 
Bruce's  standard,  and  the  Anglo-Irish 
of  Ulster  were  quickly  defeated  in  sev- 
eral encounters.  There  is  great  confu- 
sion in  the  accounts  given  of  the  first 
exploits  of  Edward  Bruce  in  Ireland ; 
apparently  not  arising  from  intentional 
misstatement,  but  from  a  transposition 
in  the  order  of  events  by  some  of  the 
old  chroniclers.  It  would  appear  that 
Dundalk,  Ardee,  and  some  other  places 
in  Oriel  were  taken  and  destroyed  in 
rapid  succession  by  the  invaders,  and 
that  the  church  of  the  Carmelite  friary 
of  Ardee  was  burned,  with  a  number  of 
the  Anglo-Irish  who  had  sought  refuge 
in  it.  The  red  earl  raised  a  powerful 
army,  chiefly  in  Connaught,  and  marched 
against  Bruce  ;  and  on  meeting  the  lord 
justice,  Sir  Edmund  Butler,  with  a 
Leinster  army,  also  proceeding  against 
the  Scots,  he  told  him  rather  haughtily 


moirs,  Taafe's  History,  and  the  AUbe  Mageogliegan,  p. 
323.    Duffy's  Edition. 

\  See  this  letter  of  pope  John's  ia  O'Sullivan's  Hist. 
Cath.  Hib.,  p.  70,  DubUn,  1850. 


DISASTROUS  WAR  IX  CONNAUGIIT. 


257 


tliat  Le  Avould  take  tlie  work  upon  him- 
self, wliicli,  as  eaii  of  Ulster,  lie  con- 
ceived it  to  be  bis  duty  to  do,  and 
Avould  deliver  Edward  Bruce,  dead  or 
alive,  iuto  the  hands  of  the  justiciary. 
The  two  Anglo-Irish  armies,  neverthe- 
less, formed  a  junction  somewhere  near 
Duudalk.  Previous  to  this,  as  it  would 
appear  from  some  accounts,  Bruce  was 
induced  by  O'Neill  to  march  northward, 
and  to  cross  the  Bann  at  Coleraine, 
breaking  down  the  bridge  after  him ; 
but  this  move,  whether  made  at  this 
time  or  subsequently,  was  found  to  have 
been  a  Avrong  one,  and  the  Scottish 
army  was  afterwards  ferried  across  the 
river  at  a  more  southerly  point,  by  one 
Thomas  of  Down,  who  employed  four 
small  vessels  for  the  purpose.  Accord- 
ing to  an  Ii'ish  authority,*  the  earl  of 
Ulster's  army  marched  on  one  side  of 
the  Bann,  and  the  Scottish  army  on  the 
other,  so  that  the  archers  on  both  sides 
could  exchange  shots ;  and  soon  after 
the  Scots  had  been  ferried  over  the 
river,  as  just  mentioned,  the  English 
army,  weakened  by  the  defection  of 
Felim,  the  king  of  Connaught,  who  had 
hitherto  acted  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  red 
earl,  was  routed  near  Connor,  and  Wil- 
liam de  Burgo,  the  earl's  brother,  with 
several  of  the  English  knights,  taken 
pi-isoners.  This  battle,  according  to 
Grace,  was  fought  on  the  10th  of  Se-p- 
teniber,  and  Dundalk  had  been  captured 
on  SS.  Peter  and  Paul's  day,  the  29  th 


*  Annals  of  Cloninacnoise. 

f  See  the  accounts  of  these  transactions  from  Mageo- 
ghegan's  translation  of  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  in 
33 


of  June.  After  the  battle  of  Connor, 
the  red  earl  fled  to  Connaught,  where 
he  remained  for  that  year  without  a 
vestige  of  an  army ;  and  a  portion  or 
the  defeated  English  made  their  way  to 
Carrickfergus,  Avhere  some  of  them  en- 
tered the  castle,  and  bravely  defended 
it  against  the  Scots.  Edward  Bruce, 
who  had  already  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  king  of  Ireland,  left  some 
men  to  cany  on  the  siege  of  Carrick- 
fergus, and  marched  with  the  main 
body  of  his  small  army  towards  the 
south.f 

A.  D.  1316. — We  are  now  com2")ened 
to  follow  our  annalists  into  Connaucrlit. 
where  events  most  disastrous  to  the 
Irish  cause  were  taking  place.  Felim 
O'Conor  having,  as  we  have  seen,  ac- 
companied the  red  earl  of  Ulster,  had 
entered  into  correspondence  with  Ed- 
ward Bruce,  and  consented  to  hold 
from  him  his  kingdom  of  Connaught; 
but  in  the  meantime,  Eory,  son  of  Ca- 
thal  Roe  O'Conor,  head  of  the  Clanu 
Murtough,  had  taken  up  arms  and  kin- 
dled the  flames  of  war  throughout 
Connaught.  He  destroyed  some  En- 
glish castles  in  Roscommon,  and  sent 
off  emissaries  to  Bruce,  who  had  already 
come  to  an  understanding  with  Felim, 
and  who  now  authorized  Rory  to  carry 
on  war  against  the  English,  but  not  to 
meddle  with  Felim's  lands.  Rory  lit- 
tle heeded  this  injunction ;  and  Felim 
found  a  sufficient  excuse  to  return  home 


Four  Masters,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  50-1,  &c.,  note ;  also  G-race's 
Annans,  pp.  63,  &o. 


258 


REIGN   OF   EDWARD   II. 


to  defend  his  territory  against  the  dep- 
redations of  the  Claun  Miirtough  chief. 
A  series  of  sanguinary  conflicts  took 
place  between  them.  Several  chiefs 
fell  on  both  sides ;  and  great  cattle 
sjDoils  were  lost  and  won.  Eveli  Fe- 
lim's  foster-father,  Mulrony  MacDer- 
mot,  turned  for  a  while  to  Kory's  side, 
ashamed  at  seeing  himself  one  of  a 
crowd  of  crest-fallen  chieftains  at  the 
house  of  the  red  earl,  who  had  just  re- 
turned from  his  defeat  at  Connor.  The 
result  was  still  doubtful,  when  Felim, 
early  in  the  present  j'ear  (1316),  mus- 
tered a  numerous  army,  comjiosed  part- 
ly of  Englishmen  under  Bermingham, 
and  penetrated,  in  pursuit  of  Kory, 
through  the  bocjs  in  the  north-east  of 
the  present  county  of  Galway,  by  the 
causeway  then  called  Togher-mona-Con- 
nee.  Rory,  who  had  been  watching 
his  movements  from  the  summit  of  a 
hill,  here  gave  him  battle,  but  was 
slain,  and  his  army  routed  with  terrible 
slaughter. 

Felim  having  thus  disposed  of  his  ri- 
val, lost  no  time  in  fulfiliug  his  engage- 
ment to  Bruce  and  turned  his  arms 
against  the  English.  He  burned  the 
town  of  Ballyhan,  in  the  east  of  Mayo, 
and  slew  De  Exeter  and  De  Cogan. 
Co-operating  with  the  chiefs  of  all  the 


*  The  Galloglasses  (Qall-oglacli),  who  were  the  heavy- 
armed  foot  soldiers  of  the  Irish,  wore  an  iron  head  piece' 
and  a  coat  of  defc-nce  stuck  ■with  iron  nails,  and  the 
weapons  they  carried  were  a  long  sword  and  a  broad 
keen-edged  axe.  The  Kerns,  or  Keherns,  were  the 
light^armed  infantry,  who  fought  with  darts  or  javelins, 
and  also  carried  swords  and  knives. — Ilarris'  Ware, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  161.     Dr.  O'Conor,  in  his  suppresed  w'ork, 


west  of  Irelaud,  including  the  O'Briens 
of  Thomond,  he  mustered  a  numerous 
army,  with  which  he  marched  to 
Athenr}^,  where  a  large  and  well- 
armed  Anglo-Irish  force  under  William 
de  Burgo  and  Eichard  Bermingham, 
lord  of  the  town,  Avas  entrenched.  A 
fierce  and  desperate  battle  ensued. 
The  coats  of  mail  and  the  skill  of  the 
crossbow-men  gave  the  English  a  great 
superioi'ity ;  but  the  Irish,  whose  best 
soldiers  were  the  Galloglasses,*  fought 
with  unflinching  bravery,  and  by  their 
own  accounts  lost  that  day  11,000  men, 
among  whom  w'as  their  gallant  and 
youthful  king,  Felim,  then  only  in  his 
twejity-third  year.  Cox  says  that  8,000 
of  the  Irish  were  slain.  Some  of  the 
ancient  families  of  Connausrht  were 
almost  exterminated,  so  great  was  the 
slaughter  of  the  native  Irish  gentiy, 
and  it  was  said  that  no  man  of  the 
O'Conors  was  left  in  all  Connau<rht 
capable  of  bearing  arms  except  Felim's 
brother.  This  battle  was  fought  on  St. 
Laurence's  day,  the  10th  of  August,  and 
was  the  most  sanguinary  that  liad  taken 
place  since  the  Anglo-Noi'mau  invasion. 
In  it  the  chivalry  of  Connaught  was 
crushed,  and  irretrievable  injury  inflict- 
ed on  the  Irish  cause.f 

The  Scots  seem  to  have  wasted  the 


Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Wnlinr/s  of  Charles  O'Conoi- 
of  Belanagaer,  observes  that  the  English  were,  at  tlie 
battle  of  Athenry,  well  armed  and  drawn  u]i  in  regular 
systematic  array,  and  that  the  Irish  fought  without 
armor. 

f  A  story  is  told  of  a  young  man  of  the  Anglo-Irish  oi 
Athenry,  named  Hussey,  who  is  called  by  Grace  a  butch- 
er, going  out  after  the  battle  to  search  for  the  body  of 


BRUCE   BEFORE   CARRICKFERGUS. 


259 


remainder  of  the  year  1315  in  a  fruit- 
less siege  of  Currickfergus  castle ;  but 
on  receivinsf  a  reinforcement  of  500 
men,  on  St.  Nicholas'  day  (December 
6th),  Bruce  set  out  on  his  march  to  the 
south.  His  route  was  apparently  by 
the  north  of  Meath,'  through  Nobber 
and  Kells  to  Finnagh  in  West  Meath, 
thence  to  Granard  in  Longford,  and 
Lough  Seudy,  where  he  spent  Christ- 
mas. Thence  he  passed  through  West 
Meath  and  part  of  the  King's  county 
into  Kildare,  to  Rathangan,  Castleder- 
mot,  Athy,  Rheban,  and  Arscoll,  where 
he  was  opposed  by  Edmond  Butler,  the 
justiciary,  whom  he  defeated.  He  then 
retui'ued  towards  Ulster,  burning  in  his 
t\'ay  the  castle  of  Ley,  and  jjassing 
through  Geashill  and  Fowre  to  Kells, 
his  army  spreading  desolation  along  its 
route.*  At  the  last-named  town,  Sir 
Roger  Mortimer  met  him  with  an  army 
of  15,000  men,  which  was  put  shame- 
fully to  flight ;  the  defeat  being  attrib- 
uted by  the  English  to  the  defection  of 
some  of  their  men,  especially  the  De 
Li'icys.  Mortimer  fled  to  Dublin,  and 
others  made  their  escape  to  Trim  ;  and 
in  the  mean  time,  the  L'ish  everywhere 
rose  in  arms.  In  the  heart  of  the  Eng- 
lish territory  the  O'Tooles  and  O'Byrnes 
burnt  Arldow,  Newcastle,  and  Bray; 
and  the  O'Mores  rose  in  Leix,  where, 
however,  they  were  soon  after  defeated 


O'Kelly,  the  chief  of  Hy-Many,  and  of  Ms  meeting  that 
chieftain  still  alive,  and  kUling  him  under  very  improb- 
able circumstances.  It  is  added  that  he  brought  O'Kel- 
ly's  head  to  Bermingham,  who  knighted  Hussey  on  the 
spot,  and  that  the  latter  subsequently  obtained  the  lands 


with  great  slaughter  by  Edmond  Butler. 
The  Ano'lo-Irish  barons  were  at  leniyth 
thoroughly  aroused  to  the  danger  of 
their  position,  and  gathering  round 
Lord  John  Hotham,  who  was  deputed 
specially  to  them  on  the  occasion  by 
the  king  of  England,  they  agreed  to 
forego  their  private  quarrels  and  to  act 
together  for  the  defence  of  the  realm. 
Famine  had  at  this  time  begun  to  rav- 
age  the  country,  and  the  Scots  felt  it 
severely.  Edward  Bruce  retired  into 
Ulster,  where  he  exercised  all  the  au- 
thority of  a  king,  holding  parliaments, 
deciding  causes,  and  levying  supplies, 
without  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
Enejlish  to  disturb  him. 

As  summer  advanced,  Edward  Bruce 
made  his  appearance  once  more  before 
Carrickfergus,  where  Thomas  Mande- 
ville  had  succeeded  in  throwing  in  re- 
inforcements, and  the  garrison  had  been 
thus  enabled  constantly  to  annoy  the 
Scots  in  the  neio'hborhood.  The  sieofe 
Avas  prolonged  until  September,  when 
king  Robert  Bruce,  finding  that  his 
brother  w^as  not  making  the  j^rogress 
which  he  had  exj)ected  in  L'eland,  came 
over  himself;  and  the  operations  of  the 
besiefjers  beinsj  conducted  with  fresh 
energy,  the  garrison  at  length  surren- 
dered on  honorable  terms,  having  been, 
in  the  course  of  the  siege,  so  hard  pressed 
by  hunger,  that  they  ate  hides  and  fed 


of  Galtrim,  of  which  his  family  became  barons.     Riciiard 
Bermingham  was  created  baron  of  Athenry  for  his  ser- 
vices that  day,  and  the  walls  of  the  town  were  rebuilt 
out  of  part  of  the  spoils  of  the  Irish. 
*  Grace's  Annals,  p.  G7,  note  u. 


2fiO 


REIGX   OF  EDWARD   II. 


on  the  bodies  of  eight  Scots  whom  they 
had  made  prisoners.  The  remainder  of 
1316  was  consumed  in  desultory  efforts, 
in  -nhich  the  English  gained  some  ad- 
vantasres  asrainst  the  Irish  in  the  centre 
and  the  west,  and  in  one  instance 
against  the  Scots,  of  whom  John  Logan 
and  Huoh  Bisset  slew  300  in  Ulster,  on 
the  1st  of  November. 

A.  D.  1317. — All  parties  prepared  to 
put  forth  their  utmost  strength  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year.  The  Scot- 
tish army  in  Ireland  at  this  time  was 
comjiuted  at  20,000  men,  besides  an 
irregular  force  of  Irish ;  and  with  this 
army  kina:  Robert  Bruce  and  his  broth- 
er  crossed  the  Boyne,  at  Slane,  after 
Shrovetide.  They  marched  to  Castle- 
knock,  near  Dublin,  on  the  24th  of 
February,  and  took  Hugh  Tyrrel,  the 
lord  of  that  fortress,  prisoner,  making 
the  castle  their  own  quarters.  All  was 
consternation  in  Dublin.  The  Anglo- 
Ii'ish  distrusted  each  other.  About 
two  months  befoi-e  this,  the  De  Lacys, 
having  been  charged  with  treasonably 
aiding  the  Scots,  called  for  an  in\'esti- 
gation,  in  which  they  were  acquitted, 
and  they  then  gave  the  most  solemn 
pledges  of  their  fidelity ;  yet  now  they 
were  actually  under  Bruce's  standard. 
Richard,  earl  of  Ulster,  who  was  far 
advanced  in  years,  and  had  lost  all  his 
former  energy,  was  also  suspected  by 

*  Before  tHs  time,  the  town-walls  were  carried  by  St. 
Owen's,  or  Aiidoen's,  church,  along  the  brow  of  the 
kigb  ground,  some  400  feet  from  tlie  river.  The  mayor 
and  citizens  were  afterwards  compelled  to  restore  the 
cli-urch  of  St.  Saviour ;  but  they  received  aid  from  public 
Bources  to  repair  the  losses  by  the  burning  of  the  sub- 


the  English.  His  daughter,  Elizabeth 
—or,  as  some  say,  his  sister — was  mar- 
ried to  Robert  Bi-uce  in  1302,  and  this 
connection  naturally  gave  ground  for 
suspicion  against  him.  When  the  Scots 
were  approaching  Dublin,  the  earl,  who 
was  living  retired  in  St.  Mary's  Abbey, 
■was  suddenly  arrested  by  the  ma3^or, 
Robert  de  Nottingham,  and  confined  in 
Dublin  castle ;  seven  of  his  servants 
being  killed  in  the  fray  at  his  ari'est, 
and  the  abbey  j^illaged  by  the  soldiery 
and  partly  burned  down.  The  citizens, 
led  on  by  the  mayor,  acted  with  a 
frantic  spirit,  which  may  be  called  in- 
trepidity or  desperation.  To  prepare 
for  the  expected  siege,  they  burned  the 
suburbs,  and  among  the  rest  Thomas- 
street,  with  the  priory  of  St.  Jolin  the 
Baptist,  which  stood  there ;  and  the 
j)opulace  plundered  the  monastery  of 
St.  Mary,  and  St.  Patrick's  church, 
which  were  outside  the  city.  They 
went  so  far  as  to  demolish  the  church 
of  St.  Saviour,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river,  and  to  use  the  materials  in  con- 
structing an  outer  Avail  close  by  the 
river  side,  along  the  present  line  of 
Merchant's-quay  and  the  Wood-quay, 
which  were  then  in  the  suburbs.* 

Robert  Bruce,  learning  that  Dublin 
was  strongly  fortified,  and  judging  of 
the  determination  of  the  citizens  from 
the   flames    of    the   burnin.g    suburbs, 

urbs,  and  were  forgiven  half  their  fee-farm  rent.  They 
were  also  pardoned  for  the  depredations  which  they 
committed  in  so  urgent  a  necessity.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  existence  of  the  English  government  in  Ire 
land  depended  upon  the  fate  of  Dublin  on  this  oc- 
casion. 


AlSr  ANGLO-IRISH  ARMY  MARCH  AGAINST  BRUCE. 


261 


which  he  witnessed  from  a  distance, 
thought  it  better  not  to  risk  the  dehiy 
of  a  siege,  to  carry  on  which  effectually, 
a  considerable  array,  and  shipping  to 
cut  off  supplies  by  water,  would  have 
been  required.  He  therefore  niarched 
towards  the  Salmon  Leap,  on  the  Liffe}-, 
a  locality  which  had  been  famous  in  the 
Danish  wars,  and  having  encamped 
there  four  days,  he  led  his  foi-ces  to 
Naas,  and  in  succession  to  Tristle  Der- 
raot  (castle  Dermot),  Gowran,  and 
Callan,  reaching  the  last-named  place 
about  the  12th  of  March.  He  burnt 
the  towns  and  plundered  the  churches 
along  the  line  of  march,  and  the  English 
chroniclers  say  that  even  the  tombs 
were  opened  by  the  Scots,  in  search  of 
treasure.  An  Ulster  army  of  2,000  men 
offered  their  sei'vices  to  the  English 
authorities  ;  but  when  the  king's  banner 
Avas  given  to  them,  they  did  more  harm, 
says  Grace,  than  all  the  Scots  togethei', 
burning  and  destroying  wherever  they 
came.  Bruce  proceeded  as  far  as  Lim- 
erick without  meeting  any  opposition ; 
but  learning  that  active  preparations 
were  making  in  his  rear — Murtongh 
O'Brien,  say  the  Annals  of  Lmisfallen, 
having  joined  the  English* — he  re- 
treated by  night  from  castle  Connell, 
and  on  Palm  Sunday  (March  2*rth)  was 
at  Kells,  in  Ossory.  Thence  he  marched 
to  Cashel  and  Nenagh,  laying  waste, 
Avith  fire  and  SAVord,  the  English  settle- 


*  Donougli  O'Brien,  cliief  of  Thomond,  who  died  in 
1317,  was  on  tlie  side  of  Bruce. 

t  To  this  period  may  be  referred  an  incident  related 
in  Ulustratiou  of  the  humanity  of  Robert  Bruce.  It  is 
said  that  "  wlule  retreating,  in  circumstances  of  great 


raents  as  he  passed.  All  this  time  his 
army  Avas  sorely  jji-essed  by  famine ; 
and  to  this  cause,  and  his  efforts  to 
procure  food,  may  be  attributed  some 
of  his  marches,  AA'hich  it  would  be  other- 
Avise  hard  to  account  for.f  On  the  30th 
of  March  (Holy  Thursday),  a  well-equip- 
ped Anglo-L'ish  army,  mustering  30,000 
men,  marched  against  Bruce.  Thomas 
FitzGerald,  earl  of  Kildare,  Ricliard  de 
Clai'e,  Arnold  Power  (Le  Poer),  baron 
of  Donnoil  (Dunhill,  in  Watei-ford), 
Maurice  Rochfort,  Thomas  FItzMaurice, 
and  the  Cantetons,  took  the  field  with 
their  numerous  followers  on  the  occa- 
sion :  jet  this  powerful  force  hung 
round  the  camp  of  the  half-starved  and 
diminished  Scottish  army  without  dar- 
ing to  attack  them,  such  Avas  the  dread 
Avith  AA'^hich  Bruce's  name  inspired  them. 
Sir  Roger  Mortimer  returned  from  Ena*- 
land,  as  justiciary,  and  a  council  was 
held  at  Kilkennj'-,  to  delibei-ate  on  their 
position,  but  no  determination  was  ar- 
rived at.  Messengers  Avere  despatched 
to  explain  to  the  king  the  desperate 
state  of  affairs  in  Ireland ;  and  in  the 
mean  time,  the  English  having  moved 
towards  Naas,  Bruce  marched  to  Kil- 
dare, and  from  thence,  in  the  month 
after  Easter,  to  a  Avood  four  miles  from 
Trim,  where  he  halted  for  seven  days  to 
refresh  his  men,  exhausted  by  hunger 
and  fatigue.  On  the  1st  of  May  the 
Scots    retired  to  Ulster;    and    Robert 

difficulty,  he  halted  the  army  on  hearing  the  cries  of  a 
poor  lavandiere,  who  liad  been  seized  with  labor,  com- 
manding a  tent  to  be  pitched  for  her,  and  taking 
measures  for  her  to  pursue  her  journey  when  she  waa 
able  to  travel. — Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii. 


262 


REIGN   OF   EDWARD  II. 


Bruce,  wlio  saw  that  nature  itself  was 
affaiust  him,  and  that  the  Irish  were  not 
organized  to  give  the  support  which  he 
expected,  returned  to  Scotland  with 
earl  Moray,  leaving  behind  his  brother 
Edward,  who  was  I'esolved  to  maintain 
his  position  as  king  of  Ireland. 

Famine  and  pestilence  at  this  time 
devastated  both  England  and  Ireland. 
Many  of  the  rich  were  reduced  to 
penur)^,  and  great  numbers  of  persons 
perished  of  hunger.  Mothers,  it  was 
said,  were  known  to  devour  their  own 
children.  People  stole  the  children  of 
othei's  to  eat  them.  Prisoners  in  jails 
killed  and  ate  new  comers  sent  in  among 
them  ;  and  dead  bodies  were  taken  from 
the  grave  to  be  used  for  food.* 

An  order  was  received  from  the  king 
of  England  for  the  liberation  of  the  earl 
of  Ulster,  but  several  months  elapsed 
and  the  question  had  to  be  debated  in 
a  parliament  held  at  Kilmainham,  before 
the  order  was  complied  with,  the  earl 
giving  pledges  that  he  would  not  re- 
venge himself  on  the  citizens  of  Dublin. 
The  retirement  of  the  Scots  to  Ulster, 
and  Robert  Bi'uce's  return  to  Scotland, 
havinor  relieved  the  English  from  their 
chief  source  of  alarm,  the  justiciary 
directed   his   efforts   against   the  Irish 


*  "  The  pestilential  period  of  the  fourteenth  century," 
6.iys  Dr.  Wilde,  "  was,  both  in  duration  and  intensity, 
the  most  remarkably  calamitous  in  these  annals.  It 
dates  from  1315,  and  lasted  almost  without  interruption 
for  85  years.  It  commenced  with  the  foreign  invasion 
of  the  Scots,  under  Edward  Bruce,  at  a  time  when  the 
country  was  laboring  under  the  double  scourge  of 
famine  and  partial  civil  war,  and  its  effects  were  to 
increase  the  one  and  to  render  the  other  general. 
Epizootics    succeeded,    followed    by    small-pox;    then 


septs,  who  had  risen  in  arms  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  against  wh(Mn 
he  was,  in  general,  successful.  The 
O'Farrells,  O'Tooles,  O'Byrnes,  and  the 
Irish  of  Hy-Kinsellagh  were  subdued 
for  the  time  ;  and  in  the  coui'se  of  this 
year  some  sanguinary  battles  were 
fought  in  Connaught  between  the  rival 
parties  of  tlie  O'Conor  family.  The  De 
Lacys  were  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  lord  justice:  and  on  their  refusal, 
lord  Hugh  de  Custes,  or  Crofts,  was 
sent  to  them,  but  they  put  the  envoy  to 
death.  Mortimer  then  ^jlundered  their 
lands,  and  they  fled,  some  to  Connaught, 
and  others  to  Bruce,  in  Ulster.  One  of 
them,  John  de  Lacy,  who  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  justiciary,  was 
sentenced  to  be  pressed  to  death.  Two 
cardinals  arrived  from  Rome  in  England 
to  bring  about  a  jDeace  between  the 
Scots  and  English,  but  their  efforts  were 
ineffectual. 

A.  D.  1318. — Roger  Mortimer  again 
returned  to  England,  leaving  his  debts 
unpaid,  and  Alexander  Bicknor,  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  was  appointed  justi- 
ciaiy  in  his  stead.  A  good  harvest 
relieved  the  country  from  famine,  and 
the  hostile  armies  were  once  more  able 
to  take  the  field.     Edward  Bruce  had 


dearth  again,  with  imusual  severity  of  the  seasons,  and 
intense  frosts,  accojnpanied  by  the  first  appearance  of 
influenza,  and  an  outbreak  of  the  Barking  Mania.  Sub- 
sequently appeared  the  Black  Death,  the  King's  Game, 
and  the  Third  Pestilence,  portions  of  the  five  general 
and  fatal  epidemics  which  commenced  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.,  and  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  Pestilences  in 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Kichard  II." — Census  of 
Ireland  fur  1831.  'fable  of  deatlis.  See  also  Butler's 
note  to  Grace's  Annals.    An.  lol7. 


DEATH   OF   EDWARD   BRUCE. 


263 


at  this  time,  according  to  some  accounts, 
an  effective  force  of  three  thousand  men. 
Scottish  historians  say  he  had  only  two 
thousand  besides  an  irregular  force  of 
Irish ;  and  those  who  make  his  army 
considerably  more  numerous,  include, 
no  doubt,  his  Irish  auxiliaries.  He 
marched  southwards  as  far  as  Duudalk, 
and  encamped  at  the  hill  of  Faughard, 
within  two  miles  of  that  town.  Under 
his  banner  were  Philip  lord  Mowbray, 
Walter  lord  de  Soulis,  Alan  lord  Stew- 
art, the  three  De  Lacys,  &c.  The  Eng- 
lish army  which  marched  from  Dublin 
to  encounter  this  force  was  commanded 
by  lord  John  Bermingham.  Its  num- 
bers are  variously  stated,  but  they  were 
pi'obably  much  larger  than  that  of 
Bi'uce's  effective  men.  The  memorable 
battle  which  ensued,  and  which  resulted 
in  the  death  of  the  gallant  Bruce  and 
the  ovei'tlirow  of  his  army,  was  fought 
at  Faughard,  on  the  14th  of  October. 
John  Maupas,  an  Anglo-Irish  knight, 
convinced  that  the  fate  of  the  day  de- 
pended on  the  life  of  Bruce,  rushed 
into  the  thick  of  the  enemy,  and,  en- 
gaging with  Edward  Bruce,  slew  him  ; 
his  own  body,  covered  with  wounds, 
being  afterwards  found  lying  on  that 
of  tlie  Scottish  chief.*     This  feat  deter- 

*  The  circumstance  is  differently  related  by  Lodge,  Tvlio 
says,  '■  Sir  John  Bormingham,  encamping  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  enemy,  Roger  de  M<iupas,  a  burgess  of 
Dundalk,  disguised  himself  in  a  fool's  dress,  and  in  that 
character  entering  their  camp,  killed  Bruce  by  striking 
out  his  brains  with  a  plummet  of  lead  ;  he  was  instantly 
cut  to  pieces  and  his  body  found  stretched  over  that  of 
Bruce,  but  for  this  service  his  heir  was  rewarded  with 
40  marks  a  year." — ArchdaU's  Lodge,  vol.  iii.,  p.  33. 

\  The  Four  Masters  record  the  death  of  Bruce  in  the 
following  terms : — "  Edward  Bruce,  the  destroyer  of  the 


mined  the  victory  at  the  very  outset ; 
and  Berfningham,  causing  the  body  of 
Bruce  to  be  cut  in  j^ieces,  sent  the  head, 
or,  as  some  say,  carried  it  himself,  to 
Edward  II.,  and  other  portions  to  be 
exhibited  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  How  unlike  the  chivalrous 
courtesy  exhibited  by  king  Robert 
Bruce  to  his  conquered  enemies  at 
Bannockburn  !  Scottish  historians  say 
the  body  of  Gib  Harper  was  mistaken 
for  that  of  Edwai'd  Bruce,  and  that  the 
remains  of  the  latter  are  interred  in 
Faughard  churchyard,  where  the  peas- 
antry point  out  his  grave ;  but  the 
other  story  is  more  probable ;  and  Ber- 
mingham, as  a  reward  for  Bruce's  head, 
obtained  the  earldom  of  Louth  and  the 
manor  of  Ardee.  From  the  tei-ms  in 
which  the  death  of  Bruce  is  recorded 
by  the  Irish  annalists,  it  is  evident  that 
their  sympathies  were  not  with  him. 
They  erroneously  attribute  to  the  Scot- 
tish invasion  the  famine  and  its  conse- 
quences, although  these  calamities  were 
at  the  time  univei'sal ;  and  the  old 
Scottish  chroniclers  throw,  on  their 
part,  so  much  blame  on  the  Irish  as  to 
show  that  national  prejudices  and  selfish 
views  existed  on  both  sides.f 

Bruce's  invasion  failed  in  its  object. 


people  of  Ireland  in  general,  both  English  and  Irish, 
was  slain  by  the  English  through  dint  of  battle  and 
bravery,  at  Dundalk,  where  also  MacRory,  lord  of  the 
Inse-Gall  (Hebrides),  MacDonnell,  lord  of  Argyle,  and 
many  others  of  the  chiefs  of  Scotland  were  slain  ;  and 
no  achievement  had  been  performed  in  Ireland  for  a 
long  time  before  from  which  greater  benefit  had  accrued 
to  the  country  than  from  this ;  for  during  the  three 
years  and  a-half  that  this  Edward  spent  in  it,  a  uni- 
versal famine  prevailed  to  such  a  degree  that  men  were 
wont  to  devour  one  another." 


264 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD   II. 


and  tlie  gleam  of  liojse  wliicli  had  shone 
forth  for  a  while  rendered  the  darkness 
that  followed  more  disheartening;  but 
the  Irish  were  far  from  being  subdued. 
They  seemed,  on  the  conti-ary,  to  have 
scquired  a  confidence  in  their  own 
strength  which  they  had  not  before. 
Feuds  prevailed  among  conflicting  sec- 
tions of  the  English,  as  Avell  as  of  the 
Irish.  The  former  suffered  some  serious 
defeats  in  Breffny,  Ely  O'Carroll,  Offaly, 
and  Thomond.  In  Connaught,  after 
many  vicissitudes  and  great  waste  of 
human  life,  Turlough  O'Conor,  of  the 
race  of  Cathal  Crovderg,  succeeded,  in 
1324,  in  establishins:  his  ris'ht  as  kincy. 
Richard  de  Burgo,  the  famous  red  earl, 
died  in  1 326.  In  England,  the  wretched 
Edwaid  II.,  after  a  long  war  with  his 
rebellious  barons — who  in  the  end  were 


~  Great  commotion  was  excited  among  tlie  Anglo- 
irisli  in  1335,  by  tlie  prosecution  of  a  respectable  woman, 
named  Alice  Kyteler,  for  witcbcraft,  in  Kilkenny.  Sbe 
bad  married  four  busbands,  and  tbe  last  of  tbese,  witb 
Eome  of  ber  cbildren  by  former  liusbands,  were  ber  cbief 
accusers.  Sbe  bad  accumulated  enormous  wealtb,  all 
of  which  was  conferred  on  ber  favorite  son,  Robert  Out- 
lawe  ;  and  by  the  aid  of  powerful  friends,  among  whom 
were  some  of  tbe  civil  authorities,  sbe  managed  to  es- 
cape to  Eugland.  One  of  her  accomplices,  named  Pe- 
tronilla,  of  Mcalb,  who  confessed  her  particijiatiou  in 
several  acts  of  foul  and  imjiious  superstition,  was,  in 
compliance  with  tbe  ideas  of  tbe  age,  burnt  as  a  soe'co- 
ress.  See  Grace's  Annuls;  also  a  Contemporary  Nar- 
rative, edited  for  tbe  Camden  Society,  by  Thomas 
Wright,  1843. 

A  university  was  founded  in  Dublin,  in  1320,  by 
archbishop  Bicknor,  by  tbe  autliority  of  a  bull  of  pope 
element  V.,  dated  1310;  but  tbe  circumstances  of  tbe 
times  and  tbe  want  of  funds  prevented  its  success. 
Some  vestiges  of  it  still  remained  at  tbe  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  and  the  university  which  Eliza- 


leagued  with  his  profligate  queen  and 
her  paramour,  Koger  Mortimer — was 
finally  most  cruelly  murdered,  in  1327. 
It  was  a  period  when  men's  minds 
were  unsettled,  and  their  manners  de- 
moralized ;  and  for  the  first  time  heresy 
appears  to  have  made  some  inroads  in 
Ireland.  One  Adam  Dufl:',  a  Leiuster 
man,  was,  in  1327,  convicted  of  pro- 
fessing certain  blasjjhemous  and  anti- 
christian  docti'ines,  and  being  handed 
over  to  the  civil  tribunal,  was  sentenced 
to  be  burned  on  Tlogges'-green,  now 
College-green,  in  Dublin.  About  the 
same  time,  some  persons  taught  heretical 
opinions  in  the  diocese  of  Ossory,  where 
they  gained  over  the  seneschal  of  Kil- 
kenny, and  other  official  persons ;  but 
their  doctrines  did  not  spread  among 
the  people,  and  soon  disappeared.* 


beth  subsequently  founded,  and  which  was  so  amply 
endowed  with  ilie  confiscated  church  lands,  has  been 
regarded  by  some  people  as  a  revival  of  that  institution. 
Tbe  number  of  religious  foundations  diminishes  rapidly 
as  we  advance.  Among  those  traced  to  the  reigu  of 
Edward  II.,  are  the  Franciscan  convents  of  Castle  Ly- 
ons, in  Cork,  founded  by  John  de  Barry,  m  1307;  and 
of  Bantry,  founded  by  O'Sullivan,  in  1320  ;  the  Augus- 
tiuian  convent  of  Adare,  in  Limerick,  founded  by  John, 
eai'l  of  Kildare,  1315 ;  that  of  TuUow,  in  Carlow,  by 
Simon  Lombard  and  Hugh  Tallon,  in  1312;  and  the 
Carmelite  convent  of  Athboy,  in  Sleatb,  by  William  de 
Londres,  in  1317.  Tbe  famous  John  Duns  Scotus,  a 
native  of  Down,  in  Ulster,  died  at  Cologne  in  the  year 
1308,  in  tbe  thirty-fourtli  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a 
Franciscan  friar  of  extraordinary  learning,  and  from  tbe 
acuteness  of  his  mind,  was  called  in  tbe  schools  the 
"  Subtle  Doctor."  John  Clyn,  the  author  of  a  chronicle 
of  great  value  in  Irish  history,  also  flourished  about  tliis 
time.  He,  too,  was  a  Franciscan  friar,  and  was  tbe  first 
guardian  of  tlie  convent  of  Carrick-on-Suir,  founded  in 
133G. 


POSITIOX   OF  THE  DIFFEREXT  RACES. 


265 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

EEIGN     OF     EDWARD     HI. 

Position  of  the  different  Eaces. — Great  Feuds  of  tlie  Anglo-IrisTi. — Murder  of  Bermingliam,  Earl  of  Loutli. — Crea- 
tion of  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond. — Counties  Palatine. — Rigor  of  Sir  Anthony  Lucy. — Murder  of  the 
Earl  of  Ulster. — The  Burkes  of  Connaught  abandon  the  English  Language  and  Customs. — Sacrilegious 
Outrages. — Traces  of  Piety. — Wars  in  Connaught. — Crime  and  Punishment  of  Turlough  O'Conor. — Proceed- 
ings in  the  Pale. — English  by  Birth  and  by  Descent. — Ordinances  against  the  Anglo-Irish  Aristocracy. — 
Resistance  of  the  latter. — Sir  Ralph  Ufford's  Harshness  and  Death. — Change  of  Policy  and  its  results. — The 
Black  Death. — Administration  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence. — His  Animosity  against  the  Irish. — The  Statute  of 
Kilkenny. — Effects  of  that  Atrocious  Law. — Exploits  of  Hugh  O'Conor. — Crime  Punished  by  the  Irish  Chief- 
tains.— Victories  of  Niall  O'lVeill. — Difficulties  of  the  Government  of  the  Pale. — Manly  Conduct  of  the  Bishops. 
— General  Character  of  this  Reign. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes:  Benedict  XII.,  Clement  VI.,  Innocent  VI.,  Urban  VI.,  Gregory  XI. — 
Kiiig.s  of  France:  Philip  VI.  of  Valois,  John  II.,  Charles  the  Wise.— Kings  of  Scotland :  David  II.,  Edward  Baliol,  Robert 
Stuart. — Gunpowder  invented,  1330.— Statute  of  Praemunire,  1344 — Gold  first  coined  in  England,  1344. — Order  of  the 
Garter,  1349. — Wickliffe's  tenets  propagated,  1300.— Petrarch  died,  1374. 


(A.  D.  1327  TO  A.  D.  1377.) 


^  I  "^HE  decay  of  the  English  power  in 
-■-  Ireland,  the  narrowing  of  the 
English  Pale,  and  the  fusion  of  the 
older  English  settlers,  or  as  they  had 
begun  to  be  called,  the  "  degenerate 
English,"  with  the  native  population, 
are  marked  characteristics  of  the  period 
of  our  history  which  we  have  now 
reached.  The  authority  of  the  crown 
had  been  declining  throughout  the  two 
preceding  reigns ;  during  Bruce's  inva- 
sion it  was  shaken  to  its  foundation ; 
but  the  alienation  of  the  Ano-lo-L'ish, 
arising  from  the  -impolitic  distinction 
made  by  government  between  the  Eng- 
lish by  birth  and  the  English  by  de- 

34 


scent ;  the  identification,  in  some  in- 
stances, of  the  latter  with  the  native 
Irish,  and  the  recovery  of  large  portions 
of  their  original  territories  by  several 
of  the  Irish  chieftains,  are  all  distin- 
guishing features  of  the  era  which 
commences  with  the  reiojn  of  Edward 
III.  The  great  Anglo-Irish  families  had 
become  septs.  They  confederated  with 
the  Irish  against  their  own  countrj^men, 
or  the  contrary,  almost  indifferently ; 
but  whether  the  administration  of  af- 
faii's  was  intrusted  to  them,  or  to  the 
English  by  bii'th,  it  was  invariably  em- 
ployed for  pm'poses  of  personal  aggran- 
dizement or  revenge ;  and  the  native . 


266 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  III. 


population  were  still  only  recognized  by 
the  government  as  the  "  Irish  enemy," 
— a  legitimate  prey  for  all  plunderers. 

A.  D.  1328. — A  violent  feud  broke 
out  at  the  commencement  of  this  reign 
between  Maurice  FitzThomas,  after- 
wards earl  of  Desmond,  assisted  by 
the  Butlers  and  Berminghams,  and  lord 
Arnold  Poer,  who  was  aided  by  the 
great  family  of  the  De  Burgos.  Poer 
called  FitzGerald  a  "  rhymer,"  and  thus 
the  quarrel  arose ;  the  former  was 
forced  to  fly  to  England ;  his  lands,  and 
those  of  his  adherents,  were  laid  waste, 
and  torrents  of  blood  flowed  on  both 
sides.  Government  became  alarmed  at 
the  rebellious  spirit  manifested  on  the 
occasion,  and  issued  orders  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  principal  towns ;  but  the 
confederates  allayed  this  disquiet  by 
protesting  that  they  only  required  ven- 
geance on  their  enemies ;  and  having 
submitted  and  sued  for  pardon,  a 
council  was  held  at  Kilkenny  by  the 
justiciary,  Roger  Outlawe,  prior  of  Kil- 
•  mainham,  to  consider  the  case.  The 
following  year  (1329)  the  justiciary 
eflected  a  reconciliation  between  the 
parties,  and  although  it  was  the  season 
of  Lent,  the  event  was  celebrated  by 
grand  banquets  in  Dublin,  the  Geral- 
dines  giving  their  feast  in  the  church 
of  St.  Patiick. 

A.  D.  1329. — Another  sanguinary  fray 
among  the  Anglo-Irish  took  place  this 
year ;  Bermingham,  earl  of  Louth,  with 
several  of  his  relatives  and  followers,  to 
the  number  in  all  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty,  or,  as  others  say,  two  hundred 


Englishmen,  being  slaughtered  by  their 
own  countrymen,  the  Gernons,  Savages, 
and  others,  at  Balebragan,  now  Brag- 
ganstown,  in  the  county  of  Louth.* 
About  the  same  time  Munster  witnessed 
another  scene  of  mutual  carnas^e  amone' 
the  Anglo-Irish;  the  Barrys,  Roches, 
and  others  slaying  Lord  Philip  Boduet, 
Hugh  Condon,  and  about  one  hundred 
and  forty  of  their  followers.  Mean- 
while several  Irish  se^^ts  wei'e  up  in 
arms.  Lord  Thomas  Butler  was,  iu 
1328,  defeated  with  considerable  loss  by 
Mageoghegan  in  West  Meath  ;  and  the 
young  earl  of  Ulster,  with  his  Irish  aux- 
iliaries, sustained  a  great  defeat  the  same 
year  from  Brian  Bane  O'Brien  in  Tho- 
mond.  Donnell  MacMurrouo;h,  of  the 
ancient  royal  stock  of  Leinster,  led  au 
army  close  to  Dublin,  but  he  was  defeat- 
ed and  made  prisoner  by  Sir  Henry 
Treherne.  This  officer  spared  the  Irish 
chieftain's  life  for  a  sum  of  j6200,  and 
Adam  Nangle,  another  Englishman, 
afterwards  assisted  him  with  a  rope  to 
esca2:)e  over  the  walls  of  Dublin  castle ; 
but  for  this  kindness  JSTangle  lost  his 
head. 

James  Butler,  second  earl  of  Carrick, 
was,  in  1328,  created  earl  of  Ormond, 
and  in  1330  Maurice  FitzThomas  Fitz- 
Gerald was  created  earl  of  Desmond ; 
Tipperary,  in  the  former  case,  and  Kerry 
in  the  lattei',  being  erected  into  counties 
palatine.  The  lords  palatine,  of  whom 
there  were  now  eight  or  nine  in  Ireland, 


*  Among  tlio  victims  in  tliis  massacre,  ■were  CarroD,  a 
famous  harper,  and,  as  Cljn  adds,  twenty  other  harpers, 
his  pupils. 


MURDER  OF  THE  EARL  OF  ULSTER. 


267 


were  endowed  witli  a  kind  of  royal 
power.  They  created  barous  and 
kuisrlits,  erected  courts  for  civil  and 
criminal  causes,  ajipointed  their  own 
judges,  sheriffs,  and  coroners,  and,  like 
so  many  petty  kings,  were  able  to  ex- 
ercise a  most  oppressive  tyranny  over 
the  population  of  their  respective  terri- 
tories. 

A.  T>.  1330. — The  new  earl  of  Des- 
mond at  first  rendered  good  service  to 
the  government  by  his  successes  against 
some  of  the  Irish  septs  in  Leinster ;  but 
the  old  feuds  between  him  and  the  earl 
of  Ulster  were  soon  revived,  and  were 
carried  to  such  lengths,  at  a  time  Avhen 
they  were  in  the  field  against  the  O'Bri- 
ens, that  the  lord  justice  found  it  neces- 
sary to  make  both  earls  prisoners,  and 
to  commit  them  to  the  custody  of  the 
marshal  of  Limerick. 

A.  D.  1331. — Sir  Anthony  Lucy,  a 
Northumbrian  baron,  famous  for  his 
sternness  of  character,  was  now  sent 
over  as  justiciary,  to  curb  the  arrogance 
and  violence  of  the  great  Anglo-Irish 
lords.  lie  summoned  a  jDarliament  in 
Dublin,  and  adjourned  it  to  Kilkennj^, 
owing  to  the  non-attendance  of  the  bar- 
ons. Again  his  summons  was  disregai-d- 
ed  ;  and,  in  order  to  make  an  example 
of  the  most  powerful,  he  seized  the  earl 
of  Desmond  in  Limerick,  and  carried 
him  a  prisoner  to  Dublin.  Several  other 
•  lords  were  arrested  in  a  similar  manner. 


*  At  tliis  time  tlie  country  was  suffering  severely  from 
famine,  and  a  shoal  of  large  fish,  of  the  whale  species, 
which  entered  Dublin  hay  on  the  evening  of  the  27th 
of  June,  1331,  and  of  which  two  hundred  were  killed 


and  among  them  Sir  William  Berminof- 
ham,  who  was  confined  with  his  son  in 
the  keep  of  Dublin  castle,  called  from 
him  the  Bermingham  tower,  and  was 
hanged  in  the  course  of  the  following 
year.  This  nobleman  was  popular  on 
account  of  his  bravery  and  gallant  de- 
meanor ;  and  the  feeling  excited  by  the 
severity  of  his  sentence  was  probably 
the  cause  of  Lucy's  recall,  which  fol- 
lowed soon  after,  when  Sir  John  Darcy, 
a  more  moderate  man,  was  aj^poiuted 
to  succeed  him.* 

A.  D.  1333 — A  crime,  which  pro- 
duced immense  sensation  among  the 
Anglo-Irish,  and  led  to  some  important 
results,  was  committed  this  year  in  the 
north.  William,  earl  of  Ulster,  called 
the  dun  earl,  grandson  of  the  famous 
red  earl,  seized  Waltei-,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  De  Burgo  family, 
and  confined  him  in  the  stronghold 
called  the  Green  castle,  in  Inishowen, 
wher.e  he  was  starved  to  death.  Wal- 
ter's sister.  Gyle,  was  married  to  Sir 
Richard  Mandeville,  and  at  her  instiga- 
tion, it  is  believed,  her  brother's  death 
was  soon  after  avenged  by  the  murder 
of  the  dun  earl.  This  latter  nobleman, 
who  was  then  only  in  his  twenty-first 
year,  was  proceeding  on  a  Sunday  morn- 
ing towards  Carrickfergus,  in  comjaany 
with  Robert  FitzRichard  Mandeville 
and  others,  who  basely  rose  against 
him  and  killed  him  while  he  was  ford 


by  the  lord  justice  and  his  servants,  afforded  the  poor  of 
the  city  a  providential  supply  of  food.  The  next  year  the 
dearth  continued,  and  the  people  were  attacked  by  an  epi- 
demic called  the  Manses,  supposed  to  have  been  influenza. 


2G8 


REIGiSr  OF  EDWARD  III. 


ing  a  stream,  or,  as  Grace  says,  wliile 
he  was  repeating  Lis  morning  prayers 
on  liis  way  to  the  church,  Maudeville 
ffivinsr  him  the  first  wound.  A  feeling 
of  violent  indignation  was  aroused  by 
this  outrage,  and  the  people  of  the 
neighborhood  rose  spontaneously  and 
slew  all  whom  they  suspected  of  being 
abettors  of  the  crime,  to  the  number  of 
over  300 ;  so  that  when  the  justiciary 
arrived  with  an  army  to  punish  the 
murderers,  he  found  that  justice  had 
already  been  vindicated  in  a  fearfid 
and  summary  manner.*  The  earl's 
wife,  Maud,  on  hearing  of  the  murder, 
fled  in  terror  to  England,  taking  with 
her  her  only  child,  a  daughter,  named 
Elizabeth,  then  only  one  year  old;  and 
the  Burkes  of  Connaught  being  the 
junior  branch  of  the  De  Burgo  family, 
and  fearing  that  the  earl's  vast  posses- 
sions Avould  be  transferred  to  other 
hands  by  the  marriage  of  the  heiress, 
immediately  seized  on  his  Connaught 
estates  and  declared  themselves  inde- 
pendent of  English  law,  renouncing  at 
the  same  time  the  English  language 
and  costume.  Sir  William,  or  Ulick,f 
the  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Claurickarcl, 
assumed  the  Irish  title  of  MacWilliam 
Oughter,  or  the  Upper,  aud  Sir  Edmond 


*  For  many  years  after  it  was  usual  in  public  pardons 
to  make  a  formal  exception  of  all  who  might  have  been 
Inplicated  in  the  murder  of  the  earl  of  Ulster. 

f  The  name  Ulick,  or  Uliog,  is  a  contraction  of  William- 
Oge,  that  is,  WUliam  Junior,  or  young  William.  It 
would  appear  to  have  been  long  peculiar  to  the  Burkes 
of  Connaught.     . 

X  In  13.52,  the  heiress  Elizabeth,  then  twenty  years 
of  age,  was  married  to  Lionel,  duke  of  Clajence,  third 


Albanagh  Burke,  the  progenitor  of  the 
Viscounts  of  Mayo,  took  that  of  Mac- 
William  Eighter,  or  the  Lower  Mac- 
William.J 

A.  D.  1334. — Of  the  crimes  we  read 
of  in  the  history  of  that  lawless  period, 
none  indicate  more  vividly  the  anarchy 
which  prevailed  than  the  sacrilegious 
outrages  which  are  related  of  the  Irish, 
as  well  as  of  their  opponents.  Inces- 
sant war  had  so  degraded  some  that 
they  rivalled  the  ferocity  of  wild 
beasts;  and,  in  many  instances,  the 
natural  gentleness,  generosity,  and  pie- 
ty of  the  Irish  character  seem  to  have 
been  wholly  laid  aside.  Thus,  our  an- 
nals relate  how  a  great  army  of  the 
EuQ^lish  and  Irish  of  Connauiyht  hav- 
ing  marched  this  year  against  the  Mac- 
Namaras  of  Thomond,  a  party  of  them 
set  fire  to  a  church,  in  which  were  two 
priests  aud  ISO  other  persons,  and 
did  not  suifer  one  to  escape  from  the 
confla<];ration.  It  is  not  said  whether 
the  party  who  committed  this  barbarity 
belonged  to  the  English  or  the  Irish  por- 
tion of  the  army ;  but  a  similar  outrage, 
three  years  before,  is  attributed  by  the 
Anglo-Irish  chroniclers  to  an  Irish  sept 
in  Leiuster,  who,  they  say,  burned  the 
church    of   Freynstown,    now   Friends- 


son  of  king  Edward  III.,  and  that  prince  was  created, 
in  her  right,  earl  of  Ulster  and  lord  of  Connaught,  titles 
which  thus  became  attached  to  the  royal  famUy  of  Eng-, 
land ;  but  he  was  unable  to  recover  the  possessions  which 
the  MacWilliams  had  usurped  in  Connaught,  and.  the 
government  not  being  strong  enough  to  assert  the  au- 
thority of  the  English  law  on  the  occasion,  the  territor- 
ies of  the  Bui-kes  in  that  province  were  allowed  to  de- 
scend according  to  the  Irish  custom. 


SACRILEGES. 


269 


town,  in  Wicklow,  with  a  congregation 
of  eighty  persons  and  their  priest,  who 
was  clothed  in  his  vestments,  and  car- 
ried the  Sacred  Host  in  his  hands.  The 
unhappy  people  in  the  church  ashed  no 
mercy  for  themselves,  hut  only  that  the 
priest  might  be  allowed  to  depart ;  yet 
the  infuriated  assailants  drove  him  back 
from  the  door  with  their  javelins,  and 
he  was  consumed  with  his  flock  in  the 
burning  pile.  This  appalling  atrocity 
drew  down  an  interdict  from  the  Pope 
on  its  perpetrators ;  and  an  army  of 
them  was  soon  after  cut  to  pieces  or 
driven  into  the  Slaney  by  the  citizens 
of  Wexford.  Supposing,  however,  these 
statements  not  to  have  been  the  fabri- 
cations of  enemies,  of  which  we  cannot 
be  quite  sure,  we  have,  nevertheless, 
ample  evidence  that  religion  was  not, 
even  in  those  evil  days,  extinct  among 
the  bulk  of  the  population.  Thus,  we 
read  that  the  veteran  warrior  IMulrouy 
MacDermot,  lord  of  Moylurg,  took  the 
habit  of  a  monk  in  the  abbey  of  Boyle, 
in  1331 ;  and  that  in  1333,  Hugh 
O'Dounell,  son  of  the  famous  Donnell 
Oge,  and  lord  of  Tirconnell,  died  in  the 
habit  of  a  Franciscan  monk  in  luis  Sai- 
mer,  in  the  river  Erne.  Most  of  the 
Irish  chieftains  who  were  not  killed  in 
battle,  are  described  as  dying  "after 
the  victory  of  penance ;"  and  numerous 
pilgrimages,  in  which  the  clergy  and 
people  were  united,  were  made  to  avert 
calamities  which  they  apprehended. 

A.  D.  1338. — Edmoud  Burke,  sur- 
named  "  na-Feisoge,"  or  "  the  bearded," 
a  younger  son  of  the  red  earl,  was  this 


year  drowned  by  his  kinsman,  Edmond 
Burke,  surnamed  Mac  William  Eighter, 
who  fastened  a  stone  to  his  neck,  and 
immersed  him  in  Lough  Mask ;  and  a 
war  followed,  in  which  the  partisans 
of  Mac  William  Eighter  and  the  Eno-. 
lish  of  Conuaught  in  general,  suffered 
enormous  losses;  Turlough  O'Conor 
succeeding,  after  a  sanguinary  struggle, 
in  driving  Edmond  Burke  altoojether 
out  of  the  province.  The  English 
were,  on  this  occasion,  expelled  from 
the  territories  of  Leyney  and  Corran  in 
Sligo,  and  the  hereditary  Irish  chief- 
tains resumed  their  own  lauds  thei'e  and 
in  other  parts  of  Conuaught.  As  for 
Edmoud  Burke,  he  collected  a  fleet  of 
ships  or  boats,  with  which  he  remained 
for  some  time  among  the  islands  on  the 
coast  of  Mayo,  but  from  these  Turlough 
drove  him  the  following  year,  and 
obliged  him  to  withdraw  to  Ulster. 

A.  D.  1339.— Turlough  O'Conor,  thus 
far  crowned  with  success,  broua'ht  ruin 
upon  himself  by  his  domestic  misdeeds. 
Despising  the  laws  of  the  Church  and 
of  society,  he  put  away  his  wife  Der- 
vall,  daughter  of  Hugh  O'Dounell,  the 
lord  of  Tirconnell,  and  married  the 
daughter  of  Turlough  O'Brien,  the  wid- 
ow of  Edmond  Burke  who  had  been 
drowned  in  Lough  Mask.  This  act 
alienated  from  him  the  Conuaught  chief- 
tains, and  after  an  interval  of  three 
years  spent  in  constant  warfare,  he  was, 
in  1342,  deposed  by  the  Sil-Murray  and 
other  septs,  and  Hugh,  the  son  of  LIugh 
Briefneach  O'Conor,  one  of  the  Clann 
Murtough,   chosen   king   in   his   stead. 


270 


REIGN   OF   EDWARD   III. 


Notwithstanding  this  election,  however, 
it  is  stated  that  when  the  unhappy  Tur- 
loiu'-h  was  killed  with  an  arrow  in  1345, 
his  son,  Hugh,  was  inaugurated  king  of 
Conuaught  after  hira. 

Reverting  to' the  affairs  of  the  Pale, 
we  find  that  Desmond,  who  had  been 
released  from  prison  on  bail  in  1333, 
after  eighteen  months'  captivity,  re- 
paired to  Scotland  with  some  troops, 
in  obedience  to  a  summons  from  the 
king,  and  was  probably  present  at  the 
decisive  battle  gained  by  Edward  over 
the  Scots  at  Hallidon  Hill ;  the  famous 
expedition  of  Edward  IH.  into  Scotland 
on  this  occasion,  having  been  cloaked 
up  to  the  last  moment  by  a  jiretence 
that  the  preparations  he  was  making 
wei'e  for  a  visit  to  Ireland.  Subsequent- 
ly, the  earl  of  Desmond  was  actively 
engaged  against  the  Irish  in  Kerry,  as 
the  earl  of  Kildare  was  against  the 
O'Dempseys  and  other  septs,  in  Leiuster. 
Twelve  hundred  of  the  men  of  Kerry 
were  slain  in  one  battle,  in  1339,  and 
Maurice  FitzNicholas,  lord  of  Kerry, 
who  had  been  fighting  in  their  ranks, 
was  taken  and  confined  in  prison,  where 
he  died.* 

A.  D.  1341. — Plans  which  Edward 
liad  long  since  formed  for  breaking 
down  the  ascendency  of  the  great 
Anglo-Irish  lords  Avere  now  matured, 
and  he  sent  over  Sir  John  Morris,  as 
lord  deputy,  to  carry  them  into  execu- 


*  Tliis  English  knight  had,  many  years  Tjufore, 
ruslied  into  the  assize  court  at  Tralee,  and  killed 
Dermot,  heir  of  the  MacCarthy  More,  while  sitting  with 
the  judge  on  the  bench;  yet  the  law  suffered  this  crime 
to  go  unespiated. 


tiou.  His  first  sweeping  measure  was 
the  resumption  of  all  the  lands,  liberties, 
seigniories,  and  jurisdictions  which  eith- 
er he  or  his  father  had  granted  in 
Ireland.  Another  ordinance  recalled 
any  remission  which  had  been  made  by 
himself  or  his  predecessors,  of  debts 
due  to  the  crown,  and  decreed  that  all 
such  debts  should  be  levied  without 
delay.  Other  rigorous  and  arbitrary 
measures  were  also  adopted,  but  that 
which  indicated  most  clearly  the  design 
of  the  king  was  an  ordinance  declaring 
that,  whereas  it  had  appeared  to  him 
and  his  council  that  they  would  be 
better  and  more  usefully  served  in 
Ireland  by  Englishmen,  whose  revenues 
were  derived  from  England,  than  by 
Irish  or  English  who  possessed  estates 
only  in  Ireland,  or  were  married  there, 
his  justiciary  should,  after  diligent  inqui- 
ries, remove  all  such  ofiicers  as  were 
married  or  held  estates  in  Ireland,  and 
replace  them  by  fit  Englishmen  hav- 
ing no  personal  interest  whatever  in 
Ireland.f 

A.  D.  1342. — ^This  declaration  of  the 
royal  views  and  intentions  aroused  the 
indignation  of  the  proud  Anglo-Irish 
nobles,  who  had  been  allowed  to  be- 
come much  too  powerful  before  this  at- 
tempt was  made  to  humble  them.  It 
was  the  first  "public  avowal  of  a  jealous 
distinction  between  the  English  by 
birth  and  the  English  by  descent,  and 
was  subsequently  condemned  as  a  fa- 
tal    mistake.      To     allay    the    excite- 


f  Close  Roll,  15  Edward  IH.    Pryune's  Collections 
Cos,  vol.  i.,  p.  118. 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  BARONS. 


271 


meut  wliich  was  produced  by  it,  the 
lord  deputy  summoned  a  parliament  to 
meet  in  Dublin,  in  October;  but  the 
earl  of  Desmond  and  many  other  lords 
peremptorily  refused  to  attend,  and 
held  a  general  assembly,  or  convention, 
of.  their  own,  at  Kilkenny,  in  Novem- 
ber, where  they  adopted  a  long  and 
spirited  remonstrance  to  the  king,  set- 
ting forth  the  rights  which  they  had 
inherited  from  their  ancestors,  their 
claims  to  the  favor  and  protection  of 
the  king,  and  the  injustice  and  unrea- 
sonableness of  the  ordinances  now  is- 
sued against  them.  They  complained 
bitterly  of  the  neglect,  peculation,  fraud, 
and  mismanagement  of  the  English  of- 
ficials sent  over  to  this  country;  enu- 
meratjcd  a  long  catalogue  of  charges,  at- 
tributing, among  other  things,  to  the  mal- 
administration of  those  Englishmen,  the 
unguarded  state  of  the  country,  the  loss 
of  one-third  part  of  the  territories  which, 
they  said,  had  been  conquered  by  the 
king's  progenitors,  and  were  now  reta- 
ken by  his  Irish  enemies,  and  the  aban- 
donment to  the  Irish  of  the  strong?  cas- 
ties  of  Koscommou,  Raudown,  Athlone, 
and  Bunratty ;  and,  in  conclusion,  they 
prayed  that  they  might  not  be  deprived 
of  their  free  holdings  without  being 
called  in  judgment,  pursuant  to  the 
provision  of  Magna  Charta.  The  king's 
answer  to  the  remonstrants  was  favora- 
ble on  most  points;   in  particular,  he 


*  "  Coyn  and  livery,"  was  an  exaction  of  money,  food, 
and  entertainment  for  the  soldiers,  and  of  forage  for 
tlieir  horsea.  A  tax  of  a  similar  kind,  mider  the  name 
of  bonaght,  existed  among  the  Irish,  but  it  was  regulated 


confirmed  the  grants  of  his  predecessors, 
and  in  the  case  of  lands  granted  by 
himself,  he  restored  those  which  had 
been  resumed,  on  security  being  given 
that  they  should  be  surrendered  if  found 
to  have  been  granted  without  cause. 
He  was  just  then  entering  upon  a  war 
with  France,  and  this  circumstance 
suggested  the  propriety  of  a  more  concil- 
iatory policy  towards  the  Anglo-Irish 
barons.  % 

A.  D.  1344.— Sir  Ralph  Ufford,  who 
had  married  the  widow  of  the  mur- 
dered earl  of  Ulster,  was  now  ap2:)oint- 
ed  to  the  office  of  lord  justice,  and 
exercised  his  authority  with  a  harsh- 
ness and  rigor  that  drew  upon  him 
general  odium.  His  first  eftbrts  were 
directed  against  the  power  of  Desmond. 
That  haughty  earl  refused  to  attend  a 
parliament,  called  by  Uftbrd,  in  Dublin, 
and  attempted  to  assemble  one  of  his 
own  at  Callan,  but  the  new  deputy 
soon  showed  that  this  game  could  not 
be  played  with  him.  He  proceeded  to 
Munster  with  an  armed  force,  seized 
the  earl's  lands,  and  farmed  them  at 
rents  to  be  paid  to  the  king.  He  next 
got  possession,  by  stratagem,  of  the 
strongholds  of  Castle-island  and  Iniskis- 
ty,  in  Kerry,  and  hanged  Sir  Eustace 
Poer,  Sir  William  Grant,  and  Sir  John 
Cottrel,  who  held  command  in  them, 
charging  them  with  the  illegal  exaction 
of  coyn  and  livery.*     The  bail  which 

by  fixed  rules,  and  was  part  of  the  ordinary  tribute  paid 
to  the  chief.  Among  the  Anglo-Irish  it  became  a  source 
of  the  most  grievous  oppression,  vrithout  any  just  meas- 
ure, or  any  compensating    consideration ;    and  as  it 


272 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD   III. 


liacl  been  given  for  the  earl,  wlien  he 
was  liberated  in  1333,  was  declared  to 
be  forfeited,  and  thus  eighteen  knights 
lost  their  estates.*  Ufford  contrived, 
and  again  by  the  employment  of  strat- 
agem, to  get  the  earl  of  Kildare  into 
his  custody ;  but  the  war  which  he  thus 
waged  so  successfully  against  the  proud 
and  powerful  aristocracy  was  cut  shoi't 
by  his  own  death,  in  the  mouth  of 
April,  13-i6.  Some  of  his  harshness 
•was  attributed  to  the  persuasion  of  his 
wife  ;  and  it  is  said,  that  this  lady,  who 
was  leceived  like  an  empress  on  her  ar- 
rival, was  obliged  to  retire  clandestinely, 
amidst  the  execrations  of  the  people  and 
the  clamor  of  creditors,  carrying  with 
her  the  body  of  her  husband,  in  a  lead- 
en coffin,  to  England. 

The  policy  of  the  king  towards  the 
Anglo-Irish  was  now  modified ;  the 
severity  of  Ufford  was  condemned ; 
the  earl  of  Desmond  was  suffered  to 
repair  to  England  to  plead  his  cause 
before  the  king,  and  was  allowed  20s. 
l^er  diem  for  his  expenses  while  detained 
there ;  the  estreated  recognizances  were 
restored ;  the  Anglo-Irish  nobles  were 
invited  to  aid  the  king  in  his  esjieditiou 
against  France,  and  the  earl  of  Kildare 
earned  the  honor  of  kuiirhthood  from 
Edward  by  his  gallant  conduct  at  the 
siege  of  Calais  in  1347.  Thus,  after  a 
few   years   the   struggle    between   the 


pressed  Eeavily  upon  the  Englisli  as  well  as  Irisli  popu- 
lation, it  became  necessary  to  prolaibit  it  by  stringent 
laws.  The  earl  of  Desmond  referred  to  above  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  who  introduced  this  exaction  in  its 
Anglo-Irish  form.     Sec  Harris's  Ware,  vol.  i.,  chap.  xii. 


crown  and  the  great  lords  of  the  Pale 
ceased  for  a  time,  all  the  lands  and  jur- 
isdictions of  which  the  latter  had  been 
for  a  while  deprived  being  restored. 
Desmond  rose  to  such  favor  with  the 
king  that,  in  1355,  he  was  entrusted 
with  tlie  office  of  lord  justice  for  life; 
but  he  died  five  months  after  this  honor 
had  been  conferred  upon  him,  and  his 
body  was  removed  from  Dublin  castle 
to  Tralee,  where  it  was  interred  in  the 
church  of  the  Dominican  friars.  Thus 
ended  the  cai-eer  of  Maurice  FitzThom- 
as  FitzGerald,  the  first  earl  of  Desmond. 
About  this  time  Brien  MacMahon 
gained  an  important  victory  over  the 
English  in  Oriel,  more  than  300  of  them 
havinsc  been  slain,  accordiuij  to  their 
own  historians.  In  Leinster  the  colon- 
ists were  not  allowed  much  rest  oy  the 
O'Tooles  and  O'Byrnes,  on  one  side,  or 
by  the  septs  of  Leix  and  Offaly  on  the 
other.  Lysaght  O'More,  chief  of  Leix, 
took  and  burned  in  one  night  ten  Eng- 
lish castles,  destroyed  Dunamace,  and 
expelled  nearly  all  the  English  from  his 
ancestral  territory.  The  MacMurrough 
was  also  in  the  field  with  a  large  follow- 
ing, as  were  also  O'Melaghlin  and  the 
Irish  of  Meath.  These  latter  were  de- 
feated by  the  lord  justice,  in  1349,  with 
the  slaucfhter  of  several  of  their  chiefs. 
Need  we  .wonder  at  finding  that  about 
this  time  a  royal  commission  was  issued 


""  According  to  some  accounts,  the  earl  surrendered 
himself  to  Uiibrd,  and  the  recognizances  estreated  as 
mentioned  above  were  those  entered  into  for  his  libera, 
tion  on  this  occasion. 


THE  ELACK  DEATH. 


273 


to  inquire  why  the  king  derived  no^  rev- 
enues from  his  Irish  dominions. 

A.  D.  134S. — This  year  is  memorable 
for  the  outbreak  of  the  terrible  pesti- 
lence called  the  Black  Death.  That 
age  was,  indeed,  one  of  fearful  visita- 
tions. Our  annals  record  about  that 
j5eriod  several  years  of  famine  from  un- 
genial  seasons.  In  1341,  an  epidemic, 
called  the  barking  disease,  prevailed, 
when  persons  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages 
went  about  the  country  barking  like 
docs.  But  the  most  awful  of  all  these 
visitations  was  the  Black  Death.*  For 
some  years,  during  which  the  pestilence 
continued,  our  annals  record  few  events 
save  the  deaths  of  remarkable  persons 
who  fell  victims  to  it.  Then  followed, 
in  1361,  another  visitation  called  the 
"  King's  Game"  or  second  pestilence, 
the  exact  nature  of  which  is  not  known, 


*  Friar  Clyn,  ■wlio  was  an  eye-witness  of  its  ravages, 
and  is  believed  to  have  fallen  a  victim  to  it  himself  the 
following  year,  describes  the  Black  Death  in  his  annals 
under  the  year  1348,  in  the  following  expressive  terms : — 
"  It  first,"  he  says,  "  broke  out  near  Dublin,  at  Howth 
and  Dalkey ;  it  almost  destroyed  and  laid  waste  the 
cities  of  Dublin  and  Drogheda,  insomuch  that  in  Dublin 
alone,  from  the  beginning  of  August  to  Christmas,  14,000 

souls  perished The  pestilence  deprived  of  human 

inhabitants  villages  and  cities,  castles  and  towns,  so 
that  there  was  scarcely  found  a  man  to  dwell  therein ; 
the  pestilence  was  so  contagious,  that  whosoever  touched 
the  sick  or  the  dead  was  immediately  affected  and  died, 
and  the  penitent  and  the  confessor  were  carried  togeth- 
er to  the  grave."  And  after  describing  .the  terror  it 
produced  and  the  symptoms  of  the  disease,  which  show 
it  to  have  been  the  real  eastern  plague,  he  adds  : — "  That 
year  was  beyond  measure  wonderful,  unusual,  and  in 
many  things  prodigious,  yet  was  sufficiently  abundant 
and  fruitful,  however  sickly  and  deadly.  That  pestilence 
was  rife  in  Ealkenny  in  Lent.  Scarcely  one  ever  died 
alone  in  a  house ;  commonly  husband,  wife,  children, 
and  servants,  went  the  one  way — the  way  of  death." 
See  the  authorities  on  this  subject  collected  by  Dr. 
35 


although  it  was  possibly  only  a  return 
of  the  Black  Death;  and  in  1370  ap- 
peared the  third  great  plague,  which 
lasted  for  a  period  of  three  or  four 
years,  and  jjroduced  a  fearful  mortality. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
series  of  calamities  paralyzed  the  coun- 
try, and  left  its  marks  ujDon  the  history 
of  the  times.f 

A.  D.  1361. — Lionel,  third  son  of  Ed- 
ward III.,  and  earl  of  Ulster  by  right 
of  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
murdered  earl,  was  now  appointed  to 
the  government  of  Ireland,  with  extra- 
ordinary authority,  as  lord  lieutenant. 
He  landed  in  Dublin  on  the  15th  of 
September,  1360,  with  an  army  of  1,.500 
men,  and  evinced  from  the  first  bitter  ani- 
mosity towards  the  Irish,  reviving  more- 
over the  distinction  between  the  English 
by  birth  and  by  descent.     A  royal  man- 


Wilde,  in  his  important  report  on  the  Table  of  Deaths  ; 
Census  of  1851.  This  plague,  which  originated  in  the 
east,  ravaged  the  whole  of  Europe.  Dr.  Hecker  says  it 
must  have  swept  away  at  least  twenty-five  millions  of 
the  human  race.  Stow,  in  his  Chronicles,  says,  that  in 
Ireland  it  destroyed  a  great  number  of  English  people 
that  dwelt  there ;  but  such  that  were  Irish  born,  that 
dwelt  in  the  hill  country,  it  scarcely  touched.  This, 
observes  Dr.  WUde,  was  here  called  "  the  first  great  pes- 
tilence," being  the  first  of  the  five  remarkable  plagues  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  three  of  which  occurred  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  III. 

f  During  this  dreary  period  the  foUovring  entry  oc- 
curs in  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  under  the  year 
1351,  "  William  MacDonough  Mojmeach  O'KeUy  (chief 
of  Hy-Many)  invited  all  the  Irish  poets,  brehons,  bards, 
harpers,  gamesters,  or  common  kearroghs,  jesters,  and 
others  of  their  kind  in  Ireland,  to  his  house  upon  a 
Christmas  this  year,  where  every  one  of  them  was  well 
used  during  Christmas  holidays,  and  gave  contentment 
to  each  other  at  the  time  of  their  departure,  so  as  every 
one  of  them  was  well  pleased,  and  extolled  William  foi 
his  bounty." 


274 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  III. 


date  had  been  issued  a  sliort  time  before, 
orderinc  tliat  no  "mere  Irishman" 
should  be  appointed  mayor,  bailiff,  or 
other  officer  of  any  town  within  the 
English  dominion :  or  be  received 
through  any  motives  of  consanguinity, 
affinity,  or  other  causes,  into  holy  or- 
ders,-or  be  advanced  to  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal benefice  or  promotion.*  But  the 
principle  of  interdiction  was  carried 
much  further  by  duke  Lionel.  In  a 
war  which  he  had  to  carry  on  against 
the  O'Byrnes,  just  after  his  arrival, 
he  issued  a  proclamation  "forbidding 
any  of  Irish  birth  to  come  near  his  ar- 
my ;"  thus  excluding  from  his  ranks  all 
the  old  colonists,  to  their  infinite  dis- 
gust. After  this  gross  insult  a  hundred 
of  his  best  soldiers  appear  to  have  been 
slain  at  night  in  some  unaccountable 
manner,  whereupon,  he  abandoned  the 
distinction  of  English  by  birth  and 
English  by  descent,  and  summoned  all 
the  king's  subjects  to  his  standard.f 
Subsequently  he  endeavored  to  estab- 
lish discipline  in  the  army;  expended 
£500  in  walling  the  town  of  Carlow, 
whither  he  removed  the  exchequer,  and 
ingratiated  himself  by  other  acts  with 
the  colonists,  who  granted  him  two 
years'  revenue  of  all  their  lands  towards 
the  prosecution  of  the  war  against  the 
Irish. 

A.  D.  1367. — Having  returned  to  Eng- 
gland  in  1364,  Lionel  was  created  duke 
of  Clarence,  and  twice  in  the  three  fol- 
lowing  years  he  was  again  entrusted 


*  Ilymer,  t.  vi.,  336. 


with  the  office  of  lord  lieutenant.  In 
the  year  1367,  during  the  last  period  of 
his  administration,  was  held  the  memor- 
able parliament  at  Kilkenny,  in  Avhich 
was  passed  the  execrable  act  known  as 
the  "Statute  of  Kilkenny,"  It  is  said 
that  Lionel's  chief  object  in  his  later 
visits  to  Ireland  was  to  regain  the  pos- 
sessions usurped  by  the  Burkes  of  Con- 
naught,  and  that  his  failure  to  attain 
that  end  was  the  real  cause  of  the  bit- 
terness of  the  act  in  question.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  principal  j^rovisions  of 
this  statute : — That  intermarriage  with 
the  natives,  or  any  connections  with 
them  in  the  shape  of  fostering,  or  gos- 
sipred,  should  be  dealt  with  and  pun- 
ished as  high  treason';  that  any  man  of 
English  race  assuming  an  Irish  name, 
or  using  the  Irish  language,  apparel  or 
customs,  should  forfeit  all  his  lands  and 
tenements ;  that  to  adopt  the  Brehon 
law,  or  submit  to  it,  was  treason ;  that 
without  the  permission  of  the  govern- 
ment the  English  should  not  make  war 
or  peace  with  the  Irish  ;  that  the  Eng- 
lish should  not  permit  the  Irish  to  pas- 
ture cattle  on  their  lands,  nor  admit 
them  to  any  ecclesiastical  benefices  or 
to  religious  houses ;  nor  entertain  their 
minstrels,  rhymers,  or  news-tellers. 
There  were  also  enactments  against 
the  oppressive  tax  of  coyn  and  livery, 
ao-ainst  the  abuse  of  royal  franchises 
and  liberties,  and  upon  some  other  mat- 
ters; but  the  principal  and  manifest 
object  of  this  most  tyrannical  and  insult- 


f  Grace's  Annals. 


DIFFICULTIES  WITHIN  THE  PALE. 


275 


iug  statute  was  to  keep  tlie  English  aiid 
Irish  forever  separate,  and  to  wage  a 
perpetual  war  against  those  of  the  Eng- 
lish race,  who,  holding  lands  and  resi- 
ding among  the  Irish,  were  necessitated, 
more  or  less,  to  adopt  the  Irish  customs 
and  laws.*  It  was  impossible  to  enforce 
sucli  a  law,  and  practically  it  became 
a  dead  letter ;  but  the  distrust  and  na- 
tional enmity  which  it  created  were 
kept  alive,  and  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VII.  (a.  d.  1494)  it  was  to  a  great  ex- 
tent revived  and  confirmed.  As  to 
duke  Lionel,  he  left  Ireland  in  1367, 
and  died  nest  year  in  Italy,  where  he 
had  just  taken  as  his  second  wife  the 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Milan. 

Wl^ile  the  Anglo-Irish  were  strug- 
gling with  enemies  in  the  very  bosom 
of  their  colony,  and  praying  by  a  peti- 
ion  to  the  king  for  relief  from  the  pay- 
ment of  scutage  upon  the  lands  of  which 
the  Irish  had  deprived  them  in  their 
daily  encroachments  upon  the  bounds 
of  the  Pale,*  we  see  the  native  chief- 
tains acting  in  their  resi^ective  territor- 


*  "  The  result,"  says  the  late  eminent  antiquary  and 
historian,  Mr.  Hardimau,  describing  the  effect  of  this 
statute,  "  was  such  as  might  be  expected.  English 
power  and  influence  continued  to  decrease,  insomuch 
tha,t  at  the  close  of  the  succeeding  century  they  were 
nearly  anniliilated  in  Ireland.  At  the  beginning,  the 
native  Irish,  apprehending  that  the  real  object  of  a  law 
enacted  and  proclaimed  with  so  much  pomp  and  ap- 
pearance of  authority  was  to  root  them  altogether  out 
of  the  land,  naturally  combined  together  for  safety,  and 
some  of  the  more  powerful  chieftains  resolved  upon 
immediate  hostilities.  O'Conor  of  Connaught  and  O'Bri- 
en of  Thomond  for  the  moment  laid  aside  their  private 
feuds,  and  united  against  the  common  foe.  The  earl  of 
Desmond,  lord  justice,  marched  against  them  with  a 
considerable  army,  but  was  defeated  and  slain  (captured) 
in  a  sanguinary  engagement,  fought  A.  D.  1309,  in  the 


ies  without  any  reference  whatever  to 
English  authority,  and  without  appear- 
ing to  recognize  its  presence  in  the 
country.  Hugh  O'Conor,  king  of  Con- 
naught,  and  Cathal  O'Conor  (Sligo), 
led  an  army  into  Meath,  in  1362,  and 
laid  waste  the  English  lands,  burning 
no  less  than  fifteen  churches  which  had 
been  used  by  their  enemies  for  gaiTi- 
sons;  but  Cathal  died  of  the  plague 
the  same  year.  In  1365,  Brian  Mac- 
Mahon,  lord  of  Oriel,  induced  Sorly 
MacDounell,  a  prince  of  the  Hebrides, 
to  put  away  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
O'Reilly,  and  to  marry  Brian's  own 
daughter.  Soon  after  he  added  anoth- 
er crime  to  this,  by  drowning  his  son- 
in-law,  whom  he  had  invited  to  drink 
^ine  in  his  house.  The  O'Neills, 
O'Donnells,  and  other  Ulster  chieftains 
confederated  to  punish  the  offending 
chief;  MacMahon  was  driven  from 
Oriel,  and  having  returned,  was  again 
attacked,  and  ultimately  slain  by  a  gal- 
lowglass  of  his  own  followers  when 
marching  with  them  against  the  Eng- 


county  of  Limerick.  O'Farrel,  the  chieftain  of  Aunaly, 
committed  great  slaughter  in  Meath.  The  O'Mores, 
Cavanaghs,  O'Byrnes,  and  O'Tooles,  pressed  upon  Lein- 
stcr,  and  the  O'NeOls  raised  the  red  arm  in  the  north. 
The  English  of  the  Pale  were  seized  -nith  consternation 
and  dismay,  and  terror  and  confusion  reigned  in  their 
councils,  whUe  the  natives  continued  to  gain  ground 
upon  them  in  every  direction.  At  this  crisis  an  oppor- 
tmiity  offered,  such  as  had  never  before  occurred,  of  ter- 
minating the  dominion  of  the  English  in  Ireland ;  but 
if  the  natives  had  ever  conceived  such  a  project,  they 
were  never  sufficiently  united  to  achieve  it.  The  op- 
portunity passed  away,  and  the  disunion  of  the  Irish 
saved  the  colonj."— Statute  of  Kilkenny,  published  by 
the  Irish  Archaeological  Society,  with  introduction  and 
notes  by  the  late  James  Hardiman,  Esq.,  M.R.I.A.  Dub- 
lin, 1843.    Close  Roll,  46  Ed.  m.     Pyrnne,  303. 


276 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  III. 


lisb.  His  fate  aud  that  of  Turlougli 
O'Couor,  already  related,  sliow  tliat  the 
Irish  chieftains,  even  iu  that  age  of 
anarchy,  and  among  men  of  their  own 
order,  would  not  suffer  glaring  crimes 
to  go  unpunished. 

Garrett,  earl  of  Desmond,  at  the 
head  of  an  Anglo-Irish  army  suffered 
a  great  overthrow  from  Brian  O'Brien, 
chief  of  Thomond,  in  1369.  Garrett 
himself  was  made  prisoner;  his  army 
was  slaughtered,  and  Limerick  was 
burned  by  the  men  of  Thomond.  Ni- 
all   O'Neill   defeated   the    English,   in 

1374,  and  again  gained  an  important 
victory  over  them  the  following  year 
in  Down,  slaying  several  of  their 
knights ;  but  the  native  septs  of  Leiu- 
ster  were  not  so  successful  at  this  tim^ 
in  the  harassing  war  which  they  had 
to  sustain  against  the  forces  of  the 
Ensrlish  s:overnment.  Melasrhlin  O'Far- 
rell  was  slain  in  1374.  Donough  Kav- 
anagh  MacMurrough,  king  of  the  Irish 
of  Leinster,  was  cut  off  by  stratagem  in 

1375.  The  MacTiernans  were  defeated 
the  same  year,  and  Hugh  O'Toole,  lord 
of  Imaile,  was  killed  in  1376.  There 
was  the  usual  amount  of  discord  among 
the  Irish  themselves ;  but  the  broils 
among  the  English  at  the  same  time, 
and  especially  the  sauguinaiy  feuds 
which  raged  between  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  Burkes  in  Counaught,  show 
that  the  curse  of  dissension  was  not 
confined  to  the  native  race. 

So  difficult  and  odious  had  the  task 
of  governing  Irelaiad  become,  that  we 
find  Sir  Richard  Pembridge,  the  warden 


of  the  ciuque  jjorts,  positively  refusing 
the  office  of  lord  justice,  which  he  was 
ordered  to  undertake,  iu  1369  ;  and  his 
refusal  was  not  adjudged  an  offence,  on 
the  ground  that  the  law  required  no 
man,  not  condemned  for  a  crime,  to  go 
into  exile,  which  a  residence  in  Ireland, 
even  in  so  honorable  a  positiou,  was  ad- 
mitted to  be.  When  Sir  William  de 
Windsor  was  then  appointed  to  the 
office,  he  undertook  to  carry  on  the 
government  for  £11,213  6s.  8d.  per 
annum,  but  Sir  John  Davies  assures  us 
that  the  whole  revenue  of  Ireland  at 
that  time  did  not  amount  to  £10,000 
annually  in  the  best  years.  Previously 
the  salary  of  the  lord  justice  used  to  be 
£500  a  year,  out  of  which  sum  he 
should  sui^port  a  certain  number  of 
armed  men.  The  subsidies  which  Ed- 
ward HI.  was  obliged  to  levy  in  Ireland, 
not  only  for  the  wars  in  this  country, 
but  for  those  in  France  and  Scotland, 
were  intolerably  oppressive,  and  were 
exacted  from  ecclesiastical  as  well  as 
lay  property.  Ralph  Kelly,  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  opposed  the  collection  of  one 
of  these  imposts,  as  far  as  it  affected 
the  church  lands  in  his  province,  and, 
accompanied  by  the  suftVagan  bishops 
of  Limerick,  Emly,  and  Lismoje,  dressed 
in  their  pontifical  robes,  appeared  in 
the  streets  of  Clonmel,  and  solemnly 
excommunicated  the  king's  commis- 
sioner of  revenue,  and  all  persons 
concerned  in  advising,  contributing  to, 
or  levying  the  tax.  When  cited  to 
answer  for  this  conduct,  the  prelates 
pleaded  the  Magna  Charta,  which  de- 


ACCESSION"  OF  RICHARD  II. 


211 


creed  the  exemption  of  church  property; 
and  although  the  cause  was  given  against 
them,  no  judgment  appears  to  have  been 
executed  in  the  case.  On  the  whole,  it 
may  be  said  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III., 
that,  however  brilliant  it  was  in  English 
history,  it  was  most  disastrous  to  the  En- 
glish interests  in  this  country;  and  as 
far  as  Irish   interests  were  concerned, 


Mr.  Moore  has  well  observed,  that,  dur- 
ing it,  were  laid  "  the  foundations  of 
that  monstrous  system  of  misgovern- 
ment  in  Ireland  to  which  no  parallel 
exists  in  the  history  of  the  whole  civil- 
ized world ;  its  dark  and  towering  in- 
iquity having  projected  its  shadow  so 
far  forward  as  even  to  the  times  immedi- 
ately bordering  upon  our  own.  "* 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

"REIGN     OF     EICHAED     H. 

Law  against  Absentees. — Evenis  xO.  Ireland  at  tlie  Opening  of  the  Reign. — Partition  of  Connauglit  between 
O'Conor  Don  and  O'Conor  Eoe. — The  Earl  of  Oxford  made  Duke  of  Ireland — His  Fate. — Battles  between  the 
English  and  Irish. — Eichard  11.  visits  Ireland  with  a  Powerful  Army. — Submission  of  Irish  Princes — Hard 
Conditions. — Henry  Castide's  Account  of  the  Irish. — Knigliting  of  Four  Irish  Kings. — Departure  of  Richard  II. 
and  Rising  of  the  Iri^h. — Second  Visit  of  King  Eichard — His  Attack  on  Art  MacMurrough's  Stronghold. — 
Disasters  of  the  English  Army. — MacMurrough's  Heroism. — Meeting  of  Art  MacMurrough  and  the  Earl  of 
Gloucester. — Richard  Arrives  in  Dublin. — Bad  News  from  England. — The  King's  Departure  from  Ireland — His 
unhappy  Fate. — Death  of  Niall  More  O'Neill,  and  Succession  of  Niall  Oge. — Pilgrimages  to  Rome. — Events 
Illustrating  the  Social  State  of  Ireland. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns. — Popes  :  Urban  VI.,  Boniface  IX.— King  of  France,  Charles  VI. — King  of  Scullaud,  Eobert  III- 
—Emperor  of  the  Turks,  Bajazet  I. 


(A.  D.  1377  TO  A.  D.  1309.) 


RICHARD  II.,  only  surviving  child 
of  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  suc- 
ceeded his  grandfather,  Edward  III.,  as 
king  of  England,  when  only  in  his 
eleventh  year,  and  the  government  of 
the  state  was  carried  on  by  the  young 

*  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.,  p.  118. — A  curious  entry 
on  the  Exchequer  Issue  Roll  for  the  year  1376  refers  to 
the  close  of  this  reign,  and  has  often  been  quoted  as 
singularly  expressive ;  it  is  to  the  effect  that  Eichard 


king's  uncles.  One  of  the  first  measures 
of  his  reiofn  relatinsf  to  Ireland  was  a 
stringent  law  against  absenteeism,  oblig- 
ing all  persons  who  possessed  lands, 
rents,  or  other  income  in  Ireland,  to 
reside  there,  or  to  send  proper  persons 

Dere  and  William  Stapolyn  came  over  to  England  to 
inform  the  king  how  very  badly  Ireland  was  governed ; 
and  that  the  king  ordered  them  to  be  paid  ten  pounds 
for  their  trouble. 


178 


REIGN   OF  RICHARD   II. 


to  defend  their  possessions,  or  else  to 
pay  a  tax  to  the  amount  of  two-thirds 
of  their  Irish  revenues ;  those  who 
attended  the  English  universities,  or 
were  absent  by  ^special  license,  being 
excepted. 

A.  D.  1380. — Edraond,  grandson  of 
Roger  Mortimer,  earl  of  March,  came 
to  Ireland  with  extraordinary  powers 
as  lord  lieutenant.  Having  married 
Philippa,  the  daughter  of  Lionel,  duke 
of  Clarence,  and  of  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  the  dun  earl,  he  became  in  her  right 
earl  of  Ulster ;  and  several  of  the  native 
Irish  princes  paid  court  to  him  on  his 
arrival ;  among  others,  Mall  O'Neill, 
O'Hanlou,  O'Farrell,  OTteilly,  O'Mol- 
loy,  Mageoghegan,  and  the  Sinnagh  or 
Fox.  One  of  the  Irish  nobles  who  thus 
visited  the  earl  was  Art  Magennis,  lord 
of  Iveagh,  in  Ulster,  who,  for  some 
charge  trumped  up  against  him,  while 
thus  within  the  grasp  of  his  enemies, 
was  seized  and  cast  into  prison.  This 
act  destroyed  the  confidence  not  only  of 
the  Irish,  but,  as  we  are  told,  of  many 
of  the  English,  who  consequently  kept 
aloof  from  the  deputy.  Mortimer  in- 
vaded Ulster  shortly  after,  destroying 
much  property,  lay  and  ecclesiastical, 
and  the  following  year  he  died  in 
Cork.* 

A.  D.  1383. — Roger  Mortimer,  the 
youthful  son  of  the  late  earl,  was  nomi- 

*  In  1380,  before  the  arrival  of  Edmond  Mortimer,  a 
number  of  French  and  Spanish  galleys  retired  from  the 
English  fleet  into  the  liarbor  of  Kinsale,  where  they 
were  attacked  by  the  inhabitants,  English  and  Irish, 
400  of  their  men  being  killed,  and  their  principal  offi- 
cers captured.     Holiushed  gives  this  statement  on  the 


nated  in  his  father's  place,  his  uncle  Sir 
Thomas  Mortimer,  chief  justice  of  the 
common  pleas  in  England,  administering 
affairs  for  him  as  deputy.  In  so  absurd 
a  way  was  the  office  of  lord  justice  of 
Ireland  disposed  of  at  that  time,  that  a 
grant  of  it  was  next  made  for  ten  years 
to  Philip  de  Courtney,  a  cousin  of  the 
king's,  who  abused  his  power  by  such 
gross  peculation  and  injustice,  that  the 
council  of  regency  had  him  taken  into 
custody  and  punished  for  his  crimes. 
An  army  was  this  year  led  by  Niall 
O'Neill  against  the  English  of  Antrim  ; 
and  the  following  year  that  prince  took 
and  burned  Can-ickfergus,  and,  as  the 
annals  say,  "  gained  great  power  over 
the  English." 

At  this  period  the  country  was 
desolated  bj'  plague  as  well  as  by  wai-, 
the  fourth  great  pestilence  of  the  four- 
teenth century  having  broken  out  in 
1382 ;  and  the  ravages  of  the  disease 
may  be  traced  for  some  years  in  the 
numerous  obituaries  which  our  annalists 
record.f 

A.  D.  1384. — A  fresh  source  of  dis- 
order now  arose  in  Connaught.  Rory, 
son  of  Tnrlough  O'Conor,  and  last  king 
of  that  province,  died,  after  a  stormy 
reign  of  over  sixteen  years,  and  two 
rival  chieftains  were  set  up  in  his  place. 
One  of  these,  Turlough  Oge,  a  nephew 
of  the  late  chief,  was  inaugurated  king 

authority  of  Thomas  Walsingham,  but  it  is  not  alluded 
to  in  the  Irish  or  Anglo-Irish  chronicles. 

f  This  pestilence  Dr.  Wilde  suspects  to  have  been  a 
visitation  of  typhus  fever. — See  Report  on  Table  of 
Deaths. 


EXPEDITION  TO  IRELAND. 


279 


by  O'Kelly  of  Hy-Many,  Clanrickard, 
and  some  of  the  O'Conors ;  and  Tur- 
lougli  Roe,  son  of  Hugh,  sou  of  Felini 
O'Conor,  the  other  competitoi",  was, 
about  the  same  time,  installed  by 
MacDermot,  of  Moylui'g,  the  Clanu 
Murtough,  and  all  the  chiefs  of  the 
Sil-Murray.  The  former  was  the  an- 
cestor of  the  sept  of  O'Conor  Don  (the 
brown),  and  the  latter  of  that  of  O'Co- 
nor  Koe  (the  red);  and  between  these 
two  branches  of  the  O'Conor  family 
and  their  respective  adherents  impla- 
cable hostility  prevailed  for  many  years 
after.  The  territory  of  Connaught  was 
divided  between  them,  by  which  parti- 
tion the  ancient  i:>ower  of  that  province 
was  crushed  for  ever,  while  the  country 
was  laid  waste  by  feuds,  which  seldom 
allowed  any  interval  of  repose. 

A.  D.  1385. — In  a  moment  of  puerile 
caprice,  Richard,  who  had  been  heap- 
ing honors  upon  Robert  de  Vere,  earl 
of  Oxford,  bestowed  Ireland  upon  that 
young  favorite.  He  created  him  mar- 
quis of  Dublin  and  duke  of  Ireland, 
transferring  to  him  for  life  the  sover- 
eignty of  that  kingdom,  such  as  he 
possessed  it  himself;  and  the  parlia- 
ment, which  confirmed  this  grant,  also 
voted  a  sum  of  money  for  the  favorite's 
intended  expedition  to  Ireland.  Hav- 
ing accompanied  De  Vere  as  far  as 
Wales,  the  youthful  monarch  changed 
his  mind,  and  sending  Sir  John  Stanley 
to  Ireland  as  his  deputy,  he  kept  his 
favorite  near  himself.  Like  that  of  all 
royal  minions,  the  fate  of  the  young 
duke  of  Ireland  was  unfortunate.     The 


irritated  nobles  took  up  arms ;  the  duke 
of  Gloucester,  one  of  the  king's  uncles, 
joined  them,  and  De  Vere,  defeated  in 
battle,  was  driven  into  exile,  and  died 
in  Belgium,  in  1396. 

A.  D.  1392. — Our  annals  mention  a 
victory  gained  by  O'Conor,  of  Offaly, 
in  1385,  over  the  English,  at  the  tochar, 
or  pass,  near  the  hill  of  Croghan,  in  the 
King's  county ;  and  the  Anglo-Irish 
chronicles  record  a  battle,  in  which 
600  of  the  Irish  were  slain,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Kilkenny,  in  the  year  1392.  In 
this  latter  year  Niall  O'Neill  led  an  ar- 
my to  Dundalk,  where  he  defeated  the 
English ;  he  himself,  although  far  ad- 
vanced in  years,  killing  Seffin  White  in 
single  combat.  This  year  died  O'Neill's 
eldest  son,  Henry,  who  was  distin- 
guished for  his  justice  and  munificence, 
but  was  surnamed,  by  antiphrasis,  Av- 
rey  (Aimhreidh)  or  the  Contentious. 
Henry's  sons  were  warlike,  and  their 
names  long  occupy  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  annals  of  the  northern  province. 

A.  D.  1394. — Richard  having  suddenly 
formed  a  project  of  visiting  Ireland  in 
2:)erson,  countermanded  the  preparations 
which  the  duke  of  Gloucester  was  ma- 
king by  his  orders  to  come  to  this  coun- 
try. Ireland  had  become  a  perpetual 
drain  on  the  royal  exchequer.  Not- 
withstanding the  absentee  laws,  a  great 
number  of  the  Anglo-Irish  proprietors 
resided  in  England,  and  the  power  and 
daring  of  the  neighboring  Irish  septs 
were  daily  increasing.  The  king  was 
resolved  to  take  into  his  own  hands  the 
subjugation  of  the  country;    but  this 


280 


REIGN  OF  RICHARD  H. 


was  not  the  sole  motive  for  his  expedi- 
tion. He  had  just  suffered  a  mortifying 
repulse  in  Germany  where  he  hoped  to 
he  elected  emperor,  and  had  also  lost 
his  queen ;  and  he  sought  by  excite- 
ment and  change  of  scene  to  heal  his 
■wounded  feelings.  Richard  landed  at 
Waterford,  on  the  '2d  of  October,  with 
an  army  of  4,000  men-at-arms  and  30,000 
archers,  which  had  been  conveyed  in 
a  fleet  of  200  ships.  This  was  the  lar- 
gest force  ever  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Ireland  ;  and  the  Irish,  after  retiring  for 
awhile  to  their  fastnesses,  prudently 
judged  that  resistance  to  such  an  army 
was  worse  than  useless,  whereupon  their 
.chiefs  came  in  considerable  numbers  to 
yield  him  homage.  Beyond  this  show 
of  submission,  however,  and  a  parade 
of  his  power  which  gratified  his  vanity, 
Richard,  witb  his  splendid  and  costly 
armament,  effected  nothing.  No  meas- 
ure of  justice  or  conciliation  was  thought 
of;  nothing  was  done  to  gaiu  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  the  Irish,  the  laws 
of  England  were  not  extended  to  them, 
in  fact  every  law  was  framed  against 
them  ;  and  there  was  no  idea  of  treating 
them  as  subjects  of  the  crown,  on  equal 
terms  witli  the  English,  or  of  securing 
to  them  the  possession  of  such  portions 
of  their  ancient  patrimonies  as  had  not 
yet  been  wrested  from  them. 

O'Neill  and  other  lords  of  Ulster  met 


*  It  must  have  been  immediately  before  tliis  that 
Art  MacMurrough,  according  to  the  Irish  annals,  burned 
the  town  of  New  Ross  (Ros-mic-Triuin)  in  Wexford, 
carried  off  a  large  quantity  of  valuable  property,  and 
Blew   a  great  number  of  the  English.     It  was  with 


the  kinof  at  Dro2:heda,  and  there  did 
homage  in  the  usual  fn'm.  Mowbray, 
earl  of  Nottingham  and  lord  marshal  of 
England,  was  commissioned  to  receive 
the  fealty  and  homage  of  the  Irish  of 
Leinster ;  and  on  an  open  plain  at  Bal- 
ligorey,  near  Carlow,  he  held  an  inter- 
view with  the  famous  Art  MacMur- 
rousfh,  heir  of  the  ancient  Leinster 
kinsrs,  who  was  at  this  time  the  most 
dreaded  enemy  of  the  English,  and  was 
accompanied  at  this  meeting  by  several 
of  the  southern  chiefs.*  The  terms 
exacted  from  these  chieftains  were  that 
they  should  not  only  continue  loyal 
subjects,  but  engage,  for  themselves  and 
their  swordsmen,  that  on  a  certain  fixed 
day  they  Avould  surrender  to  the  king 
of  England  all  their  lands  and  posses- 
sions in  Leinster,  taking  with  them  only 
their  moveable  goods,  and  that  they 
would  serve  him  in  his  wars  against 
any  other  of  his  countrymen.  In  re- 
turn for  their  hereditary  rights  and 
territories  they  were  to  receive  pen- 
sions during  their  lives,  and  the  inher- 
itance of  such  lands  as  they  could  seize 
from  the  "  rebels"  in  other  parts  of  the 
realm,  and  for  the  fulfilment  of  these 
hard  terms  they  were  severally  bound 
by  indentures  and  in  heavy  penalties. 
No  less  than  seventy-five  chieftains 
from  different  parts  of  Ireland  appear 
to   have    proffered    their    homage    to 


difficulty  this  chief  was  pursuaded  to  offer  his  sub- 
mission, and  when  the  English  had  him  iu  their 
hands  there  was  some  attempt  made  to  detaia  him, 
O'Byrne,  O'More,  and  O'Nolan  being  finally  kept  as 
hostages  for  him. 


I 


FROISSART'S   ACCOUNT   OF  THE  IRISH. 


281 


Eicbard  or  his  commissioner  on  tliis 
occasion ;  and  it  is  curious  that  the 
king  in  a  letter,  written  at  the  time,  to 
his  council  in  England,  after  classifying 
the  population  of  the  English  Pale  un- 
der the  three  heads  of  "  wild  Iiish,  or 
enemies,"  "  Irish  rebels,"  and  "  English 
subjects,"  admits  that  the  "rebels"  had 
been  made  such  by  wrongs  and  Eng- 
lish misrule,  and  that  if  not  wisely 
treated  they  might  enter  the  ranks  of 
the  "enemies,"  whence  he  thought  it 
right  to  grant  them  a  general  pardon, 
and  to  take  them  under  his  special  pro- 
tection.* The  council  thought  the 
king's  treatment  of  the  Irish  too  leni- 
ent, and  suggested  that  he  should  exact 
large  fines  and  ransoms  for  the  pardons 
which  he  granted ;  but  his  experience 
tauffht  him  otherwise. 

When  Sir  John  Froissart,  the  French 
chronicler,  was,  in  1395,  at  the  court 
of  Richard  II.  in  England,  he  met  there 
an  English  gentleman,  named  Henry 
Castide,  or  Castile,  who  told  him  that 
he  had  lived  for  many  years  in  Ireland ; 
that  he  had  been  captured  by  the  Irish 
in  a  skirmish,  but  had  been  well  treated 
by  the  Irish  gentleman  who  took  him 
prisoner,  and  who  afterwards  gave  him 
his  daughter  in  marriage ;  that  he  had 
thus  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Irish 
language,  and  was,  on  that  account, 
employed  by  king  Richard  to  instruct 
four  Irish  kings,  on  whom  he  desired 
to  confer  the  honor  of  knighthood,  in 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Privy  Council,  edited  by  Sir 
Harris  Nicholas, 
f  The  names  of  the  Irish  kings  are  strangely  meta- 
36 


such  things  as  might  be  necessary  for 
the  ceremony.  A  courtier  like  Frois- 
sart was  not  apt  to  favor  a  people  such 
as  the  Irish  were  then  represented  to  be, 
nor  was  his  informant  prejudiced  in 
their  favor ;  but  the  details  transmitted 
to  us  through  such  hands  are  extremely 
curious.  "  To  tell  you  the  truth,"  said 
Castide,  "  Ireland  is  one  of  the  worst 
countries  to  make  war  in  or  to  conquer, 
for  there  are  such  impenetrable  and  ex- 
tensive forests,  lakes,  and  bogs,  there 
is  no  knowing  how  to  pass  them.  It 
is  so  thinly  inhabited  that  whenever 
the  Irish  please  they  desert  the  towns 
and  take  refuge  in  these  forests,  and 
live  in  huts  made  of  boughs,  like  wild 
beasts;  and  whenever  they  perceive 
any  parties  advancing  with  hostile  dis- 
position, and  about  to  enter  their  coun- 
try, they  fly  to  such  narrow  passes  it  is 
impossible  to  follow  them  ....  And 
no  man-at-arms,  be  he  ever  so  well 
mounted,  can  overtake  them,  so  light 
are  they  of  foot.  Sometimes  they  leap 
from  the  ground  behind  a  horseman, 
and  embrace  the  rider  (for  they  are 
very  strong  in  their  arms)  so  tightly 
that  he  can  no  way  get  rid  of  them." 

Sir  Henry  then  proceeds  to  relate, 
among  other  things,  how  "four  of  the 
most  potent  kings  of  Ireland  had  sub- 
mitted to  the  king  of  England,  but 
more  though  love  and  good  humor  than 
by  battle  or  force  ;"f  how  they  were 
placed   for   about  a  month  under  his 

morphosed  in  the  orthography  of  Froissart,  but  they  ap- 
pear to  have  been  CNeUI,  O'Conor,  O'Brien,  and  Mac- 
Murrough. — Chion.,  book  v.,  c.  64    Johns'  Translation. 


282 


REIGN  OF  RICHARD  II. 


"care  and  governance  at  Dublin,  to  teach 
them  the  usages  of  England ;  how  they 
refused  to  sit  to  dinner  unless  their 
minstrels  and  attendants  were  allowed 
seats  with  them  at  the  same  table,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  their  own 
country;  how  they  at  first  objected  to 
receive  knighthood,  observing  that 
they  had  been  created  knights  already 
when  they  were  only  seven  years  of  age, 
such  being  the  custom  of  their  country, 
especially  with  the  sons  of  kings ;  how 
they  ultimately  acceded  to  the  wishes 
of  king  Richard  in  every  thing  and  were 
knighted  by  him  in  the  cathedral  of 
Dublin,  on  the  feast  of  Our  Lady,  in 
March ;.  and  dined  that  day,  in  robes 
of  state,  at  the  table  of  king  Richard, 
"  where  they  were  much  stared  at  by 
the  loixls  and  those  present,  not,  indeed, 
without  reason,  for  they  were  strange 
figures,  and  difierently  countenanced 
to  the  English  and  other  nations."  So 
the  courtly  Sir  John  reports  the  words 
of  Master  Castide,  and  he  adds  that 
the  success  of  Richard  11.  in  Ireland  on 
this  occasion  was  partly  owing  to  the 
veneration  in  which  the  natives  held 
the  cross  of  St.  Edward,  which  the 
king  emblazoned  on  all  his  banners,  in- 
stead of  his  own  leopards  and  jleurs 
de  lis. 

A.  D.  1395. — After  nine  months  passed 
in  Ireland,  chiefly  in  those  displays  of 
pomp  and  pastimes  which  he  so  much 
loved,  Richard  was  recalled  to  England 
by  aflfairs  of  state  early  in  the  summer 
of  this  year,  and  left  young  Roger  Mor- 
timer, who  had  been  declared  heir-pre- 


sumptive to  the  crown,  as  his  viceroy  in 
Ireland.  Scarcely,  however,  had  the 
king  departed,  when  several  of  the  Irish 
chiefs  cast  off  the  alleo-iance  to  which 

O 

they  had  submitted  for  the  moment. 
It  would  appear  that  even  before  he 
left  the  English  suffered  partial  defeats 
in  Offaly  and  Ely  O'CarrolL  We  are 
told,  on  English  authority,  that  Sir 
Thomas  Burke  and  Walter  Bennino^ham 
slew  600  of  the  Irish  this  year,  and  that 
the  O'Byrnes  of  Wicklow  were  defeated 
by  the  viceroy  and  the  earl  of  Ormond. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  MacCarthy 
gained  a  victory  over  the  English  in 
Munster;  O'Toole  slaughtered  them 
fearfully  in  a  battle  in  1396,  six  score 
heads  of  the  foreign  foe  being  counted 
before  the  chief  after  the  conflict ;  the 
earl  of  Kildare  was  taken  jjrisoner  by 
Calvagh  O'Conor  of  Offaly,  in  1398; 
and  the  same  year  the  O'Byrnes  and 
O'Tooles  avenged  many  of  their  former 
losses  by  a  victory  at  Kenlis  in  Ossory, 
in  which  young  Mortimer  was  slain  and 
a  great  number  of  the  English  cut  to 
pieces. 

A.  r>.  1399. — King  Richard,  who  had 
of  late  incurred  great  popular  odium  in 
England  by  his  exactions  and  oppres- ' 
siou,  undertook  the  mad  project  of 
another  expedition  to  Ireland ;  and  set 
out  at  a  moment  when  his  government 
was  surrounded  by  perils  at  home, 
leaving  his  uncle,  the  Duke  of  York, 
regent  in  his  absence.  He  once  more 
landed  at  Waterford  with  another 
magnificent  army,  which,  like  the 
former  one,  was  transported  in  a  fleet 


ATTACK  ON  MACMURROUGH'S  STRONGHOLD. 


283 


of  200  ships ;  and  it  is  curious  that  on 
this  occasion  we  are  again  indebted  to 
a  French  chronicler  for  an  account  of 
the  royal  transactions  in  Ireland.  A 
French  gentleman  named  Creton,  who 
was  induced  to  accompany  a  friend  on 
Richard's  second  expedition,  has  left  us, 
in  a  metrical  account  of  the  last  days  of 
that  unfortunate  monarch's  reign,  some 
highly  interesting  details  of  what  he 
witnessed  in  this  country.* 

After  six  days'  delay  in  Waterford 
the  king  marched  to  Kilkenny,  where 
he  remained  fourteen  days  waiting  for 
the  arrival  of  the  duke  of  Albemarle, 
who  still  disappointed  him  ;  but,  in  the 
mean  time,  Janico  d'Artois,  a  foreign 
officer  of  great  tact  and  bravery,  and 
who  performed  many  important  services 
for  the  English,  defeated  the  Irish  at 
Kells,  in  Ossory.  On  the  eve  of  St. 
John  the  Bajjtist,  Richard  departed 
from  the  city  of  St.  Canice,  victualling 
his  army  as  best  he  could,  and  marched 
against  MacMurrough,  the  indomitable 
king  of  Leinster.  The  main  object  of 
the  expedition  was,  indeed^  to  conquer, 
if  possible',  this  celebrated  chieftain,  the 
most  heroic  of  the  Irish  princes  of  his 
time,  who,  in  a  territory  surrounded  by 
the  settlements  of  his  English  foes,  and 
spite  of  all  the  lords  justices  sent 
against  him  with  armies  of  mail-clad 
warriors  and  archers,  and  all  the  chiv- 
alry of  the  earls  of  the  Pale,  was  able 

*  See  the  Eistoire  du  Boy  d'Angleterre,  Richard; 
translated  by  the  Rev.  J.  Webb,  in  the  twentieth  vol. 
of  the  Archaeologia :  London,  1824.  The  portion  of  it 
relaiing  to  Ireland  was  translated  long  before  by  Sir 
George  Carew,  and  published  in  Harris's  Hibemica. 


to  hold  his  position  as  an  iudejiendent 
king,  to  keep  the  Anglo-Irish  govern- 
ment in  perpetual  terror,  and  to  aflFord 
a  rallying  point  to  his  oppressed 
countrymen,  and  an  example  of  pa- 
triotic horoism  to  the  native  chieftains 
of  all  Ireland.f  MacMurrough's  strong- 
hold was  in  a  wood,  "  guarded  by  3,000 
stout  men,  such,  as  it  seemed  to  me," 
says  the  narrator,  "were  very  little 
astonished  at  the  sight  of  the  English." 
The  king  marshalled  his  army  in  battle 
array  before  the  wood,  the  standard 
being,  this  time,  not  St.  Edward's  gold 
cross  on  a  red  field  and  four  white 
doves,  but  his  own  three  leopards  ;  and 
the  Irish  not  choosing  to  leave  their 
defences  and  meet  him  in  the  plain,  he 
ordered  the  villages  in  the  wood  to  be 
set  on  fire,  and  compelled  2,500  of  the 
peasantry  to  cut  a  passage  for  his  army 
through  the  wood.  Meanwhile  he 
amused  himself  with  one  of  his  favorite 
pageants,  going  through  the  ceremony 
of  knighting  his  cousin,  the  duke  of 
Lancaster's  son,  "  a  fair  and  puny 
youth,  "  who  was  afterwards  king 
Henry  V.  of  England,  together  with 
eight  or  ten  other  knights.  While 
marching  through  the  passage  opened 
for  them  his  army  was  constantly  as- 
sailed both  in  the  van  and  rear  by 
MacMurrough's  soldiers,  who  attacked 
them  with  loud  shouts,  casting  their 
javelins  with  such  might  "  as  no  haber- 


f  See,  for  an  interesting  account  of  this  Irish  hero 
and  his  exploits,  Mr.  T.  Darcy  M'Qee's  "Life  and 
Conquests  of  Art  MacMurrough,"  in  Duffy's  Library  of 
Ireland. 


284 


REIGN   OF  RICHARD   II. 


geon  or  coat  of  mail  was  of  sufficient 
proof  to  resist  their  force ; "  and  who 
were  "  so  nimble  and  swift  of  foot  that 
like  unto  stags  they  ran  over  mountains 
and  valleys.  "  MacMurrough's  uncle 
and  some  others  came  forward  in  an 
abject  manner  to  make  their  submission 
to  Richard,  who  thereupon  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  king  of  Leinster  himself 
mviting  him  to  follow  his  uncle's 
example,  and  promising  not  only  to 
pardon  him  but  "  to  bestow  upon  him 
castles,  towns,  and  ample  territories. " 
The  answer  of  the  heroic  Art  was  that 
"  for  all  the  gold  in  the  world  he  would 
not  submit  himself,  but  would  continue 
to  war,  and  endamage  the  king  in  all 
that  he  could.  "  This  defiant  message 
was  delivered  at  a  time  when  king 
Richard's  army  was  in  the  utmost 
straits  for  want  of  food.  The  sur- 
rounding country  had  been  ravaged 
over  and  over,  and  no  provisions  were 
to  be  found.  Several  men  had  perished 
of  famine,  and  even  the  horses  were 
without  fodder.  "  A  biscuit  in  one  day 
between  five  men  was  thought  good 
allowance,  and  some  in  five  days  to- 
gether had  not  a  bit  of  bread  !  "  At 
length  three  ships  arrived  with  jDrovis- 
ions  from  Dublin,  the  army  being 
encamped  somewhere  near  the  coast  in 
Wexford ;  but  the  starving  soldiers 
plunged  into  the  sea  and  rifled  the  ves- 
sels without  waiting  for  a  regular  distri- 
bution of  food,  so  that  much  of  it  was  de- 
stroyed and  many  lives  in  the  confusion  ; 
and  the  men  indulged  to  intoxication  in 
the  wine  which  they  found  in  the  ships. 


Covered  with  humiliation,  king  Rich- 
ard decamped,  and  marched  towards 
Dublin,  the  Irish  hovering  on  his  rear 
and  skirmishing  with  the  same  provok- 
ing effect  as  hitherto;  but  soon  after 
his  departure  MacMurrough  sent  after 
him  to  make  overtures  of  peace  and  to 
propose  a  conference.  This  filled  the 
English  camp  with  delight,  and  Richard 
gladly  commissioned  the  earl  of  Glou- 
cester, who  commanded  in  the  rear,  to 
meet  MacMurrough.  For  this  purpose 
the  earl  took  with  him  a  guard  of  200 
lances  and  1,000  gt>od  archers ;  and 
among  the  gentlemen  who  accompanied 
him  to  see  the  Irish  king  was  our 
French  friend  who  relates  the  circum- 
stance : — "  From  a  mountain,  between 
two  woods,  not  far  from  the  sea,  we 
saw  MacMurrough  descending,  ac- 
companied by  multitudes  of  the  Irish, 
and  mounted  upon  a  horse,  without  a 
saddle,  which  cost  him,  it  was  reported, 
400  cows.  His  horse  was  fair,  and  in 
his  descent  from  the  hill  to  us,  ran  as 
swiftly  as  any  stag,  hare,  or  the  swiftest 
beast  I  have  ever  seen.  In  his  right 
hand  he  b5re  a  long  spear,  which, 
when  near  the  spot  where  he  was  to 
meet  the  earl,  he  cast  from  him  with 
much  dexterity.  The  crowd  that  fol- 
lowed him  then  remained  behind,  while 
he  advanced  to  meet  the  earl  near  a 
small  brook.  He  was  tall  of  stature, 
well  composed,  strong,  and  active ;  his 
countenance  fierce  and  cruel."  The 
parley  was  a  protracted  one,  but  led 
to  no  reconciliation.  Such  terms  as  the 
earl    was    empowered    to    oifer    were 


FATE   OF  RICHARD. 


285 


haughtily  spurned  by  MacMurrough, 
wlio  declared  that  he  would  not  submit 
to  them  while  he  had  life;  Richard,  ou 
hearing  the  result,  "  flew  into  a  violent 
rage,  and  swore  by  St.  Edward  he  would 
not  depart  out  of  Ireland  until  he  had 
MacMurrough  in  his  hands,  living  or 
dead." 

Dublin  was  at  that  time  so  prosperous 
that  the  arrival  of  the  English  king, 
with  an  army  of  30,000  hungry  men, 
produced  no  change  in  the  price  of  pro- 
visions. The  duke  of  Albemarle  next 
aiTived  with  his  reinforcements,  and 
Richard,  forming  his  army  into  three 
divisions,  resolved  to  renew  the  war 
against  MacMurrough,  and  at  the  same 
time  offered  a  reward  of  100  marks  to 
any  one  w^ho  would  deliver  that  chief- 
tain to  him  dead  or  alive.  His  own 
fate,  however,  was  nearer  at  hand,  than 
that  of  Art  MacMurrousrh.  After  an 
ominous  interruption  of  news  from  Eng- 
land for  six  weeks,  owing  to  stormy 
weather,  disastrous  accounts  reached 
him  from  that  country.  His  cousin,  the 
son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster, 
was  up  in  rebellion,  and  had  been  joined 
by  the  barons  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
population.  All  his  Irish  schemes  were 
in  a  moment  crushed.  The  duke  of 
Albemarle,  in  whom  he  trusted,  put 
him  on  a  wrong  course.  His  departure 
from  Ireland  was  delayed  until  his 
Welsh  friends  were  scattered,  and  he 


*  Two  plaintive  quatrains  in  Norman  French,  written 
by  this  earl  while  a  prisoner,  are  printed  in  Croker's 
popular  songs  of  Ireland,  p.  287.  Earl  Garrett  is  the 
theme  of  many  legends  still  preserved  in  the  south  of 


only  arrived  in  England  to  become  a 
prisoner.  Ultimately  he  was  murdered 
in  Pontefract  castle ;  and  thus  to  this 
second  ill-omened  expedition  of  king 
Richard  to  Ireland  may  be  traced  the 
fate  of  that  unfortunate  monarch,  and 
the  origin  of  the  war  between  the  houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster,  which  so  long 
continued  to  deluge  England  with 
blood. 

Niall  More  O'Neill  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  in  1397,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Niall  Oge,  who  chastised 
the  O'Donnells  for  some  of  their  late 
aggressions,  and  made  war  upon  the 
English  so  effectually,  in  1399,  as  to 
plunder  or  expel  nearly  all  of  them 
whom  he  found  in  Ulster.  Garrett, 
fourth  earl  of  Desmond,  who  died  in 
1398,  and  was  called  the  poet,  is  de- 
scribed as  excelling  "  all  the  English 
and  many  of  the  Irish  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  Irish  language."*  He  was  a  great 
patron  of  learned  men,  who,  even  in 
that  age  of  anarchy,  found  many  friends 
among  the  Irish  chieftains.  Thus  Niall 
O'Neill,  whose  death  we  have  just 
mentioned,  built  a  house  for  the  ollavs 
and  poets  on  the  site  of  the  famous 
palace  of  Emania,  near  Armagh.  We 
begin  at  this  time  to  meet  frequent 
mention  of  pilgrimages  to  Rome.  In 
1396,  Thadeus  O'Carroll,  lord  of  Ely, 
repaired,  says  an  Irish  chronicler,  to  the 
threshold  of  the  apostles  ou  a  religious 


Ireland ;  according  to  one  of  which,  his  spirit  appears 
once  in  seven  years  on  Lough  Gur,  in  the  county  of 
Limerick,  where  he  had  a  castle.  See  Four  Masters, 
vol.  v.,  p.  761,  note. 


286 


REIGN  OP  HENRY   IV. 


pilgrimage ;  and,  on  his  return  through 
EngLincl,  he  ijresentecl  himself,  with 
three  other  Irish  gentlemen,  O'Brien, 
Genvkl,  and  Thomas  Calvagh  MacMur- 


rongh,  oi*  the  royal  race  of  Leinster,  to 
king  Richard,  who  received  them  in  the 
most  courteous  manner,  and  took  them 
with  him  on  a  visit  to  the  king  of  France. 


« ■  »  <» 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

EEIGNS  OF  HENEY  IV.  AND  HENEY  V. 

State  of  the  English  Pale. — The  Duke  of  Lancaster  in  Ireland. — Defeats  of  the  English. — Retaliation. — Lancaster 
again  Lord  Lieutenant. — His  Stipulations. — Affairs  of  Tyrone. — Privateering. — Complaints  from  the  Pale. — 
Accession  of  Henry  V. — Sir  John  Stanley's  government. — Rhyming  to  death. — Exploits  of  Lord  Furnival. — 
Reaction  of  the  Irish. — Death  of  Art  MacMurrough  Kavanagh. — Death  of  Murrough  O'Couor,  of  OflFaly. — 
Defeat  of  the  O'Mores. — Petition  against  the  Irish. — Persecution  of  an  Irish  Archbishop. — Complaint  of  the 
Anglo-Irish  Commons. — State  of  Religion  and  Learning. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes:  Innocent  VII.,  Gregory  XII.,  Ale.iander  V.,  John  XXIII.,  M.irtin  V. — 
King  of  Franco,  Cliarles  VI. — King  of  Scotland,  Robert  III. — Revolt  of  Owen  Glendower  in  Wales,  1401.— Death  of 
Tamarlane,  tlie  Tartar  Conqueror,  1405. — Cannon  fir.st  used  in  England,  1405. — Battle  of  Azincourt,  1415. — Paper  first 
made  of  linon  rags,  1417. 


(A.  D.  1399  TO  A.  D.  1433.) 


WE  have  a,lready  remarked  that 
the  reigns  of  the  English  kings 
form  no  epochs  in  Irish  history.  In 
England  the  struggles  between  the 
ci'own  and  the  parliament,  the  conse- 
quent growth  of  popular  liberty,  the 
alternate  wars  and  alliances  with  other 
countries,  and  events  of  like  importance, 
sufficiently  distinguish  one  reign  from 
anothei'.  In  Ireland  the  scene  varied 
but  little.      It  was  one  of  continuous 

*  To  that  territory  within  which  the  English  retreated 
and  fortified  themselves  when  a  reaction  began  to  set  in 
after  their  first  success  in  Ireland,  we  have  all  along 


strife  and  warfare ;  the  only  redeeming 
feature  beinc;  the  indomitable  heroism 
with  which  the  native  Irish  not  only 
maintained  their  ground  against  their 
poweiful  and  rapacious  enemies,  but 
gradually  regained  territories  that  had 
been  wrested  from  their  ancestors,  and 
even  succeeded,  as  was  now  the  case, 
in  levying  tribute  within  the  English 
Pale.* 

A.  D.  1402. — Thomas,  the  young  duke 

applied  the  name  of  Pale,  although  that  term  did  not 
really  come  into  use  until  about  the  beginning  of  the 
IGth  century.    lu  earlier  times  this  territory  was  called 


DUKE   OF  LANCASTER   IN"   IRELAND. 


287 


of  Lancaster,  second  son  of  Henry  IV., 
was  sent  over  as  lord  lieutenant,  though 
not  yet  of  age,  and  landed  at  Bullock, 
near  Dalkey.  Soon  after  his  arrival, 
John  Drake,  then  mayor  of  Dublin, 
marched  against  the  O'Byrues  of  Wick- 
low,  whom  he  routed  at  Bray,  slaying 
500 ;  and  as  a  recognition  of  this  and 
other  similar  services,  the  privilege  of 
havinof  the  sword  borne  before  the 
mayor  was  granted  to  the  city  of 
Dublin.  John  Dowdal,  sheriff  of  Louth, 
was  publicly  murdered  in  Dublin,  by 
Sir  Bartholomew  Vernon  and  three 
other  English  gentlemen,  for  which  and 
other  crimes  they  were  outlawed  and 
their  estates  forfeited ;  but  soon  after 
they  receiv-ed  the  king's  pardon  and 
had  their  lands  I'estored.  The  duke  of 
Lancaster  remained  two  years,  and  left 
as  deputy  Sir  Stephen  Scroop,  who  soon 
after  resigned  the  office  to  the  earl  of 
Orinond,  but  on  the  death  of  the  latter 
in  1405,  the  earl  of  Kildare  was  elected, 

the  English  Land.  It  is  generally  called  Ffine-Ghall 
in  the  Irish  annals  (see  Foxir  Masters,  v.  1633,  note  I,) 
■where  the  term  Galls  comes  to  be  applied  to  the 
descendants  of  the  early  adventurers,  and  that  of 
Saxons  to  Englishmen  newly  arrived.  The  formation 
of  the  Pale  is  generally  considered  to  date  from  the 
reign  of  Edward  I.  About  the  period  of  ■which  ■we 
are  now  treating,  it  began  to  be  limited  to  the  four 
counties  of  Louth,  Meath,  Kildare,  and  Dublin,  ■which 
formed  its  utmost  extent  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
Beyond  this  the  authority  of  the  king  of  England 
■was  a  nullity.  The  border  lands  ■were  called  the 
Marches.  Campion  describes  the  Pale  as  the  place 
"  ■whereout  they  (the  English)  durst  not  peepe."  The 
Wicklow  septs  of  O'Toole  and  O'Byrne  frequently 
scoured  the  country  as  far  as  Clondalkin,  Saggard,  and 
other  places  in  the  immediate  ■vicinity  of  Dublin.  An 
authority  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  complains  that 
even  the  four  counties  of  Dublin,  Kildare,  Meath,  and 
Uriel,  or  Louth,  -were  not  "  free  from  Irish  invasions, 
and  were  so  weakened,  -withal,  and  corrupted,  that 


and  he  was  followed  in  quick  succession 
by  Scroop,  and  the  new  earl  of  Ormond, 
as  deputies  to  the  duke. 

Gillapatrick  O'More,  lord  of  Leix, 
defeated  the  English  in  battle  at  Ath- 
duv,  in  1404,  killing  great  numbers, 
and  taking  a  large  amount  of  spoils. 
The  following  year  Art  MacMurrough 
renewed  hostilities  by  plundering  Wex- 
ford, Carlow,  and  Castledermot ;  and  in 
1406  the  Endish  of  Meath  were  de- 
feated  by  Murrough  O'Conor,  lord  of 
Ofialy,  and  his  son  Calvagh.  Three 
hundred  of  the  English  were  killed  on 
this  occasion. 

A.  D/1407. — This  year  the  English 
avenged  some  of  their  recent  losses. 
The  lord  deputy  Scroop,  with  the  earls 
of  Desmond  and  Ormond,  and  the  prior 
of  Kilmaiuhara,  led  an  army  against 
MacMurrough,  who  made  so  gallant  a 
stand  that  victory  for  some  time  see'raed 
to  be  on  his  side,  although  it  ultimately 
declared  for  the  English.     The  latter 

scant  four  persons  in  any  parish  ■wore  English  habits ; 
and  coine  and  liverie  -were  as  current  as  in  the  Irish 
counties." — The  same  authority  (a  Report  on  the  con- 
dition of  Ireland  in  1515,  preserved  in  the  English  State 
Paper  Office,  and  printed  in  the  first  volume  of  the 
"  State  Papers"  relating  to  Ireland)  states  that  but  half 
of  each  of  the  four  counties  just  mentioned  ■n-as  subject 
to  the  king's  laws,  and  that  "  all  the  comyn  PeopUe  of 
the  said  Halflf  Countyes  that  obeyeth  the  Kinges  Laws, 
for  the  more  part  ben  of  Iryshe  Byrthe,  of  Iryshe 
Habyte,  and  of  Iryshe  Language  ;"  and  in  enumerating 
the  English  territories"  ■which  paid  tribute,  or  ''  Black 
Rent,"  to  the  "  wj-lde  Irish,"  it  is  stated  that  the  county 
of- Uriel  (Louth)  paid  yearly  to  the  "great  Oneyll"  .£40  ; 
the  county  of  Meath,  to  O'Conor  of  Offalr,  £300 ;  the 
county  of  Kildare,  to  the  same  OConor,  £20 ;  the  King's 
Exchequer  to  MacMurrough,  80  marks ;  besides  the 
tributes  paid  by  English  settlements  outside  the  Pale  to 
their  respective  Irish  chieftains  Such  was  the  state 
of  things  more  than  300  years  after  the  so-called  con- 
quest. 


288 


REIGN   OF  HENRY   IV. 


then  made  a  rapid  march  to  Callan,  in 
tlie  county  of  Kilkenny,  where  they 
came  by  surprise  upon  Teige  O'CarroU, 
lord  of  Ely,  and  his  adherents,  and  slew 
800  of  them  in  the  panic  which  en- 
sued.* 

Teige  O'Carroll,  who  was  killed  in 
the  fray,  was  a  generous  patron  of 
learning;  and  it  will  be  remembered 
that  a  few  years  before  this  time,  when 
returning  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
he  was  honorably  received  at  the  court 
of  Richard  II.,  in  Westminster.  A  par- 
liament was  held  this  year  at  Dublin 
in  which  the  statute  of  Kilkenny  was 
confirmed,  but  the  insolence  which 
prompted  this  proceeding  was  soon 
after  humbled. 

A.  D.  1408. — The  duke  of  Lancaster 
again  assumed  the  reins  of  government 
in  person ;  but  stipulated  that  he  should 
be  allowed  to  transport  into  Ireland,  at 
the  king's  expense,  one  or  two  families 
from  every  parish  in  England,  that  the 
demesnes  of  the  crown  should  be  re- 
sumed, and  the  laws  against  absenteeism 
enforced.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he 
seized  the  earl  of  Kildare  in  an  arbi- 
trary manner,  and  demanded  300  marks 

*  Both  Englisli  and  Irish  accounts  agree  as  to  the 
number  of  slain,  but  the  former  add  "  that  the  sun  stood 
still  that  day  for  a  space,  until  the  Englishmen  had 
ridden  six  miles  !"  a  prodigy  on  ■wKch  the  Irish  annals 
arc  silent. 

About  this  time  the  first  notice  of  usquebagh,  or 
wliiskey,  occurs  in  the  Irish  annals,  which  mention 
that  Richard  MacRannal,  cliief  of  Muintir-Eolais  in 
Leitrim,  died  from  drinking  some  at  Christmas,  in  the 
year  1405.  Connell  Mageoghegan  (Ann.  of  Clon.)  play- 
ing upon  the  name,  says  "  mine  author  sayeth  that  it 
was  not  aqua  vitcB  to  him,  but  aqua  mortis."  Fynes 
Morryson,  a  writer  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 


for  his  ransom.  Meanwhile  MacMur- 
rough,  who  had  again  taken  the  field, 
was  victorious  in  battle,  and  O'Conor 
Faly  carried  off  enormous  spoils  from 
the  English  in  the  lands  borderins:  on 
his  own  territory.  The  royal  duke 
finally  left  Ireland  in  1409,  after  ap- 
pointing Thomas  Butler,  prior  of  Kil- 
mainham,  as  his  deputy.  The  latter 
held  a  parliament  in  Dublin  the  follow- 
ing year,  when  the  law  against  coyn 
and  livery  was  further  confirmed ;  he 
also  made  an  incursion  into  O'Byrne's 
country,  Avith  a  force  of  1,500  kernes 
or  light-armed  infantry,  but  without 
success.f 

A.  D.  1412. — Tyrone  was  for  many 
years,  about  this  period,  a  scene  of 
contention  between  different  sections  of 
the  O'Neill  family,  and  the  neighboring 
chieftains  were  generally  involved  in 
the  strife.  When  Niall  Oge  O'Neill 
died,  in  1402,  his  son  Owen  was  unable 
to  enforce  his  right  of  succession,  and 
Donnell,  of  the  Henry  O'Neill  branch, 
was  recognized  as  chieftain.  In  1410 
Donnell  was  made  prisoner  by  Brian 
MacMahon  of  Oriel,  who  delivered  him 
up  to  his  enemy,  Owen  O'Neill,  and 


lauds  the  usquebagh  or  aqua  titcB  of  Ireland,  as  better 
than  that  of  England. — History  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii., 
p.  366. 

f  An  Act  passed  in  the  parliament  held  in  the  year 
1411,  affords  a  striking  example  of  the  malevolence  with 
which  the  legislature  of  the  Pale  was  animated  towards 
the  Irish.  It  was  enacted  that  none  of  the  "  Irish 
enemy"  should  be  allowed  to  depart  from  the  realm, 
without  special  leave  under  the  great  seal  of  Ireland ; 
and  that  any  one  who  seized  the  person  or  goods  of  a 
native  thus  attempting  to  depart  should  be  rewarded 
with  one-half  of  the  aforesaid  goods,  the  remainder  to 
be  forfeited  to  the  State. 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  V. 


289 


through  the  agency  of  the" latter  he  was 
transferred  to  the  English,  who  already 
had  in  their  hands  Hugh,  another  of 
the  Henry  O'Neill  faction.  Hugh  made 
his  escape  from  Dublin  in  1412,  after 
ten  years'  imprisonment,  and  contrived 
to  take  with  him  several  other  captives ; 
amonar  others,  his  kinsman  Donnell. 
This  escape  created  great  alarm  in  the 
Pale,  and  threw  Ulster  once  more  into 
confusion.  Seven  years  later  Donnell 
O'Neill  was  expelled  by  Owen  and  the 
other  northern  chiefs ;  and  the  following 
year  we  find  the  earl  of  Ormond,  then 
justiciary,  acting  with  an  English  army 
against  the  Ultonians  on  his  behalf 
Donnell  and  his  Anglo-Irish  auxiliaries 
were,  however,  unsuccessful,  and  the 
former  was  then  obliged  to  fly  for  shel- 
ter to  the  O'Conors  of  Sligo. 

A  piratical  warfare  was  carried  on 
at  this  period  between  the  Scots  and 
the  English  merchants  of  Dublin  and 
Drogheda.  The  latter  were  obliged  to 
arm  in  their  own  defence,  as  govern- 
ment was  unable  to  protect  them,  and 
they  fitted  out  privateers  and  plundered 
the  Scottish  and  the  Welsh  coasts  in- 
disci'iminately.  MacMurrough  gained 
a  victory  over  the  English  of  Wexford 
in  1413,  and  the  O'Byrnes  another  over 
those  of  Dublin  the  same  year.  A  little 
before  thisy  the  sheriff  of  Meath  was 
taken  prisoner  by  O'Conor  Faly,  and  a 
large  ransom  exacted  for  him.  In  fact, 
the  state  of  the  English  Pale  was  at  this 
time  such  that  it  was  necessary  to  re- 

*  Prooeedings,  d-c,  of  the  Privy  CounciX,  edited  by 
Sir  H.  Nicholas,  vol.  ii. 

37 


move  the  prohibition  of  trading  with 
the  Irish  of  the  Marches.  Permission 
was  granted  to  take  Irish  tenants  on 
the  border  lands,  and  licenses  were 
given  to  place  English  children  with 
Irish  nurses,  and  even  to  intermarry 
with  the  Irish.  The  English  of  Meath 
were  obliged  to  purchase  peace  from 
the  Irish  by  annual  tributes  or  black 
rent.  The  English  of  Louth  complained 
that  the  king's  commissioners  had  bil- 
leted or  assessed  Eochy  MacMahon  and 
other  "  Irish  enemies"  upon  them,  and 
that  these  men  were  prying  into  all  the 
woods  and  strong  places  about  the 
country.  A  petition  was  presented  by 
the  commons  to  the  king,  complaining 
that  even  the  king's  ministers  frequent- 
ly committed  open  acts  of  spoliation  on 
the  English  subjects.*  In  a  word,  the 
speaker  of  the  English  House  of  Com- 
mons, Sir  John  Tibetot,  broadly  asserted 
"  that  the  greater  part  of  the  lordshi]3 
of  Ireland  (that  is,  the  English  territory 
there)  had  been  conquered  by  the  na- 
tives."t 

A.  D.  1413. — Henry  V.  succeeded  to 
the  crown  of  England  on  the  death  of 
his  father  this  year;  but  although  he 
made  his  fii'st  essay  in  arms  in  Ireland, 
having  been  knighted  when  a  boy  by 
Richard  II.,  in  a  camp  in  Wexford,  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  ever  taken 
much  interest  in  Irish  affairs.  The  Eng- 
lish overthrew  the  Irish  in  a  battle  at 
Kilkea  in  Kildare ;  but  in  the  following 
year  they  were  defeated  in  Meath  by 


t  Kot.  Pari.  573. 


290 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  V. 


Murrougli  O'Conor,  lord  of  Offaly,  when 
the  baron  of  Skreen  and  many  of  the 
English  gentry  were  killed,  and  the 
sum  of  1,400  marks  exacted  as  a  ran- 
som for  the  son  of  the  baron  of  Slaue, 
who  was  made  prisoner.  Sir  John  Stan- 
ley, who  was  now  sent  over  as  lord 
deputy,  rendered  himself  odious  by  his 
cruelties  and  exactions ;  and  the  Irish 
annals  say  that  he  was  "rhymed  to 
death"  by  the  poet  Niall  O'Higgiu  of 
Usnagh,  whom  he  plundered  in  a  foray, 
and  who  then  lampooned  him  so  severe- 
ly that  he  only  survived  five  weeks  !* 
He  is  accused  of  having  enriched  him- 
self by  extortion  and  oppression,  and  of 
having  incurred  enormous  debts,  which 
his  executors  refused  to  liquidate ;  and 
it  was  said  that  he  "  gave  neither  money 
nor  protection  to  clergy,  laity,  or  men 
of  science,  but  subjected  them  to  cold, 
hardship,  and  famine." 

A.  D.  1415.— Sir  John  Talbot  of  Hall- 
amshire,  who  was  called  lord  Furnival, 
in  right  of  his  wife,  and  was  subse- 
quently rewarded  for  his  services  with 
the  title  of  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  was  sent 


*  This  was  the  second  "  poetic  miracle"  performed  by 
tMs  Niall  O'Higgin  by  means  of  Ms  satire  and  impre- 
cations, the  former  being  "  the  discomfiture  of  the 
Clanu  Conway  the  night  they  plundered  Niall  at  Cla- 
dann."  In  the  case  mentioned  above,  one  of  the  Anglo- 
Irish,  Henry  Dalton,  took  up  the  bard's  cause,  and 
plundered  "  James  Tuite  and  the  king's  people,"  giving 
the  O'Higgins  out  of  the  prey  a  cow  for  every  one  that 
had  been  taken  from  them,  and  then  escorting  them  to 
Coimaught. 

f  The  oppressive  nature  of  co}ti  and  livery  is  thus 
explained  in  the  preamble  to  the  statute  (not  printed)  of 
10  Hen.  VII.,  c.  4 : — "  That  of  long  there  hath  been  used 
and  exacted  by  the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  tlus  land, 
many  and  divers  damnable  customs  and  usages,  which 
being  called  coyu  and  livery  and  pay — that  is,  horse 


to  Ireland  as  lord  justice  at  the  close  of 
1414,  and  entered  on  the  duties  of  his 
office  with  determined  energy.  Setting 
out  on  a  martial  circuit  of  the  borders 
of  the  Pale,  he  first  invaded  the  terri- 
tory of  Leix,  took  two  of  O'More's 
castles,  and  laid  waste  the  whole  of  his 
lands  in  so  merciless  a  way,  that  tha^ 
chief  was  obliged  to  sue  for  peace,  and 
to  deliver  up  his  son  as  a  hostage.  The 
hardest  of  his  terms  was,  that  O'More 
should  fight  under  the  English  standard 
against  his  brother  chieftains,  as  he  was 
compelled  to  do  immediately  after 
against  MacMahon  of  Oriel,  who  was 
likewise  subdued  and  compelled  to 
yield  to  similar  terms ;  so  that  it  was 
said  lord  Furnival  "  obliged  one  Irish 
enemy  to  serve  upon  the  other."  These 
successes,  achieved  in  the  space  of  a  few 
months,  gained  for  him  the  approbation 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pale ;  but  as  it 
was  necessary  to  revive  the  exaction  of 
coyn  and  liveiy  to  support  the  soldiery, 
the  advantages  were  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  losses.f 

A.   D.    1416. — No    sooner    had    this 


meat  and  man's  meat  for  the  finding  of  their  horsemen 
and  footmen,  and  over  that,  4d.  or  6d.  daily  to  every  of 
them,  to  be  had  and  paid  of  the  poor  earth-tillers  and 
tenants,  without  any  thing  doing  or  paying  therefor. 
Besides,  many  murders,  robberies,  rapes,  and  other 
manifold  oppressions  by  the  said  horsemen  and  footmen 
daily  and  nightly  committed  and  doje,  which  have 
been  the  principal  causes  of  the  desolation  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  said  land,  so  as  the  most  part  of  the  EngUsh 
freeholders  and  tenants  be  departed  out  of  the  land." — 
Grace's  Annals,  p.  147,  note  ;  Davis'  Discovery,  pp.  143, 
144 ;  also.  Printed  Statutes,  10  Hen.  VII.,  cc.  xvlii.  and 
xix.  The  exactions  of  the  Irish  chiefs  were  remodelled 
after  the  English  invasion,  and  soon  became  totally 
different  from  those  set  down  in  the  Book  of  Rights. — Sec 
O'Donovan's  Introduction  to  the  Book  ofRUjhts,  p.  xviii. 


DEATH  OF  ART  MACMURROUGH. 


291 


formidable  deputy  departed  to  attend 
bis  royal  master  in  France,  wliere  lie 
became  the  most  distinguislied  of  the 
English  commandei'S,  than  the  Irish 
again  rose  and  made  ample  reprisals. 
O'Conor  Faly  took  large  spoils  from  the 
Pale's  men ;  and  the  invincible  king  of 
Leinster  overran  the  English  settlements 
in  Wexford,  killing  or  taking  prisoners 
iu  one  day  340  men.  The  next  day  the 
English  sued  for  peace  and  delivered 
hostages  to  him.  This  was  the  last 
exploit  of  Art  MacMurrough  Kavauagh. 
That  Irish  prince,  the  most  illustrious  of 
the  ancient  royal  line  to  which  he  be- 
longed, died  in  1417.  Our  native  annals 
say  "he  nobly  defended  his  own  pro- 
vince aa;aiust  the  invaders  from  his 
sixteenth  to  his  sixtieth  year."  He  was 
distinguished  for  his  hospitality  and  his 
patronage  of  learning,  as  well  as  for  his 
chivalry,  and  was  a  munificent  bene- 
factor of  churches  and  religious  houses. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned 
along  with  his  chief  brehon,  O'Doran, 
by  a  drink  administered  to  him  by  a 
woman  at  New  Ross  the  week  after 
Christmas,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Donough,  who  was  worthy  of  his 
father's  military  fame.  Two  years  after 
this,  Donough  was  made  prisoner  by 
Richard  Talbot,  then  lord  deputy,  and 
sent  to  London,  where  he  was  confined 
iu  the  Tower. 

A.  D.  1421.— Murrough  O'Conor,  lord 
of  Offaly,  whom  we  have  seen  so  often 
victorious  over  the  English,  died  this 

*  A  small  body  x)f  Irish  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Thomas  Butler,  prior  of  Kilmaiiiham,  attended  king 


year,  having  assumed  the  habit  of  a 
grey  friar  a  month  before  his  death  in 
the  monastery  of  Killeigh,  near  Geashill. 
The  same  year  the  earl  of  Ormond,  then 
lord  deputy,  defeated  O'More  in  "  the 
red  bog  of  Athy,"  the  historian.  Campi- 
on, relating  on  this  occasion  the  prodigy 
which  Ware  refers  to  a  former  one, 
namely,  that  the  sun  stood  still  to  ac- 
commodate the  victorious  English ! 
Thus  war  was  carried  on  with  inveterate 
animosity  on  both  sides ;  but  unfortun- 
ately it  was  not  confined  to  the  hostile 
races  of  Celt  and  Saxon,  for  during  the 
whole  of  this  time  our  annals  teem  with 
accounts  of  internecine  quarrels  among 
the  Irish  chiefs  themselves  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  country.* 

A  petition  was'  presented  to  parlia- 
ment in  1417,  praying  that  as  Ireland 
was  divided  into  two  nations,  the  Eng- 
lish subjects  find  the  Irish  enemies,  no 
Irishman  should  be  presented  to  any 
office  or  benefice  in  the  church;  and 
that  no  bishop,  who  was  of  the  Irish 
nation,  should,  under  pain  of  forfeiting 
his  temporalities,  collate  any  Irish  cleric 
to  a  benefice ;  moreover,  that  he  should 
not  be  allowed  to  bring  any  Irish  ser- 
Tant  with  him  when  he  came  to  attend 
parliament  or  council.  The  prayer  of 
this  atrocious  petition  was  granted ;  and 
soon  after  we  find  an  attempt  made  to 
carry  out  the  principle  iu  a  prosecution 
against  Richard  O'Hedian,  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  who  was  distinguished  for  his 
zeal  and  bounty  in  promoting  religion 

Henry  V.  in  one  of  his  French  wars,  and  gained  great 
eclat  by  their  wild  impetuosity  and  heroism  in  battle. 


292 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  V. 


and  fosteriuc:  its  establisliments,  but 
who  was  now  impeaclied  for  showing 
favor  to  Irishmen ;  for  giving  no  bene- 
fice to  English  ecclesiastics ;  for  advising 
other  bishops  to  follow  his  example,  and 
for  some  other  trumpery  charges ;  but 
the  matter  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
followed  up.  It  is  plain,  that  the  only 
real  cause  of  accusation  against  this 
prelate  was  the  display  of  some  kindness 
and  generosity  towards  his  persecuted 
countrymen. 

About  the  close  of  this  reign,  the 
Irish  commons  presented  a  petition  to 
the  king,  complaining  of  several  mon- 
strous grievances  and  abuses  on  the 
part  of  his  ofiicers  in  Ireland.  Among 
them  Avere  the  cruelty,  oppression,  and 
extortion  practised  by  several  of  the 
lord  deputies,  ^some  of  whom,  like  Sir 
John  Stanley,  and  lord  Furnival,  in- 
curred enormous  debts  which  they  left 
unpaid.  They  complained  also  of  the 
hostility  shown  to  the  Anglo-Irish  in 
England,  however  loyal  they  might  be 
as  subjects,  hostility  which  was  carried 
so  far  as  to  exclude  Irish  law  students 
from  the  Inns  of  Court  in  London,  and 
to  cause  a  variety  of  obstructions  and 
annoyances  to  Irish  students  attending 
the  English  schools,  although  the  sta- 
tutes concerning  absentees  contained  an 
express  exception  in  favor  of  studious 
persons.  Thus  were  even  those  of  Eng- 
lish descent  made  to  feel  daily  more  and 


more  painfully  the  alien  and  unkind  sen- 
timents with  which  every  thing  pertain- 
ing to  Ireland  was  regarded  in  England. 
Many  entries  meet  us  in  our  searches 
through  the  Irish  annals,  which  show 
that  even  in  the  dreary  period  that  we 
have  been  just  exploring,  men  were  not 
always  occupied  with  war  and  rapine. 
The  magnificent  Franciscan  monastery 
of  Quin,  in  Clare,  was  founded  by 
Sheeda  Cam  MacNamara  in  1402  ;  and 
in  1420,  James,  earl  of  Desmond,  erected 
the  abbey  of  the  same  order  at  Eas 
Gephtine  or  Askeaton,  where  the  noble 
ruins,  washed  by  the  tide  of  the  Deel, 
still  remind  us  of  days  when  religion 
exulted  in  its  pomp  as  well  as  in  its 
fervor.  Several  of  the  Irish  chiefs  gave 
edifying  evidence  of  repentance  in  their 
deaths ;  and  some  of  them  assumed  the 
religious  habit,  as  Turlough,  son  of  Ni- 
all  Garv  O'Donnell,  lord  of  Tirconnell, 
who  died  in  the  monastery  of  Assaroe 
in  1422,  causing  his  son,  another  Niall 
Garv,  to  be  inaugurated  in  the  chief- 
tainship. Gilla-na-neev  O'Heerin,  the 
author  of  a  valuable  Irish  topographical 
poem,  often  quoted  by  our  anticparies, 
died  in  1420,  and  the  obituaries  of  some 
other  persons,  distinguished  for  histor- 
ical knowledge,  are  mentioned  under 
that  and  the  following  year,  as  David 
O'Duigennan,  Farrell  O'Daly,  ollav  of 
Corcomroe,  and  Gillareagh  O'Clery  of 
Tirconnell 


ACCESSION   OF   HENRY  VI. 


293 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

KEIGNS     OF    HENRY    VI.,     EDWAED     IV.,     EDWARD    V.,     AND    RICHARD    HI. 

State  of  Ireland  on  the  Accession  of  Henry  VI. — Liberation  of  Donougli  MacMurrough. — Incursions  of  Owen 
O'NeiU. — His  Inauguration. — Famine. — The  "  Summer  of  slight  acquaintance." — Distressing  State  of  Discord. 
— Domestic  War  in  England  at  this  Period. — Dissensions  in  the  Pale. — Complaints  against  the  Earl  of 
Ormond. — Proceedings  of  Lord  Fumival. — Pestilence. — Devotedness  of  the  Clergy. — The  Duke  of  York  in 
Ireland. — His  Popularity. — Confesses  his  Inability  to  Subdue  the  Irish. — His  Subsequent  Fortunes  and  Death 
in  England. — Irish  Pilgrimages  to  Rome  and  St.  James  of  Compostella. — Munificence  of  Margaret  of  Offaly. 
— ^Her  Banquets  to  the  Learned. — The  Butlers  and  Geraldines  take  opposite  sides  in  the  English  Wars. — 
Popular  Government  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond. — He  is  unjustly  Executed. — Wretched  Condition  of  the  English 
Pale. — Fatal  Feuds  and  Indifference  of  the  Irish,  and  Contemporary  Disorders  in  England. — Atrocious  Laws 
against  the  Irish. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  £iients. — Popes:  Evigenia.s  IV.,  Calixtus  III.,  Pius  II.,  Paul  III.,  Sixtus  IV.,  Innocent 
VIII.— Kings  of  France :  Charles  VII.,  Louis  XI.,  Charles  VIII.— Kings  of  Scotland :  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  James. 

Joan  of  Arc  Burned  by  the  English  as  a  Sorceress,  1434. — Constantinople  taken  by  the  Turks,  1453.— Printing  Invented 
by  Gutteuberg,  1440,  and  introduced  into  England  by  Caxton,  1471. — St.  Thomas  a  Kempis  died,  1471. 


(A.  D.  1422  TO  A.  D.  1485.) 


HENRY  VI.  was  proclaimed  king 
of  England  while  yet  an  infant, 
not  quite  nine  months  old ;  and  those 
who  governed  duiing  his  minority  found 
the  English  colony  in  Ireland  in  a  very 
precarious  state  at  the  time  they  entered 
on  their  duties.  In  1423,  Donnell 
O'Neill,  chief  of  Tyrone ;  his  old  com- 
petitor for  the  chieftaincy,  Owen,  son 
of  Niall  Oge  O'Neill;  Niall  O'Donnell, 
chief  of  Tirconnell,  and  several  other 
pi-inces  of  Ulster,  laid  aside  their  feuds 
for  the  moment  in  order  to  make  a 
combined  inroad  on  the  English  of  that 
province.  They  marched  first  to  Dun- 
dalk,  thence  to  the  town  of  Louth,  and 


subsequently  into  Meath,  where  Richard 
Talbot,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  then 
filled  the  office  of  lord  deputy,  attempted 
to  arrest  their  progress,  but  in  vain,  his 
ai'my  having  been  routed  with  consider- 
able loss.  Finally,  peace  was  made  with 
the  Irish  after  they  had  obtained  enor- 
mous spoils,  and  levied  a  tribute  or 
black  rent  on  the  wealthy  bui'gesses  of 
Dundalk.  The  following  year  James, 
earl  of  Ormond,  came  to  Ireland  as  lord 
lieutenant  with  an  English  army,  and 
mustering  a  strong  force  he  hastened  to 
avenge  the  colonists  on  the  northern 
chieftains.  He  ravaged  the  plains  of 
Armagh  and  part  of  Monaghan.     The 


294 


REIGN   OF  HENRY   VI. 


O'Neills  of  Clanuaboy,  O'Haulon,  and 
MacMahou  were  driven,  either  hj  ne- 
cessity or  private  jealousj^,  to  fight  on 
the  English  side,  and  the  men  of  Tyrone 
and  Tirconnell  retired  to  their  own  ter- 
ritories. 

A.  D.  1425. — Edward  Mortimer,  earl 
of  March,  having  assumed  the  govern- 
ment of  Ireland,  landed  here  with  a 
large  army,  according  to  the  Irish  an- 
nals, in  September,  1424,  but  according 
to  English  authorities,  in  the  preceding 
year.  The  year  after  his  arrival  he  died 
of  the  plague  at  his  residence  in  Trim ; 
and  Talbot,  lord  Furnival,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  ofBce,  came  suddenly  on 
a  number  of  Ulster  chieftains,  who  were 
negotiating  peace  with  earl  Mortimer  at 
the  time  of  his  unexpected  death.  These 
chiefs  were  carried  prisoners  to  Dublin, 
and  their  seizure  produced  the  utmost 
excitement  in  the  north.  Owen  O'Neill 
was  ransomed,  but  how  the  other  pris- 
oners eventually  got  off  we  are  not  told. 
The  annals  add  that  the  Clann  Neill 
then  arranged  their  mutual  differences, 
and  recovered  by  their  united  force  all 
the  lands  which  they  had  lost  in  their 
contentions. 

A.  D.  1428. — Donough  MacMurrough, 
son  of  the  celebrated  Art  MacMurroufrh 
Kavanagh,  was  this  year  liberated  from 
the  Tower,  after  an  imprisonment  of 
nine  j^ears.  The  Ii'ish  annals  say  he  was 
ransomed  by  his  people,  the  Irish  of 
Leinster.  On  his  return  to  Ireland  he 
resumed  the  honors  of  his  hereditary 
chieftaincy,  and  with  its  honoi's  its  chiv- 
alrous resistance  to  the  English ;  as  we 


find  that  in  1431  he  made  an  incursion 
into  the  county  of  Dublin,  and  that  in 
a  battle  fought  on  that  occasion  he  was 
victorious  in  the  early  part  of  the  day, 
although  in  the  evening  the  English 
rallied,  regained  the  captured  spoils, 
and  killed  many  of  his  men.  One  of 
the  O'Briens  and  two  sons  of  O'Conor 
Kerry  were  in  MacMurrough's  army  at 
the  battle,  and  the  O'Toole  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Ena;lish.  MacMurrough 
took  revenge  the  following  year  by  an- 
other incursion,  and  a  battle  in  which 
he  routed  the  English  and  made  several 
prisoners. 

A.  D.  1430.— Owen  O'Neill  led  an 
array  this  year  into  Louth  and  devas- 
tated the  English  settlements  there.  He 
burned  the  castles  which  defended  Dun- 
dalk,  and  made  the  inhabitants  of  that 
town  pay  tribute.  He  then  marched 
into  Annaly  and  West  Meath,  spreading 
desolation  wherever  he  went ;  the  Eng- 
lish were  obliged  to  purchase  mercy  at 
a  dear  rate,  and  several  Irish  chiefs,  as 
O'Conor  Faly,  O'Molloy,  O'Madden, 
Mageoghegan,  and  O'Melaghlin,  ac- 
knowledged him  as  their  lord  para- 
mount by  the  old  form  of  accepting 
stipends  from  him.  The  history  of  the 
time  is  made  up  of  such  driftless  hostil- 
ities, Avhich  served  only  the  purposes  of 
personal  revenge  or  plunder,  and  left 
the  fate  of  the  country  untouched.  On 
the  death  of  Donnell  O'Neill,  of  the 
Henry  Avry  branch,  who  was  killed  by 
the  O'Kanes,  in  1432,  Owen  O'Neill  was 
regularly  inaugurated  at  Tullaghoge  as 
chief  of  the  Kiuel-Owen.      This  year 


FEUDS  AND  ALLIANCES. 


295 


Manus  MacMabon  committed  frequent 
depredations  on  the  English,  and  was 
in  the  habit  of  placing  their  heads  on 
the  stakes  which  enclosed  his  garden  at 
Baile-na-Lurgan,  where  the  town  of  Car- 
rickmacross  now  stands. 

In  1433  the  O'Neills  and  O'Donnells 
waged  a  terrific  war  against  each  other ; 
and  to  add  to  the  misfortunes  of  the 
country,  a  famine  prevailed ;  so  that 
the  season  was  afterwards  known  as 
"the  summer  of  slight  acquaintance," 
from  the  selfish  distance  and  reserve 
which  the  dearth  created  among  friends. 
In  1434  the  chiefs  of  Tyrone  and  Tir- 
connell  once  more  combined  to  invade 
the  English  districts  and  to  enforce  the 
tribute  which  they  had  imposed  on 
Dundalk ;  but,  on  this  occasion  a  I'ash 
movement  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
young  O'Neills  led  to  the  loss  of  a 
battle  and  to  the  capture  of  Niall  Garv 
O'Donnell,  who  was  taken  off  to  Eng- 
land and  confined  in  the  tower.  ^  In 
1439  this  heroic  chieftain  was  removed 
to  the  Isle  of  Man  to  negotiate  for  his 
ransom,  but  he  died  there,  and,  to  the 
exclusion  of  his  sons,  his  brother  Nagh- 
tan  O'Donnell  was  installed  chief  of 
Tirconnell. 

The  feuds  and  alliances  which  alter- 
nated in  such  rapid  succession  among 
the  Iiish  chieftains  appear  to  us,  at  this 
distance,  to  have  been  in  the  utmost 
degree  capricious  and  uncertain;  but 
the  most  melacholy  feature  in  the  social 
picture  was  the  unprincipled  competi- 
tion for  the  chieftaincy  by  which  the 
ruling  families  in  almost  all  the  inde- 


pendent territories  were  torn  into  fac- 
tions. The  old  law  of  tanistry  was 
perverted  or  trampled  under  foot  by 
the  ambitious.  Brothers  were  arrayed 
against  each  other,  and  uncles  and 
nephews  were  engaged  in  perpetual 
warfare.  At  the  time  we  are  treating 
of,  Owen  O'Neill,  prince  of  Tyrone,  had 
to  defend  himself  against  his  kinsman 
Brian  Oge  O'Neill,  and  was  ultimately 
banished  by  his  own  son  Henry.  A 
few  years  later  (1452)  Naghtan  O'Don- 
nell was  murdered  at  night  by  the  two 
sons  of  his  brother  Niall  Garv,  whom 
he  had  disinherited.  In  1437  the  in- 
domitable O'Conor  Faly  had  the  morti- 
fication to  see  his  brother  Cahir  leagued 
against  him  for  a  time  with  the  English. 
Brian  and  Manus  MacMahon  contended 
for  the  chieftaincy  of  Oriel,  and  in  the 
south,  Tiege  O'Brien,  chief  of  Thoinond, 
was  in  1438  deposed  by  his  brother 
Mahon.  In  Connaught  the  insignifi- 
cance to  which  the  leading  septs  had 
been  reduced  by  their  family  divisions 
has  rendered  it  unnecessary  for  us  for 
some  time  past  to  notice  their  still 
uninterrupted  broils.  That  such  a  state 
of  things  should  have  prevailed  in  Ire- 
land, where  anarchy  was  rendei-ed  in  a 
manner  inevitable  by  the  conflicts  of 
the  hostile  races  and  the  absence  of  a 
controlling  power,  is  perhaps  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  But  at  this  period  Eng- 
land herself  presented  in  the  struggle 
between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster an  example  of  the  same  kind  of 
fiimily  warfare,  on  a  gigantic  scale,  and 
at  an  enormous  sacrifice  of  human  life. 


296 


REIGN   OF   HENRY   VI. 


Nor  was  the  English  Pale  at  this 
time  free  from  dissension.  About  the 
beginning  of  this  reign  a  violent  feud 
broke  out  between  the  earl  of  Ormond 
and  the  Talbots,  and  continued  to 
disturb  the  country  for  many  years. 
A  parliament,  held  in  Dublin,  in  1441, 
actins  under  the  influence  of  Richard 
Talbot,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  and 
brother  of  Lord  Furnival,  adopted 
certain  statements  or  articles,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  was  to  prevent  the  re- 
appointment of  the  earl  as  lord-lieuten- 
ant. They  prayed  the  king  to  appoint 
a  "  mighty  lord  of  England"  to  the 
office,  on '  the  ground  that  the  people 
would  more  readily  favor  and  obey  him 
than  any  man  of  Irish  birth ;  as  Eng- 
lishmen "keep  better  justice,  execute 
the  laws,  and  favor  more  the  common 
people  than  any  Irishman  ever  did,  or 
is  ever  likely  to  do."  They  urged  that 
the  earl  of  Ormond  had  lost  all  his 
castles,  towns,  and  lordships  in  Ireland ; 
that  he  was  too  old  and  feeble  to  take 
the  field  against  the  king's  enemies,  and 
made  sundry  other  charges  to  show  his 
unfitness  for  the  office.*  These  accusa- 
tions did  not  appear  to  weigh  with 
king  Henry,  for  the  earl,  who  was  a 
staunch  supporter  of  the  house  of  Lan- 


*  Proceedings  of  the  Privy  Covmcil,  vol.  vi. 

f  In  tlie  letters  conferring  these  honors  the  country 
from  Toughal  to  Waterford  is  described  as  waste,  and 
redounding  more  to  the  king's  loss  than  to  his  profit ; 
but  the  barony  of  Dungarvan  was  soon  after  restored  to 
the  earl  of  Desmond,  from  whom  it  had  been  taken  on 
that  occasion  on  some  unexplained  grounds.  As  an  in- 
stance of  the  pretexts  for  which  the  petty  wars  of  the 
period  were  sometimes  carried  on,  we  j,re  told  that  the 
sou  of  Bermingham,  lord  of  Louth,  was,  in  1443,  offended 


caster,  was  re-appointed  lord-lieutenant 
the  next  year.  Sir  Giles  Thorndon  was, 
however,  sent  over  to  observe  how 
things  were  going  on,  and  he  made  a 
report,  although  only  in  general  terms, 
on  the  factions  which  distracted  the 
king's  subjects  in  Ireland.  Two  j^ears 
later  (1444)  he  made  a  second  report, 
in  which  the  earl  of  Ormond  was 
directly  charged  with  misappropriating 
part  of  the  public  revenue,  with  com- 
promising crown  debts  for  his  own 
benefit,  and  with  sundry  acts  of  corrup- 
tion, j^eculation,  &c.  The  earl  was, 
upon  this,  arrested  and  confined  in  the 
tower  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  and 
Sir  John  Talbot,  then  earl  of  Shrews- 
bury, but  better  known  to  the  reader 
as  Lord  Furnival,  was  made  lord- 
lieutenant  (1446),  and  soon  after  cre- 
ated earl  of  Waterford  and  baron  of 
Dungarvan.-f- 

A.  D.  1446. — The  earl  of  Shrewsbury 
succeeded  in  establishing  peace  on  the 
borders  of  the  Pale.  This  remarkable 
man  always  achieved  some  important 
exploits  on  his  appointment  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ireland.  His  fame  was 
world-wide.  The  English  boasted  that 
he  won  for  them  the  kingdom  of 
France :  and  all  the  English  power  in 


at  Trim  by  the  son  of  Barnwell,  treasurer  of  Meath, 
who  gave  him  a  caimin  or  filip  on  the  nose.  Enraged 
at  the  insult,  yoimg  Bermingham  left  the  town  privately 
and  repaired  to  O'Conor  Faly,  who  was  only  too  happy 
to  have  one  English  party  to  aid  him  against  another. 
A  plundering  foray  ensued,  and  Bermingham  obtained 
ample  satisfaction,  at  the  same  time  that  Calvagh 
O'Conor  secured  his  own  dues  from  the  English  of  Of- 
faly.  "  Never  was  such  abuse  better  revenged,"  says 
Dudley  Firbis,  "  than  the  said  caimin." 


THE  DUKE  OF  YORK  IN  IRELAND. 


297 


that  country  was  unquestionably  cen- 
tered in  liim.  Yet  tliis  great  captain 
and  extraordinary  man  was  able  to  do 
no  more  on  tLis  occasion  in  Ireland, 
witli  the  aid  of  an  army  wliicli  lie  bad 
brought  witb  him  from  England,  than 
to  compel  O'Conor  Faly,  an  Irish 
chieftain  in  the  very  heart  of  Leinster, 
to  make  peace  with  the  English  gov- 
ernment, to  pay  for  th%  ransom  of  his 
sou,  and  to  send  some  beeves  for  the 
use  of  the  king's  kitcl»eu !  A  fact 
worth  volumes  in  illdllrating  the  pre- 
cise extent  of  the  English  power  in 
Ireland  more  than  270  years  after  the 
invasion  by  Henry  II.* 

A.  D.  1447. — Ireland  was  at  this  period 
seldom  free  from  pestilence,  but  this 
year  a  destructive  plague  ra^ed  in  the 
summer  and  autumn,  and  carried  off,  it 
was  said,  700  priests  who  had  fearlessly 
exjDosed  themselves  to  its  fury  in  the 
discharge  of  their  sacred  duties.f  The 
plague  was  also  rife  the  following  year 
m  Meath. 

A.  D.  1449.— The  duke  of  York,  who 
was  nephew  of  the  last  earl  of  March, 
and  inherited  his  right  to  the  earldom 
of  Ulster  and  other  Irish  titles,  was 
appointed  lord  lieutenant  for  a  period 
of  ten  years  with  extraordinary  powers 
and  privileges,  and  with  a  grant  of 
money  from  England  to  carry  on  the 


*  The  Irisli  annals  add  that  the  earl  of  Shiewsbury 
took  the  lands  of  several  Englishmen  for  the  king's  use, 
and  that  he  made  the  Dalton  prisoner,  and  turned  him 
into  Lough  Duff. — Dudley  FirbWs  Annals,  quoted  in 
note  to  Pour  Masters,  vol.  iv.,  p.  951. 

f  In  this  year  an  absurd  law  was  passed  by  a  parlia- 
ment held  in  Dublin,  which  enacted  that  any  man  who 
38 


government,  in  addition  to  the  crown 
revenues  of  Ireland. ;}:  The  appoint- 
ment of  a  prince  of  the  royal  blood  to 
the  government  of  Ireland  was  always 
sure  to  be  popular ;  and  in  the  case  of 
the  duke  of  York,  the  connection  of 
his  family  with  this  country,  and  his 
own  honest  principles  and  aminble 
disposition,  procured  for  him  the  sym- 
pathy and  confidence  of  all  parties  in 
Ireland.  Some  of  the  native  chiefs 
showed  him  the  most  marked  respect, 
and  gave  him,  say  our  annals,  as  many 
beeves  for  the  use  of  his  kitchen  as  he 
chose  to  demand. 

A.  D.  1450. — The  son  of  the  chief 
MageoQ:he2:an  was  at  this  time  com- 
mitting  great  depredations  on  the  Eng- 
lish at  Meath.  He  burnt  Eathguaire, 
or  Kathmore,  Killucau,  and  .\;everal 
other  j^laces  in  that  territory,  and  at 
length  the  duke  of  York  led  an  army 
against  him,  under  the  royal  standard, 
to  MuUingar,  where  Mageoghegan  came 
at  the  head  of  a  strong  body  of  cavalry 
to  oppose  him.  The  duke  chose  not  to 
risk  a  conflict,  and  agreed  to  terms  ot 
peace,  forgiving  Mageoghegan  for  all 
his  afr2;ressions.  He  then  -wrote  to 
his  brother,  the  earl  of  Salisbury,  to 
state  that  unless  he  received  an  imme- 
diate sujjply  of  money  from  England, 
and  was  enabled  to  increase  his  army. 


did  not  shave  his  upper  lip  might  be  treated  as  an 
"  Irish  enemy,"  and  this  law  remained  unrepealed  until 
the  second  year  of  Charles  I. 

X  In  1443  the  Irish  parliament,  representing  to  the 
king  the  miserable  state  of  the  country,  alleged  that 
the  public  revenues  fell  short  of  the  necessary  expend! 
ture  by  £1,45C 


298 


REIGN   OF  HENRY  VI. 


he  could  not  defend  the  land  against  the 
Irish,  or  keep  it  in  subjection  to  the  king; 
and  that  rather  than  Ireland  should 
be  lost  through  any  fault  or  inability 
on  his  part,  he  would  return  to  Eng- 
land and  live  on  his  own  slender  means. 
The  main  object  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment in  sending  the  duke  to  Ireland, 
was  to  remove  him  to  a  distance  from  a 
scene  where  his  presence  was  dangerous 
to  the  reigning  house  of  Lancaster ;  but 
the  adherents  of  his  party  did  not  for- 
get him  in  what  was  intended  to  be  his 
exile.  In  the  insurrection  of  Jack  Cade, 
who  was  an  Irishman,  one  of  the  objects 
professed  by  the  insurgents  was  to  place 
Richard,  duke  of  York,  on  the  throne. 
The  duke  now  (1451)  thought  it  right 
to  return  to  England  and  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  friends,  having  pre- 
viously appointed  as  his  deputy  the  earl 
of  Ormond,  who  although  of  the  Lan- 
castrian party,  was  personally  attached 
to  him.  It  is  not  our  business  to  follow 
him  in  his  proceedings  in  England; 
but  when  his  party  was  defeated  and 
broken  up  for  a  time  in  1459,  he  fled 
to  Ireland  with  his  two  sons,  and  was 
received  with  enthusiasm  in  the  Pale, 
resuming  the  functions  of  viceroy  at  the 
very  time  that  an  act  of  attainder  was 
passed  against  him  and  his  family  by 
the  English  parliament.  How  he  could 
remain  at  the  head  of  the  government 
of  Ireland  under  such  circumstances,  is 
one  of  the  anomalies  of  which  our  his- 
tory affords  so  many  instances.  Sub- 
sequently, through  the  energy  of  the 
earl  of  Warwick,  who  visited  Ireland 


in  the  course  of  this  war,  the  white  rose 
of  York  was  asrain  in  the  ascendant. 
At  the  battle  of  Northampton,  in  1460, 
king  Henry  was  made  prisoner,  and  a 
compromise  was  entered  into  which  se- 
cured the  succession,  on  the  king's 
death,  to  the  duke  of  York  and  his 
heirs ;  the  duke,  in  the  mean  time, 
being  appointed  protector ;  but  the 
queen  contrived  to  rally  her  party  once 
more,  and  in  the  battle  of  Wakefield, 
which  was  fought  on  the  last  day  of 
the  year  1460,  York  was  killed,  together 
with  3,000  of  his  followers,  among 
whom  were  several  Irish  chiefs  from 
Meath  and  Ulster. 

The  events  recorded  in  the  Irish  an- 
nals during  the  years  over  which  we 
have  just  glanced,  are,  in  many  cases, 
full  of  interest,  and  serve  to  throw  light 
upon  the  state  of  society.  Several  pil- 
grimaires  to  Rome  are  mentioned  almost 
every  year.  In  1444  we  are  told,  that 
the  bishop  of  Elphin  and  many  of  the 
clergy  of  Connaught  and  of  other  parts 
of  Ireland  repaired  to  the  eternal  city, 
and  that  several  of  them  died  there. 
Pilgrimages  to  St.  James  of  Compostella 
were  also  frequent  among  the  Irish 
chieftains  at  that  period,  and  even  some 
of  the  Irish  ladies  accompanied  their 
lords  on  that  long  journey.  Calvagh 
O'Conor,  the  veteran  chief  of  Offaly, 
went  on  the  great  Spanish  pilgrimage 
in  1451,  and  in  the  same  year  is  recorded 
the  death  of  his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter 
of  O'Carroll,  king  of  Ely,  a  woman  in 
whose  praises  the  Irish  annalists  are 
enthusiastic.     Calvagh  himself  died  in 


ACCESSIOX   OF  EDWARD  IV. 


299 


1458,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Con, 
who  inherited  his  father's  chivalry.* 

The  Geraldines  adhered  to  the  house 
of  York  and  the  Butlers  to  that  of  Lan- 
caster, "  whereby,"  says  Sir  John  Davies, 
"  it  came  to  pass  that  not  only  the  prin- 
cipal gentlemen  of  both  those  surnames, 
but  all  their  friends  and  dependants  did 
pass  into  England,  leaving  their  lands 
and  possessions  to  be  overrun  by  the 
Irish."f  In  this  manner  the  Pale  became 
more  and  more  restricted,  until  half  of 
Dublin,  half  of  Meath,  and  a  third  part 
of  Kiklare  were  reckoned  in  the  border 
territories,  where  the  English  law  was 
not  fully  in  force. 

A.  D.  1462. — On  the  accession  of  Ed- 
ward IV.,  son  of  Richard,  duke  of  York, 
to  the  throne,  in  1461,  the  earl  of  Kil- 
dare  was  lord  justice  of  Ireland.  The 
king's  brother,  the  duke  of  Clarence, 


*  The  literati  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  were  enter- 
tained by  this  Margaret  at  two  memorable  feasts.  At 
the  first,  wliich  was  held  at  KiUeigh,  in  the  present 
King's  county,  2,700  guests,  all  skOled  in  poetry,  or 
music,  or  historic  lore,  were  present.  The  nave  of  the 
great  church  of  Da  SincheU  (St.  Seanchan)  was  con- 
verted,  for  the  occasion,  into  a  banquetting  hall,  where 
Margaret  herself  inaugurated  the  proceedings  by  placing 
two  massive  chalices  of  gold,  as  offerings,  on  the  high 
altar,  and  committing  two  orphan  children  to  the  charge 
of  nurses  to  be  fostered  at  her  erpense.  Robed  in  cloth 
of  gold,  this  illustrious  lady,  who  was  as  distinguished 
for  her  beauty  as  for  her  generosity,  sat  in  queenly  state 
in  one  of  the  galleries  of  the  church,  surrounded  by  the 
clergy,  the  brehons,  and  her  private  friends,  shedding  a 
lustre  on  the  scene  which  was  passing  below ;  while  her 
husband,  who  had  often  encountered  England's  greatest 
generals  in  battle,  remained  moxmted  on  a  charger  out- 
side the  church  to  bid  the  guests  welcome  and  see  that 
order  was  preserved.  The  invitations  were  issued  and 
the  guests  arranged  according  to  a  list  prepared  by 
O'Conor's  chief  brehon  ;  and  the  second  entertainment, 
which  took  place  at  Rathangan,  was  a  supplemental 
one,  to  embrace  such  men  of  learning  as  had  not  been 


was  then  appointed  lord  lieutenant,  and 
FitzEustace,  afterwards  lord  Portlester, 
was  sent  over  as  his  deputy.  He  found 
Ireland  plunged  in  a  war  between  the 
young  earl  of  Ormoud  and  the  earl  of 
Desmond.  A  pitched  battle  was  fought 
between  them  at  Baile-an-phoill,  now 
Pilltown,  in  the  county  of  Kilkenny, 
when  the  earl  of  Ormond's  army  was 
defeated  with  a  loss  of  four  or  five  hun- 
dred men.  His  kinsman,  MacRichard 
Butler,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  part  of 
the  ransom  given  for  him  was  the  copy 
of  the  Psalter  of  Cashel  now  preserved 
in  the  Bodleian  library. J  After  the 
battle  the  Geraldines  took  Kilkenny 
and  other  towns  of  the  Butlers'  country; 
but  the  earl  of  Ormond  shut  himself  up 
in  a  strong  position,  and  soon  after  re- 
ceived some  aid  from  England,  under 
one  of  his  brothers,  who  captured  four 


brought  together  at  the  former  feast.  Dudley  FirUs'a 
Annals,  quoted  in  note  to  Four  Masters,  vol.  iv.,  p.  972. 
This  queen  of  Offaly  is  also  celebrated  for  constructing 
roads  and  bridges,  building  churches,  and  causing 
illuminated  missals  to  be  written.  Her  daughter,  Finola, 
took  the  veil  in  the  convent  of  CiU-Achaidh  (Killeigh,  in 
the  King's  county),  in  1447,  after  having  been  the 
wife,  first  of  O'Donnell,  and  then  of  Hugh  Boy  O'Neill. 
She  was,  say  the  annalists,  "the  most  beautiful  and 
stately,  and  the  most  renowned  and  illustrious  woman 
of  her  time  in  all  Ireland,  her  own  mother  only  ex- 
cepted." 

f  Dkcmery,  &c.,  p.  65. 

J  The  following  memorandimi,  made  in  Irish  by  Mac- 
Richard  himself,  appears  as  fol.  115  of  the  above-men- 
tioned interesting  MS.  "A  blessing  on  the  soul  of  the 
archbishop  of  Cashel,  i.  e.  Richard  O'Hedigan,  for  it  was 
by  him  the  owner  of  this  book  was  educated,  namely, 
Edmond,  son  of  Richard,  son  of  James,  son  of  James 
(the  first  earl  of  Ormond).  This  is  the  Sunday  before 
Christmas,  and  let  all  those  who  shall  read  this  give  a 
blessing  on  the  souls  of  both."  Tlie  archbishop  here 
alluded  to  is  the  same  mentioned,  ante,  p.  291.  Mac- 
Richard  Butler  died  in  1664. 


S'OO 


REIGN   OF   EDWARD   lY. 


ships  belonging  to  the  eaii  of  Desmond, 
and  tlius  tbe  power  and  courage  of  tlie 
Butlei-3  once  more  revived. 

Thomas,  who  had  succeeded  as  eighth 
earl  of  Desmond,  on  the  death  of  his 
fother,  James,*  in  1462,  and  was  ap- 
pointed lord  deputy  the  following  year, 
was  a  great  favorite  of  king  Edward's. 
Several  of  the  Irish  chieftains,  and  such 
Anglo-Irish  lords  as  the  Burkes,  who 
seldom  had  any  intercourse  with  the 
English  authorities,  came  to  Dublin  to 
meet  him,  and  entered  into  friendly 
relations  with  him.  In  1466  he  com- 
manded an  army  of  the  English  of  Meath 
and  Leinster  against  Con  O'Conor  Faly ; 
but  his  army  was  routed,  and  he  him- 
self, with  several  of  his  leading  men, 
were  taken  prisoners.  Among  these 
were  Christopher  Plunket,  William  Oge 
Nugent,  Barnwell,  and  the  prior  of  the 
monastery  of  our  Lady  of  Trim.  Teige 
O'Conor,  who  Avas  the  earl's  brother-in- 
law,  conveyed  the  captives  to  Carberry 
castle,  in  Kildare,  where  they  were  sub- 
sequently rescued   by  the  English   of 

*  TMa  James,  who  increased  enonnously  the  wealth 
and  power  of  his  family,  obtained  the  earldom  by  the 
expulsion  of  his  nephew,  Thomas,  the  sixth  earl,  who 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  his  friends  and  retainers  by 
a  romantic  marriage.  It  appears  that  earl  Thomas, 
being  benighted  while  hunting  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Abbeyfeale,  obtained  a  lodging  ia  the  house  of  WUliam 
MacCormic,  the  owner  of  that  place  and  a  member  of 
the  ancient  family  of  MacCarthy.  MacCormic  had  a 
daughter,  Catherine,  with  whose  beauty  the  young  earl 
was  so  captivated  that  he  married  her  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrance  of  his  friends  ;  but  this  union  was  treated 
as  derogatory  to  the  honor  of  the  Geraldines ;  he  was 
abandoned  even  by  his  retainers,  and  having  been 
thrice  expelled  by  his  uncle,  he  formally  surrendered 
the  earldom  to  him,  in  1418,  and  retired  to  France, 
where  he  died  at  Rouen,  in  1420.    Such  is  the  story 


Dublin.  Plundering  parties  from  Offaly 
were  now  in  the  habit  of  scouring  the 
country  as  far  as  Tara  to  the  north  and 
Naas  to  the  south ;  and  the  men  of 
Breffuy  and  Oriel  devastated  all  Meath, 
without  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
English  to  oppose  or  pursue  them.  In 
the  south,  Teige  O'Brien,  lord  of  Tho- 
moud,  crossed  the  Shannon  and  plun- 
dered the  territory  of  Desmond.  He 
made  himself  master  of  the  county  of 
Limerick,  obtained  a  tribute  of  sixty 
marks  from  the  citizens  of  Limerick  for 
sparing  their  city,  and  compelled  the 
Burkes  of  Clanwilliamf  to  acknowledge 
his  authority. 

A  college,  which  was  afterwards  mu- 
nificently endowed  by  his  successors, 
was  founded,  at  Youghal,  in  1464,  by 
the  earl  of  Desmond,  who  next  set  on 
foot  a  project  for  establishing  an  uni- 
versity at  Drogheda.  But,  while  thus 
intent  on  the  social  improvement  of  the 
country,  and  acquiring  deserved  popu- 
larity for  himself,  the  career  of  this 
nobleman  Avas  cut  short  by  a  foul  act  of 


given  by  Lodge  and  traditionally  preserved ;  but  0"Daly 
(p.  3G  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Meehan's  translation)  assigns 
rebellion  as  the  cause  of  earl  Thomas's  expulsion. 
James  then  procured  the  confirmation  of  the  earldom  to 
himself  and  his  heirs  by  act  of  parliament.  He  pur- 
chased from  Robert  FitzGeoffry  Cogan  a  grant  of  all  his 
lands,  comprising  about  half  the  kingdom  of  Cork,  as 
that  part  of  ancient  Desmond  was  then  called ;  and  in 
1444  he  obtained  a  patent  for  the  government  or  custody 
of  the  counties  of  Limerick,  Waterford,  Cork,  and  Kerry, 
with  a  license  exempting  him  for  life  from  attending 
parliament  in  person,  and  from  entering  walled  towns. 
— Four  Masters ;  Cox;  Archdall's  Lodge,  kc. 

f  Tlie  baronies  of  Clanwilliam  in  the  counties  of 
Limerick  and  Tipperary  are  contiguous,  and  take  their 
name  from  a  branch  of  the  Burke  family. 


CONDITION   OF  THE   ENGLISH   PALE. 


301 


legalized  innrder.  It  is  stated  that  be 
incurred  tlie  enmity  of  the  queen,  Eliza- 
beth TVoodville,  for  having  advised 
Edward  IV.  to  divorce  her,  on  account 
of  the  loM'ness  of  her  birth,  and  that  it 
was  by  secret  instructions  from  her  that 
he  was  put  to  death.*  The  story  is  very 
probable ;  but  it  is  at  all  events  certain 
that  in  1467  he  was  superseded  in  office 
b}'  John  Tiptoft,  earl  of  Worcester,  and 
that  in  the  February  of  the  following 
year  he  was  seized  and  beheaded  at 
Drogheda,  on  the  flimsy  charge  of  alli- 
ance, fostering,  etc.,  with  the  Irish.f 
This  monstrous  crime,  committed  in  the 
name  of  authority,  astounded  the  coun- 
try, and  the  earl's  sons  took  up  arms 
against  the  government.  Tiptoft  re- 
turned to  Euo'land  soon  after,  as  if  he 
had  fulfilled  a  specific  mission ;  and  the 
earl  of  Kildare,  who  had  been  included 
with  the  earl  of  Desmond  in  the  act  of 
attainder,  made  his  escape  to  England, 
and  pleaded  his  cause  before  the  king, 
who  pardoned  him,  and  appointed  him 
lord  deputy.  Tiptoft  soon  after  suffered 
by  the  same  kind  of  death  which  he  had 
inflicted  on  Desmond. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  reign  ot 
Edward  IV.  and  those  of  his  nominal 
successor,  Edward  V.,  and  of  the  usur- 
per, Eichax'd  III.,  our  annals  still  abound 
in   materials,    although    the   numerous 


*  See  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Meelians  translation  of  O'Daly's 
Geraldines,  in  Duify's  Library  of  Ireland,  where  the 
story  is  circumstantially  related,  pp.  39,  40.  Also  Cox 
and  Hollinshead.  Mr.  Moore,  however,  holds,  "that  by 
no  other  crimes  than  those  of  being  too  Irish  and  too 
popular  did  Desmond  draw  upon  himself  persecution." 
— Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.,  p.  189. 


events  recorded  in  them  at  this  time 
form  no  connecting  links  of  importance 
in  the  chain  of  our  history.  The  Eng- 
lish power  in  the  Pale  was  reduced  to 
its  lowest  point  of  weakness.  Sundry 
plans  for  defence  were  suggested  in  the 
wretched  condition  into  which  the  colo- 
nists had  fallen.  A  military  society  oi' 
confraternity,  under  the  name  of  the 
Brothers  of  St.  George,  was  got  up ; 
but  the  whole  of  the  standing  army  of 
the  English  in  Ireland,  even  with  their 
assistance,  amounted  only  to  about  200 
men.  At  another  time  they  ^veI•e  re- 
duced to  so  low  an  ebb  that  a  force  of 
eighty  archers  on  horseback  and  forty 
mounted  spearsmeu  constituted  the 
whole  of  their  military  establishment ; 
and  as  it  was  doubtful  whether  the 
revenue  of  the  Pale  could  furnish  the 
sum  of  £600,  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  this  little  band,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  England  should  contribute 
the  balance.  Yet  the  native  Irish  never 
thought  of  using  such  an  opportunity 
for  a  national  purpose.  They  made 
several  inroads  on  the  English  settle- 
ments, which  were  completely  at  their 
mercy ;  but  the  animosity  with  which 
the  Irish  septs  fought  against  each  other 
was  fully  equal  to  what  they  exhibited 
against  the  Clann  Saxon,  who  were,  in 
fact,  treated  as  a  portion  of  the  original 

f  Ware  and  several  others  give  Feb.  loth,  14G7,  as 
the  date  of  the  earl's  execution ;  but  it  was  only  in  Oc- 
tober that  year  that  Tiptoft  came  to  Ireland.  (See 
Harris's  Table.)  The  Four  Masters,  and  the  Addenda 
to  Grace's  Annal.s,  have  the  date  147S,  being  the  na- 
tural year,  the  other  the  legal.  The  latter  then  began 
in  March. 


302 


ATROCIOUS   LAWS. 


population  of  the  countiy.  The  Irish 
had  no  leader,  no  lallying  jDoint,  no 
national  principle.  They  were  still  in 
a  state  of  j)olitical  chaos ;  but  things 
were  at  this  time  not  much  Isetter  in 
England,  where,  two  kings  alternately 
exchanged  places  on  the  throne  and  in 
the  dungeon,  parliaments  were  making 
contradictory  enactments  with  servile 
pliability,  the  heads  of  princes  and 
nobles  were  daily  falling  under  the 
executioner's  axe,  and  Avhere  in  the 
space  of  thirty  years,  in  the  family- 
quarrel  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster, more  than  100,000  Englishmen 
■were  slain. 

By  a  law  passed  in  the  tenth  5^ear  of 
Heniy  VI.,  it  was  made  a  felony  for 
any  subject  of  the  king  to  sell  merchan- 
dise in  a  ftiir  or  market  among  the 
"  Irish  enemies,"  in  time  either  of  peace 
or  wai- ;  it  was  also  enacted  that  anj'  of 
the  "  Irish  enemies,"  that  is,  Irish  living 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Pale,  who,  in 
time  of  peace  or  truce,  came  and  con- 
versed among  the  "  English  lieges" 
might  be  treated  as  the  king's  enemies. 
By  a  law  of  the  fifth  of  Edward  IV. 


*  "  From  Tarious  licenses  for  absence,  to  avoid  the 
penalties  against  absentees,  granted  to  beneficed  clergy- 
men in  the  reigns  of  Richard  II.,  and  the  subsequent 
kings,  it  appears  that  the  English  universities,  and  more 
particularly  Oxford,  were  much  resorted  to  by  Irish 
scholars.  (In  1375  two  Franciscans  of  Ennis  were  sent 
by  the  chapter  to  study  at  Strasbourg. — Rot.  Pat.  49, 
Ed.  III.,  273)."  Grace's  annals,  p.  97,  note.  Some  mag- 
nificent monasteries  founded  about  this  period  by  Irish 
prtaces,  attest  the  wealth  as  well  as  the  piety  of  the 


(a.  d.  1465),  any  Irishman  found  with- 
out a  "faithfull  man  of  good  name  in 
his  company,  in  English  apparel,"  and 
whom  an  Englishman  should  choose  to 
suspect  of  being  a  thief,  or  an  "  intend- 
ed" thief,  might  be  lawfully  killed  and 
his  head  cut  off.  And  a  parliament 
held  in  1475  enacted  a  law  by  which 
any  Englishman  who  suffered  injury 
from  a  native  Irishman  belonsinfr  to  an 
independent  sept,  might  repi-ise  himself 
on  the  whole  sept  or  nation.  These 
infamous  laws  were  directed  against  the 
native  Irish ;  but  there  were  others  of 
which  the  Anglo-Ii-ish  might  bitterly 
complain.  Thus,  in  1438,  a  law  was 
made  in  England  obliging  all  persons 
born  in  Ireland  to  quit  the  former 
country  within  a  certain  time,  except 
graduates  of  universities,*  &c.;  while 
another  statute  was  made  in  Ireland  to 
prevent  persons  from  emigrating  into 
England.  Thus  did  the  legislature 
ingeniously  labor  to  pei-pctuate  hostility 
between  the  two  races,  while  even  the 
old  English  settlers  were  made  to 
feel  that  they  were  under  an  alien 
sway. 


native  population.  Thus,  the  Franciscan  monastery  of 
Monhagan  was  founded  by  the  MacMahons  of  Oriel,  in 
14C3 ;  that  of  Lis-laichtain,  or  Ballylongford,  on  the 
lower  Shannon,  by  O'Conor,  Kerry,  in  1470 ;  that  of 
Donegal  by  Hugh  Roe  O'Donuell,  in  1474  ;  that  of  Mee- 
lick,  by  O'SIadden,  in  1479 ;  that  of  Killcrea  in  East 
Muskerry,  by  Cormac  MacCarthy,  in  1495;  and  that  of 
Creevlea  in  Leitrim,  by  Owen  O'Rourke  and  his  wife, 
in  1508. 


ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   VII. 


303 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

EEIGN      OF      HENRY     VII. 

Forbearance  of  Henry  VII.  towards  the  Yorkists  in  Ireland. — The  Earl  of  Kildare  continues  Lord  Deputy. — Arri- 
val of  Lambert  Simnel. — His  Cause  Espoused  by  the  Lords  of  the  Pale. — Coronation  of  Simnel  in  Christ's 
Church. — His  Expedition  to  England. — Defeat  of  Simnel's  Army  at  Stoke. — Pardon  of  his  Adherents. — Loy- 
alty of  Waterford. — First  use  of  Fire-arms  in  Ireland. — Murder  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond. — Arrival  of  Sir 
Richard  Edgecomb. — Another  Mock  Prince. — Disgrace  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare. — His  Quarrel  with  Sir  James 
Ormond. — Perkin  Warbeck  at  Cork. — Sir  Edward  Poynings  Arrives  In  Ireland  as  Governor. — The  Parliament 
of  Drogheda  ;  Poyings'  Act. — The  Earl  of  Kildare  Attainted  and  sent  Prisoner  to  England. — His  Vindication 
before  Henry  VII. — Returns  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland. — Further  Adventures  of  Warbeck. — His  last 
Visit  to  Ireland. — His  Execution. — Transactions  of  the  Native  Princes  during  this  period. — The  battle  of 
Knocktow.— Death  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Neill. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes:  Innocent  VIIT.,  Alexander  VI.,  Pius  III.,  Julius  11. — Kings  of  France ; 
Cliarles  VIII.,  Louis  XII. — Sovereigns  of  Soaiu:  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. — Kings  of  Scotland:  James  III.,  James  IV. — 
DiBOovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  1492. 


(A.  D.  1485  TO  A.  D.  1509.) 


/^N  the  accession  of  Henry  VH., 
^-^  Gerald,  earl  of  Kildare,  was  con- 
tinued in  the  office  of  lord  deputy,  as 
his  brother,  Thomas  FitzGerald,  was  in 
that  of  chancellor,  and  his  father-in-law, 
Roland  FitzEustace,  baron  of  Portlester, 
in  that  of  lord  treasurer,  although  these 
noblemen,  like  the  great  majority  of 
the  population  of  the  Pale,  were  avowed 
pai-tisans  of  the  House  of  York.  * 
Thi'oughout  hia  reign  we  find  Henry 
pursuing  this  temporizing  policy  to- 
wards the  enemies  of  his  house  in 
Ireland — a  policy  so  difterent  from  that 
which   he    adopted    in    England,    and 


*  The  king's  uncle,  the  duke  of  Bedford,  was  ap- 
pointed lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  in  the  room  of  the 


which  his  cold,  calculating,  and  politic 
character  forbids  us  to  attribute  to  mo- 
tives of  a  generous  nature.  The  result 
proved  that  his  usual  sagacity  failed 
him  in  this  instance,  as  his  Anglo-Irish 
subjects  were  not  the  less  disaffected, 
and  were  the  willing  dupes  of  every 
plot  contrived  against  him.  At  first  he 
introduced  none  of  the  Lancastrian 
party  into  his  Irish  councils ;  but,  in 
November,  1485,  the  head  of  this  party 
in  Ireland,  Thomas  Butler,  seventh  earl 
of  Ormond,  who  had  been  attainted 
under  Edward  IV.,  was  restored  to  his 
honors   and    lands,   and    subsequently 


earl  of  Lincoln  ;  but  in  such  a  case  the  lord  deputy,  who 
resided  in  the  country,  was  the  actual  governor  of  Ireland. 


304 


REIGN  or  HENRY  VII. 


rendered  important  services  to  Henry 
as  a  diplomatist  and  general.* 

A.  D.  148G. — A  contemporary  Irish 
clirouicler,f  recording  the  accession  of 
this  first  of  the  Tudors,  says :  "  The  son 
of  a  Welshman,  Ly  whom  the  battle 
(of  Bosworth  field)  was  fought,  was 
made  king ;  and  there  lived  not  of  the 
royal  blood  at  that  time  but  one  youth, 
who  came  the  next  year  (l-iS6)  in  exile 
to  Ireland."  So  thought  the  native 
Irish  writers,  who  were  but  imjjerfectly 
informed  on  the  aftairs  of  the  Pale,  and 
who  believed  the  youth  here  referred 
to,  namelj^,  Lambert  Simnel,  the  mock 
earl  of  \Yarwick,  to  have  been  a  genu- 
ine prince.  Young  Simnel,  the  son  of 
a  tradesman  at  Oxford,  arrived  in  Dub- 
lin this  year,  in  charge  of  a  priest, 
named  Kichard  Symons,  who  acted  as 
his  tutor.  He  is  described  as  a  boy  of 
l^repossessing  appearance  and  princely 
manners ;  and  according  to  some  ac- 
counts he  was  only  eleven  years  of  age, 
although  the  prince  he  was  chosen  to 
personate,  and  who  was  then  a  prisoner 
in  the  Tower,  was  in  his  fifteenth  year. 

Henry  had  before  this  some  suspicion 
that  the  lord  deputy  was  jDlotting 
against  him ;  and  early  this  year  he  in- 


*  Tliomas  Butler,  the  seventh  earl,  was  the  youngest 
brother  of  James,  the  fifth  earl,  who  was  a  distinguished 
commander  of  the  Lancastrians,  and  was  beheaded  by 
the  Yorkists  after  the  battle  of  Towton  field,  in  1401. 
The  second  brother,  Jolm,  was  sixth  earl,  and  although 
true  to  the  principles  of  his  party,  was  in  favor  with  the 
Yorkist  king,  Edward  IV.,  who  used  to  say  that  "he 
was  the  goodliest  knight  he  ever  beheld,  and  the  finest 
gentleman  in  Christendom."  He  spoke  all  the  langua- 
ges of  Europe ;  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  several 
courts,  and  died  unmarried,  on  a  pilgrimage  in  the 


vited  him  to  England  on  the  pretence 
of  consulting  him  on  Irish  affairs;  but 
Elildare  mistrusted  the  king's  object, 
and  as  an  apology  for  not  complying 
with  the  royal  summons,  called  a  par- 
liament and  obtained  from  the  chief 
lords  letters  which  he  transmitted  to 
the  king,  importing  that  his  presence 
was  indispensable  at  that  juncture  in 
Ireland.  The  next  moment  we  find 
the  earl  receiving  young  Simnel  as 
a  true  prince,  and  embarking  in  his 
cause.  His  example  was  almost  uni- 
versally followed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Pale,  who  still  cherished  the  mem- 
ory of  the  popular  favorite,  Ilichard, 
duke  of  York.  In  vain  did  Henry 
exhibit  the  real  earl  of  Warwick  to  the 
gaze  of  the  citizens  of  London.  These 
were  convinced ;  but  the  Anglo-Irish 
were  not  yet  undeceived,  and  insisted 
that  the  person  whom  Henry  had  put 
forward  was  the  counterfeit,  and  theirs 
the  genuine  prince.  Octavianus  de 
Palatio,:}:  archbishop  of  Armagh,  saw 
through  the  Simnel  imposture,  and 
endeavored,  but  in  vain,  to  expose  it. 
The  bishop  of  Clogher,  the  fomilies  of 
Butler  and  St.  Laurence,  and  the  citi- 
zens  of  Waterford,  also  remained  faith- 


Holy  Land  in  1478.  The  tliird,  or  youngest  brother, 
Thomas,  mentioned  above,  was  ambassador  to  the  courts 
of  France  and  Burgundy,  and  died  in  1515,  the  most 
wealthy  subject  of  the  crown  of  England.  He  left  no 
sons,  and  his  second  daughter,  Margaret,  was  the  mother 
of  Sir  Thomas  Boloyn,  father  of  the  famous  Anne  Boleyn. 

f  Cathal  Macilanus  JIaguire,  canon  of  Armagh  and 
dean  of  Clsgher,  the  original  compiler  of  the  Annals  of 
Ulster,  who  died  in  1498. 

J  He  is  also  caUed  Octavianus  Italicus,  and  was  a  native 
of  Korence. 


la:mbert  simxel. 


305 


ful  to  tbe  king.  Margaret,  ducliess  of 
Burgundy,  sister  of  Edward  IV.,  was 
supposed  to  be  the  chief  contriver  of 
tlje  scheme  ;  and  lords  Lovell  and  Liu- 
coha,  the  latter  a  nephew  of  the  late 
king,  arrived  from  her  court  in.  Ireland, 
in  14S7,  with  an  army  of  2,000  Ger- 
mans, enlisted  in  SimneFs  cause,  nnder 
the  command  of  a  veteran  soldier, 
named  Martin  Schwartz.  Simnel  was 
then  solemnly  crowned  in  Christ's 
Church  on  "Whitsunday,  with  the  title 
of  Edward  VI.,  in  the  presence  of  the 
lord  deputy,  the  chancellor,  the  treasu- 
rer, the  earl  of  Lincoln,  lord  Lovell, 
and  many  of  the  chief  men  of  the  king- 
dom, as  well  ecclesiastical  as  secular. 
The  diadem  used  in  the  ceremony  is 
said  to  have  been  taken  from  a  statue 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  the  church  of 
Sainte  Marie  del  Dam ;"'  and  the  mock 
king  was  then  carried  in  triumph  from 
Christ's  church  to  Dublin  castle  on 
the  shoulders  of  a  gigantic  Anglo-Irish- 
man, popularly  called  Great  Darcy  of 
Flatten. 

Simnel  was  next  conveyed  to  Eng- 
land, Avhere  he  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Lancashire  with  an  army  composed  of 
some  Anglo-Irish  and  of  the  Germans 
already  mentioned.  Here  they  were 
joined  by  Sir  Thomas  Broughton  with 
a  small  force,  but  in  their  march  through 
Yorkshire  the  aid  which  they  expected 

*  For  tbe  identification  of  the  name  of  this  church, 
situated  near  Dame's-gate,  see  Gilbert's  History  of  Dub- 
lin, vol.  ii.,  pp.  1  and  256. 

■)•  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  tlie  title  of  Urhs  intacta 
was  conferred  by  Henry  on  Waterford.  A  contemporary 
metrical  version,  or  rather  amplification  of  the  letter 
39 


did  not  appear;  and  in  a  desperate 
battle  at  Stoke,  in  ISTottinghamshire, 
thej'  were  utterly  routed  by  the  van- 
guard of  king  Henry's  army.  Simnel's 
army  consisted  of  only  8,000  men,  of 
whom  4,000  were  slain,  with  all  the 
leaders,  including  the  earl  of  Lincoln, 
lords  Thomas  and  Maurice  FitzGerald, 
Sir  Thomas  Broughton,  and  Schwartz. 
Simnel  himself  and  Kichard  Symous 
were  made  prisoners  and  dealt  with 
rather  mercifully ;  for  while  the  latter 
was  consigned  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment, the  youthful  tool  of  the  conspira- 
tors w^as  only  condemned  to  act  as 
turnspit  in  the  king's  kitchen,  and  was 
subsequently  j^romoted  to  the  rank  of 
falconer.  The  earl  of  Kildare  and  other 
Anglo-Irish  lords  involved  in  the  mad 
scheme,  but  who  did  not  accompany 
Simnel  to  England,  sent  messengers  to 
ci'ave  the  king's  jDardon,  and  Henry 
seems  to  have  contented  himself  for 
that  time  by  sending  them  a  sharp  rep- 
rimand. He  was  unwilling  to  dispense 
with  the  earl's  services,  or  drive  him 
into  determined  hostility,  so  he  retained 
him  in  his  office  of  lord  deputy.  To 
the  citizens  of  "Waterford  Henry  wrote 
commending  their  loyalty,  and  giving 
them  leave  to  seize  for  the  use  of  their 
city  the  ships  and  merchandise  of  the 
rebel  citizens  of  Dublin  ;f  and  when 
the  latter  applied  iu  abject  terms  for 

addressed  by  tbe  mayor  of  Waterford,  in  the  name  of 
tbe  citizens,  in  reply  to  tbe  summons  received  from  the 
earl  of  Kildare,  to  recognize  the  mock  king,  Simnel,  is 
published  from  a  MS.  in  tbe  State-paper  Office,  in  Cro- 
ker's  "  Popular  Songs  of  Ireland." 


306 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VII. 


forgiveness,  and  endeavored  to  excul- 
pate themselves  by  throwing  the  blame 
of  their  ridiculous  revolt  on  the  earl  of 
Kildare,  Henry  does  not  appear  to  have 
noticed  their  communication. 

The  first  mention  of  fire-arms  in  the 
Irish  annals  occurs  in  the  year  1487, 
when  one  Brian  O'Rourke  was  slain  by 
Hugh  O'Donnell,  surnamed  Gallda,  or 
the  Anglicized,  "with  a  ball  from  a 
gun ;"  and  the  followiug  year  cannon 
make  their  appearance,  the  earl  of  Kil- 
dare having,  in  an  incursion  into  Mage- 
oghegau's  territory,  demolished  the 
castle  of  Balrath  (Bile-ratha),  in  the 
present  barony  of  Moj'cashel,  in  West 
Meath,  with  ordnance.  James,  the 
ninth  earl  of  Desmond,  was  murdered 
in  his  castle,  at  Rathkeale,  in  1487,  by 
nis  own  attendants,  at  the  instiaratiou, 
as  the  Irish  annals  say,  of  his  brother 
John,  who,  as  well  as  the  others  impli- 
cated in  the  murder,  was  banished  by 
his  brother  Maurice,  who  succeeded  to 
the  earldom.  The  new  earl  was  nick- 
named "  baccagh,"  or  the  lame,  but  his 
martial  career  soon  caused  this  epithet 
to  be  changed  into  that  of  "  warlike," 
as  he  was  engaged  in  constant  wars 
with  his  Irish  neighbors,  although  it 
was  necessary  to  carry  him  to  the  bat- 
tlefield in  a  litter. 

A.  D.  1488. — Sir  Richard  Edgecomb 
now  came  on  a  special  commission  from 
king  Henry,  to  exact  new  oaths  of  alle- 
giance from  the  lords  and  others,  and 
to  fix  the  conditions  on  which  the  king's 
pardon  was  to  be  granted  to  them.  He 
was  attended  by  a  guard  of  500  men. 


conveyed  in  four  ships,  and  landed  at 
Kinsale  on  the  27th  of  June,  where  he 
received  the  homage  of  lords  Barry  and 
Courcey,  and  administered  the  oath  of 
fidelity  to  the  inhabitants.  At  Water- 
ford,  where  he  next  arrived,  Sir  Richard 
was  received  with  great  honor  by  the 
citizens,  who  urgently  entreated  that  if 
the  earl  of  Kildare  were  asrain  to  be 
invested  with  authority,  their  city,  to 
which  for  its  loyalty  he  was  always 
hostile,  might  be  exempted  from  his 
jurisdiction,  and  from  that  "  of  all  othei 
Irish  lords  who  should  ever  bear  any 
rule  in  that  laud ;  and  might  hold  im- 
mediately of  the  king,  or  of  such  Eng- 
lish lords  as  shall  fortune  hereafter  to 
have  rule  in  Ireland."  The  commissioner 
next  proceeded  to  Dublin,  and  took  up 
his  lodgings  in  the  convent  of  the  Friars 
Preachers.  He  was  informed  that  the 
earl  of  Kildare  was  absent  on  a  pil- 
grimage, and  his  first  interview  with 
that  nobleman  did  not  take  place  until 
seven  days  after,  in  St.  Thomas's  abbey, 
Thomas-court,  when  the  commissioner 
read  the  king's  letters  to  him  and  intro- 
duced the  object  of  his  mission.  This 
parley  did  not  end  satisfactorily,  and 
the  earl  retired  to  his  house  at  May- 
nooth,  Avhere  Sir  Richard  was  subse- 
quently induced  to  visit  him,  and  was 
splendidly  entertained.  But  the  polite- 
ness and  hospitality  shown  to  him  did 
not  prevent  the  commissioner  from  re- 
monsti-ating  against  the  delays  which 
took  place,  and  the  obstacles  thrown  in 
the  way  of  an  arrangement.  He  used 
strong  and  threatening  words,  but  the 


PERKIN    WARBECK. 


30( 


lords  of  the  Pale,  on  tlieir  side,  told 
bim,  at  one  of  their  interviews,  that 
sooner  than  submit  to  the  terms  he 
proposed  they  would  join  the  Irish. 
At  len2:th  there  was  an  amicable  settle- 
meut.  The  earl  did  homage  before  the 
commissioner  in  the  great  chamber  of 
St.  Thomas's  abbey.  He  was  then  ab- 
solved from  the  excommunication  which 
he  had  incurred  by  his  rebellion ;  and 
during  the  celebration  of  mass  in  a  pri- 
vate chapel  of  the  abbey,  he  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  on  the  Most  Holy 
Sacrament.  The  bishops  and  nobles 
who  were  implicated  with  him  in  the 
late  revolt  took  the  same  oath.  Sir 
Richard  then  suspended  round  the  earl's 
neck  a  gold  chain  which  the  king  had 
sent  him ;  and  all  jjroceeded  from  the 
private  chapel  to  the  church  of  the  ab- 
bey, where  a  Te  Deum  was  chanted  by 
the  choir.*  "With  great  difficulty  the 
commissioner  was  subsequently  induced 
to  grant  the  royal  pardon  to  Thomas 
Plunket,  chief  justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most 
active  of  Simnel's  partisans ;  but  no 
solicitation  could  induce  him  to  extend 
the  amnesty  to  Keating,  the  refractory 
prior  of  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Kil- 
mainham,  who  had  committed  innumer- 
able frauds  and  outrages,  had  expelled 
and  imprisoned  Marmaduke  Lomley, 
the  lawful  prior,  and  continued  to  usurp 
that  dignity,  as  well  as  the  office  of  con- 
stable, or  governor  of  Dublin   castle. 


*  See  the  Diary  of  Sir  Richard  Edgecomb's  Voyage 
into  Ireland,  publislied  in  Harris's  HUierniea.  Sir 
Richard  sailed  from  Dalkey  on  the  30th  of  July. 


The  following  year  Kildare  and  several 
other  Anglo-Irish  lords  waited  on  the 
king  at  Greenwich,  in  obedience  to  a 
royal  summons ;  and  at  a  banquet  to 
which  Henry  invited  them  they  were 
attended  at  table  by  their  late  idol, 
Lambert  Simnel,  who  was  taken  for 
that  occasion  from  his  duties  in  the 
kitchen. 

A.  D.  1492. — After  what  had  so  re- 
cently passed,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  how 
sane  men  could  have  allowed  themselves 
to  be  duped  by  another  plot  of  a  mock 
prince ;  yet  the  intriguing  duchess  of 
Burgundy  tried  the  experiment  once 
more,  and  with  some  success.  On  this 
occasion  she  selected  a  boy  named  Peter 
Osbeck,  but  commonly  called  Perkin 
Warbeck,  a  native  of  Tournay,  in  Flan- 
ders, and  had  him  trained  to  represent 
Richard,  duke  of  York,  one  of  the  two 
young  princes,  sons  of  Edward  IV.,  who 
were  murdered  by  Richard  HI.  in  the 
tower.  He  was  sent  into  Portugal  in 
1490  to  await  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  introduction  to  the  public,  and  this 
occasion  seemed  to  present  itself  in  1492. 
The  king,  urged  by  some  suspicions 
which  appear  to  have  been  groundless, 
had  deprived  Kildare  of  the  office  of 
deputy,  and  serious  disturbances  had 
followed  in  the  Pale.  Sir  James  Butler, 
or  Ormond,  as  he  is  called  in  the  annals, 
natural  son  of  John,  earl  of  Ormond, 
who  died  in  Jerusalem  on  a  pilgrimage 
in  1478,  came  to  Ireland  about  this 
time,  after  a  long  absence,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  O'Briens,  the  Mac  Williams 
of  Clanricard,  and  others,  endeavored 


508 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VII. 


to  get  himself  acknowledged  head  of 
the  Butlers,  while  his  uncle,  Thomas, 
earl  of  Ormond,  was  on  diplomatic  ser- 
vice for  the  king  in  France.  This  illeral 
conduct  did  not  prevent  king  Henry 
from  appointing  Sir  James  lord  treasurer 
of  Ireland,  in  the  room  of  FitzEustace, 
while  Walter  Fitzsimons,  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  was  appointed  lord  deputy. 
The  earl  of  Kildare  did  not  submit 
peaceably  to  the  indignity  to  which, 
through  the  medium  of  Sir  James  Or- 
mond, he  was  subjected;  and,  in  some 
tumults  which  ensued,  he  burned  Sheep- 
street,  now  called  Ship-street,  which  ad- 
joined the  castle  of  Dublin,  but  was 
then  outside  the  city  walls.  He  also 
withdrew  his  protection  from  the  Eng- 
lish of  Meath,  who  had  refused  to  take 
part  in  his  quarrel,  and  the  spoliation 
of  their  ten-itory  in  every  direction,  by 
the  Irish,  was  the  consequence. 

At  this  juncture,  when  England  was 
besides  involved  in  a  war  with  France, 
young  Warbeck  made  his  appearance 
at  Cork,  where  he  arrived  in  a  merchant 
vessel  from  Lisbon,  and  announced  him- 
self as  Eichard,  duke  of  York.  He  was 
well  received  by  the  citizens,  and  John 
Water,  or  Walters,  a  I'espectable  mer- 
chant wlio  had  been  mayor  of  the  city, 
warmly  espoused  his  cause,  which  soon 
after  excited  great  enthusiasm  on  an 
invitation  being  received  by  Warbeck 
from  the  king  of  France  to  visit  his 
court.  At  the  French  court  Warbeck 
was  received  with  royal  honors,  but  this 
demonstration  was  speedily  followed  by 
the  result  which  it  was  intended  to  pro- 


duce, namely,  a  peace  with  Henry ;  and 
the  imjiostor  retired  to  Flanders,  where 
the  duchess  of  Burgundy  welcomed  him 
as  her  nephew,  and  called  him  "  the 
White  Rose  of  England." 

A.  D.  1493. — Tow'ards  the  close  of  this 
year  Sir  Robert  Preston,  first  viscount 
Gormaustown,  was  made  lord  deputy 
in  the  absence  of  the  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  who  was  sent  for  by  the  king 
to  give  him  an  account  of  the  state  of 
Ireland.  Sir  James  Ormond  also  re- 
paired to  England,  and  the  earl  of  Kil- 
dare, fearing  the  machinations  of  such 
enemies,  hastened  thither,  but  did  not 
on  that  occasion  succeed  in  vindicatinsr 
himself  from  the  charges  made  asraiust 
him. 

A.  D.  1494. — Alarmed  at  the  state  of 
things  in  Ireland,  Henry  now  sent  over 
Sir  Edward  Poynings,  a  knight  of  the 
garter  and  privy  councillor,  to  under- 
take the  government.  Sir  Edward  was 
accompa-nied  by  some  eminent  English 
lawyers  to  act  as  his  council,  and  brought 
with  him  a  force  of  1,000  men.  Deter- 
mined in  the  fii-st  instance  to  extirpate 
the  abettors  of  Warbeck,  the  leaders  of 
whom  it  was  ucdei-stood  had  fled  to 
Ulster,  he  marched  with  a  large  army 
to  the  north ;  the  earl  of  Kildare,  not- 
withstanding his  equivocal  position 
towards  government,  being  invited  to 
accompany  him.  ISTot  long  before  this, 
in  an  inroad  by  Hugh  Og-?  MacMahon 
and  John  O'Reilly,  sixty  English  gentle- 
men had  been  killed  and  many  taken 
prisoners ;  but  on  the  deputy's  approach 
the  Irish  chiefs  retired  to  their  fiistness- 


POYNIXGS'   ACT. 


309 


es,  and  fiudiug  uo  enemy  to  fight  with 
he  laid  waste  their  lauds.  A  report  was 
then  spread  that  the  earl  of  Kildare  was 
conspiring  with  O'Hanlou  to  cut  off  the 
English  lord  deputy,  and  news  arrived 
that  the  earl's  brother  had  risen  in  re- 
bellion and  captured  the  castle  of  Car- 
low.  Under  these  circumstances  Sir 
Edward  made  peace  on  any  terms  with 
O'Hanlou  and  Magennis,  into  whose 
territory  he  had  entered,  and  returning 
to  the  south,  recovered  the  possession 
of  Carlow  castle  after  a  sie^'e  of  ten 
days. 

In  the  month  of  November  this  year 
was  held  at  Drofrheda  the  memorable 
l")arliament,  at  which  the  statute,  called 
after  the  lord  deputy,  Poynings'  law, 
was  passed.  By  this  parliament  it  was 
enacted  that  all  the  statutes  lately  made 
in  England  affecting  the  public  weal 
should  be  good  and  effectual  in  Irelaud ; 
the  odious  statutes  of  Kilkenny  were 
confirmed,  with  the  exception  of  that 
which  prohibited  the  use  of  the  Irish 
language,  which  had  at  that  time  be- 
come the  prevailing  language  even  of 
the  Pale;  laws  were  framed  for  the 
defence  of  the  marches ;  it  was  made  a 
felony  to  permit  "  enemies  or  rebels" 
to  pass  through  those  border  lands; 
the  general  use  of  bows  and  arrows  was 
enjoined,  and  the  war  cries  which  some 


*  See  tlie  Irisli  and  Anglo-Irisli  War  cries,  explained 
in  Harris's  "Ware,  ii.  163  ;  and  O'Donovan's  Wsli  Gram- 
mar, p.  327.  They  -n-ere  cliiefly  composed  of  the  ex- 
clamation of  defiance,  abu  !  or  aho  !  and  the  name,  or 
crest  of  the  family,  or  place  of  residence,  as  Lamh- 
dearg-abu!  the  O'Neill's  war  cry,  from  their  crest  of 
the  Ked-hand ;  ZamMaider-abu  !   that  of  the  O'Briens, 


of  the  great  English  families  had  adopted 
in  imitation  of  the  Irish  were  strictly 
forbidden.*  The  old  law,  called  the 
statute  of  Henry  FitzErapress  (Heniy 
II.),  which  enabled  the  council  to  elect 
a  lord  deputy  on  the  office  becoming 
suddenly  vacant  by  death,  was  repealed, 
and  it  was  enacted  that  the  government 
should  in  such  a  case  be  entrusted  to 
the  lord  treasurer,  uutil  a  successor 
could  be  appointed  by  the  king.  But 
the  particular  statute  known  as  Poyn- 
ings' act  was  one  which  provided  that 
henceforth  no  parliament  should  be  held 
in  Irelaud  until  the  chief  governor  and 
council  had  first  certified  to  the  king, 
under  the  great  seal,  "  as  well  the  causes 
and  considerations,  as  the  acts  they  de- 
signed to  pass,  and  till  the  same  should 
be  approved  by  the  king  and  council." 
This  act  virtually  made  the  Irish  par- 
liament a  nullity ;  and  when,  in  after 
times,  it  came  to  aftect,  not  merely  the 
English  Pale,  for  which  it  was  originally 
framed,  but  the  whole  of  Ireland  when 
brought  under  English  law,  it  was  felt 
to  be  one  of  the  most  intolerable  griev- 
ances under  which  this  country  suffered. 
A.  D.  1-496.— Sir  Edward  Poynings' 
parliament  passed  an  act  of  attainder 
against  the  earl  of  Kildare,  his  brother 
James,  and  other  members  of  his  fam- 
ily.     The    charges    against    the    earl 


MacCarthys,  and  FitzMaurices,  from  the  crest  of  the 
Eight^arm  {LamJUaider,  the  "strong  hand"),  issuing 
from  a  cloud ;  the  war  cry  of  the  Geraldines  of  Kil- 
dare, Cromadh-abu !  from  Croom  castle  in  Limerick, 
and  that  of  the  Desmond  Geraldines,  Scanaid-abu ! 
from  their  strong  castle  of  Shannid,  in  the  sama 
county,  &c. 


310 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VII. 


appear  to  have  been  grounded  on  mei-e 
suspicion,  l)ut  lie  was  sent  to  England, 
and  detained  there  a  prisoner;  and  liis 
countess,  it  is  said,  was  so  deeply  af- 
fected b)^  the  event  that  she  died  of 
grief.  At  length  an  opportunity  was 
afforded  him  to  plead  his  cause  before 
the  king,  and  the  frankness  and  sim- 
plicity of  his  manner  at  once  convinced 
that  astute  observer  of  character  that  he 
could  not  have  been  the  jwlitical  in- 
triguer which  his  accusers  pretended. 
One  of  the  charges  against  him  was, 
that  he  had  sacrilegiously  burned  the 
church  of  Cashel ;  but  to  this  the 
earl  bluntly  replied,  that  he  never 
would  have  done  so  "  had  he  not  been 
told  that  the  archbishop  was  in  it." 
This  novel  defence  amused  the  king; 
and  by-and-by,  when  the  counsel  against 
Kildare  wound  up  his  charge  by  vehe- 
mently protesting  that  "  not  all  Ireland 
could  govern  this  man,"  Henry  ob- 
served, "  then  he  is  the  fittest  man  to 
govern  all  Ireland."  Thus  the  earl 
triumjihed ;  and  the  chieftain,  O'Hau- 
lon,  having  come  forward  to  clear  him 
upon  oath  of  the  charge  of  conspiring 
with  him  against  the  English  lord 
deputy,  Kildare  was  not  only  fully 
pardoned  and  restored  to  his  honors 
and  estates,  but  by  letters  patent  Avas 
made  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and 
returned    home   with   greater    powers 


*  The  accounts  of  these  movements  are  obscure,  but 
it  would  appear  that  Warbeck  in  1495  visited  Ireland 
vrith  eleven  ships  supplied  by  the  archduke ;  that  by 
the  aid  of  the  earl  of  Desmond  an  undisciplined  array 
was  raised  for  liim  in  Ireland ;  that  ho  then  laid  siege 
to  W'aterfoid,  and  that  the  citizens,  on  the  approach  of 


than  he  had  ever  before  possessed  ;  his 
eldest  son,  Gerald,  being,  however,  re- 
tained as  a  hostage. 

A.  D.  I't97. — To  retui-n  to  the  im- 
postor Warbeck,  he  was  obliged  in 
1495  to  leave  Flanders  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  a  treaty  between  that  country 
and  England.  He  then  returned  to  his 
former  friends  in  Cork,  but  not  seeing 
an  encouraging  prospect  there,*  he  went 
to  Scotland,  where  he  was  introduced 
at  the  court  of  James  IV.  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  duchess  of  Burgundy, 
with  all  the  honors  due  to  his  assumed 
rank.  He  even  obtained  in  marriage 
the  hand  of  Catherine  Gordon,  a  lady 
remarkable  for  her  beauty,  and  related 
to  the  royal  family,  being  the  daughter 
of  the  earl  of  Huntley,  and  granddaugh- 
ter of  James  I.  Again,  however,  he 
was  driven  from  his  asylum,  James  and 
Henry  having  agreed  to  a  treaty  ;  but 
the  Scottish  king  generously  furnished 
him  wdth  a  ship  to  take  himself  and 
his  wife  away,  and  also  a  small  party 
of  armed  men ;  and  once  more  the  ad- 
venturer was  landed  at  Cork.  Here  he 
found  no  further  support,  and  availing 
himself  of  an  invitation  from  Cornwall, 
he  proceeded  thither  with  his  wife,  four 
Waterford  ships  sailing  in  pursuit  of  the 
fugitives.  Further  than  this  it  is  unne- 
cessary for  us  to  trace  the  impostor's  for- 
tunes, except  to  state  that  he  closed  his 


the  lord  deputy  to  their  assistance,  sallied  forth  and 
compelled  Warbeck  to  raise  the  siege,  three  cf  his  ships 
being  captured  by  the  townspeople,  and  he  himself 
forced  to  return  to  Cork.  "Former  historians,"  says 
Mr.  Wright,  "  have  erroneously  placed  this  siege  under 
the  year  1497."    Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  300. 


FEUDS    OF   THE   NATIVE   CHIEFS. 


311 


career  at  Tyburn,  in  1499,  the  infatuated 
John  Water,  mayor  of  Cork,  sharing 
his  fate  on  the  scaflfold.* 

We  have  pursued  the  course  of  events 
in  the  Pale  without  turning  aside  to 
those  in  which  the  native  Irish  were 
exclusive]}^  engaged.  These  latter  car- 
ried on  their  mutual  wars  as  usual 
without  seemino;  to  resrard  the  English 
as  a  common  enemy.  A  great  war 
broke  out  in  1491  between  Con  O'Neill 
and  Hugh  Koe  O'Donuell.  In  1493 
Tyrone  was  laid  waste  by  a  contest  for 
the  succession  amono;  the  O'Neills 
themselves ;  and  in  a  sanguinary  battle 
at  Glasdrummoud  Con  O'Neill  tri- 
umphed over  his  opponent,  Donnell 
O'Neill.  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  then 
mustered  a  large  army  in  Tirconnell 
and  Connaught,  marched  into  Tyrone, 
and  after  a  furious  battle  with  Henry 
Oge  O'Neill,  at  Beauna  Boirche,  in  the 
Mourne  mountains,  returned  home  vic- 
torious. In  1495,  O'Donnell  went  on 
a  visit  to  the  king  of  Scotland,  and  was 
received  with  great  honors.  In  the 
Scottish  accounts  he  is  called  the  Great 
O'Donnell  ;f  but  nothing  certain  is 
known  of  the  object  of  his  visit.  On 
his  return  he  defeated  the  O'Couors  at 
Sligo,  but  raised  the  siege  of  that  town 
on  the  approach  of  Mac  William  (Burke) 
of  Clanricard.  In  1497,  provoked  by 
the  dissensions  between  his  sous,  Husfh 


*  It  is  Tvortliy  of  remark  tliat  tlie  Four  Masters  make 
no  mention  wliatever  of  either  Simuel  or  Warbeck,  or 
of  any  proceedings  relating  to  them. 

t  Tytler,  Hist.  Scot.,  vol.  iv.,  c.  3. 

J  The  Cathach  (Preliator),  the  metallic  reliquary  or 
bos,  in  which  a  portion  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  tran- 


Roe  resigned  the  lord.ship  of  Tirconnell, 
which  was  then  assumed  by  his  son 
Con ;  but  his  second  son,  Hugh  Oge, 
would  not  consent  to  this  arrangement, 
and  got  some  of  the  Burkes  to  assist 
him  with  a  fleet.  Con  was  defeated  in 
battle,  but  two  days  after  he  succeeded 
iu  ca])turing  his  brother  Hugh,  and 
sent  him  to  be  confined  in  the  castle  of 
Conraaicne  Guile,  iu  Connaught.  Con 
now  invaded  Moylui-g,  but  was  de- 
feated with  terrible  slaughter  by  Mac- 
Dermot,  iu  the  Pass  of  Ballaghboy,  in 
the  Curlieu  mountains ;  the  famous  Ca- 
thach, Avhich  the  O'Donnells  always 
carried  before  them  into  battle,  being 
among  the  spoils  which  he  lost  on  that 
occasion.;};  Con's  misfortunes  did  not 
terminate  here.  Henry  Oge  O'Neill 
judged  the  opportunity  a  favorable  one 
to  avenge  the  defeat  he  recently  received 
from  Hugh  Roe,  and  led  an  army  into 
Tiicounell.  He  first  laid  waste  the  land 
of  Fanad,  and  in  a  battle  which  he  then 
fought  with  Con  O'Donnell,  the  latter 
turbulent  and  ambitions  vouncj  chief- 
tain  was  slain  and  his  forces  routed. 
Upon  this  Plugh  Roe  resumed  the  lord- 
ship; and  Hugh  Oge  who  was  now 
liberated,  having  declined  the  chief- 
taincy which  his  father  offered  him, 
father  and  son  appear  to  have  ruled 
their  principality  with  joint  sway. 
Erer  since  the   pardon  accorded  to 

scribed  by  St.  Columbkille,  was  preserved.  It  has  re 
cently  been  deposited  by  its  owner.  Sir  Richard  O'Don- 
nell, in  the  museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  The 
Cathach  was  recovered  from  the  MacDermotts  in  1499, 
by  Hugh  Roe  O'DonneD,  who  entered  Moylurg  ^\-ith  an 
army  for  the  purpose. 


312 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VII. 


him  in  1494,  Garrett,  earl  of  Kildare, 
was  constantly  engaged  in  war  witli 
some  of  tlie  Irish  septs ;  but  on  most  of 
these  occasions  he  acted  rather  as  an 
Irish  chieftain  than  as  the  deputy  of 
the  English  king.  His  sister,  Eleonora, 
was  married  to  Con  O'Neill,  and  this 
alliance  involved  him  in  the  numerous 
feuds  of  Avhich  Tyrone  was  the  theatre. 
At  the  instance  of  his  nephew,  Tur- 
longh  O'Neill,  and  of  Hugh  Koe  O'Don- 
nell,  an  ally  of  Tui'lough's,  he  marched 
to  the  north  in  1498,  and  took  the 
castle  of  Dungannon  by  the  aid  of 
ordnance.  The  following  year  Hugh 
Roe  came  to  the  Pale  to  visit  the  earl, 
who  gave  him  his  son  Henry  in  foster- 
age, notwithstanding  the  stringent  laws 
agaiust  this  kind  of  an  alliance  with 
the  Irish.  This  year  (1499)  the  earl 
marched  into  Connaught,  but  only  to 
take  part  in  the  quarrels  of  some  of  the 
Irish  chieftains,  for  the  castles  which 
he  took  from  one  rival  chief  he  deliv- 
ei'ed  to  another,  and  Mac  William  Burke 
soon  after  restored  them  to  their  former 
possessors.  In  1500  Hugh  Roe  O'Don- 
nell  and  the  lord  justice  marched  in 
concert  into  Tyrone  to  co-operate  against 
John  Boy  O'Neill,  from  whom  they 
took  the  castle  of  Kinard,  or  Caledon, 
which  was  then  delivered  up  to  the 
earl's  nephew,  Turlough  O'Neill. 

A.  D.  1504. — For  some  time  an  in- 
veterate warfare  had  been  carried  on 
between  Mac  William  (Burke)  of  Clan- 
rickard,  styled  Ulick  III.,  and  Melagh- 
lin  O'Kelly,  the  Ii-ish  chief  of  Hy-Many. 
Burke  was  the  aggressor,  and  the  more 


powerful.  This  year  he  captured  and 
demolished  O'Kelly's  castles  of  Garbh- 
dhoire,  now  Garbally ;  Muine-anmhe- 
adha,  or  Monivea,  and  Gallach,  now 
called  Castleblakeny,  in  the  county  of 
Gal  way;  and  the  Irish  chief,  then  on 
the  brink  of  ruin,  had  recourse  to  the 
earl  of  Kildare  for  protection.  The 
latter,  more  desirous  of  curbing  the 
growing  power  of  Claurickard,  with 
whom  he  had  a  personal  feud,  than  of 
restoring  peace  in  Connaught,  mustered 
a  powerful  army,  and  crossed  the  Shan- 
non. He  was  joined  by  Hugh  Roe 
O'Donnell  and  his  son,  and  the  other 
chiefs  of  Kinel-Connell ;  by  O'Conor 
Roe  of  Northern  Connaught ;  MacDer- 
mot  of  Moylurg;  the  warlike  chiefs 
Magennis,  MacMahon,  and  O'Hanlon ; 
O'Reilly ;  the  bishoji  of  Ardagh,  who 
was  then  the  chief  of  the  O'Farrells  of 
Annaly;  O'Conor  Faly;  the  O'Kellys; 
the  lower  Mac  Williams,  or  Burkes  of 
Mayo ;  and,  in  fact,  by  the  forces  of 
nearly  all  Leath-Chuinu,  or  the  northern 
half  of  Ireland,  with  the  exception  of 
O'Neill.  Besides  these  he  was  attended 
by  viscount  Gormanstowu,  the  barons 
of  Slane,  Delviii,  Howth,  Kileen,  Trim- 
leston,  and  Dunsaney,  and  by  John 
Blake,  mayor  of  Dublin,  at  the  head  of 
an  armed  force'.  Clanrickard,  on  his 
side,  also  assembled  a  very  numerous 
array,  his  allies  being  Teige  O'Brien, 
lord  of  Thomond,  the  MacNamaras  and 
other  North  Munster  chiefs;  Mac-I-Brien 
of  Ara ;  O'Kennedy  of  Ormond ;  and 
O'Carroll  of  Ely.  One  of  Clanrickard's 
chief  stronsrholds  at  this  time  was  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  KNOCKTOW. 


313 


castle  of  Claregalway,  or  Baile-an-clilair, 
and  about  tu^o  miles  to  the  north-east  of 
this  place,  on  some  elevated  rocky  land 
called  Knoc-tuagh  (Knocktow),  or  the 
Hill  of  Axes,  his  army  was  drawn  up 
to  await  the  enemy.  The  battle  which 
ensued  Avas  one  of  the  most  sanguinary 
and  decisive  that  had  taken  place  in 
Ireland  since  the  invasion ;  but  there 
cannot  be  a  greater  perversion  of  the 
truth  than  to  repi'esent  it,  as  English 
historians  have  done,  as  a  battle  be- 
tween the  English  and  Irish,  or  between 
the  forces  of  the  English  government 
and  the  "  Irish  rebels."  For  some  hours 
the  issue  seemed  doubtful,  but  ultimate- 
ly Clanrickard  and  his  allies  suffered  a 
total  overthroAV.  Their  loss  in  the  bat- 
tle and  flight,  according  to  Ware,  was 
2,000  men ;  Cos  makes  it  amount  to 
4,000 ;  and  that  fabulous  Anglo-Irish 
compilation,  the  Book  of  Howth,  raises 
the  loss  to  9,000  !  The  white  book  of 
the  Exchequer  asserted,  according  to 
Ware,  as  a  kind  of  miracle,  that  not  one 
Eu2:lishman  Avas  even  hurt  in  the  battle, 
a  thing  which  is  quite  jjossible,  as  there 
were  probably  no  Englishmen  actually 
engaged  on  either  side;  but  although 
nothing  can  be  more  silly  than  to  boast 
of  the  victory  as  if  won  by  Englishmen, 
it  Avas  in  its  I'esults  a  most  inqiortant 


*  Sir  John  Davis  admits  tliat  this  battle  arose  oiit  of  a 
private  quarrel  of  the  earl  of  Kildare.  Ware  does  not 
discredit  the  re;iort  that  it  owed  its  origin  to  "a  private 
grudge  between  Kildare  andUlick  ;"  Cox  aUudcs  to  such 
an  opinion  in  similar  terms  ;  and  the  Four  Masters,  who 
were  not  accessible  to  these  writers,  record  the  circum- 
stances as  we  have  related  them,  and  in  a  way  which 
leaves  no  doubt  upon  the  matter.    Dr.  O'Donovan,  who 

40 


one  for  English  interests,  by  establishing 
the  poAver  of  the  Pale,  and  inflicting  a 
bloAv  on  the  Irish  chieftains  from  which 
they  never  recovered.*  The  Book  of 
Ilowth  attributes  an  atrocious  exj)res- 
sion  to  viscount  Gormanstown  after  the 
battle.  "  We  have  slauafhtered  our  ene- 
mies,"  said  he  to  the  earl  of  Kildare, 
according  to  this  veracious  authority ; 
"but  to  complete  the  good  deed  we 
must  do  the  like  Avith  all  the  Irish  of 
our  OAVu  party."  As  a  contrast  to  Avhich 
insolence  of  success,  Leland  candidly  ol)- 
serves,  that  "  in  the  remains  of  the  old 
Irish  annalists  Ave  do  not  find  any  con- 
siderable rancor  expressed  against  the 
English ;  but  they  even  speak  of  the 
actions  and  fortunes  of  great  English 
lords  Avith  affection  and  sympathy."f 
Kildare,  Avith  his  usual  impetuosity, 
Avished  to  push  on  to  Galway,  eight 
miles  distant,  the  evening  of  the  battle, 
but  the  A^eteran  O'Donnell  recommended 
him  to  encamp  that  night  on  the  field, 
until  the  troops,  scattered  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy,  should  be  collected.  The 
battle  was  fought  on  the  19th  of  Aug- 
ust, 1504,  and  the  next  day  Galway  and 
Athenry  surrendered  to  the  earl  with- 
out resistance.  Kildare  distributed 
thirty  tuns  of  Avine  among  his  army, 
but  Avhether  he  paid  the  merchants  of 


had  every  existing  record  of  tliis  transaction  before  him, 
says  the  conflict  at  Knocktow  was,  in  fact,  a  battle  be- 
tween Leath-Chuinn  and  Leath-Mhogha,  the  northern 
and  southern  halves  of  Ireland,  like  the  battles  of  Moy 
Lena,  Moy  Mucruimhe,  and  Moy  Alvy,  where  the 
southerns  were  as  usual  defeated.  The  name  of  the  place 
is  at  present  written  either  Knocktow  or  Knockdoe. 
f  Hist,  of  Ireland,  book  iii.,  c.  5. 


314 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VII. 


Galway  for  it  we  are  not  told.  Ke 
himself,  as  a  reward  for  the  victory, 
was  made  a  knight  of  the  garter.  As 
to  Ulick  Burke,  he  escaped,  but  his  two 
sons,  and  some  say  his  two  daughters 
also,  were  made  prisoners. 

The  only  event  of  interest  recorded 
in  the  remainder  of  this  reign  is  the 
death  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  which 
took  place  in  1505,  in  the  VSth  year  of 
his  age,  and  the  44th  of  his  reign  over 
Tirconnell.   He  was  the  son  of  the  cele- 


brated Niall  Garv  O'Donnell,  and  was 
one  of  a  long  line  of  heroes.  "  In  his 
time,"  say  the  annalists,  "  there  was  no 
need  of  defence  for  the  houses  in  Tir- 
connell, except  to  close  the  doors  against 
the  vpind."  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Hugh  Oge.  During  the  reign  of 
Henry  VH.  the  country  was  frequently 
visited  by  pestilence,  and  the  fearful 
visitation,  called  the  sweating  sickness, 
raged  for  several  years. 


ACCESSION    OF   HENRY  VIII. 


315 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

REIGN     OF     HENET     Vin. 

Accession  of  Henry  VIII. — Gerald,  earl  of  Kildare,  stiU  Lord  Deputy. — His  last  Transactions  and  Death. — Hugh 
O'Donnell  visits  Scotland  and  prevents  an  Invasion  of  Ireland. — Wars  of  the  Klnel-ConneU  and  Kinel-Oweu. 
— Proceedings  of  the  new  Earl  of  Kildare. — The  Earl  of  Surrey  Lord  Lieutenant. — His  Opinion  of  Irish 
Warfare. — His  Advice  to  the  King  about  Ireland.— His  Return. — The  Earl  of  Onnond  succeeds  and  is  made 
Earl  of  Ossory. — Wars  in  Ulster. — Battle  of  Knockavoe. — Triumph  of  Kildare. — Vain  attempts  to  reconcile 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell. — Treasonable  Correspondence  of  Desmond. — Kildare  again  in  Difficulties. — Effect  of 
his  Irish  Popularity. — Sir  WUliam  Slseffington  Lord  Deputy. — Discord  betvreen  liim  and  Kildare. — New  Irish 
Alliances  of  Kildare. — His  Fall. — Reports  of  the  Council  to  the  King. — The  Schism  in  England. — Rebellion 
of  SUlien  Thomas. — Murder  of  Archbishop  Allen. — Siege  of  Maynooth. — Surrender  of  Silken  Thomas  and 
Arrest  of  his  Uncles. — Their  Cruel  Fate. — Lord  Leonard  Gray  in  Ireland. — Destruction  of  O'Brien's  Bridge. — 
Interesting  Events  in  Oflfaly. — Desolating  War  against  the  Irish. — Confederation  of  Irish  Chiefs. — Fidelity  of 
the  Irish  to  their  Faith. — Rescue  of  young  Gerald  FitzGerald. — Extension  of  the  Geraldine  League. — 
Desecration  of  Sacred  Things. — Battle  of  Belahoe. — Submission  of  Southern  Chiefs. — Escape  of  young  Gerald 
to  France. — Effects  of  the  "  Reformation"  on  Ireland. — Ser^dlity  of  Parliament. — Henry's  Insidious  Policy  in 
Ireland. — George  Brown,  first  Protestant  Archbishop  of  Dublin. — His  Character. — Failure  of  the  New  Creed 
in  Ireland. — Terrible  Spoliation  of  the  Irish  by  the  Lord  Justice. — Submission  of  Irish  Princes. — Their 
Acceptance  of  English  Titles  and  Surrender  of  Irish  ones. — Henry  VIII.  made  King  of  Ireland. — Submission 
of  Desmond. — First  Native  Irish  Lords  in  Parliament. — Execution  of  Lord  Leonard  Gray. — O'Neill  Surrenders 
his  Territory  and  is  made  Earl  of  Tyrone. — Murrough  O'Brien  made  Earl  of  Thomond. — Confiscation  of 
Convent  Lands. — Effect  of  the  Policy  of  Concession  and  Corruption. 


ConUm'porary  Sovereigns  and  Events. — Popes :  Julius  II.,  Leo  X.,  Adrian  VI.,  Clement  VII.,  Paul  III. — Kings  of  Frlnee : 
Louis  XII.,  Francis  1. — Emperors  of  Germany:  Maximilian  I.,  Charles  V. — Sovere-igus  of  Scotland;  James  IV.,  James  V., 
Queen  Mary. — The  "  Reformation"  preached  in  Germany,  1517. — Foundation  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  1534. — Opening  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  15-45. — Death  of  Luther,  1516. 


(A.   D.    1500    TO    A.   D.   1547.) 


No  change  was  made  iu  the  Irish 
governmeat  on  the  accession  of 
Heury  VIII.  Gerald,  the  veteran  earl 
of  Kildare,  was  confirmed  in  his  office 
as  lord  deputy,  and  still  carried  on  his 
forays  against  various  Irish  septs.  In 
1510  he  proceeded  with  a  numerous 
army  into  south  Munster  against  the 
MacCarthys,  and  was  joined  by  James, 


son  of  the  earl  of  Desmond.  In  Ealla, 
now  Duhallow,  he  took  the  castle  of 
Kanturk,  and  in  Kerry  the  castle  of 
Pailis,  near  Laune  Bridge,  aud  Castle- 
maine.  Returning  to  the  county  of 
Limerick  he  was  joined  by  Hugh,  lord 
of  Tirconnell,  the  son  of  his  old  ally, 
Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  with  a  small,  but 
efficient  body  of  troops.      He  crossed 


316 


REIGN   OF   HENRY   VIII. 


the  Shannon  and  destroyed  a  wooden 
bridge  which  stood  over  that  river  at 
Portcrusha,  probably  somewhere  near 
Castleconnell,  but  here  his  progress  was 
checked.  Turlough  O'Brien  had  col- 
lected a  large  army  composed  of  the 
septs  of  North  Munster  and  Clanrickard, 
and  at  this  point  approached  so  close 
that  tlie  men's  voices  conld  be  heard 
from  the  opposite  camps  during  the 
night ;  but  the  morning  after  this  bold 
advance  of  O'Brien  found  Kildare  pre- 
paring to  retreat.  The  Leinster  and 
Meath  troops,  witli  O'Donnell's  small 
contingent,  were  placed  in  the  rear,  and 
James  of  Desmond,  with  the  Munster 
forces,  led  the  van.*  While  retiring  in 
this  order  he  was  attacked  by  O'Brien, 
who  took  large  spoils  and  slew  several 
of  the  English,  among  others  Barnwell, 
of  Crickstowu,  in  Meath,  and  a  baron 
Kent ;  but  the  earl  succeeded,  with  the 
main  body  of  his  army,  in  reaching 
Limerick  through  Monabraher,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Shannon,  and  soon 
after  he  left  Munster. 

A.  D.  1512. — The  earl  once  more 
crossed  the  Shannon  into  Connaught, 
and  took  the  castle  of  Roscommon  and 
that  of  Cavetown,  in  Moylurg.  O'Don- 
nell,  who  had  spent  the  year  1511  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  was  engaged 
since  his  return  in  making  reprisals  on 
O'Neill  for  depredations  committed  by 
the  latter  in  Tirconnell  during  his  ab- 
sence, came  to  the  Curlieu  mountains  to 


*  Ware  says  that  James  of  Desmond  was  with  O'Brien 
on  tHs  occasion,  but  the  context  shows  the  Four  Masters, 
whom  we  have  foUowed,  to  be  correct. 


meet  Kildare,  and  renewed  the  friendly 
relations  which  must  have  been  dis- 
turbed by  O'Donnell's  hostilities  in 
Ulster.  Apparentl}^  as  one  of  the  con- 
sequences of  this  conference  the  earl 
soou  after  marched  to  the  north,  entered 
Clannaboy,  and  took  the  castle  of  Bel- 
fast, and  other  stron2;holds.  In  the 
course  of  the  following  year  O'Donnell 
ap2:)ears  to  have  rendered  an  important 
service  to  the  English  interest.  He 
visited  Scotland  on  the  invitation  of 
James  IV.,  who  treated  him  with  great 
honor,  during  three  months  which  he 
stayed  there,  and  as  we  are  told  that 
"he  chansred  the  kino-'s  resolution  of 
coming  to  Ireland  as  he  intended,"  we 
may  conclude  that  James  meditated  an 
invasion,  from  which  he  Avas  deterred 
by  O'Donnell's  advice,  and  by  the  re- 
collection, probably,  of  the  fate  of  Ed- 
ward Bruce. 

The  earl  of  Kildare  made  his  last 
compaign  in  Ely  O'Carroll,  where  he 
laid  siecre  to  the  castle  of  O'Banan's- 
leap ;  but  failing  to  take  this  stronghold, 
he  retired  to  Athy,  where  he  died ;  his 
death,  as  some  say,  being  caused  by  a 
wound  which  he  had  received  long  be- 
fore in  O'More's  countiy.  The  Irish 
annalists  style  him  the  Great  Earl,  and 
describe  him  as  "  valorous,  princely,  and 
relicrious."  He  was  interred  in  Christ 
Church,  and  his  sou,  Garrett  Oge,  or 
Gerald  the  younger,  was  chosen  by  the 
privjr  council  to  succeed  him  as  lord 
justice,  and  soon  after  was  created  lord 
deputy  })y  letters  patent.  The  new  earl 
rivalled    his   father's   zeal   against  the 


FEUDS  AND  ALLIANCES. 


317 


border  Irish,  and  ioangurated  his  ad- 
ministi'atiou  by  defeating  the  O'Mores, 
and  slaying  in  battle  fourteen  of  the 
chief  men  of  the  O'Reillys,  including 
the  head  of  the  sept. 

A.  D.  1514.— When  Art,  son  of  Con, 
who  had  succeeded  Art,  son  of  Hugh 
O'Neill,  and  Hugh  O'Dounell,  met  this 
year  at  Ardsratha,  or  Ardstraw-bridge, 
in  Tyrone,  at  the  head  of  hostile  armies, 
and  separated  iu  peace,  the  annalists 
attribute  the  fortunate  issue  to  the 
interposition  of  heaven.  Few,  indeed, 
and  brief  were  the  intervals  iu  the 
mutual  warfi^re  of  the  Kinel-Couuell 
and  the  Kin  el-Owen ;  but  if  we  judge 
from  the  changes  which  had  by  this 
time  taken  place  in  their  respective 
territorial  boundaries,  we  may  conclude 
that  the  former  of  these  great  septs 
were  generally  the  aggressors.  The 
chiefs  of  Tirconuell  had  succeeded  iu 
wresting  very  large  territories  from  the 
.O'Neills;  and  by  the  treaty  made  on 
this  occasion  the  charters  by  which 
O'Dounell  claimed  sovereignty  over 
luishoweu,  Fermanagh,  and  other  tracts 
of  country  formerly  belonging  to  the 
Kinel-Oweu,  were  confirmed.  The  place 
where  the  armies  met  was  also  consider- 
ably within  the  frontier  of  Tyrone.  As 
to  the  peace,  it  was  of  short  duration, 
for  two  years  after  we  find  the  same 
parties  again  at  war.* 

A.  D.  1516. — A  feud  broke  out  be- 


*  On  this  latter  occasion  O'Donnell  also  carried  Ids 
arms  into  Connaught,  and  took  the  castle  of  Sligo  by 
the  aid  of  some  cannon  ivliich  bad  been  sent  to  him  by 
a.  French  knight  who  made  a  pilgrimage  to  St.  Patrick's 


tween  James,  sou  of  Maurice,  earl  of  Des- 
mond, and  his  uncle,  John.  The  former 
was  supported  by  MacCarthy  More 
(Cormac  Ladhrach,  or  the  "hasty"), 
Donnell  MacCarthy  of  Carbeny,  and 
other  chieftains  of  that  sept,  and  also 
by  the  white  knight,  the  knight  of 
Glinn,  the  knight  of  Kerry,  FitzMau- 
rice,  and  O'Couor-Kerry ;  while  John 
was  aided  by  the  Dalcassians,  with 
whose  chiefs  he  was  allied  by  his  mar- 
riage with  More,  daughter  of  Donough, 
sou  of  Brian  Duv  O'Brien,  lord  of  Car- 
risfocronnell  and  Pobblebrien.  James 
laid  siege  to  the  castle  of  Lough  Gur, 
but  on  the  approach  of  John  with  the 
army  of  Thomond,  reinforced  by  that 
of  the  Butlers,  he  retreated  without 
fi'Thtinsr.  This  feud  was  followed  by 
one  between  Pierse  Butlei',  claiming  to 
be  earl  of  Ormoud,  and  other  members 
of  his  family. 

In  the  meau  time  the  young  earl  of 
Kildare  succeeded  in  taking  the  castle 
of  O'Banan's-leap,  which  his  father  had 
besieged  in  vain ;  and  the  following 
year  (151*7)  he  led  an  army  to  Tyrone 
at  the  instance  of  his  kinsmen,  the 
O'Neills,  who  were  as  usual  in  arms 
against  other  branches  of  their  sept- 
Having  retaken  Dundrum  castle,  in  Le- 
cale,  from  which  the  English  had  been 
expelled,  and  vanquished  the  Magenises, 
he  proceeded  to  desolate  Tyroue,  and 
captured  and  burned  the  fort  of  Dun- 

jjurgatory  in  Lough  Derg,  and  had  been  hospitably 
entertained  by  the  chief  of  Tirconuell.  Several  other 
castles  in  northern  Connaught  were  surrendered  to 
O'Donnell  immediately  after  his  capture  of  Sligo. 


318 


REIGN   OF  HENRY   VIII. 


gannou.  Ou  tlie  invitation  of  O'Melagh- 
lin  be  led  liis  army  to  Delvin,  where 
Mulrony  O'Carroll  Lad  committed  great 
depredations,  and  had  taken  the  castle 
of  Ceaun-Cora.  But  while  he  was  thus 
occnpied,  enemies  was  busily  engaged 
in  undermining  his  position  with  the 
king;  the  prime  movers  of  the  mischief 
against  him  being  his  hereditary  foes, 
the  Butlers.  At  first  he  was  able  to 
vindicate  himself  without  much  diffi- 
culty. He  repaired  to  England  for  that 
purpose  in  1515,  and  was  successful; 
but  cardinal  Wolsey,  w^ho  had  now 
risen  to  great  power,  was  inspired  with 
an  implacable  enmity  towards  him,  and 
caused  him  to  be  again  summoned  to 
England,  in  1519;  the  earl  appointing 
his  kinsman,  Sir  Thomas  FitzGerald  of 
Laccagh,  as  his  deputy  during  his  ab- 
.sence. 

A.  D.  1520. — Thomas  Howard,  earl  of 
Surrey,  a  man  equally  eminent  as  a 
warrior  and  a  statesman,  was  now  sent 
as  lord  lieutenant  to  Ireland,  where  he 
landed  with  a  force  of  1,000  men  and 
100  of  the  king's  guard.  Kildare  was 
still  kejDt  in  England,  where  he  remained 
in  ignorance  of  the  machinations  going 
forward  in  Ireland  to  collect  evidence 
against  him.  One  of  the  principal 
charcjes  'was,  that  he  had  written  to 
O'Carroll  of  Ely,  advising  him  to  keep 
peace  with  the  Pale  until  an  English 
deputy  should  be  sent  over,  but  "  when 


*  O'Donnell  waited  on  the  earl  of  Surrey  at  tUs 
time  in  Dublin,  and  told  him  that  he  had  been  invited 
to  take  up  arms  against  the  English  government  by 
Con  O'Neill,  vfho  said  he  did  so  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  earl  of  Kildare  ;  Surrey,  who  mentions  the  circnm- 


any  English  deputy  shall  come  thither," 
he  added,  "then  do  your  best  to  make 
war  on  the  English."  There  was  little 
doubt  that  the  earl  had  written  to  this 
effect,  O'Carroll's  brothers  having  con- 
fessed that  such  a  letter  had  been  re- 
ceived, but  the  evidence  ^vas  not  con- 
clusive; and  Kildare,  wdiose  former 
wife  had  died,  having  married  Elizabeth 
Gray,  daughter  of  the  marquis  of  Dorset, 
acquired  influence  at  court,  through  the 
powerful  English  friends  whom  this  al- 
liance procured  him,  and  escaped  for  the 
present.  Though  treated  with  honor, 
he  was  not,  however,  restored  to  favor, 
and  spies  were  employed  to  collect  evi- 
dence against  him  in  Ireland  at  the  very 
time  that  he  formed  one  of  king  Henry's 
retinue  in  France,  at  the  famous  meeting 
of  the  "  field  of  the  cloth  of  gold." 

A.  D.  1521. — Whether  Kildare  urged 
the  Irish  chieftains  to  rebel,  as  he  was 
accused  of  doing,  or  not,*  it  was  evident 
that  a  general  and  formidable  rising- 
was  contemplated,  although  the  energy 
and  rapid  movements  of  Surrey  crushed 
the  attempt.  The  viceroy  first  marched 
against  O'More,  demolished  his  castles, 
laid  waste  his  country,  burned  the  ripen- 
ing crops,  and  finally  compelled  him  to 
submit ;  but  in  this  exj^edition  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  Irish.  O'Carroll  also  submitted,  and 
Con  O'Neill  having  threatened  Meath 
with  invasion,  Surrey,  liy  a  timely  march 

stance  in  a  letter  to  the  king  (State  Papers,  p.  37),  says  : 
— "  I  fynde  him  (O'Donnell)  a  right  wise  man,  and  aa 
well  determyned  to  doo  to  your  grace  all  things  that 
may  be  to  your  contentacion  and  pleasure  as  I  can  wysh 
him  to  bee." 


COURSE  OF  THE  EARL  OF  SURREY. 


319 


to  the  uorth,  averted  tlie  blow.  How- 
ever, lie  soou  became  wearied  with  the 
Irish  warfare.  It  seemed  hopeless  aod 
interminable.  He  had  a  well  apj-joiuted 
army  furnished  with  artillery,  but 
amidst  boii^s  and  forests,  and  asrainst  an 
enemy  who,  while  they  yielded  in  front, 
perpetually  harassed  him  iu  the  flank 
and  rear,  he  could  effect  nothing.  He 
assured  the  king,  as  the  result  of  his 
experience  in  Ireland,  that  by  conquest 
alone  could  that  country  be  reduced  to 
peace  and  order,  while  he  admitted  that 


*  State  Papers,  xx. — The  names  and  position  of  the 
principal  independent  Irish  septs  at  this  period,  ■n-ith 
many  other  particulars  of  interest  on  the  condition  of  the 
country,  are  set  forth  in  an  official  document  of  the  year 
1515,  preserved  in  the  English  State  Paper  Office,  and 
printed  in  the  first  volume  of  the  State  Papers  relating 
to  Ireland.  In  this  document  it  is  stated  that  the  Eng- 
lish rule  only  extended  orer  one-half  of  the  five  counties 
of  Uriel  (Louth),  Jleath,  Dublin,  Kildare,  and  Wexford, 
and  that  even  within  those  narrow  limits,  the  great 
mass  of  the  population  consisted  of  native  Irish ;  the 
English  having  deserted  the  country  on  account  of  the 
oppressive  exactions  to  which  they  were  exposed.  The 
greater  part  of  Ireland  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
"  Irish  enemies,"  and  was  divided  into  more  than  sixty 
separate  States  or  "  regions,"  "  some  as  big  as  a  shire, 
some  more,  some  less ;"  and  these  regions  were  ruled 
by  as  many  "  chief  captains,  whereof  some  called  them- 
selves kings,  some  king's  peers  in  their  language,  some 
princes,  some  dukes,  some  archdukes,  that  live  only  by 
the  sword,  and  obey  no  other  temporal  person  but  only 
him  that  is  strong."  These  independent  "  captains"  or 
heads  of  septs  were  as  follows : — ia  Ulster  :  CNeUl  of 
Tyrone,  ODonnell  of  Tirconnell,  O'Neill  of  Qannaboy, 
O'Cahan  of  Kenoght,  in  Derry,  O'Dogherty  of  Inishowen, 
Maguire  of  Fermanagh,  Magennis  of  Upper  Iveagh,  in 
Do^vn,  O'Hanlon  of  Armagh,  and  MacMahon  of  Irish 
Uriel  (Monaghan).  In  Leinster: — MacMurrough  of 
Hy-Drone,  in  Carlow,  O'Murroughu  (or  Murphy)  in 
Wexford,  O'Byrne  and  O'Thole  (O'Toole)  in  Wicklow, 
CNolan  in  Carlow,  MacGillapatrick  in  Upper  Ossory, 
O'More  of  Leix,  O'Dempsy  of  Glenmaliry,  O'Conor  of 
Offaly,  and  O'Doyne  (or  Dunn)  of  Oregan,  in  the  Queen's 
County.  In  MTrasTER: — MacCarthy  More  of  Kerry, 
Cormac  MacTeige  MacCarthy  of  Cork,  O'Donoghue  of 
Killamey,  O'Sullivan  of  Beare,  O'Conor  of  Kerry,  Mac- 
Carthy Reagh  of  Carberry,  in  Cork,  O'Driscol  of  Corca- 


there  were  serious  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  such  a  conquest.  It  would  require 
much  time  and  money,  and  if  an  attempt 
were  made  to  reduce  the  Irish  by  force, 
they  would  combine  for  defence ;  which 
union  his  knowledi^e  of  their  Avarlike 
habits,  and  of  the  military  resources  of 
the  country,  made  him  apprehend  as  a 
formidable  danger.*  His  representa- 
tions had,  perhaps,  some  eftect  iu  bring- 
ing about  the  policy  of  conciliation 
which  Henry  subsequently  carried  to 
such  an  extent  in  his  government  of  Ire- 

Laighe,  in  Cork,  two  O'Mahonys  of  Carberry,  in  Cork, 
O'Brien  of  Thomond,  O'Kennedy  of  Lower  Ormond, 
O'CarroU  of  Ely,  O'Meagher  of  Ikcrin,  in  Tipperary, 
MacMahon  of  Corcavaskin  in  Clare,  O'Conor  of  Corcom- 
roc,  in  Clare,  O'Loughlin  of  Burrin,  in  Clare,  0''Gi-auy  of 
Bunratty,  in  Clare,  Mac-I-Brien  of  Ara,  in  Tipperary, 
O'MuIrian  (or  Ryan)  of  Owney,  O'Dwyer  of  Tipperary, 
and  O'Brien  of  Coonagh,  in  Limerick.  In  Coinsr.vtiGnT  : 
— O'Conor  Roe  and  MacDermot  in  Roscommon,  O'Kelly, 
O'Madden,  and  O'Flaherty  in  Galway,  O'Farrell  of  An- 
naly  (Longford),  O'Reilly  and  O'Rourke  of  Breffny, 
O'Malley  of  Mayo,  MacDonough  of  Tiragrill,  O'Gara  of 
Coolavin,  O'Hara  of  Leney,  O'Dowda  of  Tireragh,  Mac- 
Donough of  Corran,  and  MacManus  O'Conor  of  Carbury, 
in  Sligo.  In  Meath  : — O'Melaghlin,  Mageoghegan,  and 
O'MoUoy. 

The  heads  of  the  "  Degenerate  English,"  or  "  great 
captains  of  the  English  noble  folks,"  that  foUowed  "the 
Irish  rule,"  according  to  the  same  report,  were,  in 
MuxsTER :  the  earl  of  Desmond,  the  knight  of  Kerry, 
FitzMaurice,  Sir  Thomas  of  Desmond,  Sir  John  of  Des- 
mond, and  Sir  Gerald  of  Desmond,  the  white  knight, 
the  knight  of  Glynn,  and  other  Geraldines ;  lord  Barry, 
lord  Roche,  lord  Courcy,  lord  Cogan,  lord  Barrett,  the 
Powers  of  Waterford,  Sir  William  Burke  in  the  county 
of  Limerick,  Sir  Pierse  Butler  (claiming  to  be  earl  of 
Ormond),  "  and  all  the  captains  of  the  Butlers  of  the 
county  of  Kilkenny,  and  of  the  county  of  Fethard." 
In  Conn  AUGHT: — lord  Burke  of  Mayo,  lord  Burke 
of  Clanrickard,  lord  Bermingham  of  Athenry,  the 
Stauntons  of  Clonmorris,  in  Mayo,  the  MacJordans, 
or  descendants  of  Jordan  D'Exeter  in  Mayo,  MacCosteUo 
in  Mayo,  and  the  Barretts  of  Tirawley.  In  Ulster  : 
— the  Savages  of  Lecale  iu  Down,  the  FitzHowlina 
of  Tuscard,  and  the  Bissetts  of  the  Glinns  of  Antrim. 
In  Meath  :— the  DUlons,  Daltons,  TyrreUs,  and  Del*- 


3:20 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. 


land,  and  employed  so  successfully  for 
tlie  corruptiou  of  the  native  cliieftains. 
Surrey  was  empowered  by  the  king  to 
confer  knighthood  on  such  of  the  Irish 
chiefs  as  he  deemed,  fit,  and  Henry 
sent  a  collar  of  gold  to  be  presented, 
together  with  the  honor  of  knighthood, 
to  O'Neill.  A  reconciliation  was  ef- 
fected by  the  deputy  between  James, 
who,  in  1520,  had  succeeded  his  father, 
Maurice,  as  earl  of  Desmond,  and  the 
earl  of  Ormond ;  and  a  peace  was  also 
arrauired  by  him  between  the  former 
and  the  MacCarthys,  who,  aided  by 
Thomas  of  Desmond,  had  in  September, 
this  year,  overthrown  the  aforesaid  earl 
James  with  great  slaughter  at  Mourne- 
Abbey,  in  Muskerry,  slaying  2,000  of 
his  men,  and  taking  several  of  his  lead- 
ers prisoners.  This  defeat  of  Desmond 
afforded  real  satisfaction  to  Sm*rey,  who, 
on  proceeding  to  Munster,  found  the 
proud  earl  thoroughly  humbled ;  and 
he  informed  Wolsey  in  a  letter,  written 
about  this  time,  that  the  successful  Irish 
chiefs  Cormac  Oge  MacCarthy  and  Mac- 
Carthy  Reagh  were  "two  wise  men," 
whom  he  found  "  more  comformable  to 
order  than  some  Englishmen  here."* 
So  much  did  the  politic  English  viceroy 

*  state  Papers,  xiii. 

f  On  the  death  of  Thomas,  the  seventh  earl  of  Or- 
mond, -without  male  issue,  in  1515,  his  English  estates, 
amounting  to  £30,000  a  year,  and  his  vast  personal 
property  in  plate,  jevrcls,  and  money,  were  bequeathed 
to  his  two  daughters,  of  whom  Margaret,  the  elder,  was 
married  to  Sir  James  St.  Leger,  and  Anne,  the  younger, 
to  Sir  William  Boleyn  or  Bullen,  by  whom  she  had  Sir 
Thomas,  the  father  of  Anne  Boleyn.  The  carl's  Irish 
Inheritance  was  warmly  disputed  between  his  next 
male  heirs.  Sir  Pierse  Butler  of  Carrick — whoso  grand- 
father was  cousin  german  to  carl  Thomas, — and  Sir 


dread  a  good  understanding  of  the  Irish 
among  themselves,  that  he  preferred 
allowing  O'Donnell  to  employ  some 
Scottish  auxiliaries  rather  than  that 
there  should  be  peace  between  him  and 
O'Neill ;  for,  as  he  wrote  to  the  king, 
"  it  would  be  dano-erful  to  have  them 
both  agreed  and  joined  together,"  and 
"  the  longer  they  continue  in  war  the 
better  it  should  be  for  your  grace's 
poor  subjects  here."  In  the  summer  of 
1521  he  was  oblisred  to  take  the  field 
against  O'Conor  of  Offaly,  whose  castle 
of  Mouasteroris  he  captured ;  but  while 
he  was  thus  engaged  O'Conor  was  plun- 
dei'ing  West  Meath,  and  subsequently 
routed  a  portion  of  the  earl's  array.  At 
length  Surrey  importuned  the  king  on 
the  ground  of  ill  health  to  relieve  him 
from  his  arduous  and  hopeless  charge  in 
Ireland,  and  being  permitted  to  with- 
draw, he  returned  to  England  at  the 
close  of  1521,  taking  with  him  the 
troops  which  he  had  brought  into  Ire- 
land ;  his  intimate  friend  and  adviser, 
Pierse  Butler,  being  appointed  lord 
dejjuty.-f- 

A.  D.  1522. — The  Pale  was  at  this 
time  in  a  wretched  state,  and  the  Irish 
privy  council  applied  to  Wolsey,  to  have 

James  Ormond,  the  natural  son  of  John,  the  sixth  earl, 
who  died  in  Palestine  ;  but  by  the  death  of  Sir  James, 
who  was  killed  by  his  opponent  between  Dromore  and 
Kilkenny,  Pierse  was  left  in  quiet  possession  of  the  title 
of  earl  of  Ormond,  which,  however,  he  did  not  long  en- 
joy, as  he  was  induced  to  relinquish  his  claim  in  favor 
of  Anna  Boleyn 's  father ;  Pierse  was  then  (153T)  created 
earl  of  Ossory,  but  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn  having  died 
witliout  an  heir,  the  earldom  of  Ormond  was  restored  to 
Butler,  and  the  title  of  Ossory  laid  aside.  See  Abbo 
Magooghegan  Hist,  of  Ireknd,  pp.  381,  383  (Duffy's  ed.), 
also  Archdall's  Lodge,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  10,  17. 


O'NEILL  AND   O'DONNELL  AT   WAR. 


321 


six  ships  of  war  sent  to  cruise  between 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  to  awe  the  north- 
ern Irish  and  prevent  an  invasion  from 
the  former  country,  as  the  Scots  were  at 
that  time  immi2;ratin<?  in  larsre  numbers 
into  Ulster  and  acquiring  territories 
there. 

The  dissensions  between  O'Neill  and 
O'Donnell  now  broke  out  into  a  san- 
guinary war.  JMacWilliam  of  Clan- 
rickard,  with  the  Eofrlish  and  Irish  of 
Conuaught,  the  O'Briens,  O'Kennedys, 
and  O'Carrolls,  joined  the  standard  of 
O'Neill,  under  which  rallied,  besides, 
the  Ma£;eunises,  the  men  of  Oriel  and 
Fermanagh,  the  O'Reillys,  and  other 
northern  septs,  together  with  a  Scottish 
lemon  under  Alexander  MacDonnell  of 
the  Isles.  Several  of  the  English  of 
iNIeath  and  Leinster  were  also  induced 
by  their  attachment  to  the  earl  of  Kil- 
dare,  the  kinsman  of  O'Neill,  to  take 
part  with  the  latter.  Under  O'Don- 
nell's  banners  were  ranged  the  O'Boyles, 
O'Dohertys,  MacSweeneys,  O'Gallagh- 
ers,  cfec. ;  and  what  was  wanted  in  point 
of  numbers  was  made  uji  by  mutual 
fidelity  and  bravery  in  their  small  pha- 
lanx. O'Donnell  marched  to  Port-na- 
dtri-namhad,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
river  Foyle,  op2:)osite  Lifford,  to  await 
the  enemy,  that  being  the  usual  pass 
between  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell ;  but 
O'Neill  entered  the  latter  territory  by 

*  The  eail  of  Ormond  (tlie  lord  deputy),  wlio  was 
called  by  the  Irish  Red  Pierse,  was  engaged  at  tkis 
time  in  war  with  septs  bordering  on  his  own  territory, 
and  a  well-linown  anecdote  is  related  of  the  ambassador 
whom  MacGlUapatricli  sent  to  England  to  complain 
jf  Ids  aggressions.    Meeting  king  Henry  at  the  chapel 

41 


another  route,  and  laid  waste  the  coun- 
try as  far  as  Ballyshannon.  O'Donnell 
upon  this  sent  his  son  Manus  into  Ty- 
rone, while  he  himself  followed  O'Neill 
into  Tirhugh,  but  O'Neill  retired  within 
his  own  territory  and  encamped  at 
Cnoc-Buidhbh,  or  Knockavoe,  near 
Strabane,  where  he  was  attacked  at 
night  by  O'Donnell's  army,  Avhich  had 
approached  so  silently  as  to  be  able  to 
enter  the  Tyrone  camp  pell-mell  with 
the  sentinels,  and  a  total  route  of 
O'Neill's  people  followed,  with  a  loss 
of  900  men.  The  annalists  say  this  was 
one  of  the  most  bloody  engagements 
that  had  ever  been  fousrht  between  the 

O 

Kinel-Connell  and  the  Kinel-Owen. 
O'Donnell  then  marched  with  extraor- 
dinary rajjidity  across  the  country  to 
Sligo,  to  Avhich  town  the  Connaught 
allies  of  O'Neill  were  laying  siege ;  but 
the  news  of  his  victory  had  just  reached 
before  him,  and  struck  such  terror  into 
the  western  army  that  they  sent  in  all 
haste  to  sue  for  peace,  and  at  the  same 
time  fled  so  precipitately  that  their  own 
messengers  were  not  able  to  come  up 
with  them  till  they  had  re-crossed  the 
Curlieu  mountains,  where  they  broke 
up,  each  party  returning  home.  This 
last  bloodless  victory  added  greatly  to 
the  renown  of  O'Donnell,  but  his  war 
with  O'Neill  continued  for  years.'=' 
A.  D.  1523.— The  earl  of  Kildare,  who 

door,  says  Leland,  quoting  the  Lambeth  MS.,  the 
Irish  envoy  addressed  him  in  the  following  words : 
"  Sta  pedibus  domine  rex !  Dominus  meul  GiUa- 
patricius  me  misit  ad  te,  et  jussit  dicere  quod  si 
non  vis  castigare  Petrum  Rufum,  ipse  faciet  bellma 
contra  te." 


322 


REIGX   OF   HENRY  VIII. 


had  returned  from  England  at  the  close 
of  the  preceding  year,  obtained  permis- 
sion to  lead  an  army  against  O'Conor 
Faly,  Couuell  O'jMore,  and  other  border 
chieftains.  He  was  accompanied  by  Con 
O'iNeill,  who  made  peace  between  the 
parties ;  but  Ware  says  the  earl  fell 
into  an  ambuscade  on  the  occasion,  and 
having  lost  several  of  his  men,  was  glad 
to  come  to  tei'ms  and  retire. 

A.  D.  1524. — -The  old  feuds  between 
Kildare  and  Ormond  broke  out  with 
fresh  animosity,  which  was  not  a  whit 
diminished  by  the  circumstance  that 
the  latter  magnate  had  recently  married 
the  earl  of  Kildare's  sister.  Ormond 
transmitted  new  complaints  to  England ; 
one  of  them  being  that  his  fi'iend,  Robert 
Talbot  of  Belgard,  had  been  treacher- 
ously slain  by  James  FitzGerald,  near 
Ballymore.  Thereupon  commissioners 
were  sent  over,  but  the  inquiry  which 
followed  resulted  in  the  vindication  of 
Kildare,  who  was  reinstated  as  lord  de- 
puty in  the  room  of  his  enemy ;  and  at 
his  inauguration,  his  kinsman,  Con 
O'Neill,  carried  the  sword  of  state  be- 
fore him  to  St.  Thomas's  abbey,  where 
he  entertained  the  commissioners  and 
others  at  a  sumptuous  banquet.  After 
this  he  accompanied  O'Neill  on  an  ex- 
pedition against  O'Donnell,  who  had 
been  committing  fearful  depredations 
in  Tyrone ;  but  he  made  peace  between 
these  chieftains  without  a  battle.     Two 


*  We  are  told  that  Manns  O'Donnell  succeeded,  in 
spite  of  O'Neill's  opposition,  in  erecting  a  strong  frontier 
castle  at  tbe  pass  already  mentioned  of  Port-na-dtri- 
namhaid  (the  fort  of  the  three  enemies)  on  the  east  side 


years  after  (1526),  O'Neill  and  O'Don- 
nell were  invited  by  the  earl  to  attend 
a  meeting  of  nobles  in  Dublin  for  the 
purpose,  if  possible,  of  arranging  the 
old  causes  of  contention  between  them. 
Hugh  O'Donnell  was  represented  in  the 
conference  by  his  sou  Manus;  but  all 
the  arguments  for  peace  were  of  no 
avail,  and  the  northern  chiefs  returned 
home  to  muster  fresh  armies  against 
each  other.* 

James,  earl  of  Desmond,  was  a  man 
of  lofty  and  ambitious  views,  and  held 
a  secret  correspondence  with  Francis  I. 
of  France,  as  he  did  at  a  subsequent 
period  with  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  for 
the  jDurpose  of  bringing  about  an  in- 
vasion of  Ireland.  His  treasonable  pro- 
jects came  to  the  ears  of  Wolsey  and 
Henry.  He  was  summoned  to  London 
and  refused  to  obey.  Orders  were  then 
sent  to  the  earl  of  Kildare,  as  lord  de- 
puty, to  arrest  him,  and  the  latter  led 
an  army  into  Munster  for  that  purpose  ; 
but  whether  there  was  any  collusion 
between  the  two  illustrious  Geraldiues 
on  the  occasion,  as  alleged,  or  not,  Kil- 
dare did  not  succeed  in  carrying  out  the 
royal  mandate.  These  events,  which 
took  jilace  in  1524,  were  the  prelude  to 
Kildare's  ruin.  In  1526  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Enjjland  to  answer  an  ira- 
j^eachment  charging  him  ^vith  (] )  failing 
to  apprehend  the  earl  of  Desmond ;  (2) 
formiue:  alliances  with  several  of  the 


of  the  Foyle  near  Strabane ;  and  In  this  castle,  a  few 
years  later  (1532),  he  wrote  the  Irish  life  of  St.  Colmnb- 
kille,  of  which  Colgan  has  published  an  abridged  Latin 
translation. 


KILDARE  AGAIN  IN  DIFFICULTIES. 


323 


king's  Irish  enemies ;  (3) 
tain  loyal  subjects  to  be  hanged  because 
they  were  dependents  of  the  Butlers ; 
and  (4)  confederating  with  O'Neill, 
O'Couoi-,  and  other  Irish  lords  to  invade 
the  territories  of  the  earl  of  Ormoud. 
The  enmity  of  Wolsey  is  said  to  have 
been  at  the  bottom  of  these  perse- 
cutions, but  Kildare's  good  fortune  had 
not  yet  finally  deserted  him,  and  after 
an  imprisonment  for  some  time  in  the 
Tower,  he  was  liberated  on  the  bail  of 
the  earl  of  Surrey,  then  duke  of  Nor- 
folk, the  marquis  of  Dorset,  and  other 
persons  of  distinction. 

A.  D.  1528. — Kildare  had  appointed 
his  brother  James  FitzGerald,  of  Leix- 
]\]),  vice-deputy  on  his  departure  for 
England,  on  this  occasion ;  but  this 
nobleman  was  soon  replaced  by  Nugent, 
baron  of  Delviu,  and  wliile  the  latter 
was  in  office  the  chief  of  Offaly  made  a 
descent  upon  the  Pale,  and  carried  oft*  a 
prey  of  cattle.  The  deputy  was  too 
weak  to  punish  O'Conor  for  this  ag- 
gression, except  by  withholding  the 
annual  tribute  which  the  English  set- 
tiers  were  accustomed  to  pay  to  him  as 
to  other  border  chieftains.  O'Conor 
remonstrated,  and  a  parley  between  him 
and  the  deputy  was  arranged  to  take 
23lace  at  Sir  William  Darcy's  castle,  near 
Ruthen ;  but  the  baron  of  Delvin  was 
taken  in  an  ambuscade  while  proceeding 
'to  the  conference,  and  carried  off  by 
O'Conor  as  his  prisoner.  Threats  and 
arguments  to  obtain  his  liberation  were 
alike  in  vain,  and  the  Pale  was  filled 
with  alarm  at  the  occurrence.    The  earl 


of  Ossory  (as  Pierse,  earl  of  Ormond, 
was  then  styled)  was  appointed  lord 
justice  by  the  council,  and  with  some 
difficulty  obtained  an  interview  with 
Delvin,  O'Conor  himself  being  present, 
and  Irish  the  only  language  allowed  to 
be  used  on  the  occasion ;  or,  as  some 
accounts  have  it,  it  was  Pierse  Butler's 
son,  James,  his  fiither  being  absent  in 
the  South,  who  had  the  interview  with 
the  captive  baron  and  O'Conor.  Ossory 
and  the  privy  council  were  obliged  to 
sanction  the  jDayment  of  the  tribute  to 
O'Conor,  but  soon  after  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment was  passed  prohibiting  altogether 
the  payment  of  black  rent  to  the  Irish 
chiefs.  An  envoy  was  sent  this  year  by 
the  emperor  Charles  V.  to  the  earl  of 
Desmond  to  negotiate  a  plan  for  the 
invasion  of  Ireland,  but  the  earl  died 
the  following  year,  and  the  project  fell 
to  the  ground.  The  aspirations  of  the 
Irish  chieftains  for  the  liberation  of  their 
country  from  the  English  yoke,  were, 
however,  becoming  moi'e  defined ;  and 
the  chief  of  Offaly  openly  expressed  his 
determination  to  make  Ireland  inde- 
pendent. 

A.  D.  1530. — All  this  time  the  earl  of 
Kildare  remained  in  England,  yet  the 
aggressions  of  O'Conor  were  laid  to  his 
charge.  He  was  accused  of  fomenting 
a  general  rising  of  the  Irish ;  and  it  is 
said  that  he  sent  his  daughter,  Alice, 
wife  of  the  baron  of  Slane,  who  was 
then  at  Newington,  to  Ireland,  to  in- 
fluence his  brothers  and  the  O'Neills, 
O'Conors,  and  others,  to  oppose  the 
deputy.  This  lady's  mission,  it  is  added, 


324 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. 


was  so  successful,  that  the  lands  of  the 
Butlers  were  unmercifully  pillaged  by 
the  Geraldiue  party.  Nevertheless  the 
earl's  vast  influence  and  popularity 
saved  him  from  destruction.  He  was 
not  deprived  of  the  title  of  lord  deputy 
during  his  imprisonment,  and  was  sent 
this  year  to  Ireland,  as  coadjutor  to  Sir 
William  Skeifington,  who  was  appointed 
deputy  to  Henry  Fitzroy,  duke  of  Rich- 
mond and  Somerset,  the  king's  illegi- 
timate son,  on  whom  the  dignity  of  lord 
lieutenant  Avas  conferred.  The  earl  was 
received  in  Dublin  with  the  warmest 
demonstrations  of  joy. 

A.  D.  1531. — Kildare  continued  for  a 
while  to  co-operate  with  the  English 
deputy.  At  the  instance  of  O'Donnell 
and  Niall  Oge  O'Neill,  they  invaded 
Tyrone,  which  they  laid  waste  with  fire 
and  sword,  and  the  whole  pojDulation 
of  JMouaghan  fled  before  them,  leaving 
the  country  a  desert.  While  the  deputy 
with  the  Anglo-Irish  advanced  from 
one  side,  their  Irish  confederates  ap- 
proached from  another ;  and  they  de- 
molished the  castle  of  Kinard,  now 
Caledon,  but  at  this  point  a  strong 
muster  of  the  men  of  Tyrone  checked 
their  further  progress. 

A.  D.  1532.— While  Kildare  and 
SkefBugton  appeared  thus  to  act  in 
concert,  a  deadly  enmity  had  grown  up 
between  them.  They  forwarded  mu- 
tual complaints  to  England.  The  earl 
proceeded  there  to  defend  himself,  and 
was  again  successful.  Skeffington  was 
superseded  and  Kildare  appointed  dep- 
uty.    The  earl  unfortunately  made  an 


imprudent  use  of  his  triumph  by  treat- 
ing his  enemies,  and  more  especially 
Skeffington,  with  harshness  and  con- 
tempt. He  deprived  John  Allen,  arch- 
bishop of  Dulilin,  of  the  chancellorship, 
and  conferred  it  on  George  Cromer, 
archbishoj)  of  Armagh,  who  was  at- 
tached to  his  party.  He  entered  into 
more  intimate  relations  with  the  Irish  ; 
crave  one  of  his  dausrhters  in  marriage 
to  O'Conor  of  Oflaly,  and  another  to 
Fergauanim  O'Carroll,  tanist  of  Ossory ; 
and,  aided  by  these  two  Irish  princes, 
he  invaded  the  territories  of  the  earl  of 
Ossory,-  from  which  he  carried  oflf  large 
spoils.  At  the  siege  of  Birr  castle,  in 
one  of  these  wars,  the  earl  received  a 
ball  in  the  left  side,  which  was  ex- 
tracted from  the  opposite  side  the 
following  year,  and  he  never  fully  re- 
covered from  the  Avound.  About  the 
same  time  Con  O'Neill,  at  his  persua- 
sion, and  assisted  by  John  FitzGerald, 
the  earl's  brother,  plundered  the  Eng- 
lish villages  of  the  county  of  Louth. 
It  is  probable  that  Kildare  anticipated 
the  fatal  consequences  of  these  violent 
proceedings,  and  meditated  some  des- 
perate resistance,  as  he  furnished  his 
castles,  especially  those  of  Maynooth 
and  Ley,  with  cannon,  pikes,  and  ammu- 
nition, from  the  stores  in  Dublin  castle, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of 
the  council. 

A.  D.  1534. — Under  such  circumstan- 
ces Ave  need  not  wonder  that  fi'esh 
accusations  Avere  sent  forward  against 
Kildare,  and  that  he  Avas  once  more 
summoned  to  the  king's  presence.    John 


REPORT   OF   THE   COUNCIL. 


325 


Allen,  wLo  bad  come  over  as  secretary 
to  arclibiihop  Allen,  and  was  now  sec- 
retary to  the  council  (and  who  subse- 
quently became  master  of  the  rolls,  and 
for  a  sliort  time  also  loi-d  cbancellor), 
was  sent  by  the  council  to  England,  in 
tlie  latter  part  of  1533,  to  report  to  the 
king  on  the  state  of  his  territories.  He 
had  also  secret  instructions  to  make  cer- 
tain charfres  ao;ainst  the  earl  of  Kilclare. 
The  report  of  the  council  stated,  that 
the  English  laws,  manners,  and  lan- 
guage, were  confined  within  the  narrow 
compass  of  twenty  miles,  and  that  unless 
the  laws  were  duly  enforced,  the  "  little 
place,"  as  the  Pale  was  termed,  would 
be  reduced  to  the  same  condition  as 
the  remainder  of  the  kingdom.  This 
state  of  things  was  attributed  partly  to 
the  illegal  exactions  and  oppressions  by 
W'hich  the  English  tenantry  had  been 
driven  from  their  settlements;  to  the 
tribute  and  black  rent  paid  to  the  Irish 
chiefs;  to  the  enormous  jurisdictions 
granted  to  the  lords  of  English  race, 
and  especially  to  the  three  earls  of 
Desmond,  Ossorj^,  and  Kildare;  to  the 
substitution  by  these  lords  of  "  a  rabble 
of  disaftected  Irish,"  for  the  well-con- 
ditioned yeomanry,  whom  they  had 
formerly  under  their  roofs;  in  fine,  to 
the  alienation  of  crown  lands,  the  fre- 
quent change  of  government,  the  neglect 
of  the  records  of  the  exchequer,  and 
other  causes.  At  the  same  time  a 
report  was  transmitted  to  Cromwell, 
who  had  succeeded  Wolsey  as  chancel- 
lor of  England,  complaining  that  tbe 
O'Briens  had  been  enabled  by  a  bridge 


lately  built  by  them  across  the  Shannon, 
to  make  such  inroads  that  they  liad  "  in 
a  manner  subdued  all  the  Enirlish 
thereto  adjoining,  and  especially  the 
country  of  Limerick;"  and  that  one 
Edmond  Oge  O'Byrne  had  made  a 
forcible  entry  by  night  into  Dublin 
castle,  and  carried  away  from  thence 
prisoners  and  plunder,  to  the  great 
alarm  of  the  citizens,  who  loufr  after 
continued  to  keep  nightly  watch  against 
a  simihar  incursion.  And  in  a  tliird 
report,  refei-ringto  the  enormous  power 
of  the  earls  of  Desmond,  Kildare,  and 
Ossory,  the  council  stated  that  the  earl 
of  Desmond  alone,  and  his  kinsmen, 
possessed  the  counties  of  Kerry,  Cork, 
Limerick  and  Waterford,  from  none  of 
which  did  the  kin2^  derive  "  a  single 
groat  of  yearly  profit  or  revenue,"  and 
that  in  any  one  of  them  the  king's  laws 
were  not  observed  or  executed.  As  to 
the  eai'l  of  Ossory,  the  counties  of  Kil- 
kenny and  Tipperary  were  under  his 
dominion,  and  their  wretched  popula- 
tion was  harassed  by  coyn  and  livery. 
From  these  and  other  facts  the  report 
concluded,  that  although  po2:)ular  opin- 
ion attributed  "  to  the  wild  Irish  lords 
and  captains  the  destruction  of  the  land 
of  Ireland  (the  Pale),  it  was  not  they 
only,  but  the  treason,  rebellion,  extor- 
tion, and  wilful  war  of  the  aforesaid 
earls  and  other  English  lords,"  that 
■were  answerable  for  so  much  ruin.''* 

Every  reader  of  history  is  aware  of 
the  events  which  had   been  occurrincr 


*  state  Papers,  Ixiii.,  Ixiv.,  liix. 


326 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VIII. 


about  this  time  in  England,  and  for 
wliicli,  although  they  deeply  affect 
Irish  history  also,  we  have  not  thought 
it  necessary  to  interrupt  the  chain  of 
our  narrative.  The  tyrant  who  occu- 
pied the  English  throne  had  been  dis- 
turbing Christendom  by  his  efforts  to 
break  the  marriage  bonds  in  which  he 
had  lived  for  twenty  years  with  his  law- 
ful queen,  in  order  to  take  another 
wife,  who  soon  after  was  to  suffer  on  a 
scaffold,  charged  with  infamous  crimes, 
that  she  might  make  way  for  the  next 
in  succession  of  this  monster's  sis  wives. 
To  overcome  the  obstacles  to  his  pas- 
sions he  had  flung  off  the  authority  of 
the  Pope,  assumed  to  himself  a  spiritual 
supremacy,  and  plunged  England  into  a 
schism  which  flowed  naturally  into  the 
wider  gulf  of  heresy,  in  which  the  na- 
tion was  soon  merged.  "VVolsey,  who 
was  responsible  for  much  of  the  evil  at 
its  commencement,  had  fallen  from  his 
high  estate,  and  sunk  into  a  miserable 
grave ;  the  English  church  was  already 
in  ruius ;  parliament  had  been  trans- 
formed into  a  mere  instrument  of  the 
tyrant's  will ;  religious  jiersecution  had 
commenced,  and  in  a  word,  the  coun- 
trj''  was  committed  to  all  the  horrors, 
and  all  the  crimes,  which  constitute 
the  dismal  epoch  of  the  "reforma- 
tion." 

Such  was  the  state  of  England  when 
Kildare  was  summoned  to  answer  the 
grave  charges  made  against  him.  He 
seized  vai'ious  pretences  for  delay, 
and  in  November,  1533,  sent  his 
countess  to  England,  hoping,  through 


the  influence  of  her  family,  to  avert  the 
l)lo\v;  but  excuses  were  in  vain;  and, 
in  obedience  to  fresh  and  peremptory 
orders,  he  set  out  himself  in  the  follow- 
ing Feliruary,  embarking  at  Drogheda, 
where  he  had  summoned  the  council  to 
meet  him,  and  where,  in  their  presence, 
he  appointed  his  son,  Thomas,  not  yet 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  to  act  as  dep- 
uty in  his  absence.  On  the  earl's 
arrival  in  London  he  was  immediately 
arrested,  by  the  king's  order,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower. 

The  enemies  of  the  Geraldines  now 
resorted  to  most  unprincipled  means  to 
bring  about  the  destruction  of  that 
family.  Reports  and  letters  were  cir- 
culated to  the  effect  that  the  earl  of 
Kildare  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower, 
and  that  the  same  fate  was  intended  for 
all  his  family  in  Ireland.  To  urge  lord 
Thomas  into  some  illegal  act  was  the 
object  in  view,  and  this  was  easily 
accomplished,  as  the  young  lord  was 
rash  and  impetuous  in  the  extreme. 
Believing  the  false  rumors,  and  acting 
on  the  indiscreet  counsel  of  James  De- 
lahide  and  others,  whom  his  father  had 
commended  to  him  as  advisers,  the  hot- 
headed youth  flew  to  arms.  On  the 
11th  of  June,  he  proceeded  through 
Dublin,  at  the  head  of  a  guard  of  1-40 
horsemen,  to  St.  Mary's  abbey,  where 
he  had  appointed  to  meet  the  council ; 
and  thei'e,  surrounded  by  his  armed 
followers,  who  entered  the  council 
chamber  with  him,  he  surrendered  the 
sword  and  rol)es  of  state  to  Cromei', 
the  chancelloi',  and  renounced  his  alle- 


REBELLION   OF   SILKEN   THOMAS. 


327 


giance  to  tlie  king.  Arclibishop  Cro- 
mer ini2:)lored  Lini  witli  tears  to  revoke 
bis  purpose,  but  entreaties  were  iu 
vaiu.  The  youug  Geraldiue  rushed 
forth  on  his  wild  career,  which  speedily 
led  to  the  destruction  of  himself  and 
his  fiiraily. 

Copious  details  of  the  rebellion  of 
this  rash  young  loi'd,  who  from  the 
rich  trappings  of  his  followers,  was 
popularly  styled  "Silkeu  Thomas,"  are 
given  by  Anglo-Irish  historians,  but 
they  rest,  for  the  most  part,  on  no  bet- 
ter authority  than  that  of  Stanihurst 
and  the  Book  of  Howth.  It  appears, 
however,  that  after  despoiling  the  lands 
of  several  leading  persons  who  were 
opposed  to  his  enterprise,  he  laid  siege 
to  Dublin.  The  city  was  at  that  time 
weakened  by  pestilence,  and  the  citi- 
zens having  just  suffered  a  serious  loss 
in  an  attempt  to  intercej^t  a  party  of 
the  O'Tooles  and  O'Byrnes,  who  were 
carrying  off  spoils  from  Fingal  to  Wick- 
low,  were  not  in  a  state  to  resist,  so 
that  after  some  negotiation  they  admit- 
ted his  soldiers  within  the  walls  to 
besiege  the  castle,  in  which  archbishop 
Allen,  Patrick  Finglass,  chief  baron  of 
the  exchequer,  and  other  leading  per- 
sons had  taken  refuge.  The  archbishop, 
feeling  himself  to  be  the  most  obnox- 
ious to  the  Geraldiues,  endeavored  to 
effect  his  escape  to  England,  and  for 
that  purpose  embarked  at  night  in  a 

*  This  prelate,  who  was  an  Englishman,  was  raised 
to  the  see  of  Dublin  by  Wolsey,  whose  chaplain  he  had 
been,  and  whom  he  had  served  as  an  agent  in  the  sup- 
pression of  forty  English  monasteries  to  found  Ms  col- 
leges at  Ipswich  and  Oxford,  years  before  Henry  VIII. 


ship  which  lay  in  the  river  off  Dame's 
gate;  but  whether  by  accident  or  de- 
sign, the  vessel  was  run  ashore  at 
Clontarf,  and  the  archbishoj)  sought 
refuge  in  the  neighboring  village  of 
Artane.  News  of  the  circumstance  was 
quickl}^  conveyed  to  lord  Thomas,  who, 
with  two  of  his  uncles,  John  and  Oliver, 
repaired  to  the  spot  at  the  dawn  of 
day,  and  had  the  unhappy  Allen  taken 
from  his  bed,  and  dragged  half  naked 
as  he  was  before  them.  Fallinsc  on  his 
knees  the  prelate  begged  hard  for  his 
life ;  but  finding  his  entreaties  fruitless, 
he  addressed  his  jjrayers  to  Heaven, 
and  was  then  murdered  in  a  brutal 
manner  iu  the  Geraldiue's  presence. 
It  is  said  that  lord  Thomas  merely  di- 
rected his  attendants  in  Irish  to  "  take 
the  clown  away,"  and  that  they  under- 
stood him  to  mean  that  they  should 
kill  the  archbishop.*  This  atrocity, 
which  was  committed  on  the  2Sth  ol 
July,  cast  a  blight  upon  the  insurrec- 
tion, and  drew  down  a  sentence  oi 
excommunication,  accompanied  by  fear- 
ful maledictions,  upon  all  who  had 
participated  in  the  crime.  The  ecclesi- 
astical sentence  was  transmitted  to  the 
Tower,  that  it  might  be  seen  by  the 
unhappy  earl  of  Kildai'e,  whose  heart 
was  already  rent  with  afEiction  by  the 
news  of  his  son's  rash  rebellion.  He 
lingered  until  September,  when  he  died, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Tower  chapel. 


had  taken  up  the  work  of  spoliation.  (Mageoghegan's 
Hist,  of  Ireland,  p.  405,  Duffy's  edition).  Allen  was  the 
author  of  the  Black  Book  of  Christ's  church,  and  the 
Repertorium  Viride,  both  well  known  to  antiquariee. 
(Ware's  Bishops  and  Annals.) 


328 


REIGN   OF   HENRY   VIII. 


Lord  Thomas  endeavored  in  vain  to 
induce  bis  cousin,  James  Butler,  son  of 
tlie  earl  of  Ossory,  to  join  him.  He 
then  invaded  Butler's  territory,  whence 
he  carried  off  some  spoils;  but  he  was 
losing  ground  in  Dublin,  where  his 
men,  who  had  been  admitted  within 
the  walls,  were  cut  off  or  captured  by 
the  citizens,  and  he  himself  repulsed  in 
two  or  three  assaults  upon  the  city.  A 
truce  for  six  weeks  was  then  agreed  on ; 
and  Sir  William  Skeffington,  who  had 
been  reappointed  lord  deputy  when  the 
news  of  the  insurrection  reached  Eng- 
land, arrived  on  the  coast,  but  in  such 
infirm  health  that  for  several  months 
he  was  unable  to  take  the  field.  Lord 
Tliomas  burned  Dunboyne,  and  threat- 
ened the  destruction  of  Trim,  and  other 
towns.  He  sent  Delahide  and  others 
to  solicit  aid  from  the  emperor,  Charles 
v.,  and  despatched  envoys  to  Kome; 
but  his  hopes  from  these  quarters  were 
not  realized ;  and  at  home  few  of  the 
native  Irish,  save  O'Carroll,  O'More, 
and  O'Conor  of  Offaly  ranged  them- 
selves under  his  banner.  All  the  north- 
ern chieftains  except  O'Neill  and  Ma- 
nus,  son  of  the  chief  of  Tirconnell,  were 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  government, 
and  even  the  warlike  septs  of  Wicklow 
took  the  royal  side. 

A.  D.  1535. — The  protracted  inactivity 
of  Skeffington  emboldened  the  rebels ; 
but  about  the  middle  of  March  the 
feeble  deputy  proceeded  to  lay  siege  to 
Maynooth  castle,  which,  from  the  mag- 
nificence of  its  furniture,  was  deemed  one 
of  the  richest  houses  under  the  crown 


of  England,  and  whicli  was  so  strongly 
fortified  that  lord  Thomas  entrusted  its 
defence  to  the  garrison,  while  he  himself 
endeavored  to  rally  his  friends  in  other 
parts  of  the  country.  Besides  Maynooth, 
he  had  the  strongholds  of  Rathangan, 
Carlow,  Portlesfcer,  Athy,  and  Ley,  and 
had  removed  to  the  last-mentioned  castle 
the  principal  j^art  of  his  ammunition, 
hoping  to  be  able  to  hold  out  until  suc- 
cor arrived  from  Spain  or  Scotland. 
Stanihurst  tells  a  story  of  the  betraj^al 
of  Maynooth  into  the  hands  of  Skeffing- 
ton by  its  constable,  Christo23her  Parese ; 
but  it  appears  from  the  deputy's  des- 
patches that  the  castle  was  taken  by 
assault,  the  remnant  of  the  garrison, 
when  reduced  from  over  a  hundred  to 
thirty-seven  effective  men,  surrendering 
at  discretion,  and  twenty-five  of  these 
being  executed  as  traitors  the  following 
day  before  the  castle. 

Lord  Thomas,  who  had  collected  a 
small  army  by  the  help  of  the  chief  of 
Ofialy,  was  approaching  to  relieve  May- 
nooth, when  he  received  the  news  of  its 
fall.  His  followers,  struck  with  dismay, 
then  deserted  him,  and  with  a  company 
of  only  sixteen  friends  he  took  refuge 
in  Thomond,  whose  chief  was  prejiared 
loue  before  to  come  to  his  aid,  had  he 
not  been  kept  at  home  by  the  rebellion 
of  his  son,  Donough  O'Brien,  who  had 
been  stirred  up  an*d  assisted  against  him 
by  the  earl  of  Ossory.  In  the  same 
wa}',  the  other  adherents  of  the  Gerald- 
ine  had  been  j^aralyzed  by  domestic 
dissensions. 

Skeffington  being  laid  up  by  illness 


LORD  LEOXARD  GRAY  IN  IRELAND. 


329 


at  Maynooth,  while  the  Pale  was  tlareat- 
eued  with  invasion  by  O'Brien,  O'Conor 
Faly,  and  O'Kelly,  Allen,  master  of  the 
rolls,  and  chief  justice  Aylmer  were 
despatched  to  England  to  represent  the 
critical  state  of  affairs,  and  lord  Leonard 
Gray,  son  of  the  marquis  of  Dorset,  was 
thereupon  sent  over  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  as  marshal  of  Ireland. 
He  landed  on  the  28th  of  July,  and 
adopting  vigorous  means  to  complete 
the  sujipressiou  of  the  revolt,  found  the 
task  an  easy  one.  Lord  Thomas  lost  his 
allies  one  by  one.  O'More  abandoned 
him,  and  O'Conor  was  compelled  to 
submit,  and  about  the  end  of  August 
he  sought  a  parley,  confessed  his  offence, 
castinp;  the  blame  on  his  advisers,  and 
praying  that  his  life  might  be  spared ; 
he  surrendered  himself  to  lord  Gray. 
The  L'ish  annalists  expressly  state  that 
he  received  a  promise  that  his  life  would 
not  be  forfeited,  and  the  State  Papers 
furnish  undeniable  proof  that  such  was 
the  case.  Lord  Leonard  himself  con- 
ducted him  to  England,  v/here  he  was 
seized  on  his  way  to  Windsor,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower  by  order  of  the 
king,  who  was  enraged  that  any  terms 
should  have  been  made  with  him. 

About  a  year  before  this  time  a  com- 
mission was  sent  to  Ireland  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  introduction  there  of 
Heni'y's  spiritual  supremacy.  George 
Browne,  an  Aucrustinian  friar  of  Lon- 
don,  and  the  confidential  agent  of  Cran- 
mer,  was  one  of  its  pi'iucipal  members, 
and  was  soon  after  made  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  in  succession    to  the   ill-fated 


John  Allen.  The  commission  was  a 
total  failure,  but  among  its  few  fruits 
may  be  counted  the  accession  to  the 
English  schism,  of  Peter,  or  Pierse  But- 
lei',  earl  of  Ossory,  and  his  son  James, 
who  was  then  created  viscount  Thurles. 
These  noblemen  were,  in  May,  1534, 
charged  with  the  government  of  Kil- 
kennj^,  Waterford,  and  Tij^perary,  and 
on  receiving  this  appointment  pledged 
themselves  "  to  resist  the  usurpation  of 
the  bishop  of  Home ;"  this  being,  as  Cox 
observes,  the  first  encra2:ement  of  that 

7  O      O 

kind  to  be  met  with  in  our  history.  The 
document  signed  by  them  on  the  occa- 
sion contains  a  falsehood  as  absurd  as 
it  is  flagitious,  attributing  all  the  evils 
under  which  Ireland  suffered  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  pope  had  exer- 
cised his  authority  in  filling  up  the  Irish 
benefices ! 

A.  D.  1536. — Exasperated  at  the  ex- 
pense whicli  the  rebellion  in  Ireland 
had  caused,  Henry  affected  to  regard  its 
suppression  as  a  conquest  of  the  coun- 
try, and  proposed  it  as  a  question  for 
discussion  by  his  council  Avhether  he 
had  not  thereby  acquired  a  right  to 
seize  on  all  the  estates  of  that  kingdom, 
both  spiritual  and  temporal.  He  ordered 
lord  Gray,  who,  on  the  death  of  Skefl- 
ington  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
year,  was  appointed  lord  deputy,  to 
arrest  the  five  uncles  of  Silken  Thomas ; 
and  as  it  was  rumored  in  Ireland  that 
an  amnesty  would  be  granted,  three 
of  the  uncles,  besides,  having  openly 
discountenanced  the  rebellion  at  the 
comm-^ncement,  the  five  noblemen  made 


42 


330 


REIGN   OF   HENRY   VIII. 


no  great  diificulty  of  surrendering  them- 
selves to  tbe  deputy.  They  were  accord- 
ingly attainted  by  the  Irish  jiarliament 
and  conveyed  to  London,  where,  with 
their  ill-fated  nejDhew,  they  were  exe- 
cuted at  Tyburn  on  the  3d  of  February, 
1537.* 

This  sweeping  act  of  vengeance  scat- 
tered and  dismayed  the  Geraldine 
party;  but  there  still  remained  two 
scions  of  the  noble  house  of  Kildare — 
namelj^,  the  sons  of  the  late  earl  Gerald 
by  his  second  wife,  lady  Elizabeth  Gray. 
Of  these,  Edward,  the  younger,  who 
was  still  an  infant,  was  conveyed  by 
some  means  to  his  mother  in  England, 
and  the  elder,  Gerald,  then  about  twelve 
or  thirteen  years  old,  found  an  asylum 
for  a  time  in  Thomoud,  whence  he  was 
conveyed  to  Kilbritain,  in  Carbery,  to 
his  aunt,  ladj^  Eleanor,  widow  of  Mac- 
Carthy  Reagh.  His  subsequent  fortunes 
we  shall  hereafter  relate. 

O'Brien's  bridge,  which  opened  a 
highway  from  Thomond  into  the  Eng- 
lish territories,  was  a  constant  source  of 
alarm  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter, 
and  its  destruction  was  an  object  of  so 
much  importance  to  the  government  of 
the  Pale  as  to  enter  into  all  their  plans 
at  this  period.  To  demolish  it,  there- 
fore, lord  Gray  led  an  army  to  the  south 
in  July  this  year,  and  several  of  the 
native  septs  of  Leinster  sent  him  their 
contingents.  The  earl  of  Ossory  joined 
him  in  Kilkenny  at  the  head  of  a  con- 

*  From  a  letter  written  by  the  unhappy  lord  Thomas 
we  learn  that  during  his  imprisonment  ho  was  not 
allowed  the  commonest  necessaries  of  life.    He  was  left 


siderable  force ;  and,  as  he  approached 
the  Shannon,  Donough  O'Brien,  the 
same  whom  we  have  seen  rising  in 
rebellion  against  his  father,  the  chief  of 
Thomond,  at  the  desire  of  the  earl  of 
Ossory,  presented  himself  and  offered 
to  conduct  the  army  to  the  bridge  by  a 
secret  and  undefended  path.  This  trai- 
tor, who  was  married  to  the  earl  of 
Ossory's  daughter,  complained  that  he 
had  not  been  sufficiently  rewarded  for 
his  former  services,  and  stipulated  that 
for  his  new  act  of  treachery  he  should 
be  put  in  possession  of  Carrigogonnell 
castle,  which,  he  said,  the  English  had 
not  held  for  two  hundred  years.  Having 
arrived  before  the  bridge,  the  deputy 
found  it  strongly  built  of  stone,  and 
defended  at  either  end  by  a  tower 
staudiui?  iu  the  river.  The  neai'er 
tower  was  taken  by  assault,  the  gar- 
rison escaping  in  the  rear ;  and  the 
bridge  being  then  demolished,  lord 
Gray  proceeded  to  Limerick.  He  next 
took  the  castle  of  Carrigogonnell,  which 
was  bravely  defended  by  some  men  of 
the  earl  of  Desmond  and  O'Brien,  and 
having  put  the  garrison  to  the  sword, 
delivered  that  famous  stronghold  to 
Donough.  In  his  despatch  announcing 
the  destruction  of  O'Brien's  bridge,  the 
lord  deputy  complains  Intterly  of  the 
insubordination  of  his  English  soldiers, 
who  frequently  mutinied  in  the  field  to 
obtain  money  or  plunder.  "  I  am  iu 
more  dread  of  my  life  amongst  them 

during  the  -winter  "barefoot  and  barelegged,  depending 
on  the  charity  of  his  fellow-prisoners  for  a  few  tattered 
garments  to  defend  him  against  the  cold." 


EVENTS  IN   OFFALT. 


331 


jliat  Ije  soldiers,"  be  wrote,  "  than  I  am 
of  tliem  that  be  the  king's  Irish  ene- 
mies." 

A.  D.  1537.— Cahir  O'Conor  Faly 
having  given  the  Pale  much  trouble,  as 
his  sept  had  always  done,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  ci'eate  him  baron  of  Offaly, 
and  to  allow  him  to  hold  his  lands  by 
English  tenure,  on  the  ground,  say  the 
council,  that  "  Irishmen  would  so  hate 
him  afterwards  that  he  would  have  but 
little  comfort  of  them,  and  so  must  look 
to  the  king's  subjects  for  protection 
against  them."  But  this  mean  and  insid- 
ious  policy  defeated  itself;  for  scarcely 
had  the  proposed  arrangement  been 
effected,  when  Cahir's  brother,  Brian, 
whom  the  lord  deputy  boasted  that  he 
had  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  bee- 
gar  expelled  the  protege  of  the  English 
and  took  possession  of  his  territory. 
This  drew  from  secretary  Cromwell  an 
order  to  the  lord  deputy  to  "  hang  the 
traitor"  as  an  example  to  others,  and 
"  never  to  trust  to  a  traitor  after,  but  to 
use  them  without  treatinof  after  their 
demerits."  Nevertheless  we  find  that 
in  a  parley,  which  was  conducted  with 
extraordinary  precautions  on  both  sides. 


*  The  words  in  wliicli  this  diabolical  scheme  was 
propounded  to  secretary  Cromwell  by  his  Irish  agents 
deserve  to  be  transcribed:  "The  very  living  of  the 
Irishry,"  it  is  said,  "  doth  clearly  consist  in  two  things  ; 
and  take  away  the  same  from  them  and  they  are  past 
for  ever  to  recover,  or  yet  to  annoy  any  subject  in  Ire- 
land. Take  first  from  them  their  corn,  and  as  much  as 
cannot  be  husbanded  and  had  into  the  hands  of  such  as 
ihall  dwell  and  inhabit  in  their  lands,  to  burn  and 
destroy  the  same,  so  as  the  Irishry  shall  not  live  there- 
upon ;  and  then  to  have  their  cattle  and  beasts  which 
shall  be  most  hardest  to  come  by,  and  yet  with  guides 
and  policy  they  be  oft  had  and  taken.    And,  by  reason 


Brian  soon  after  obtained  favorable 
terms  from  the  lord  deputy,  so  that  it 
was  Cahir  O'Conor's  turn  then  to  re- 
volt, and  again,  after  some  fighting,  to 
submit. 

Instead  of  attempting  to  heal  the 
disorders  of  the  country  on  any  prin- 
ciple of  even-handed  justice,  it  was  now 
seriously  proposed  by  the  Irish  govern- 
ment to  exterminate  the  native  popu- 
lation in  all  those  districts  bordering 
on  the  Pale,  which,  from  the  nature  of 
the  country,  aflbrded  the  people  means 
of  self  defence ;  and  this  was  to  be 
effected  by  starvation.  The  corn  was 
to  be  destroyed  when  ripe,  the  cattle 
killed  or  carried  away,  or,  by  an  in- 
genious system  of  harassing,  gradually 
wasted  from  the  land.* 

Young  Gerald,  heir  to  the  earldom 
of  Kildare,  still  escaped  the  numerous 
attemjits  made  to  capture  him,  although 
no  pains  were  spared  for  that  purpose 
on  the  part  of  the  government.  Threats 
and  bribes  were  held  out  to  the  Irish 
chieftains  who  were  suspected  of  shelter- 
ing him;  and  in  many  instances  their 
territories  were  laid  waste  by  lord  Le- 
onard  Gray.     Manus  O'Donnell,  who. 


that  the  several  armies,  as  I  devised  in  my  other  papar, 
should  proceed  at  once,  it  is  not  possible  for  the  said 
Irishry  to  put  or  flee  their  cattle  from  one  country  into 
another,  but  that  one  of  the  armies  sliall  come  thereby  ; 
and  admitting  the  impossibility  so  that  their  cattle  were 
saved,  yet  in  the  continuance  of  one  year,  the  same 
cattle  shall  be  dead,  destroyed,  stolen,  strayed,  or  eaten, 
by  reason  of  the  continual  removing  of  them,  going 
from  one  wood  to  another,  their  Ij-ing  out  all  the  winter, 

their  narrow  pastures And  then  they  (the 

Irishry)  shall  be  without  com,  victuals,  or  cattle,  and 
thereof  shall  ensue  the  putting  in  effect  aU  these  wars 
against  them."    8.  P. 


332 


REIGN   OF   HEXRY  VIII. 


ou  the  death  of  his  fother  in  1537,  had 
succeeded  to  the  chieftaincy  of  Tircon- 
uell,"  made  j^roposals  of  marriage  to 
the  boy's  aunt,  the  lady  Eleanor  Mac- 
Carthy,  who  consented  the  more  will- 
ingly to  secure  the  protection  of  so 
powerful  a  cliief  for  her  nephew ;  and 
she  was  able  to  pass  in  safety  with  her 
young  charge  from  the  south  to  the 
north  of  Ireland,  so  steadfast  was  the 
sympathy  of  the  people  for  the  house 
of  Kildare.  The  northern  chieftains 
confederated  for  the  restoration  of  the 
young  Geraldine  to  his  paternal  estates ; 
and  when  the  lord  deputy  sought  to 
treat  with  them  for  his  surrender,  they 
refused  to  meet  him.  Another  hostile 
inroad  by  lord  Gray  into  Tyrone  was 
the  consequence.  The  castle  of  Dun- 
gannon  was  taken,  and  the  surrounding 
country  abandoned  for  six  days  to  pil- 
lasce  and  devastation.  But  as  time 
progressed  the  aim  of  the  confederates 
became  more  lofty  and  sacred ;  and 
they  now  aspired  to  nothing  less  tlian 
the  liberation  of  their  country  from  the 
English  yoke ;  i-eligion  lending  an  ad- 
ditional and  powerful  impulse  to  their 
old  cause  of  enmity  against  England. 
Fortunately  it   is   not   our  duty  to 


*  Hugh  Duv  O'Donnell,  tlie  veteran  cliief  of  Tircon- 

i.ell  (son  of  Hugli  Roe,  son  of  Niall  Qarv),  died  in  the 
Franciscan  monastery  of  Donegal,  1537.  The  Four 
Masters  state  that  he  was  "  a  man  who  did  not  suffer 
the  power  of  the  English  to  come  into  his  country,  for 
ho  formed  a  league  of  peace  and  friendship  with  the 
king  of  England  when  he  saw  that  the  Irish  would  not 
yield  superiority  to  any  one  among  themselves,  but  that 
friends  and  blood-relations  contended  against  each  other." 
He  was  a  successful  warrior  and  a  politic  ruler  ;  but  suf- 
fered a  good  deal  from  dissensions  in  his  own  family. 


trace  the  history  of  the  religions  changes 
which  at  this  time  were  taking  place  in 
the  ueighboilng  country.  We  are  only 
concerned  at  present  with  the  foct  that 
these  changes  were  wholly  repugnant 
to  the  feelings  of  the  Irish  people,  who 
remained  firmly  attached  to  their  an- 
cient faith  and  traditions.  While  Eng- 
land exhibited  such  pliancy  and  ingrat- 
itude, in  turning  against  an  indulgent 
mother,  Ii-eland — cast  by  her  position 
into  the  shade,  calumniated,  despised 
and  abandoned  for  centuries  to  a  hope- 
less struggle  with  a  ^^owerful  and 
merciless  foe — still,  in  the  hour  of  trial, 
remained  faithful.  And  when  her  fidel- 
ity was  appreciated,  and  she  began  to 
be  recognized  as  a  chamjoion  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  words  of  encourage- 
ment reached  her  from  that  liomo 
a2:ainst  which  the  enemies  of  both 
would  have  inspired  her  with  jealousy, 
she  responded  with  devotion  and  en- 
thusiasm. Henceforth  Ireland  presents 
to  us  a  spectacle,  deplorable  indeed 
when  we  consider  her  unexampled  suf- 
ferings, but  worthy  the  admiration  of 
Christendom,  when  we  contemplate  her 
endurius  and  unsubdued  heroism  in 
the  cause  of  religion. 


Two  of  his  sons,  Niall  Garv  and  Owen,  slew  each  othci 
in  a  domestic  feud,  in  1524 ;  and  the  enmity  between 
his  two  remaining  sons,  Hugh  Boy  and  Manus,  was 
such  that  in  1531  he  was  obliged  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
Maguire  to  crush  their  strife.  On  that  occasion,  Manus, 
the  younger  brother,  was  compelled  to  fly  and  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Con  O'Niell,  showing  himself  to 
be  decidedly  hostile  to  the  English.  The  popularity  of 
Manus,  therefore,  became  very  great,  and  on  the  death 
of  his  father  he  was  unanimously  chosen  his  succes 
sor. 


SCHISMATIC  PROCEEDINGS   IX   IRELAND. 


333 


AreliLisbop  Browne  found  all  liis 
efforts  to  propagate  tlie  new  doctrines 
fruitless  even  in  the  Pale.  In  a  letter 
to  Cromwell  lie  complained  bitterly 
that  even  the  common  people  were 
more  zealous  in  what  lie  termed  their 
blindness  "  than  the  saints  and  martyrs 
in  truth  in  the  beginning  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  that  the  hostility  against  himself 
was  such  that  his  life  was  in  danger; 
that  he  received  the  most  strenuous 
opposition  from  Cromer,  archbishop  of 
Armafjh.  Primate  Cromer  was  an  Eug- 
lishman,  but  from  the  first  he  protested 
against  the  impious  attempt  to  enforce 
the  king's  suj^remacy  in  spirituals ;  he 
pronounced  an  anathema  against  those 
who  would  acknowledge  it ;  convoked 
the  suffragans  and  clergy  of  his  prov- 
ince to  address  them  on  the  subject; 
and  sent  two  priests  to  Rome  to  rej^re- 
sent  the  danger  of  the  church,  and  to 
entreat  the  interposition  of  the  sover- 
eign pontiff".  This  conscientious  and 
manly  discharge  of  his  duty  was  called 
treason,  and  he  was  cast  into  prison. 
Browne  feared  that  the  pope  would  or- 
der O'Xeill  to  take  up  arms  in  the  name 
of  Catholicity ;  and  knowing  how  easy 
it  was  to  get  any  law  the  king  might 
choose  passed  by  parliament,  in  the 
servile  and  degraded  state  to  which  it 
was  then  reduced,  he  ui-ged  Cromwell 
to  have  one  convened  in  Dublin  with- 
out delay.  This  was  accordingly  done, 
and  a  parliament  which  met  in  Dublin 
on  the  1st  of  May,  1536,  followed  with 
obsequious  readiness  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  English  parliament — making  laws 


and  annulling  them,  to  suit  the  caprice 
of  the  tyrant.  The  marriajxe  of  the 
king  with  Catherine  of  Arragon  was 
declared  null  and  void,  and  the  succes- 
sion to  the  crown  limited  to  his  children 
by  Anne  Boleyn ;  but  this  act  was 
scarcely  passed  when  news  arrived  that 
the  lady  Anue  was  beheaded,  and  that 
Henry  had  married  the  lady  Jane  Sey- 
mour ;  so  that  it  was  necessary  immedi- 
ately to  rescind  the  former  act,  and  to 
pass  another  attainting  Anne  Boleyn 
and  her  alleged  paramours  ! 

There  was,  however,  more  difficulty 
in  getting  the  Irish  parliament  to  pass 
the  acts  relating  to  religion,  chiefly 
owing  to  the  strenuous  opposition  given 
to  them  by  the  proctors,  of  whom  there 
were  three  from  each  diocese,  who, 
from  time  immemorial,  had  exercised 
the  right  of  voting.  These  were  not  so 
timid  or  pliant  as  the  men  of  proj^erty. 
who  feared  attainders  and  confiscations, 
and  it  was  therefore  resolved  that  they 
should  be  got  rid  of  By  an  act  ol 
des^^otic  oppression  the  proctors  were 
accordingly  excluded  from  parliament, 
which  then  became  a  ready  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  officials.  Several  jiroroga- 
tions  took  place  before  all  this  could  be 
effected,  and  at  length,  in  1537,  it  was 
enacted  that  the  king  was  the  supi'eme 
head  on  earth  of  the  church  of  Ireland  ; 
that  no  appeal  lay  to  Pome  in  si^iritual 
matters;  and  that  first  fruits  were  to 
be  paid  to  the  king,  not  only  from  all 
bishoprics  and  other  secular  offices  in 
the  church,  but  from  all  abbeys,  jirior- 
ies,  colleges  and  hospitals.     The  author- 


334 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VIII. 


ity  of  the  Pojie  was  solemnly  renounced, 
and  all  who  maintained  it  in  Ireland 
were  made  liable  to  preraunire.  Offi- 
cers of  every  kind  and  degree  were 
required  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy, 
and  all  who  refused  to  take  it  were 
declared  guilty  of  high  treason.  Sev- 
eral of  the  religious  houses  were  sup- 
pressed, and  their  demesnes  confiscated 
to  the  crown  ;  and.  other  laws  simihxr 
to  those  alread}^  passed  in  Enghmd 
were  enacted  to  gratify  the  resentment, 
avarice,  or  capricious  passions  of  Henry. 
A.  D.  1538. — The  Geraldine  leasjue  at 
this  time  comprised  O'Neill,  O'Donnell, 
O'Brien,  the  earl  of  Desmond,  O'Neill 
of  Claunaboy,  O'Rourke,  MacDermot, 
and  several  minor  chieftains ;  but  there 
was  no  active  co-operation  among  them, 
and  their  projects  were  never  carried 
into  actual  effect.  Lord  Gray  invaded 
Lecale  this  yeai',  and  took  the  strong 
castle  of  Dundrum  from  Ma^ennis,  de- 
stroyiug  seven  other  castles  in  Ulster  in 
the  same  expedition.  He  is  accused  of 
having  burnt,  on  this  occasion,  the 
cathedral  of  Down,  and  demolished  the 
monuments  of  SS.  Patrick,  Bridget  and 
Columbkille  which  it  contained ;  but  it 
is  certain,  nevertheless,  that  he  at  no 
time  ceased  to  profess  the  Catholic 
faith.  On  this  very  expedition  he  gave 
great  offence  to  Browne's  party  by 
hearing  several  masses  one  day  before 
the  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  at 
Trim ;  and  his  dislike  of  the  Lutherans 


*  These  venerable  relics  were  of  great  antiquity ;  and 
several  miracles  are  recorded  in  tlie  Irisb  annals  as  hav- 
ing been  pirformcd  through  the  means  of  the  crucifix 


was,  we  may  be  sure,  the  true  cause  of 
the  enmity  against  him ;  although  we 
are  told  he  made  enemies  of  the  But- 
lers and  their  clique  by  his  severe  and 
overljearing  disposition.  Browne  at 
this  time  gave  full  scope  to  his  secta- 
rian zeal,  and  caused  several  objects  of 
Catholic  veneration  to  be  destroyed. 
The  famous  statue  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, just  mentioned,  which  he  insult- 
ingly called  "the  idol  of  Trim,"  was 
publicly  burned ;  and  the  holy  crucifix 
of  the  abbey  of  Ballybogan,  with  the 
crozier  of  St.  Patrick,  called  the  staff  of 
Jesus,  underwent  the  same  fate.* 

A.  D.  1539. — Early  in  May  this  year 
lord  Gray  led  an  expedition  against 
Con  O'Neill,  and  remained  two  days  at 
Armagh  burning  and  pillaging  the  sur- 
rounding country  without  resistance. 
The  following  August,  O'Neill  and 
O'Donnell  combined  to  invade  the  En£:- 
lish  borders,  and  proceeded  as  far  as 
Navan  and  Ardee.  They  were  return- 
ins:  home,  encumbered  with  enormous 
spoils,  when  they  were  overtaken  by 
lord  Gra)',  with  a  strong  foi'ce,  at  Bela- 
hoe,  on  the  borders  of  Farney  in  Oriel, 
and  routed  with  great  slaughter.  The 
Irish  lost  400  men,  together  with  all 
the  spoils.  FitzSimon,  mayor  of  Dub- 
lin, Courcy,  mayor  of  Drogheda,  Gerald 
Aylmer,  chief  justice  of  the  king's 
bench,  and  Thomas  Talbot,  of  Malahide, 
were  dubbed  knights  for  the  important 
services  they  rendered  in  the  encounter. 


and  statue  here  referred  to.     See  Four  Masters,  A.  D. 
1381,  l;J97,  1411,  1413,  1444,  14(j4,  1483. 


FEUDS  AND  ALLIANCES. 


335 


The  deputy  next  proceeded  to  Mim- 
ster,  in  order  to  break  up  the  league 
which  existed  between  O'Brien  and 
Desmond.  Pierse  Butler,  to  whom  by 
this  time  had  been  restored  his  title  of 
earl  of  Ormond,  cordially  co-operated 
with  him  for  this  object ;  and  a  violent 
feud  which  had  long  prevailed  between 
Butler  and  Gray  was  now  arranged.  In 
his  march  through  O'Carroll's  country, 
and  thence  to  Cork,  the  deputy  received 
the  submission  of  several  chiefs  of  Irish 
and  English  descent;  as  O'Brien  of 
Ara,  O'Regan  of  Owney,  O'Dwyer  of 
Kilnamona,  Ma'cCarthy  Reagh,  the 
White  Knight,  lord  Barry,  Ked  Barry, 
tfec.  James  FitzMaurice  FitzGrerald,  a 
claimant  to  the  earldom  of  Desmond, 
accompanied  the  deputy's  army,  and 
was  put  in  possession  of  several  castles 
in  the  county  of  Cork;  but  James  Fitz- 
John,  the  actual  earl,  treated  this  pro- 
ceeding with  scorn,  aud  approaching  the 
deputy's  camp  when  near  the  Blackwa- 
ter,  stood  on  the  o^iposite  bank  of  that 
river  and  announced  his  determination 
to  adhere  still  to  O'Brien  ;  adding,  that 
"  all  the  Irishry  of  Ireland  would  do  so  ;" 
at  which  words  the  lord  deputy  "  was 
sore  moved,  and  withdrew  to  Cork.* 

*  There  is  great  confusion  in  the  history  of  the  earls 
of  Desmond,  owing  to  the  frequent  disturbance  of  the 
succession  by  usurpation.  At  the  period  referred  to  in 
the  text,  there  were  two  claimants  to  the  earldom; 
James,  son  of  Maurice,  son  of  Thomas,  the  twelfth  earl ; 
whose  father  (Maurice)  died  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
said  earl  Thomas,  and  who  was  himself  absent  in  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  page  of  honor  to  Henry  VIII.,  when 
his  grandfather  died  in  1534.  His  granduncle,  Jolm, 
(son  of  Thomas,  the  eighth  earl,  who  was  beheaded  at 
Drogheda  in  14G7),  usurped  the  earldom  in  his  absence, 
but  being  advanced  in  age  died  in  1.530  leaving  five 


A  commission  was  appointed  this 
year  to  carry  into  effect  tlie  act  passed 
in  the  parliament  of  1537  for  the  sup- 
pression of  religious  houses,  aud  the 
formality  of  an  official  inquiry  was 
adopted  for  the  purpose,  as  in  England; 
but  this  country  was  fortunate  enough 
to  escape  the  sanguinary  persecution 
which  was  carried  on,  in  the  name  of 
religion,  at  the  other  side  of  the  channel 
during  this  reign.  Dr.  John  Travel's, 
who  had  written  a  book  in  defence  of 
the  papal  supremacy,  and  who  is  said 
to  have  been  implicated  in  the  rebellion 
of  Silken  Thomas,  was  hanged  this  yeai- 
at  Tyburn ;  but  it  would  not  appear 
from  the  Anglo-Irish  historians  that  any 
other  Irish  clergyman  suffered  death  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.;  although 
several,  who  were  subsequently  liber- 
ated by  lord  Gray,  were  arrested  at  the 
instigation  of  Archbishop  Browne.  The 
Four  Masters,  however,  inform  us,  un- 
der the  date,  of  1540,  that  the  guardian 
and  some  of  the  friars  of  the  Franciscan 
monastery  of  Monaghan  were  put  to 
death,  aud  that  "  the  English,  through- 
out every  j^art  of  Ireland,  where  their 
power  extended,  were  persecuting  and 
banishing  the  (religious)  orders."f 


sons;  of  whom  James,  the  second  son,  called  James 
FitzJolm,  continued  the  usurpation.  JamesFitzJIaurice 
was  regarded  by  the  English  as  the  legitimate  heir,  and 
was  also  strenuously  supported  by  his  father-in-law, 
Cormac  Oge  MacCarthy ;  but  ho  never  recovered  the 
possession  of  the  ancestral  estates,  and  was  at  length 
killed  in  1540  by  Maurice,  son  of  his  grand-uncle  John, 
whereupon  liis  opponent,  James  Fitz.John,  was  left  in 
quiet  occupation  of  title  and  estates. 

f  The  number  of  monasteries  and  other  religious 
houses  destroyed  during  this  reign  in  Ireland  has  never 
been  ascertained ;  but  it  appears  from  various  inquisi- 


336 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VIII. 


A.  D.  1540.— Early  iu  the  spring  of 
this  year  lord  Leonard  Gray  was  re- 
called to  England,  and  Sir  William 
Brereton  appointed,  for  the  time,  lord 
justice.  Lord  Gray  Avas  graciously  re- 
ceived liy  the  king ;  but  his  enemies, 
the  earl  of  Ormond,  John  Allen  (who, 
on  the  death  of  Barnwell,  baron  of 
Trlmblestou,  in  1538,  had  been  made 
chancellor)  and  Sir  William  Brabazon, 
the  Tice-treasurer,  followed  him,  and 
made  such  charges  aejainst  him  that  he 
was  committed  to  the  Tower  for  hisch 
treason.  Among  other  thin<?s  alle2:ed 
against  him  was  his  open  partiality 
for  the  Geraldines ;  his  suffering  young 
Gerald  of  Kildare,  his  nephew,  to  es- 
cape from  Ireland  ;*  his  forbearance 
towards  certain  L'ish  chieftains,  and  the 
confidence  which  he  reposed  in  them — 
which  was  such  that  he  traversed  the 
territoiy  of  Thomoud,  the  preceding 
year,  with  no  other  escort  than  a  single 


tions  tbat  many,  especially  in  places  inaccessible  to  the 
English,  were  concealed  for  a  long  time  after,  and  the 
friars  continued  to  live  in  the  neighborhood  of  several 
up  to  a  recent  period.  Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  p.  1446, 
note  e.  "  Some  of  the  social  advantages  of  the  religious 
houses  in  Ireland  are  alluded  to  incidentally,  in  a  letter 
of  the  lord  deputy  Gray  and  council,  to  Cromwell, 
March  21st,  1.539,  requesting  that  six  houses  should  be 
exempted  from  the  general  suppression — St.  Mary's 
abbey  and  Clirist  cliurch,  Duljlin ;  the  Nunnery  of 
Grace  Dieu,  Fingall,  Co.  Dublin ;  Connell  abbey,  Co. 
Kildare;  and  Kells  and  Jerpoiiit,  Co.  Kilkenny; — 'For 
in  these  houses  commonly  and  other  such  like,  in  do- 
fault  of  common  inns  which  are  not  in  this  land,  the 
king's  deputy,  and  all  other  his  grace's  council  and 
oflicers,  and  Irishmen  coming  to  the  deputy,  have  been 
commonly  lodged  at  the  cost  of  said  houses.'  Also  in 
them  '  yonge  men  and  childer,  both  gentlemen  childer 
and  other,  both  of  man  kyud  and  woman  kynd,  be 
brought  up  in  virtue,  learning,  and  the  English  tongue  :' 
the  ladies  all  in  the  nunnery  of  Grace  Diou ;  the  young 
men  in  the  other  houses.     St.  Mary's  abbey  was  the 


gallowglass  of  O'Briens.  Ultimately 
his  enemies  prevailed,  and  he  Avas  exe- 
cuted as  a  traitor  on  Tower-hill,  in  June, 
1541. 

During  the  interval  which  elapsed 
before  the  appointment  of  a  successor 
to  lord  Gray,  the  Pale  was  threatened 
on  all  sides  by  Irish  foes.  Incursions 
were  made  by  O'Toole,  MacMurrough, 
and  O'Conor;  an  intimate  correspon- 
dence was  carried  on  between  the  prin- 
cipal Ulster  chieftains  and  James  V.  of 
Scotland ;  and  the  eyes  of  the  Irish  were 
directed  with  hope  towards  the  foes  of 
England  on  the  continent.  It  was  re- 
ported that  a  general  muster  of  the 
forces  of  O'Neill,  O'Donnell,  O'Brien, 
and  other  Irish  lords,  was  about  to  take 
place  at  Foure,  in  West  Meath ;  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Pale  were  seized  with 
alarm ;  and  men  of  every  class  and 
station  flew  to  arms.  Bishops,  temporal 
peers,  priests,  judges,  lawyers,  and  men 

hotel  of  all  people  of  quality  coming  from  England,  and 
Christ  church  was  at  once  the  parliament  house,  the 
council  house,  and  '  the  common  resort  iu  Term  tyme 
for  definitions  of  all  matters  by  the  judges.'  State 
Papers,  Henry  viii.,  vol.  iii.,  part  iii.,  p.  130.  The  abbot 
of  St.  Mary's,  petitioning  some  time  after  against  the 
suppression,  pleads,  'verily  wo  he  but  stewards  and 
purveyors  to  other  men's  uses  for  the  king's  honour : 
keeping  hospitality  and  many  poor  men,  scholars,  and 
orphans.'  "     Camb.  Eter.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  543,  note. 

*  The  friends  of  young  Gerald  deeming  it  unsafe  for 
him  to  remain  any  longer  in  Ireland,  he  sailed  in 
March,  1540,  from  Donegal,  accompanied  by  his  tutor, 
LeverouR,  afterwards  bishop  of  Kildare,  and  a  Father 
Walsh,  and  landed  at  St.  Male's.  After  many  inter- 
mediate journeyings  he  at  length  reached  Rome  in 
safety,  and  was  affectionately  received  by  his  kinsman, 
cardinal  Pole,  who  had  him  carefully  educated.  Sub- 
sequently he  was  taken  to  the  court  of  Cosmo  de  Medici, 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. 
was  restored  to  his  estates.  Finally  he  was  re-established 
in  all  the  honors  of  his  family  by  queen  Mary. 


CONCESSION  AND   SUBMISSION. 


337 


of  every  profession  mingled  in  the  armed 
tlaroucr*  and  Brereton  was  soon  at  the 
head  of  a  hastily  collected  force  of  ten 
thousand  men,  with  which  he  marched 
to  Foure,  where  he  found  no  trace  of 
the  rumored  Irish  congress.  In  fact  the 
Irish  annalists  make  no  allusion  what- 
ever to  any  such  intended  meeting,  and 
the  rumor  was  doubtless  without  foun- 
dation ;  but  the  lord  justice  and  his 
militia  were  resolved  that  they  should 
not  be  called  out  in  vain.  "  AVe  con- 
cluded to  do  some  exploit,"  he  writes ; 
and  he  then  proceeds  to  tell  us  how  the 
army  entered  the  neighboring  tei-ritory 
of  Offaly,  and  "  encamping  in  sundry 
places,  destroyed  O'Conor's  habitations, 
corn,  and  fortilices,  so  long  as  their  vic- 
tuals endured,"  that  is,  for  a  period  of 
twenty  days ! 

The  long  and  harassing  wars  waged 
by  the  English  government  against  the 
Irish,  and  the  fatal  dissensions  of  the 
latter  among  themselves,  produced  their 
inevitable  results.  The  chiefs  and  great 
lords,  both  of  English  and  Irish  descent, 
were  reduced  to  a  state  of  deplorable 
misery  and  exhaustion.  Eveiy  thing  de- 
structable  had  been  wasted  and  burned 
until  the  country  became  a  howling  wil- 
derness. It  was  high  time,  therefore,  on 
the  one  side  to  think  of  submission,  and 
prudent  on  the  other  to  projiose  con- 
cession. Things  had  reached  a  turning 
point,  and  Henry  was  just  then  fortun- 
ate in  selecting  a  governor  for  Ireland 
who  knew  how  to  take  advantage  of  the 
favorable  circumstances.  This  prudent 
statesman  was  Sir  Anthony  Seutleger, 
43 


who  came  over  as  deputy  in  August, 
1540,  a  moment  when  the  Irish  chief- 
tains manifested  most  peaceable  dispo- 
sitions. O'Donnell  wrote  to  the  king 
exjjressiug  his  repentance  in  humble 
terms,  and  acknowledging  the  royal 
supremacy.  A  letter  was  also  addressed 
by  O'Neill  to  Henry,  accompanied  by 
gifts ;  it  was  written  in  Latin  and  bore 
the  chieftain's  mark,  for  few  in  those 
turbulent  times  had  either  leisure  or 
taste  to  acquire  the  first  rudiments  of 
learning;  but  as  it  was  couched  in  in- 
dependent terms,  and  complained  of  the 
aggressions  of  English  viceroys,  Henry's 
reply  to  it  was  less  condescending  than 
that  to  O'Donnell's  epistle. 

MacMurrough  submitted  after  his 
territory,  which  was  then  limited  to 
Idrone  in  the  west  of  Carlow,  had  been 
devastated  for  ten  days  by  the  earl  of 
Ormoud.  He  adopted  the  name  of 
KavenaQ:h,  and  renounced  the  title  of 
MacMurrough,  which  he  engaged  on 
the  part  of  his  sept  that  no  one  should 
henceforth  assume.  The  submission  of 
the  O'Mores,  O'Dempseys,  and  other 
Leiuster  septs  followed.  Henry  di- 
rected that  no  favor  should  be  shown 
to  O'Conor  of  Oftaly,  who,  if  possible, 
should  be  expelled  from  his  country ; 
yet  when  that  chief,  seeing  himself  al- 
most alone,  proffered  his  submission,  it 
was  gladly  received ;  and  his  adherents, 
O'MoUoy,  O'Melaghlin,  and  Megeoghe- 
gan,  followed  his  example.  Even  Tur- 
louch  O'Toole,  the  head  qf  the  warlike 
sept  which  still  maintained  its  inde- 
pendence amidst  the  wildest  glens  and 


338 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. 


mountain  passes  of  Wicklow,  now  re- 
quested a  i^arley  with  the  lord  deputy, 
and  asked  permission  to  visit  the  king, 
that  he  might  petition  him  for  certain 
Lands  to  Avhich  he  laid  claim.  Sentleger 
acceded  to  his  request,  and  supplied 
him  with  ^20  from  his  own  purse  for 
the  expenses  of  his  journey,  together 
with  a  letter  of  introductiou  to  the 
duke  of  Norfolk.* 

A.  D.  1541. — The  earl  of  Desmond  at 
length  consented  to  submit,  but  when 
proceeding  to  Cahir  to  meet  the  lord 
deputy  for  that  purpose,  the  archbishop 
of  Dublin,  the  master  of  the  ordnance, 
and  the  deputy's  brother,  were  given  as 
hostages  for  his  safety.  The  earl  agreed 
to  renounce  his  privilege  of  not  attend- 
ing parliament  or  entering  walled  towns. 
A  diiFerence  between  him  and  the  earl 
of  Ormond,  who  set  up  a  claim  to  the 
earldom  of  Desmond  in  risjht  of  his 
M'ife,  the  only  daughter  and  heir  general 
of  the  eleventh  earl,  was  arranged  by 
an  undertaking  that  an  intermarriage 
should  take  place  between  the  children 
of  the  two  earls ;  and  Sentleger  and  the 

*  The  "WicMow  chieftain  above  referred  to  had,  some 
time  before,  in  a  chivalrous  spirit,  lent  his  aid  to  the 
deputy  when  he  saw  that  all  the  leading  Irish  chiefe 
were  leagued  against  him  ;  observing,  "  that  as  soon  as 
the  others  made  peace  then  would  he  alone  make  war 
with  him  1"  This  was  really  the  spirit  by  which  the 
Irish  chieftains  were  most  frequently  actuated  in  their 
wars  with  the  English  government. 

f  No  better  illustration  of  the  imix)verished  state  to 
which  the  great  lords  and  cliieftains,  as  well  of  the 
English  as  of  the  native  race,  were  at  this  time  reduced, 
could  be  required  than  that  afforded  by  Sentleger's 
letters  to  the  king  relative  to  their  submission.  The 
deputy  tells  us  that  Desmond,  "  the  noblest  man  in  all 
the  realm,"  required  to  be  provided  by  the  king  not 
only  with  robes  to  wear  in  parliament,  but  even  with 


lord  chancellor  accompanied  Desmond 
to  his  town  of  Kilmallock,  where  they 
were  most  hospitably  entertained.  Sent- 
leger, in  a  letter  to  the  king,  describes 
Desmond  as  "  undoubtedly  a  very  wise 
and  discreet  gentlemau."f 

After  Desmond's  submission,  a  con- 
ference was  held  at  Limei'ick  with 
O'Brien,  "the  greatest  Irishman  of  the 
west  of  this  land ;"  but  it  led  to  no 
immediate  result ;  the  chief  of  Thomond 
saying  that  "  although  the  captain  of  his 
nation  he  was  still  but  one  man,"  and 
should  take  time  to  consult  his  kinsmen 
and  followers.  The  chieftain's  excuse 
throws  a  curious  light  on  the  internal 
government  of  the  independent  Irish 
septs. 

On  the  12th  of  June,  a  parliament 
was  held  in  Dublin,  at  which  the  novel 
sight  was  witnessed  of  Irish  chieftains 
sitting,  for  the  first  time,  with  English 
lords.  O'Brien  appeared  there  by  his 
procurators  or  attorneys;  and  Kaven- 
agh,  O'More,  O'Reilly,  Mac  William,  and 
others,  took  their  seats  in  person,  tlie 
speeches  of  the  speaker  and  the  lord 


apparel  for  his  daily  use,  "  whereof  he  had  great  lack." 
Sentleger  himsell"  had  already  given  him  a  gown, 
jacket,  doublet,  hose,  and  other  articles  of  dress,  "for 
which  he  was  thankful ;"  the  earl  accounting  for  his 
want  of  means  to  provide  these  necessaries,  by  the 
wasting  wars  in  which  he  had  been  engaged.  MacGilla- 
patrick  (who  was  soon  after  created  baron  of  Upper 
Ossory,  and  changed  his  name  into  Fitzpatrick)  and 
O'Eeilly  were  in  like  manner  provided  with  parlia- 
mentary robes  at  the  king's  expense ;  while  O'Roui'ke 
petitioned  for  a  suit  of  ordinary  clothes,  "  as  he  was  a 
man  somewhat  gross,  and  not  trained  to  repair  unto  his 
majesty."  The  wealth  of  these  chiefs  did  not  consist  of 
money,  of  which  they  had  scarcely  any,  but  in  the  num- 
ber of  men  whose  services  they  could  command  in  their 
hostiugs,  and  whose  support  was  levied  on  the  country 


CONFERRIXG  OF  ENGLISH  TITLES. 


339 


chancellor  beiug  interpreted  to  them  in 
Irish  by  the  earl  of  Ormond.  An  act 
was  unanimously  passed  by  this  parlia- 
ment conferring  on  Henry  VIII.,  and 
his  successors,  the  title  of  king  of  Ire- 
land, instead  of  that  of  loi'd  of  Ireland, 
which  the  English  kings  since  the  days 
of  John  had  hitherto  borne.  This  act, 
which  seemed  to  give  a  better  security 
of  peace,  was  bailed  with  great  rejoicings 
in  Dublin  ;  and  on  the  following  Sunday 
the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  parliament 
went  in  procession  to  St.  Patrick's  cathe- 
dral, where  solemn  mass  was  sung  by 
archbishop  Bi'owne,  after  which  the  law 
was  proclaimed,  and  a  Te  Deum  chaunt- 
ed.  A  general  pardon  was  issued,  and, 
as  Sentleger  writes  to  Henry  VIII., 
"there  were  made  in  the  city  great 
bonfires,  wine  was  set  in  the  streets, 
and  there  were  great  feastings  in  the 
houses.'' 

A.  D.  154:2. — It  was  now  about  two 
3'ears  since  Con  O'Neill  and  Manus 
O'Donnell  had  written  submissive  let- 
ters to  the  king,  j-et,  in  the  rage  for 
court  favor  which  prevailed  in  the  in- 
terval, these  two  great  northern  chiefs 
still  held  aloof.  At  length  O'Donnell, 
who  had  of  late  years  exhibited  a 
marked  leaninsr  towards  the  Eno-lish, 
took  the  initiative,  and  O'Neill  follow- 
ed ;  but  not  until  his  territory  had  been 


*  As  a  contrast  to  tlie  other  cliieftains  in  point  of 
dress,  Sentleger,  describing  that  worn  by  O'Donnell, 
says  it  consisted  of  a  coat  of  crimson  velvet,  with  twenty 
or  thirty  pairs  of  golden  aiglets ;  over  that  a  great  double 
cloak  of  crimson  satin,  bordered  with  black  velvet ;  and 
in  his  bonnet  a  feather,  set  fuU  of  aiglets  of  gold ;  so 
that  he  was  more  richly  dressed  than  any  other  Irish- 


subjected  to  spoliation  for  twenty-two 
daj's  by  the  deputy.  The  chief  of  Ty- 
rone repaired  to  England,  accompanied 
by  O'Kervellan,  bishop  of  Clogher,  and 
was  graciously  received  by  the  king  at 
Greenwich.  He  renounced  the  title  of 
prince  and  the  name  of  O'Neill,  and 
surrendered  his  territories  into  the 
king's  hands,  receiving  them  back  un- 
der letters  patent,  together  with  the 
title  of  earl  of  Tyrone.  He  had  asked 
the  kinir  to  make  him  earl  of  Ulster, 
but  Henry  explained  that  this  request 
was  somewhat  presumptuous,  the  earl- 
dom of  Ulster  being  one  of  the  greatest 
in  Christendom,  and  beiu£r  besides  at- 
tached  to  the  royal  family.  Mathew, 
or  Ferdoragh,  the  natural  son  of  Con 
O'Neill,  was  created  baron  of  Dun- 
gannon ;  two  of  the  Magennises  were 
dubbed  knights;  and  the  bishop  of 
Clogher  was  confirmed  in  his  diocese 
by  the  king's  patent.  As  to  O'Donnell, 
he  desired  to  be  made  earl  either  of 
Sligo  or  Tirconnell ;  the  latter  title  was 
granted,  but  was  not  conferred  until 
the  year  1G03.* 

Murrough  O'Brien,  who  succeeded 
his  brother  Conor  as  chief  of  North 
Munster  in  1539,  was  created  earl  of 
Thomond,  with  the  title  of  baron  of 
Inchiquin  for  his  heirs  male ;  while  his 
nephew,  Donough,  whose  friendship  to 


man  ;  hat  to  him  also  a  suit  of  parliamentary  robes  was 
given.  We  should  perhaps  understand  the  deficiency 
of  those  chieftains  in  apparel  as  confined  to  the  matter 
of  English  fashions ;  for  the  profusion  of  materials  used 
in  the  native  Irish  costumes  of  the  period  was  such,  that 
a  law  was  made  in  this  reign  to  restrain  it  within  more 
reasonable  bounds 


uo 


REIGN   OF   HENRY  VIII. 


tlie  Enirlisli  and  treason  to  his  own 
nation  Lave  been  already  noticed,  was 
rewarded  with  the  title  of  baron  of 
Ibrickan,  and  the  reversion  of  the  earl- 
dom of  Thomond  on  his  uncle's  death. 
Finally,  De  Burgo,  or  MacWilliam, 
who,  from  the  number  of  persons  whom 
he  decapitated  in  his  wars,  is  usually 
known  as  Ulick-na-gceann,  or  "  of  the 
heads,"  was  created  earl  of  Clanrickard, 
and  barou  of  Dunkellin.  The  ceremony 
of  conferring  these  titles  took  j)lace  with 
great  pomp  at  Grreenwich,  on  the  1st  of 
July,  1543;  and  to  each  of  the  newly- 
created  lords  the  king  granted  a  house 
and  small  piece  of  land  near  Dublin, 
for  the  accommodation  of  their  retinues 
when  they  came  to  attend  parliament 
)r  council. 

A.  D.  1543. — However  mortifying  the 
fact,  it  must,  nevertheless,  be  remem- 
bered that  the  acceptance  of  these  royal 
favors  was  generally,  if  not  invariably, 
accompanied  by  an  admission  of  the 
royal  supremacy — a  circumstance  that 
adds  to  the  humiliatiu2:  nature  of  these 
submissions.  Some  of  the  Irish  lords — 
as  Murrou2;h  O'Brien — showed  them- 
selves  even  zealous  in  the  cause  of  the 
English  schism,  and  hankered  for  a 
share  in  the  sacrilegious  spoils  of  the 
convent  lands ;  but  as  yet  it  was  only 
schism  (and  not  heresy)  which  was  in- 
troduced into  Ireland,  and  even  that  was 


*  Robert  Cowley,  master  of  the  rolls,  reported  in  1040 
tbat  lie  could  find  no  account  whatever,  in  the  king's 
exchequer,  of  the  produce  of  the  confiscated  estates, 
either  of  the  Geraldines  or  of  the  suppressed  monasteries. 
There  was  no  memorandum  of  the  revenues  or  of  the 
v»y  in  which  they  had  been  employed. 


confined  to  the  few  who  accepted  ofBce 
or  honors  from  Henry,  or  who  hoped  to 
share  in  the  plunder  of  the  confiscated 
church  lands,*  Avhile  it  obtained  no 
footing  whatever  amoncr  the  humble 
classes. 

In  1544  an  Irish  corps  of  1,000  men 
proceeded,  under  two  nephews  of  the 
earl  of  Ormond,  to  join  the  English 
army  in  France,  where  they  soon  were 
distinguished  by  their  valor  and  the 
rapidity  of  their  movements  at  the  siege 
of  Bologne ;  and  the  following  year  the 
services  of  an  Irish  contingent  were  re- 
quired in  Scotland.  In  1546  the  earl  of 
Ormond  and  seventeen  of  his  friends 
were  poisoned  at  a  banquet  in  Ely 
house,  London,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
settle  a  quarrel  with  lord  deputy  Sent- 
leger.f  This  earl  (James,  son  of  Pierse 
Roe)  had  been  a  great  enemy  to  the 
Catholic  cause  in  Ireland.  Some  young 
men  of  the  Geraldine  party  took  up 
arms  this  year  in  Kildare,  but  their 
insurrection  was  easily  put  down  by 
Sentleger;  and  only  resulted  in  the 
spoliation  of  a  large  tract  of  country 
O'Conor  and  O'More  were  proclaimed 
traitors,  and  were  the  principal  sufterers. 

A  new  coin  was  struck  at  this  time 
in  Ireland,  but  of  so  base  a  description, 
that  a  law  was  made  prohibiting  its 
introduction  into  England,  iinder  severe 
penalties.      "At    this   time,"    say   the 

f  The  Intriguing  chancellor,  Allen,  was  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  strife  between  Ormond  and  Sentleger, 
and  was,  on  this  occasion,  committed  a  prisoner  to 
the  fleet. 


ACCESSION   OF   EDWARD   VI. 


341 


Four  Masters,  "  tlie  power  of  tbe  Eug- 
lisli  was  great  and  immense  in  Ireland, 
so  that  the  bondage  in  wliicli  the  j)eople 


of  Leath  Mogha  (the  southern  half) 
were,  had  scarcely  been  ever  equalled 
before  that  time." 


<■  «  ■> 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

KEIGN     OF     EDWARD    VI.  AND     J[ARY. 


Accession  of  Edward  VI. — Somerset's  government. — War  of  Extermination  in  Leix  and  Ofifaly. — Fate  of  O'More 
and  O'Conor.— Rising  of  O'Carroll. — Successes  of  tlie  lord  deputy  Bellingbam.— Tlie  adventurers  Bryan  and 
Fay. — Rebellion  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell  against  his  fatlier. — Power  of  the  Northern  Chiefs  curtailed. — Instance 
of  Bellingham's  firmness. — Intrigues  and  changes  in  the  Irish  government. — Exjiloits  of  the  Scots  in  Ulster. 
— War  between  Ferdoragh  and  Shane  CNeill. — French  emissaries  iu  Ulster.— Failure  of  the  efforts  to  establish 
the  new  religion  in  Ireland. — Zeal  and  firmness  of  Archbishop  DowdaU. — Conference  at  St.  Slary's  Abbey. — 
Plvmder  of  Clonmacnoise. — Accession  of  Queen  Slary. — Her  efforts  to  restore  religion. — Her  difficiilties  in 
England. — Injustice  to  her  character. — The  work  of  restoration  easy  in  Ireland. — Her  kind  disposition  to  Ire- 
land frustrated. — Affecting  incident. — Strife  in  Thomond. — Continued  War  with  the  Scots  in  Ulster. — Shane 
O'NeiU  defeated  by  Calvagh  O'Donnell. 


ConUmporari/  Sovereigns  and  £vents.— Popes:  Pari  III.,  Jo'.ius  III.,  Marcellus  V.,  P.iul  IV.— Emperor  of  Germjiny, 
Charles  V.— Kiug  of  France,  Henry  II. — King  of  SprJn,  I'hilip  II.— Queen  of  Scotland,  Mary. — Death  of  St.  Fr.incis 
Xavier,  1552 — Death  of  St.  Ignatius  of  Loyola,  1556. 

(A.  D.  1547  TO  A.  D.  1558.) 


EDWARD  VI.,  the  son  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  of  his  third  wife,  Jane 
Seymour,  was  proclaimed  king,  on  his 
father's  death,  while  yet  only  nine  years 
of  age.  His  maternal  uncle,  Edward 
Seymour,  earl  of  Hertford,  and  after- 
wards duke  of  Somerset,  usurped  the 
sole  guardianship  of  the  young  king, 
and  the  government  of  the  kingdom, 
with  the  title  of  lord  protector ;  setting 
aside  the  council  of  regency  appointed 
by  the  late  king's  will.  Somerset  was 
a  zealous  partisan  of  the  new  creed, 
and,  aided  by  Cranmer,  caused  it  to  be 


established  as  the  religion  of  the  state. 
In  Ireland  Sentleger  continued  to  hold 
office  as  lord  deputy ;  James,  earl  of 
Desmond,  was  apjDoiuted  lord  treasurer; 
and,  owing  to  the  increased  disturbances 
in  Leinster,  Sir  Edward  Bellingham 
was  sent  over  in  the  course  of  the  year 
(1547)  as  captain  general,  with  a  rein- 
forcement of  600  horse  and  400  foot,  to 
aid  the  deputy.  Before  his  arrival 
Sentleger  had  gained  a  battle  at  the 
Three  Castles,  near  Blessington,  over 
the  O'Byrnes,  taking  two  of  the  Fitz- 
Geralds,  who  had  joined  the  Wicklow 


342 


REIGX   OF   EDWARD   VI. 


insurgents,  pi'isouers.  These  were  exe- 
cuted in  Dublin,  and  tlie  Four  Masters, 
wlio  call  them  "  plunderers  and  rebels," 
tell  us  that  Brian,  son  of  Turlougli 
OToole,  was  on  tlie  lord  deputy's  side. 

A.  D.  1548. — The  territories  of  Leix 
and  Oftaly  had  been  by  this  time  ut- 
terly wasted  by  inroads  from  the  Pale ; 
and  the  unhappy  chieftains,  Gillapat- 
rick  O'More  and  Brian  O'Connor,  hav- 
ins  been  broufrht  so  low  that  none  of 
the  Irish  dared  to  give  them  food  or 
shelter,  had  surrendered  themselves  to 
Francis  Bryan,  an  Englishman,  who 
just  then  began  to  occupy  a  prominent 
place  in  this  country.  This  happened 
in  1547,  and  in  1548  the  two  chiefs 
were  taken  to  England  by  Sentleger, 
who  was  recalled.  Their  lives  were 
spared,  a  pension  of  £100  each  being 
alloAved  for  their  maintenance ;  but 
they  were  detained  as  prisoners,  and 
their  patrimonies  given  to  Bryan  and 
others,  who  set  about  expelling  the 
old  inhabitants,  and  disposing  of  the 
lauds  as  their  own.  O'More  died  in 
his  Saxon  exile  before  the  end  of  the 
year. 

Sir  Edward  Bellingham,  the  succes- 
sor to  Sentleger,  was  a  man  of  energy 
and  decision,  and  gained  sundry  suc- 
cesses over  the  Irish.'"'     A  number  of 

*  An  incident  is  related  wliicli  sufficiently  illustrates 
tlie  energetic  character  of  Bellingham.  At  the  close  of 
1549  the  carl  of  Desmond  refused  to  attend  a  coxmcil  to 
wliich  he  was  summoned  in  Dublin,  on  the  plea  that  he 
was  celebrating  Christmas.  The  lord  deputy  upon  re- 
ceiving this  answer,  set  out  with  a  small  party  of  horse, 
and  by  forced  marches  reached  the  castle  where  the 
earl  was  enjoying  himself;  and  entering  without  previ- 
ous notice  seized  Desmond  while  sitting  by  the  fire  and 


the  men  of  Offaly  were  sent  to  England 
under  the  command  of  a  son  of  their 
old  chieftain,  to  join  an  army  preparing 
against  Scotland ;  but  the  chief  object 
aimed  at  was  their  exjiatriation.     Cahir 
Roe  O'Conor,  one  of  the  same  warlike 
sept,  was  brought  to  Dublin  and  exe- 
cuted ;  and  some    troubles  created  in 
Kildare  by  the  sons  of  viscount  Balt- 
inglass  were  speedily  crushed  by  the 
vigorous    arm    of    the    new    deputy. 
O'Carroll  of  Ely  had  risen,  and  burned 
the  town  of  Nenasrh  and  the  English 
monastery  of  Abingdon,  in  Limerick, 
threatening  to    expel  all   the  Ergl'sh 
from   his  territory ;    but    at    a   council 
held  the  following  year  in  Limerick,  he 
made  favorable  terms  with  the  deputy 
for  himself  and  his  confederates,  Mac- 
Murrough,   O'Kelly,  O'Melaghlin,  and 
others,  and  a  formidable  movement  was 
thus  tranquillized.     An  English  adven 
turer  named  Edmund  Fay  was  invited 
into  Delvin  by  O'Melaghlin  to  aid  him 
in  a  quarrel  with  MacCoghlan  ;  but  the 
annalists  tell  us  that  O'Melaghlin  had 
got  "a  rod  to  strike  himself;"  for  Fay 
took  possession  of  the  territoiy  on  his 
own  account,  and  was  supported  in  his 
usurpation  by  Francis  Bi-yan.f 

A.  T>.  1549. — Tirconnell  had  been  for 
some  time  distui-bed  by  the  unnatural 

carried  him  to  Dublin.     Subsequently  he  obtained  par- 
don for  the  earl. 

f  This  Brj-an  had  married  the  dowager  coimtess  of 
Ormond,  and  was  made  marshal  of  Ireland,  and  govern- 
or of  Tipperary.  On  the  2Tth  of  December,  1549,  ho 
was  chosen  lord  justice  on  aji  emergency,  but  died  iu 
the  following  February  at  Clonmel,  where  he  had  gone 
to  repel  an  invasion  of  O'Carroll's.  The  name  Fay, 
mentioned  in  the  text,  has  sometimes  been  written 


POLITICAL   INTRIGUES   IN   DUBLIN. 


343 


rel)ellioa  of  Calvagli  O'Donnell  against 
his  latbei',  jMauus.  lu  1548  a  battle  was 
fono-bt  between  them  at  Strath-bo-Fiach, 
now  Ballybofey  on  the  river  Finn,  when 
Calvagh  and  his  all)',  O'Kane,  were  de- 
feated ;  but  the  dissensions  still  con- 
tinued. Some  of  the  Ulster  chieftains 
about  this  time  appealed  for  the  settle- 
ment of  their  disputes  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Pale,  and  the  latter  took 
advantage  of  their  position  as  arbitrators 
to  strike  a  fatal  blow  at  the  power  of 
the  superior  dynasts,  by  making  the  in- 
ferior chiefs  independent  of  them.  Ma- 
genuis  was  freed  from  all  subjection  to 
O'Neill,  and  the  power  of  O'Donnell 
was  restricted  by  similar  means. 

A.  D.  1550. — One  government  after 
another  was  sacrificed  to  political  cabals 
in  Dublin.  Bellingham  was  recalled  in 
December,  1549;  and  Bryan,  who  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him,  having  died 
at  Clonmel  in  less  than  two  months 
after,  Sentleger  returned  to  Ireland  as 
viceroy  for  the  fourth  time.  Archbishop 
Browne,  however,  hated  this  statesman, 
and  made  chai'ges  against  him  amount- 
ing to  treason,  so  that  he  was  once  more 
recalled,  and  Sir  James  Crofts  appointed 
in  his  stead.  John  Allen,  who  for  many 
years  had  been  mixed  up  in  every  iw- 
litical  intrigue,  and  had  been  dej^rived 

Fahy,  by  mistake  (see  Cose's  Htb.  Angl.);  but  Dr. 
O'Donovan  remarks  tliat  the  O'Fahrs  are  Irish,  and 
were  seated  in  the  county  of  Galway,  while  the  Fays 
are  Anglo-Normans  and  were  seated  in  West  Meath. — 
Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  p.  1506,  note  (t). 

*  Mathew,  as  he  is  called  by  English  writers,  although 
he  is  almost  invariably  styled  Ferdoragh  by  the  Ii'ish, 
was  the  son  of  Alison,  the  wife  of  a  blacksmith  of  Duu- 
dalk,  named  O'KeUy;   and  although  affiliated  to  the 


of  tlie  chancellorship  at  the  close  of 
Henry's  reign,  and  restored  to  it  in 
1548,  ^'as  now  once  more  removed  from 
his  post,  and  Thomas  Cusack,  master  of 
the  rolls,  substituted. 

A.  D.  1551. — Lord  deputy  Crofts  led 
an  army  into  Ulster  against  tlie  island 
Scots,  whose  increasing  power  in  Ireland 
had  long  been  a  source  of  anxiety  to 
the  English  government,  and  who  were 
now  leagued  "with  some  of  the  northein 
Irish.  He  sent  four  ships  to  Ilathlin, 
where  the  young  MacDounells  of  the 
Hebrides  had  a  much  larger  force  than 
he  anticipated,  and  only  one  man  of  his 
four  crews  is  said  to  have  escajied.  A 
second  hosting  of  the  English  to  the 
north  this  year  was  also  unsuccessful, 
the  deputy  having  been  defeated  in 
battle  with  the  loss  of  200  men. 

Con  O'Neill,  surnamed  Bacagli,  or 
"  the  lame,"  having  grown  old  and 
infirm,  regretted  his  unjust  partiality 
to  his  illegitimate  son,  Ferdoragh,  or 
Mathew,  for  whom  he  had  procured 
from  the  late  king  the  title  of  baron  of 
Dun2:annou  and  the  entail  of  the  earl- 
dom  of  Tyrone ;  and  wished  to  make 
his  eldest  legitimate  sou,  John,  or  Shane, 
as  he  is  familiarly  called  in  history,  heir 
to  all  his  honors.*  Ferdoragh  took  the 
alarm,  and  made  such  charges  against 

chief  of  Tyrone  by  Irish  law,  and  adopted  by  him,  John 
and  the  other  members  of  Con's  family  insisted  that  the 
affiliation  was  deceptive  and  unjust,  and  that  Ferdoragh 
was  really  the  blacksmith's  son,  which,  in  fact,  he  was 
considered  to  be  until  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  when  hia 
reputed  father,  O'KeUy,  died.  It  has  been  said,  but  we 
are  not  aware  whether  there  be  any  old  authority  for 
the  statement,  that  Alison's  only  claim  on  the  first 
baron  of  Dungannon  was  that  of  fosterage. 


344 


REIGN   OF  EDWARD   VI. 


his  father  that  the  old  man  was  seized 
and  imprisoned  by  the  lord  deputy,  and 
Shane,  who  on  coming  to  man's  estate 
displayed  a  warlike  and  indomitable 
sjjirit  worthy  of  his  illustrious  race,  flew 
to  arms,  and  jjlunged  Ulster  once  more 
in  war. 

At  this  time  the  kiug  of  France 
looked  to  Ireland  as  a  point  through 
which  England  could  easily  be  wound- 
ed; and  shortly  before  this  had  sent 
two  envoys  to  make  overtures  to  the 
northern  chieftains.  They  landed  first 
at  Green  castle,  on  Lough  Foyle,  and 
were  subsequently  detained  for  some 
time  by  stress  of  weather  at  the  castle 
called  Culmore  Fort,  which  was  in 
charge  of  0'Dohert3^  Here  they  re- 
ceived a  visit  from  Robert  Waucop, 
archbishop  of  Armagh,*  and  they 
next  proceeded  to  Donegal.  The  Irish 
chiefs  aijreed  on  this  occasion  to 
place  their  country  under  the  pro- 
tection of  France;  but  the  peace  which 
ensued  between  that  country  and 
England  rendered  these  negotiations 
abortive. 

A.  D.  1552. — The  deputy  proceeded 
with  an  army  to  Tyrone  to  aid  Fer- 
doragh  against  Shane,  who  on  his  side 


*  This  remarkable  man,  Tv-ho  is  also  called  Venantius, 
was  a  Scot.  He  was  blind  from  liis  youtb,  but  became 
one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  bis  age,  and  was  doctor 
of  the  university  of  Paris.  W^hcn  George  Dowdall  suc- 
ceeded Cromer  as  archbishop  of  Armagh,  pursuant  to 
letters  patent  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  1543,  England  being 
then  in  a  state  of  schism,  pope  Paul  III.  nominated 
Waucop  to  that  dignity ;  but  it  soon  became  obvious 
that  Dowdall  was  a  staunch  Catholic,  and  Waucop,  who 
retired  to  the  continent,  docs  not  appear  to  have  inter- 
fered in  any  way  with  his  duties  as  a  prelate.     The  So- 


was  assisted  by  the  island  Scots,  and 
the  country  was  ravaged  between  them. 
While  endeavoring  to  form  a  junction 
with  the  English,  Ferdoragh's  army  was 
routed  in  a  night  attack  by  Shane,  and 
the  deputy  having  retired  for  that  oc- 
casion without  gaining  any  advantage, 
returned  again  to  Antrim  in  autumn, 
when  he  only  succeeded  in  destroying 
the  standing  corn. 

All  the  efforts  made  durins:  this  reisrn 
to  establish  the  new  relisrion  in  Ireland 
were  unsuccessful.  It  was  adopted  by 
some  ofiicials  and  by  a  few  of  the  Eng- 
lish Avithin  the  Pale ;  but  while  the 
government,  which  changed  with  the 
whim  of  the  day,  was  Protestant,  the 
people  adhered  immovably  to  the  faith 
of  their  forefathers.  Even  the  ruling 
powers  had  not  yet  been  able  to  make 
a  well-defined  distinction  between  Prot- 
estant and  Catholic;  for  we  find  that 
when  Arthur  Magennis  was  nominated 
bishop  of  Dromore  by  the  pope  in  1550, 
his  appointment  was  confirmed  by  king 
Edward,  while  George  Dowdall,  who 
was  advanced  to  the  see  of  Armagh  by 
Henry  VIIL,  at  the  request  of  Sir 
Anthony  Sentleger,  was  a  zealous  de- 
fender of  the  doctrines  and  rights  of 


ciety  of  Jesus  was  first  introduced  into  Ireland  by 
Waucop  in  15il,  with  the  sanction  of  Paul  III.  ;  the 
first  member  of  the  society  who  came  to  Ireland  being 
F.  John  Codur,  who  was  followed  by  FF.  Salmcron, 
Brouet,  and  Zapata.  Dr.  Waucop  assisted  at  the  council 
of  Trent  from  the  first  session,  in  154.5,  to  the  eleventh, 
in  1547.  He  was  sent  as  legate  u  latere  to  Germany,  and 
died  in  the  Jesuits'  Convent  in  Paris,  in  1551.  See 
Harris's  Ware's  Bishops,  p.  93 ;  and  O'SiiUkan's  Hist. 
Calk.,  p.  89  (Dublin,  1850> 


ACCESSIOlSr  OF  MARY. 


345 


the  Catliolic  cburcL*  The  new  liturgy 
was  publicly  read  in  Christ's  church  iu 
1551 ;  and  the  same  year,  at  the  solici- 
tation of  lortl  deputy  Crofts,  archbishop 
Dowdall  consented  to  hold  a  confei-ence 
with  the  Protestant  authorities  at  St. 
Mary's  abbey,  when  Staples,  bishop  of 
Meath,  acted  as  the  Protestant  cham- 
pion. The  discussion,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, led  to  no  modification  of  views 
on  either  side ;  but  Browne  was  so 
enraged  at  the  opjjosition  given  by  the 
archbishop  of  Armagh  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  new  liturgy,  that  he  ob- 
tained a  royal  charter  transferring  to 
himself  the  primacy  of  all  Ireland ;  and 
Dowdall,  feeling  that  his  liberty  and 
perhaps  his  life  were  insecure,  fled  to 
the  continent,  one  Hugh  Goodacre,  a 
Protestant,  being  intruded  in  his  stead. 
The  Irish  annalists  tell  us  that  the 
venerable  churches  of  Clonmacnoise 
were  plundered  in  1552  by  the  English 
garrison  of  Athlone,  and  that  "there 
was  not  left  a  bell  small  or  large,  an 
image,  an  altar,  a  book,  a  gem,  or  even 
glass  in  the  window,  which  was  not 
carried  off;"  and  they  add,  "lamentable 
was  this  deed,  the  plundering  of  the 
city  of  Kieran !" 

A.  D.  1553. — Such  was  the  state  of 
things  on  the  accession  of  Mary,  whose 
short  reign  was  a  continued  effort  to 
restore  what  had  been  unsettled  in  the 
religious  and  moral  state  of  England 
during  the  two  preceding  reigns.     The 

*  See  note  on  preceding  page.    At  tliis  period  we  be- 
gin to  hear  of  "  titular  bishops,"  that  name  being  applied 
to  the  Catholic  prelates,  who  ■were  appointed  by  tlie 
41 


new  creed  had  made  considerable  way 
among  both  clergy  and  laity  in  that 
country,  many  of  the  former  having 
committed  themselves  irretrievably  by 
entering  into  the  married  state.  A  A^ast 
number  of  Lutherans  had  arrived  from 
the  continent,  and  were  zealous  in  the 
propagation  of  their  doctrines ;  and 
those  into  whose  hands  the  confiscated 
church  property  had  come,  resisted  any 
change  which  might  oblige  them  to 
disgorge  the  sacrilegious  spoils.  In  a 
state  of  society  so  disorganized,  and 
with  precedents  of  government  such  as 
then  existed,  it  is  not  marvellous  that 
Mary's  ministers  should  have  resorted 
to  severity.  The  Anabaptists  were 
burned  during  her  brother's  reign,  and 
even  the  lord  protector  Somerset,  and 
the  husband  of  the  queen  dowager, 
both  of  them  the  king's  uncles,  were 
brought  to  the  block.  We  shudder 
noAV-a-days  at  such  barbarities;  but  it 
is  only  miserable  prej  udice  which  would 
afiix  to  Mary  a  stigma  that  belongs  with 
infinitely  more  justice  to  her  sister  Eli- 
zabeth, or  to  the  infamous  monster  her 
father. 

In  Ireland,  where  the  "  Keformatiou" 
had  in  truth  gained  no  ground  among 
the  people,  the  restoration  of  the  old 
order  of  things  was  effected  without 
difficulty,  and  was  hailed  with  popular 
joy.  Here,  as  in  England,  those  of  the 
laity  who  had  obtained  possession  of 
church  property,  were,  by  the  sanction 


pope  to  sees  in  which  married  men  or  professors  of  the 
Lutheran  creed  -n-ere  placed  by  the  secular  authority. 
The  latter  enjoyed  the  revenues  and  emoluments. 


346 


REIGN   OF   MARY. 


of  the  i")ope,  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  it ; 
and  the  Irish  parliament,  following  that 
of  England,  expressed  their  repentance 
for  the  schism  of  which  they  had  been 
guilty.  Archbishop  Dowdall  being  re- 
called and  restored  to  the  primacy,  held 
a  provincial  Synod  at  Drogheda,  and 
was  placed  at  the  liead  of  a  commission 
to  deprive  married  bishops  and  priests ; 
but  the  only  prelates  whom  it  was 
necessary  to  remove,  were  Browne  of 
Dublin,  Staples  of  Meath,  Lancaster  of 
Kildare,  and  Travers  of  Leighlin.  Good- 
acre  had  died  a  few  months  after  his 
intrusion  into  the  see  of  Armagh  ;  Bale 
of  Ossory — a  fiery  bigot  and  a  coarse, 
unscrupulous  writer — had  iled,  of  his 
own  accord,  beyond  the  seas,  on  Mary's 
accession ;  and  Casey  of  Limerick,  an- 
other of  Edward's  bishops,  had  also 
made  a  voluntary  exit.  All  of  these, 
except  Casey,  were  Englishmen,  and  all 
except  Staples  were  professing  Prot- 
estants at  the  time  of  their  consecra- 
tion.* It  is  well  known  that  there  was 
no  persecution  on  account  of  religion  in 
Ireland  during  the  reign  of  Mary,  and 
that  some  Protestant  families  came  to 


*  Besides  tlio  prelates  mentioned  above,  a  few  others 
had  given  evidence  of  their  servility  by  the  recognition 
of  Henry  VIII. 's  schismatical  claim.  These  were  Hugh 
O'Kervallan,  bishop  of  Clogher,  who  accompanied 
O'Neill  to  England  in  1542  ;  Slathew  Saunders,  bishop 
of  Leighlin ;  Florence  Qerawan  or  Kirwan,  bishop  of 
Clonmacnoise  ;  Eugene  Magennis,  bishop  of  Down  and 
Connor ;  and  Rowland  Burke,  bishop  of  Clonfert. 
(Liber  Mun.  Pub.  Hib.,  v.  ii.,  p.  17,  &c.)  The  two  last- 
mentioned,  together  with  Staples  of  Meath  (for  it  is 
unnecessary  to  include  Browne),  were  the  only  members 
of  the  episcopal  body  in  Ireland,  as  it  stood  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  wlio  could  be 
induced  to  abandon  the  Catholic  faith  even  in  those 


this  country  from  England  about  that 
time  in  order  to  follow  their  religious 
persuasion  undisturbed.f 

Mary  was  inclined  to  dealr  mercifully 
with  the  Irish,  but  her  ministers  and 
her  Irish  council  would  not  dej^art  from 
the  traditional  principles  uj)on  which 
this  country  had  been  governed,  and 
whicli  recognized  neither  mercy  nor 
justice  in  their  relations  with  tbe  native 
population.  Hence  the  same  cruel  wars 
were  waged  against  the  latter  in  her 
reign  as  previously;  and  the  work  of 
extermination  having  made  sufficient 
progress  in  Leix  and  Offaly  during  the 
reign  of  Edward,  it  remained  for  Mary's 
deputy  to  form  into  counties  these  an- 
cient territories  which  had  already  been 
annexed  to  the  Pale.  This  was  the  only 
new  shire  land  marked  out  since  the 
reign  of  John.  Leix  was  designated  the 
Queen's  county,  and  its  old  fort  of  Cam- 
pa  became  the  modern  Maryborough, 
while  Offaly  was  transformed  into  the 
King's  county,  and  its  fortress  of  Dain- 
gean  into  Philijjstown,  in  compliment 
to  the  queen  and  her  husband,  Philip 
of  Sjjain.;]; 


days  of  deplorable  degeneracy.  (Vide  the  Rev.  M.  G. 
Brcnan's  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  92,  103.) 

f  The  Protestants  who  came  to  Ireland  on  this  occa- 
sion were  John  Harvey,  Abel  Ellis,  John  Edmonds,  and 
Henry  Haugh,  with  their  families.  Tliey  were  from 
Chesliire,  and  were  accompanied  by  a  Welsh  Protestant 
clergyman  named  Thomas  Jones,  whom  the  earl  of 
Susses  subsequently  took  into  his  household.  See 
Ware's  Annals,  An.  1554.  These  men.  were  the 
founders  of  respectable  mercantile  families  in  Dubhn. 

if  In  addition  to  the  territory  of  Leix,  the  present 
Queen's  county  comprises  a  portion  of  ancient  Cssory, 
constituting  the  barony  of  Upper  Ossory,  besides  the 
baronies  of  Portnahinch  and  Tinnahinch  which  were 


STRIFE  IN  THOMOND. 


347 

» 


Mary's  kinduess,  as  contrasted  Avith 
the  harshness  of  her  Irish  government, 
was  illustrated  by  an  affecting  incident 
in  the  first  year  of  her  reign.  Margaret, 
the  daughter  of  O'Conor  Faly,  inspired 
with  hope  on  hearing  that  a  queen  oc- 
cupied the  throne,  hastened  to  England, 
where  her  father  was  a  prisonei",  and  at 
Mary's  feet  begged  his  liberation.  Her 
prayer  was  granted,  and  she  returned 
with  her  father  to  Ireland ;  but  the 
lords  justices,  presuming  to  manage 
Irish  afiairs  in  their  own  way,  seized 
the  chieftain  and  cast  him  once  more 
into  prison.*  This  year  also  (1553) 
Garret,  or  Gerald,  and  his  brother  Ed- 
ward, the  sons  of  the  earl  of  Kildare, 
returned  to  Ireland  after  their  Ions: 
exile,  and  were  restored  to  all  the 
honors  and  possessions  of  their  family. 
There  were  great  rejoicings,  say  the 
annalists,  "  because  it  was  thought  that 
not  one  of  the  descendants  of  the  earls 
of  Kildare  or  of  the  O'Conors  Faly 
would  ever  return  to  Ireland." 

Murrough  O'Brien  died  in  1551,  and 
his  nephew,  Donough,  the  son  of  Mur- 
rough's  elder  brother,  Conor,  and  the 
rightful  heir  in  the  eyes  of  the  English 
law,  assumed  the  title  of  earl  of  Tho- 


part  of  Offaly,  and  belonged  toO'Dunne  and  O'Dempsey. 

Oifaly,  before  the  Englisb  invasion,  comprised  the  terri- 
tories "wbicb  constitute  the  baronies  of  East  and  West 
Offaly  in  Kildare ;  those  of  upper  and  lower  Philips- 
town,  Geashill,  Warrenstown,  and  Coolestowu  in  the 
King's  county;  and  those  already  mentioned  in  the 
Queen's  county.  It  is.  not  therefore  correct  to  say,  as  is 
tisually  done,  that  Leis  and  Offaly  -were  respectively 
transformed  into  the  Queen's  and  King's  counties.  See 
notes  to  O'Donovan's  Four  Masters,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  44,  105, 
&c.    The  same  yeai  (1556)  in  which  Leix  and  Oflfaly 


mond.  He  surrendered  his  patent, 
which  was  only  for  his  own  life,  and 
obtained  a  new  one  from  Edward  VI., 
securing  to  his  heirs  male  the  title  of 
earl,  and  all  the  lands  and  honors  be- 
longing to  his  uncle.  His  brothers, 
Donnell  and  Turlough,  objected  to  this 
mode  of  fixing  the  inheritance,  which 
was  at  direct  variance  with  their  own 
law  of  tanistry;  and  on  Donougli's 
death,  in  1553,  Donnell  claimed  the 
right  of  succession  to  the  chieftaincy, 
and  dispossessed  Donough's  son,  Conor. 
This  created  violent  strife ;  Donnell, 
despising  the  foreign  title  of  earl,  as- 
sumed that  of  the  O'Brien,  amid  the 
acclamations  of  the  people,  and  Conor 
depended  on  the  English  arms  to  sup- 
port his  claim.  He  was  besieged  by 
Donnell  in  1554,  in  the  castle  of  Doon- 
mulvihil,  and  was  only  saved  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  the  earl  of  Ormond. 
Ultimately,  Donnell  was  banished  by 
the  earl  of  Sussex,  lord  lieutenant,  in 
1558,  and  Conor  was  left  in  possession 
of  the  earldom. 

Sentleger,  who  was  appointed  lord 
deputy  for  the  fifth  time  in  1553,  was 
again  recalled,  through  the  intrigues  of 
the  extreme  anti-Irish  party,  in  1555. 


were  converted  into  shires,  the  pope  sanctioned  the 
assumption  by  Mary  of  the  title  of  queen  of  Ireland, 
having  previously  disapproved  of  it  when  only  author- 
ized by  the  Act  33d  Henry  VHI.,  passed  (A.  D.  1541) 
after  the  commencement  of  the  schism.  ^  The  massacre 
of  Mullaghmast,  erroneously  connected  by  some  modern 
writers  -with  the  annexation  of  Leix  and  Offaly,  did  not 
occur  tmtil  the  19th  year  of  queen  Elizabeth,  and  wUl 
be  mentioned  in  its  proper  place. 

*  Compare  i'lii/7'  Masters,  A.  D.  1553,  and  the  Abbe 
Mageogliegan,  p.  443  (Duffy's  edition.) 


348 


REIGN  OF  MART. 


His  poimlarity  Avitli  the  Irish  was  the 
only  ground  of  hostility  against  him ; 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Ead- 
cliffe,  viscount  FitzWilliam  and  after- 
wards earl  of  Sussex,  who  led  an  army 
into  Ulster  against  the  Scots,  then  very 
powerful  in  the  districts  of  the  Route 
and  Clannaboy.  He  was  aided  by  Con 
O'Neill,  but  returned  after  a  campaign 
of  three  months  without  bringing  the 
war  to  a  conclusion.  Con  O'Neill  was 
again  unfortunate  in  an  expedition 
against  the  same  dangerous  intruders 
in  Clannaboy,  and  was  defeated  by 
them,  with  the  loss  of  300  men.*  In 
1555  Calvagh  O'Dounell  employed 
some  Scottish  auxiliaries  against  his 
father,  Manus,  whom  he  made  prisoner 
and  detained  in  captivity  until  his 
death.  In  1557  the  Scots  penetrated 
to  Armagh,  which  was  plundered  twice 
in  one  month  by  the  earl  of  Sussex. 
The  same  year  Shane  O'lSTeill,  observ- 
ing the  weak  condition  to  which  Cal- 
vagh's  rebellion  had  reduced  Tirconnell, 
thought  the  opportunity  a  favorable 
one  to  recover  the  power  of  which  his 
ancestors  had  been  deprived  by  the 
O'Donnells.  He  accordingly  mustered 
a  numerous  army,  and  pitched  his  ciamp 
at  Carrigliatl},  between  the  rivers  Finn 
and  Mourne,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Hugh,  the  brother  of  Calvagh  O'Don- 
nell,  and  several  of  the  men  of  Tircon- 
nell who  were  disaffected  towards  their 


*  A  large  body  of  these  Scottish  adventurers  pene- 
trated into  Connaught  in  1558,  and  -were  hired  by  the 
northern  MacWilliam,  who  was  called  Kichard-of-tlie- 
iron.    But  the  earl    of  Clanrickard,  Kichard,  son  of 


chief  for  his  rebellion.  Calvacjh  in  this 
emergency  consulted  his  father,  and  by 
his  advice  resolved  to  avoid  a  pitched 
battle,  and  to  have  recourse  to  strata- 
gem. He  caused  his  cattle  to  be  driven 
to  a  distance,  and  when  O'Neill  entered 
his  territor}^,  and  marched  as  far  as  the 
place  now  called  Balleeghan,  near 
Raphoe,  he  sent  two  spies  into  the 
Kiuel-Owen  camp,  while  he  himself 
hovered  not  far  off  with  his  small  force. 
The  spies  mixed  with  O'Neill's  soldiers, 
received  rations,  which  they  carried 
back  as  evidence  of  their  success,  and 
undertook  to  guide  O'Donnell's  army 
that  night  to  O'Neill's  tent,  which  is 
described  as  being  distinguished  by  a 
great  watchfire,  a  huge  torch  burning 
outside,  sixty  grim  gallowglasses  on  one 
side  of  the  entrance,  with  sharp,  keen 
axes,  ready  for  action,  and  as  many  stern 
and  terrific  Scots  on  the  other,  with 
their  broadswords  in  hand.  Overween- 
ing confidence  had  rendered  O'Neill 
careless.  He  boasted  that  no  one 
should  be  king  in  Ulster  but  himself, 
and  despised  the  power  of  his  crafty 
foe;  but  O'Donnell  penetrated  under 
cover  of  the  darkness  into  the  heart 
of  O'Neill's  camp,  and  proceeded  to 
slaughter  the  men  of  Tyrone  without 
resistance,  so  that  the  whole  were 
routed  or  cut  to  pieces,  while  Shane 
himself  escaping  through  the  back  of 
his  tent,  fled  unattended  except  by  two 


TJlick-na^gceann  (the  first  earl),  son  of  Richard,  son  of 
Ulick  of  Knackdoe,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  this  foreign 
host,  marclied  against  them  and  cut  them  to  pieces  on 
the  banks  of  the  Moy. 


DEATH  OF  MARY. 


of  Hugh  O'Donneirs  men,  and  by  swim- 
ming across  three  rivers  made  his  Avay 
to  his  own  territory  covered  with  con- 
fusion. The  following  year  he  procured 
the  murder  of  Ferdoragh,  Laron  of 
Duugannon,  and  his  father  Con  dying 
in  captivity  in  Dublin,  he  assumed  the 
chieftaincy  without  opposition. 

Meantime  the  war  of  extermination 
was  carried  on  against  the  remnant  of 
the  old  race  in  the  territories  which  we 
may  still  call  Leix  and  Offaly.  The 
heart  sickens  at  the  narrative  of  merci- 


less ao'crression  on  the  one  side,  and  of 
indomitable  resistance  ou  the  other. 
The  O'Conors,  O'Mores,  O'MoUoys, 
O'Carrolls,  and  the  rest  of  them,  were 
unrelentingly  Jiunted  down,  and  the 
whole  country  was  made  a  scene  of  de- 
solation from  the  Shannon  to  the  Wick- 
low  mountains.  But  dark  as  this  period 
is,  we  have  arrived  at  one  infinitely  more 
gloomy  in  our  history — the  sanguinary 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  which  commenced 
on  the  day  of  Mary's  death,  November 
17th,  1558. 


350 


ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

EEIGN      OF      ELIZABETH. 

Religious  pliancy  of  Statesmen  and  fidelity  of  the  people. — Shane  O'Neill. — Acts  of  tlie  Parliament  of  1559. — 
Laws  against  the  Catholic  religion. — Sliserable  condition  of  the  Irish  Church. — Discord  in  Thomond. — 
Machinations  of  Government  against  Shane  O'Neill. — Capture  of  Calvagh  O'DouneU  by  the  latter. — War 
■with  Shane. — Defeat  of  the  English. — Plan  to  assassinate  the  Tyrone  Chief. — Submission  of  Shane,  and  hia 
visit  to  the  Court  of  Elizabeth. — His  return,  further  misunderstanding,  and  renewed  peace  with  the  Govern- 
ment.— O'Neill  defeats  the  Scots  of  Clannaboy. — ^Feud  between  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond. — The 
latter  woimded  and  captured  at  Affane. — The  Earl  of  Sussex  succeeded  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney. — Renewed  war 
in  Ulster. — O'NeiU  invades  the  English  Pale. — Defeated  at  Derry. — Burning  of  Derrj-  and  withdrawal  of  the 
English  garrison. — Death  of  Calvagh  O'DonueU. — O'NeiU  defeated  by  Calvagh's  successor,  Hugh. — Hia 
disastrous  flight.  Appeal  to  the  Scots,  and  Murder. — His  character. — ^Visitation  of  Munster  and  Connaught,  by 
Sidney. — Sidney's  description  of  the  State  of  the  country. — His  character  of  the  great  Nobles. — Base  policy  of 
the  Government  confessed  by  him. — His  energy  and  severity. — Arrest  of  Desmond. — Commencement  of 
serious  troubles  in  the  South. — Position  of  the  Catholics.^Sir  James  FitzMaurice. — Parliament  of  1.569. — 
Fraudulent  elections. — Attainder  of  O'NeiU. — Claims  of  Sir  Peter  Carew. — Rebellion  of  Sir  Edmund  Butler. 
— Sidney's  military  Expedition  to  Munster. — Sir  John  Perrott  Lord  President  of  Munster,  and  Sir  Edward 
Fitton  President  of  Connaught. — Renewed  war  in  the  South. — Rebellion  of  the  Earl  of  Thomond. — RebeUion 
of  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Clanrickard. — Battle  of  Shrule. — The  Castle  of  Aughnanure  taken. — Siege  and 
Capture  of  Castlemaine. — Submission  of  Sir  James  FitzMaurice. — Attempted  English  settlements  in  Ulster. — 
Horrible  Massacre  of  the  Irish  in  Clannaboy. — FaUure  and  Death  of  the  Earl  of  Essex. — Sir  Henry  Sidney 
makes  another  visitation  of  the  South  and  West. — Sir  WiUiam  Drury  President  of  Munster,  and  Sir  Nicholas 
Malby  in  Connaught. — lUegal  Tax,  Difficulties  in  the  Pale. — Career  and  Death  of  Rory  Oge  O'More. — The 
Massacre  of  MuUaghmast. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns  and  Smnts.—Vopes :  Paul  IV.,  Pius  IV.,  Pius  V.,  Gregory  XIII.— Kings  of  France :  Francis 
II.,  CliarlesIX.,  Henry  III.— King  of  Spain,  Philip  II.— King  of  Portugal,  Sebastian.— Sovereigns  of  Scotland:  Mary, 
James  VI.— Battle  of  Lepanto,  1571. — Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  1.572. 


(A.  D.  1558   TO    A.  D.  1578.) 


PLIANCY  of  conscience  character- 
ized in  a  remarkable  desfree  the 
statesmen  of  the  asje  of  which  it  is  now 
our  duty  to  treat.  There  aj^pears  to 
have  been  no  fixed  principles  of  religion 
or  politics  among  them,  and  the  men 
who  undertook  to  restore  the  ancient 
religion  to  its  original  state  under  the 


Catholic  queen  Mary,  were  found  as 
ready  and  suitable  instruments  for  its 
destruction  at  the  beck  of  her  Protes- 
tant sister  and  successor,  Elizabeth 
Thus,  Thomas  Radcliffe,  earl  of  Sussex, 
who  had  been  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland 
under  the  former  sovereign,  continued 
in   office   under   the   latter,    reversing. 


SHANE  O'NEILL.. 


351 


under  the  altered  rule,  his  own  previous 
acts ;  and  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  the  treas- 
urer, who  acted  as  deputy  in  the 
absence  of  Sussex,  before  the  close  of 
Mary's  reign,  was  also  appointed  to  the 
same  charge,  although  to  perform  con- 
trary duties,  when  Sussex  went  to  Eng- 
land after  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne. 
But  if  those  who  lived  within  the  sphere 
of  court  influence  exhibited  this  lubri- 
city in  their  religious  princij^les,  it  was 
not  so  with  the  general  jwpulation  of 
L'eland,  who  viewed  such  fickleness 
with  horror,  and  who  were  roused  to  a 
sense  of  their  own  danger  by  the  meas- 
m'es  taken,  on  the  accession  of  the  new 
queen,  to  subvert  their  religion  and  to 
enforce  the  new  creed  and  form  of 
worship.  Thus  was  a  fresh  element  of 
strife  introduced  into  this  unhappy 
country.  The  native  population  had 
hitherto  seen  in  their  English  rulers 
the  plunderers  of  their  ancestral  lands 
and  the  exterminators  of  their  race; 
but  to  this  character  was  now  super- 
added that  of  the  revilers  and  per- 
secutors of  their  relicfion :  while  in 
regarding  the  English  government  in 
this  latter  point  of  view,  a  vast  majority 
of  the  people  of  English  descent  in 
Ireland  Avere  now  identified  in  senti- 
ment with  the  native  Irish.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  fidelity  of  the  Irish  to 
the  religion  of  their  fathers  became 
branded  with  the  stigma  of  rebellion ; 
their  memories  were  blackened  and  their 
actions  distorted  by  their  successful  ene- 
mies, and  calumny  was  unsparingly  add- 
ed to  spoliation  and  persecirtion. 


Of  this  ungenerous  conduct  we  have 
a  marked  instance  in  the  case  of  Shane 
O'Neill,  the  prince  of  Tyrone,  whose 
character  has  been  depicted  in  revolt- 
ing colors  by  English  historians.  They 
describe  him  as  a  barbarian  and  as  one 
addicted  to  every  vice ;  but  if  he  had 
faults  some  of  which  we  do  not  excuse, 
we  know  at  least  that  he  was  chival- 
rous, confiding,  and  generous ;  that 
with  the  exhausted  resources  of  his 
small  territory  he  was  able  to  keep  the 
power  of  England  at  bay ;  that  hg  de- 
feated her  experienced  generals  in  the 
field,  and  foiled  her  statesmen  in  nego- 
tiation ;  and  that  he  combined  with  no 
ordinary  qualities  of  mind  an  undaunted 
bravery,  and  an  ardent  love  of  his 
country.  We  have  already  seen  how 
he  assumed  the  chieftaincy  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  who  closed  his  life  in 
captivity,  and  how  he  thus  set  aside 
the  claims  of  the  sons  of  his  elder  but 
illegitimate  brother,  Mathew,  or  Fer- 
doragh,  the  late  baron  of  Dungannon, 
who  w^as  slain  at  his  instiafation ;  and 
this  course  being  in  open  defiance  of 
English  authoritj",  which  had  always 
made  common  cause  with  Mathew,  Sir 
Henry  Sidney,  as  lord  deputy  in  the 
absence  of  Sussex,  now  led  an  army  to 
Dundalk,  and  summoned  Shane  to  ac- 
count for  his  proceedings.  The  haughty 
chief  of  Tja-one  replied  to  the  summons 
by  inviting  the  deputy  to  come  to  his 
court,  and  stand  as  sponsor  to  his 
child.  Whatever  motive  may  have 
actuated   Sidney   he    accepted  the  in- 

• 

vitatiou,  and  was  so  influenced  by  the 


352 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


arguments  urged  by  O'Neill  in  support 
of  his  rights,  and  by  his  protestations 
of  loyalty,  that  he  withdrew  his  army, 
and  promised  to  lay  the  matter  before 
the  queen.  Thus  for  the  moment  were 
friendly  relations  established  between 
the  Ulster  chieftain  and  the  Pale ;  but 
the  government  of  the  latter  soon  found 
sources  of  uneasiness  in  other  quarters. 
Rumors  of  invasion  from  France  and 
Spain  became  current;  the  earls  of 
Kildare  and  Desmond  held  conferences 
of  a  auspicious  nature^  and  disaffection 
was  more  general  and  apparent  as  the 
principles  of  Elizabeth's  government 
became  intelligible  to  the  country. 

A.  D.  1560. — A  parliament  composed 
of  seventy-six  members  was  summoned 
to  meet  in  Dublin  on  the  12th  of  Jan- 
uary this  year.*  It  comprised  the 
representatives  of  ten  counties,f  the 
remainder  being  "  citizens  and  bur- 
gesses," says  Leland,  "  of  these  towns  in 
which  the  royal  authority  was  predom- 
inant ;  and  with  such  a  parliament,"  as 
the  same  Protestant  historian  admits, 
"  it  is  little  wonder  that,  in  despite  of 
clamor  and  opposition,  in  a  session  of  a 
few  weeks,  the  whole  ecclesiastical  sys- 
tem of  queen  Mary  was  entirely  revers- 
ed." J  The  proceedings  are  involved  in 
mystery,  and  the  principal  measures 
are  believed  to  have  been  carried  by 

*  As  the  legal  year,  at  this  time,  commenced  in 
March,  the  montlis  of  January  and  February  of  the  natu- 
ral year  belonged  to  the  common  or  preceding  legal  year ; 
hence  this  parliament  of  2d  Elizabeth,  which  was  held 
in  January,  1560,  is  often  called  the  parliament  of  1539. 

f  The  counties  to  which  the  writs  were  issued  were 
Dublin,  Meath,  West  Meath,  Louth,  Kildare,  Cather- 
lough,  Kilkenny,  Waterford,  Tipperary  and  Wexford. 


means  fraudulent  and  clandestine ;  but 
at  all  events  it  was  enacted  that  the 
queen  was  the  head  of  the  church  of 
Ireland,  the  reformed  worship  was  re- 
established as  under  Edward  VI.,  and 
the  book  of  common  jjrayer,  with 
further  alterations,  re-introduced.  Eve- 
ry person  was  bound  to  attend  the  new 
service  under  pain  of  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sures and  of  a  fine  of  twelve  pence  for 
each  offence ;  the  first  fruits  and  twen- 
tieths of  the  church  revenue  were  re- 
stored to  the  crown ;  and  the  right  of 
collating  to  all  vacant  sees  by  royal 
letters  patent  was  established  instead 
of  the  form  of  a  writ  of  conge  iVelire, 
the  prelates  being  ordered  to  consecrate 
the  person  thus  aj^pointed  within  the 
space  of  twenty  days  under  the  penalty 
of  premunire.  The  laws  made  in  Mary's 
reign  restoring  the  civil  establishment 
of  the  Catholic  religion  were  repealed ; 
all  officers  and  ministers,  ecclesiastical 
or  lay,  were  bound  to  take  the  oath  of 
supremacy  under  pain  of  forfeiture  and 
total  incapacity;  and  any  one  who 
maintained  the  spiritual  supremacy  of 
the  pope  was  to  forfeit  for  the  first 
offence  all  his  estates  real  and  personal, 
or  be  imprisoned  for  one  year  if  not 
worth  £20  ;  for  the  second  offence  to  be 
liable  to  premunire ;  and  for  the  third 
to  be  guilty  of  high  treason.§ 

X  Leland,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  234. 

g  As  the  statute  of  supremacy,  28th  Henry  VIII.,  chap. 
5  (A.  D.  1536),  was  passed  by  the  illegal  and  arbitrary 
exclusion  of  the  proctors  from  parliament,  and  by  the 
preliminary  dragooning  of  the  nation  by  lord  Leonard 
Gray,  who,  as  Sir  John  Davis  says,  "  to  prepare  the 
minds  of  the  people  to  obey  this  statute,  began  first  with 
a  martial  course,  and  by  making  a  victorious  circuit 


PENAL  LAWS. 


These  laws  against  the  j'eligiou  of 
the  people  had  little  effect  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  Pale,  while  even  within 
its  precincts  they  were  generally  met 
by  passive  resistance,  and  became  in 
many  instances  a  dead  letter.  When 
the  Catholic  clergy  were  obliged  to  flee 
from  their  churches,  their  places  were 
in  a  majority  of  cases  left  unsupplied, 
or  ignorant  and  worthless  men,  who 
abandoned  their  religion  for  temporal 
advanta^ces,  were  substituted.  Even 
those  who  enjoyed  the  rank  of  bishoj)s 
under  the  Reformation,  showed  them- 


rouBd  tlie  kingdom,  wlierebj-  the  principal  septs  of  the 
Irish  were  all  terrified  and  most  of  them  broken ;"  (Hist. 
Eel.) ;  BO  is  there  sufScient  reason  to  believe  that  the 
statute  of  uniformity  of  the  2d  of  Elizabeth  was  obtained 
forcibly  or  surrejititiously  from  the  parliament  of  1560. 
"  In  the  very  beginning  of  that  parliament,"  says  Ware, 
"  most  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  were  so  divided  in 
opinion  about  ecclesiastical  government  that  the  earl  of 
Susses  dissolved  them,  and  went  over  to  England  to 
consult  her  majesty  on  the  affairs  of  this  kingdom." 

.  From  this  and  subsequent  proceedings  of  the  vice- 
roy, it  may  be  inferred  that  the  act  was  not  carried  in 
a  regular  manner.  It  is  even  said  that  the  carl  of  Sus- 
sex, to  calm  the  protests  which  were  made  in  parlia- 
ment when  it  was  found  that  the  law  had  been  passed 
by  a  few  members  assembled  privately,  pledged  himself 
solemnly  that  it  would  not  generally  be  enforced  during 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  (See  CamhrenHs  Ever.,  also  An- 
aUcta  Sacra,  p.  431.)  Dr.  Curry  (Civil  Wart,  book  ii. 
chap,  iii.)  has  collected  some  curious  facts  in  illustration 

^  of  this  point ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  the  statute  of  uni- 
formity was  kept  in  abeyance  untU  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  although  not  generally  enforced  until 
that  time.  On  the  23d  May,  1561,  commissioners  were 
appointed  to  enforce  the  2d  Eliz.  against  Catholics  in 
W^est  Meath ;  in  December,  1562,  a  commission  with 
similar  jurisdiction  was  appointed  for  Armagh  and 
Jileath ;  and  in  1564,  commissioners  were  appointed  for 
the  whole  kingdom,  to  inquire  into  all  ofiences  or  mis- 
demeanors contrary  to  the  statutes  of  2d  Elizabeth,  and 
concerning  all  heretical  opinions,  ire,  against  said  stat- 
utes. 

Other  commissions  were  appointed  in  subsequent 
years,  but  the  proceedings  of  none  of  these  appear  to  be 
now  ascertainable. 

45 


selves  in  many  instances  so  notoriously 
devoid  of  honesty,  by  making  away  with 
the  temporalities  of  their  sees,  that  it 
was  soon  necessary  to  enact  a  law  break 
iug  the  fraudulent  leases  whick  they 
had  made,  and  prohibiting  for  the 
future  such,  alienations.'"'  The  sacred 
edifices  fell  into  ruins,  and  the  peojile 
were  obliged  to  worship  God  in  secret 
and  retired  places;  so  that  in  half-a- 
dozen  years  from  Elizabeth's  accession, 
her  dejDuty,  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  was  able 
to  describe  the  miserable  couditioh  of 
the  Irish  church,  as  "spoiled,  as  well 


*  See  Harris's  Ware's  Irish  Bishops,  from  which  it 
would  appear  that  the  new  Protestanf  bishops  of  Eliza- 
beth's time  very  generally  plundered  the  sees  iuto  which 
they  were  introduced  by  bartering  away  the  revenues 
"  through  fear  of  another  change."  See  more  particu- 
larly the  articles  on  Jliler  llagrath,  archbishop  of 
Cashel ;  Alexander  Craik,  bishop  of  Kildare ;  bishop 
Lyon,  of  Boss ;  bishop  Field,  of  Leighlin  ;  bishop  Deve- 
reux,  of  Ferns,  &c.  Some  of  these  men  "  by  most  scan- 
dalous wastes  and  alienations,"  reduced  their  sees  to 
such  a  state  that  their  successors  were  scarcely  left 
means  to  subsist,  and  a  union  of  sees  became  necessary. 
The  conduct  of  some  of  the  first  of  these  "  reformed" 
bishops  appears  to  have  been  in  other  respects  also  any 
thing  but  exemplary.  Thus  William  Ejiight,  the  co- 
adjutor of  MQer  Magrath  in  Cashel,  having  excited  "  the 
scorn  and  derision  of  the  people"  by  his  public  drunken- 
ness, was  obliged  to  fly  to  England  (Ware,  p.  4S4). 
Marmaduke  Jliddleton,  of  Waterford,  translated  to  St. 
David's,  was  degraded  for  the  forgery  of  a  will  (Peter 
Heylins  Examoi  Hist.).  Richard  Dixon,  of  Cloyne  and 
Ross,  was  deprived  "  projiter  adulterium  manifestum  ct 
confessum"  (oflBcial  paper  quoted  in  Gilbert's  Hist,  of 
Dub.,  vol.  i.,  p.  114),  kc.  As  to  archbishop  Bro^vne, 
Henry  VIII.  charged  him  with  "  lightness  in  behavior,'' 
and  said  that  "  all  virtue  and  honesty  were  almost  van- 
ished from  him"  (State,  P.,  clxxiv.) ;  while  Bale  in  his 
own  gross  manner  accused  him  of  "  di'unkenuess  and 
gluttony,"  calling  him  an  "  epicurious  archbishop,"  a 
"brockish  swine,"  a  "dissembling  proselite,"  and  a 
"pernicious  papist"  (The  Vocaci/oii  of  Joluui  Bayle,  re- 
printed in  the  Harleian  MiseeUany.  vol.  vi.).  And  Dow- 
ling,  in  one  pithy  sentence,  describes  Travels,  Edward 
VI. 's  bishop  of  Leighlin,  as  "  cruel,  covetous.  Vexing  hia 
clergy"  (An.  nib.,  p.  38,  ed.  of  1840). 


354 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


by  the  rnin  of  the  temples  as  the  dissi- 
pation and  embezzlement  of  the  patri- 
mony, and  most  of  all  for  want  of  suffi- 
cient ministers;"  adding,  that  "so  de- 
formed and  overthrown  a  church  there 
is  not,  I  am  sure,  in  any  region  where 
Christ  is  professed  !"  * 

Meanwhile,  the  Irish  were,  as  usual, 
a  prey  to  discord  among  themselves. 
In  Thomond,  great  confusion  prevailed, 
owing  to  the  e"fforts  of  Teige  and  Don- 
ough,  sons  of  Murrough  O'Brien,  to 
wrest  the  chieftaincy  from  Conor  O'Bri- 
en, earl  of  Thomond.  Garrett,  who 
had  succeeded  his  father,  James,  as  earl 
of  Desmond,  sided  with  the  former, 
while  Conor  called  in  the  aid  of  his 
friend,  the  earl  of  Clanrickard.  The 
three  earls,  with  their  I'espective  armies, 
met  at  Bally-Ally,  a  few  miles  north  of 
Ennis,  and  after  an  obstinate  fight  the 
combined  forces  of  Conor  O'Brien  and 
the  Burkes  were  defeated.  The  pro- 
ceeding of  the  earl  of  Desmond  on  this 
occasion  was  regarded  by  the  English 
government  as  an  act  of  rebellion.  As 
to  Thomond,  it  continued  to  be  for 
some  years  disturbed  by  the  rival  fac- 
tions. Among  the  claimants  to  the 
chieftaincy,  under  the  law  of  tauistry, 
were    Donnell    and    Teige,    uncles   of 


*  Sir  Henry  Sidney's  Despatches.  In  a  letter  to  tljo 
queen,  that  deputy  draws  a  melancholy  picture  of  the 
ruinous  state  of  the  church :  In  Meath,  ■which  he  refers 
to  as  '•  the  best  peopled  diocese  and  the  best  governed 
country"  of  Ireland,  he  states  that  out  of  224  parish 
churches  105  had  fallen  -wholly  into  decay,  without 
roofs,  doors  or  windows,  the  very  walls  in  many  places 
being  down  ;  while  the  revenues  were  confiscated  to  the 
crown.  Fifty-two  others  had  incumbents,  and  as  many 
more  wore  private  property.    By  a  curious  inconsisteu 


Conor;  but  in  1560  a  partial  settle- 
ment of  these  disputes  was  effected  by 
a  grant  of  the  disti'ict  of  Corcomroe, 
with  certain  church  lands,  to  Sir  Don- 
nell, who,  some  years  after,  served  the 
queen  efficiently  as  sheriff  of  Thomond. 
The  English  government  evinced  its 
distrust  of  Shane  O'Neill  by  a  course 
of  action  well  calculated  to  excite  that 
chieftain's  hostility.  Efforts  were  made 
to  alienate  the  neighboring  chiefs  from 
him,  and  for  that  purpose  honors  were 
conferred  on  some,  and  promises  held 
out  to  others.  O'Reilly  was  created 
earl  of  Brenny,  or  Breftny,  and  baron 
of  Cavan ;  and  a  messenger  was  sent 
by  a  circuitous  route  to  Calvagh  O'Don- 
uell,  bearing  letters  from  the  queen, 
offering  to  create  him  earl  of  Tii-connell, 
together  with  letters  from  the  earl  of 
Sussex  to  O'Donnell's  wife — a  Scottish 
lady,  who  is  generally  called  the  coun- 
tess of  Argyle — informing  her  that  the 
queen  ^yas  about  to  send  her  some 
costly  presents.  O'Neill  who  well  un- 
derstood this  indirect  mode  of  showing 
enmity  against  himself,  soon  made  the 
recipients  of  English  favors  rue  the 
friendship  which  was  only  intended  to 
wean  them  from  the  interests  of  their 
country.     lie  invaded  the  territory  of 


CT,  at  the  commencement  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  those 
ministers  who  had  no  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage were  allowed  to  read  the  Liturgy  in  Latin  ;  and 
Peter  Lombard,  the  Catholic  archbishop  of  Armagh, 
tells  us,  that  in  the  five  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  many 
of  the  Irish,  from  ignorance,  attended  the  new  service, 
tailing  with  them  their  rosaries  and  crucifi.^cs,  but  that 
as  soon  as  they  becam-e  fully  aware  of  the  religious 
changes  that  had  taken  place,  they  shunned  the  churches 
witli  horror.    {Commentaries,  p.  283.) 


AGGRESSIOXS   OF   SHANE   O'NEILL. 


355 


the  new  eaii  of  Breuny,  and  after  lay- 
ing it  waste,  compelled  O'Eeill}'-  to  be- 
come bis  vassal.  Against  O'Dounell  bis 
enmity  was  not  of  recent  date,  aud  be 
seized  an  opportunity  which  now  pre- 
sented itself  of  gratifying  all  bis  ven- 
geance. He  learned  that  the  principal 
part  of  O'Donnell's  army  was  absent  on 
a  hostile  excursion  to  Lou£:h  Veaob  in 
Donegal,  while  Calvagh  himself  was 
almost  unattended  at  the  monastery  of 
*Killodonnell,  near  the  upper  part  of 
Lough  Swilly ;  and  making  a  sudden 
descent,  he  carried  oif  Calvagh  and  his 
wife  prisoners.  The  former  he  incarce- 
rated in  one  of  his  strongholds,  and  the 
latter,  whose  subsequent  shameless  con- 
duct has  made  some  suspect  that  it  was 
she  who  betrayed  her  husband  into 
O'Neill'f!  bands,  be  made  bis  mistress.* 
He  now  declared  himself  chief  of  all 
Ulster. 

O'Neill,  in  fine,  no  longer  disguised 
bis  hatred  of  England,  but  openly  de- 
clared bis  detei'mination  to  contend 
against  English  power,  not  only  in  bis 
own  province  of  Ulster,  but  in  Leinster 
and  Munster.  He  led  an  army  into 
Bregia,  plundered  the  territory  of  the 
Pale,  and  only  returned  to  the  north  at 
the  approach  of  winter,  when  be  had 
destroyed  the  corn,  and  left  no  food  iu 

*  The  circumstance  mentioned  above  leaves  a  blemish 
on  tlie  character  of  Shane  O'NeUl  which  even  the  man- 
ners of  the  age  and  the  life  of  violence  which  ho  was 
fated  to  pass  cannot  palliate.  The  woman  who  thus 
Became  liis  mistress  was  the  step-mother  of  his  wife,  the 
latter  being  the  daughter  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell,  bv  a 
former  wife.  The  Four  Masters,  who  record  the  seizure 
of  Calvagh  under  the  year  1.550,  state,  under  the  date 
of  15C1,  that "  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Calvagh  and  wife  of 


the  country  to  support  bis  army.  Eliza- 
beth bad  caused  an  assembly  of  the 
Irish  clergy  to  be  held  this  year  for  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  the  Protestant 
worship  throughout  the  kingdom,  and 
had  given  a  foretaste  of  the  persecution 
which  might  be  expected  by  casting 
William  Walsh,  then  bishop  of  Meatb, 
into  prison,  for  his  O2')position  to  the 
newly-imported  lituigy.  These  pro- 
ceedings filled  the  country  with  disaf- 
fection, which  was  stimulated  by  hopes 
of  aid  from  foreign  princes — a  course 
for  which  Elizabeth's  government  af- 
forded the  amplest  justification  by  the 
aid  which  it  lent  to  the  rebellious  sub- 
jects of  other  countries.  Shane  O'Neill 
asked  the  kins;  of  France  to  send  him 
five  or  six  thousand  men,  and  with  such 
assistance  at  that  moment  he  would 
have  bad  little  difliculty  in  liberating 
his  country  from  the  English  yoke. 

A.  D.  1561. — It  is  said  that  Elizabeth 
had,  at  this  time,  designed  to  try  the 
effect  of  a  conciliatory  j^olicy  with 
O'Neill,  and  that  Sussex,  when  return- 
ing from  England,  iu  June  this  year, 
had  received' instructions  to  that  effect ; 
but,  be  that  as  it  may,  the  contrary 
course  was  pursued.  The  lord  lieuten- 
ant bad  brought  reinforcements  from 
England,  and,  with  as  powerful  an  army 


O'Niell,  died  of  horror,  loathing,  grief,  and  deep  anguish, 
in  consequence  of  the  severity  of  the  imprisonment  inflicts 
ed  on  her  father  by  O'Neill  in  her  presence."  About  the 
latter  year,  CNeUI,  in  his  letters  to  queen  Elizabeth, 
frequently  expressed  a  wish  that  "  some  English  gentle- 
woman of  noble  blood,"  might  be  given  to  him  as  wife ; 
the  lady  whose  hand  he  de.?u-ed  thus  to  obtain  being 
the  sister  of  his  most  inveterate  foe,  the  earl  of  Sus- 
ses. 


356 


KEIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


as  lie  could  collect,  iucluding  tlie  forces 
of  tlie  earl  of  Ormond,  he  marched  to 
Armagh,  where  he  threw  up  entrench- 
ments round  the  cathedral  with  the 
view  of  establishing  a  strong  garrison 
there.  He  sent  a  large  body  of  troops 
into  Tyrone,  and  these  were  returning 
laden  with  spoils  when  O'Xeill  set  uj)on 
them,  defeated  them  with  slaughter,  and 
retook  the  booty.  This  defeat  produced 
intense  alarm  in  the  Pale,  and  created 
no  slight  uneasiness  even  in  England, 
while  it  proportionately  increased  the 
confidence  of  the  Irish.  Sussex  had  re- 
course to  negotiations,  but  O'Neill  de- 
clared that  he  Avould  listen  to  no  terms 
until  tlie  English  troops  were  with- 
drawn from  Armao;h.  Fresh  reinforce- 
ments  were  poured  in  from  England, 
and  the  earls  of  Desmond,  Ormond, 
Kildare,  Thomond,  and  Clanrickard, 
are  said  to  have  all  assembled  in  the 
lord  lieutenant's  camp,  in  obedience  to 
his  call.  With  a  large  and  well-equipped 
army  Sussex  now  advanced  into  Tyrone 
as  far  as  Lough  Foyle,  and  devastated 
the  country ;  but  O'Neill,  adopting  the 
tactics  which  had  always  frustrated  the 
English  when  their  greatest  efforts  were 
made  in  the  way  of  preparation,  with- 
drew beyond  their  reach  to  his  forests 


*  The  letter  of  Sussex  to  tlie  queen,  in  -n-liicli  this 
atrocious  plot  is  fully  developed,  concludes  thus  : — "  In 
fine  I  brake  with  him  to  kill  Shane,  and  hound  myself 
by  my  oath  to  see  him  have  a  himdrcd  marks  of  land,  to 
him  and  liis  heirs,  for  reward.  Ho  seemed  desirous  to 
serve  your  highness,  and  to  have  the  land,  but  fearful 
fo  do  it,  doubting  his  own  escape  after.  I  told  him  the 
■ways  he  might  do  it,  and  how  to  escape  after  with 
safety,  which  he  offered  and  promised  to  do  ;"  and  from 
the  next  sentence  it  may  be  inferred  either  that  the 


and  mountains.  To  rid  himself  of  a 
brave  enemy,  whom  he  was  thus  unable 
to  subdue,  the  viceroy  now  had  recourse 
to  the  darkest  treachery.  He  hired  an 
assassin  to  murder  Shane  O'Neill,  and 
this  Avith  the  cognizance  and  sanction 
of  queen  Elizabeth ;  but,  as  the  atroci- 
ous project  did  not  succeed,  we  should 
probably  be  left  in  ignorance  of  the 
fact  that  it  was  ever  contemplated,  were 
it  not  for  the  evidence  preserved  in  the 
State  Paper  Office.  The  name  of  the' 
intended  murderer  was  Nele  Gray ;  but 
he  either  lacked  courage  or  the  obstacles 
in  his  way  Avere  too  great,  and  the  deed 
was  not  perpetrated.* 

What  the  lord  lieutenant  did  not 
succeed  in  effecting  Avitli  his  army  was 
brought  about  through  the  mediation 
of  the  earl  of  Kildare,  whose  family 
connection  with  O'Neill  gave  him  con- 
siderable influence  with  that  chief.  The 
persuasions  of  Kildare  were  backed  by 
a  pressing  letter  of  invitation  from  Eli- 
zabeth to  Shane  to  repair  to  her  court ; 
amd  that  redoubtable  chieftain  was  in- 
duced to  make  his  submission  and  sign 
articles  of  peace.  Calvagh  O'Donnell 
had,  a  short  time  before  this,  been 
ransomed  from  captivity  by  the  Kinel- 
Connell,  and  Sussex  having  now  march- 
assassin  would  forfeit  his  own  life  if  he  failed  to  perform 
his  task,  or  that  other  assassins  could  be  found  for  tlie 
purpose,  as  the  lord  lieutenant  adds : — "  I  assure  your 
highness  he  may  do  it  without  danger,  if  he  will,  and  if 
he  will  not  do  what  he  may  in  your  service,  there  wiU  bo 
done  to  him  what  others  may."  Throughout  the  letter, 
as  Mr.  Moore  observes,  there  is  not  a  single  hint  of  doubt 
or  scruple  as  to  tlie  moral  justifiableness  of  the  trans- 
action— such  was  "  the  frightful  famiharity  with  deeds  of 
blood  which  then  prevailed  in  the  highest  stations." 


SHANE   O'NEILL   CONCILIATED. 


3.",  7 


ed  throufrli  Tirconnell  to  restore  him  to 
his  principal  castles  and  strongholds, 
brought  the  Ulster  campaign  to  a  satis- 
factory conclusion.  O'Neill,  on  his  part, 
repaired  to  Dublin,  and  desired  to  pro- 
ceed to  England,  but  Sussex  threw 
various  obstacles  in  the  way ;  one  cause 
of  delay  relating  to  the  loan  of  a  sum  of 
three  thousand  pounds  for  the  expenses 
of  the  journey.  Sussex  also  wrote  to 
Cecil,  suggesting  that  the  queen  should 
give  O'Neill  a  cool  reception,  or  "  show 
strangeness"  to  him ;  but  in  this  the 
enmity  of  the  lord  lieutenant  was  not 
gratified,  for  Elizabeth  received  Shane 
very  graciously,  and  in  return  he  made 
strong  protestations  of  friendship  and 
loyalty  to  her.  The  decision  on  his 
claims  was  at  first  deferred  by  the 
queen,  until  Hugh,  the  young  baron  of 
Dungannon,  should  arrive   and   plead 


*  The  Four  Masters  say  that  O'Neill  went  to  England 
about  All-Hallowtide,  in  1561,  and  that  he  returned  to 
Ireland  in  May,  in  following  year  ;  but  Ware,  Cox,  and 
others,  who  have  followed  them,  speak  obscurely  of  two 
journej's  of  Shane  O'Neill  to  England,  one  in  15G1,  and 
the  other  in  1503.  Camden  refers  to  that  chieftain's 
visit  under  the  date  of  1503,  at  the  beginning  of  which 
year  O'Neill  certainly  was  in  London.  The  articles  by 
which  CNeUl  bound  himself  to  serve  the  queen  are 
dated  at  Benburb,  18th  November,  15G3,  as  appears 
from  the  Patent  EoU  of  that  date ;  and  they  cite  the 
articles  indented  between  the  queen  and  him,  and  dated 
at  Windsor,  15th  January,  1503.  By  these  articles,  in 
consideration  of  his  becoming  a  faithful  subject,  he  was 
constituted  "  captain  or  governor''  of  Tyrone  "  in  the 
same  manner  as  other  captaia.  (chiefs)  of  the  said 
nation,  caUed  O'Neles,  had  rightfully  executed  that 
office  in  the  time  of  King  Henry  8. ;"  and,  moreover,  ho 
was  "  to  enjoy  and  have  the  name  and  title  of  O'Nele, 
with  the  like  authority,  &e.,  as  any  other  of  his  an-, 
cestors,  with  the  service  and  homage  of  all  the  lords 
and  captains  called  Urraughts,  and  other  nobles  of  the 
said  nation  of  O'Nele,"  upon  condition  "  that  he  and  his 
said  nobles  should  truly  and  faithfully,  from  time  to 


his  own  cause ',  but  an  unfounded  re- 
port having  reached  that  Hugh  Avas 
killed  in  a  feud,  Elizabeth  no  longer 
hesitated  to  grant  Shane  a  full  pardon 
and  to  recosrnize  his  risrht  of  succession 
to  the  chieftaincy.* 

A.  D.  1562. — -Well  pleased  with  his 
visit,  O'Neill  returned  to  Dublin,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  26th  of  May,  having 
obtained  a  further  loan  of  £300  from 
the  queen  for  his  journey  home ;  but 
learning  thatTurlough  Luiueach  O'Neill 
was  setting  himself  up  as  chieftain,  he 
caused  proclamation  to  be  made  in  the 
streets  of  the  recognition  of  his  title  by 
Elizabeth,  and  hastened  to  the  north, 
where  he  was  received  in  triumph  by 
the  men  of  Tyrone. 

A.  D.  1564. — Ulster  continued,  nev- 
ertheless, in  an  unsettled  state ;  the 
neighboring   chieftains    complained    of 


time,  serve  her  majesty,  and  where  necessary  wage  war 
against  all  her  enemies,  in  such  manner  as  the  lord 
lieutenant  for  the  time  being  should  direct."  The  name 
or  title  of  O'Neill  was  to  be  contingent  on  the  decision 
of  parliament,  which  should  inqmre  concerning  the 
letters  patent  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  to  his  father,  and 
if  these  were  to  be  adjudged  void,  or  recked,  "then  he 
should  forbear  to  use  the  title  of  O'Nele,  and  should  be 
created  and  named  earl  of  Tirone,"  and  "all  Ms  follow- 
ers, called  Urraughts,  who  belonged  to  him  or  his 
predecessors,  should  be  assigned  to  him  by  authority  of 
said  parliament,  &c."  Camden  describes  the  rude  pomp 
with  which  Shane  O'NeiU  appeared  in  London,  escorted 
by  a  body-guard  of  gallowgl asses,  with  bare  heads,  long 
and  dishevelled  hair,  crocus  dyed  shirts,  wide  sleeves, 
short  jackets,  shaggy  cloaks,  and  broad  battle-axes  ;  and 
he  tells  us  that  they  were  objects  of  great  wonder  to 
the  English  {AnncUes,  p.  69,  ed.  1039) ;  while  we  learn 
from  Campion  (page  189,  ed.  1809)  that  the  hauteur 
of  the  Irish  prince  excited  the  merriment  of  the 
affected  gaUants  of  Elizabeth's  court,  who  styled 
him  "  O'Neale  the  great,  cousin  to  S.  Patricke,  friend 
to  the  Qucene  of  England,  enemy  to  all  the  world 
be.'iides !" 


358 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


aggressions  ou  the  part  of  Shane,  and 
the  English  government  pursued  its 
insidious  policy  of  division  by  setting 
up  the  former  against  him.  Maguire  of 
Fermanagh  rendered  himself  particular- 
ly obnoxious  to  the  chief  of  Tyrone,  by 
his  alliance  with  O'Donuell,  and  his 
subservience  .to  the  English,  and  O'Neill 
accordingly  laid  Avaste  his  territory  by 
repeated  incursions.*  Manus  O'Donuell 
died  in  1563,  and  Calvagh  repaired  to 
Dublin  to  complain  to  the  lord  lieuten- 
ant against  O'Neill.  The  government 
charged  O'Neill  with  bad  faith,  but  the 
latter  flung  back  the  imputation,  and 
with  good  reason,  for  the  English  do 
not  appear  to  have  kept  any  of  their 
promises  to  him.  He  refused  to  meet 
the  viceroy  at  Duudalk,  and  was  in  fact 
once  more  at  war  with  Enfjland:  but 
after  some  fruitless  attempts  at  media- 
tion by  the  earls  of  Kildare  and  Or- 
mond.  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  succeeded  in 
restoring  peace,  and  articles  were  signed 
by  Shane,  at  his  house  at  Benburb,  in 
November,  1563.f  For  some  time  Shane 
O'Neill  governed  Tyrone  with  such 
order,  that  if  a  robbery  was  committed 
within  his  territory,  he  either  caused 
tiie  property  to  be  restored,  or  reim- 
bursed the  loser  out  of  his  own  treasury. 
He  made  war  upon  the  Scots  who  had 
settled  inClannaboy,  and  defeated  them 


*  Some  of  Maguire's  letters  to  the  (art  of  Sussex  are 
printed  in  the  collection  of  State  Papers.  In  one  of 
these  lie  requests  the  lord  lieutenant  to  write  to  him  in 
English,  and  not  in  Latin,  as  the  latter  language  was 
well  known,  and  but  few  of  tlie  Irish  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  former,  in  which,  therefore,  the  secrets  of 
their  correspondence  could  be  best  preserved. 


in  a  succession  of  attacks,  slaying  TOO  of 
them  in  the  last  battle  at  Glenflesk,  in 
15G6,  and  taking  among  other  prisoners 
their  leader,  James  MacDonnell,  who 
died  of  his  wounds,  and  his  brother 
Sorley  Boy.  This  victoiy,  while  it  in- 
creased his  power,  only  excited  still 
more  the  jealousy  and  susjjicions  of  the 
government,  to  ■whom  Shane  refused  to 
surrender  the  charge  of  his  prisoners ; 
and,  as  the  sequel  Avill  show,  it  proved 
ere  long  fatal  to  himself. 

The  importance  of  the  events  in  the 
north  has  for  some  time  withdrawn  our 
attention  from  the  feuds  which  prevailed 
in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  which 
for  the  most  part  were  but  of  local  in- 
terest. Such  were  the  dissensions  of 
which  Thomond  had  been  so  lona:  the 
theatre,  and  the  j:)artial  settlement  of 
which,  by  the  grant  of  Corcomroe  to 
Donnell  O'Brien,  in  1504,  we  have  al- 
ready mentioned;  but  a  violent  feud, 
which  broke  out  between  the  earls  of 
Ormond  and  Desmond,  caused  more 
anxiety  to  government.  The  former  of 
these  noblemen  had  embraced  the  new 
creed,  and  following  the  traditions  of 
his  family,  was  a  faitliful  supporter  of 
English  interests;;);  while  the  Geraldiue 
chief  was  firm  in  his  attachment  to 
Catholicity,  and  was  stigmatized  with 
the  name  of  rebel.     In  1562  both  earls 


f  An  outline  of  these  articles  has  been  given  in  a  note 
on  tlic  preceding  page.  , 

I  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  was  related  to  the  Butlers  by 
her  mother,  iised  to  boast  of  the  loyalty  of  the  house  of 
Ormond. 


FEUDS  OF  DESMOND  AND  ORMOND. 


359 


appeared  at  court  iu  obedience  to  a 
summons  from  the  queen ;  and  wliile 
Ormoud  Avas  sent  back  to  take  part  in 
the  proceedings  against  O'Neill,  Des- 
mond was  jjardoned  on  certain  condi- 
tions, the  principal  of  which  was  that 
he  should  abolish  coyn  and  livery,  and 
abrogate  all  Irish  laws  and  customs 
within  his  territory.  The  old  strife, 
however,  soon  broke  out  moi'e  fiercely 
than  ever.  In  the  beginning  of  1565 
the  earl  of  Desmond  proceeded  with  a 
small  force  to  levy  coyn  and  livery,  and 
some  other  tax  which  he  claimed  from 
his  kinsman  Sir  Maurice  FitzGerald  of 
Decies,  a  nobleman  who  was  also  related 
to  the  Butlers.  Sir  Maurice  applied  to 
these  latter  for  aid,  and  the  earl  of  Or- 
mond  came  Avith  an  army  twice  as 
numerous  as  that  which  Desmond  had 
brought.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Affane, 
a  little  to  the  south  of  Cappoquin,  iu 
Waterford,  when  the  earl  of  Desmond 
was  wounded  and  made  prisoner.* 

A.  D.  1566. — About  the  close  of  1564 
the  earl  of  Sussex  obtained  his  final 
recall  from  Ireland,  where  his  unconcili- 
ating  temper,  and  personal  animosities 
had  rendered  the  duties  of  government 
exceedingly  irksome ;  and  Sir  Henry 
Sidney  arrived  in  Dublin  in  January, 
this  year,  with  ample  j^owers  as  the 
queen's  repi-esentative.  The  new  lord 
deputy  was  received  with  extravagant 
demonstrations  of  joy  by  the  population 
of  the  Pale  ;*  and  by  the  introduction  of 

*  It  was  on  tliis  occasion  that  Desmond,  ■while  heing 
carried  from  the  field,  and  tauntingly  asked  by  his 
enemies,  "  Where  now  was  the  proud  earl  of  Desmond  ?" 


a  new  set  of  people  into  oflice  he  -pve- 
pared  for  a  more  vigorous  administra- 
tion of  affairs.  On  his  arrival  he  found 
Shane  O'Neill  again  in  open  hostility  to 
England,  and  he  at  once  collected  a 
powerful  army  to  take  the  field  against 
him.  He  stirred  up  the  minor  chieftains 
of  Ulster  to  resist  O'Neill's  claims  of 
suzerainty,  and  we  are  told  that  the 
ai'i'ogance  and  violence  of  Shane  ren- 
dered this  task  an  easy  one.  Commis- 
sioners w^ere,  however,  sent  to  O'Neill 
himself,  to  try  what  might  still  be 
effected  by  negotiation,  but  he  treated 
their  overtures  with  scorn,  and  said 
that  as  Ulster  had  belonged  to  his  an- 
cestors, so  it  now  belonged  to  him,  and 
having  won  it  by  the  sword,  by  the 
sword  he  was  resolved  to  keep  it.  He 
boasted  that  "  he  could  bring  into  the 
field  1,000  horse  and  4,000  foot,  and 
that  he  was  able  to  burn  and  spoil  to 
Dublin  gates,  and  come  away  unfought." 
If  he  had  been  as  prudent  as  he  was 
valiant,  this  defiance  might  have  been 
of  more  avail.  He  led  an  army  to  the 
vicinity  of  Dundalk  about  the  end  of 
Jul)',  and  Sidney  marched  with  a  large 
force  to  meet  him ;  but  with  the  ex- 
ception of  some  skirmishing,  no  collision 
took  place  between  them,  and  the  dep- 
uty returned  to  Dublin.  O'Neill  now 
invaded  the  English  Pale,  and  wasted 
the  country,  but  he  was  successfully 
resisted  by  the  garrison  which  had  been 
left  by  Sidney  in  Dundalk,  and  received 

haughtUy  replied,  "  VThere  he  ought  to  be,  upon  the 
necks  of  the  Butlers !"  The  earl  appears  to  have  been 
soon  after  liberated. 


360 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


a  still  more  serious  repulse  from  an 
English  garrison,  placed,  at  tlie  solici- 
tation of  Calvagh  O'Douuell,  in  Derry, 
under  a  brave  and  experienced  officer, 
Colonel  Randolph,  who  is  said  to  have 
l)een  the  only  person  killed  on  the  Eng- 
lish side  in  O'Neill's  attack.*  Sidney,  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  marched 
through  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell,  and 
thence  through  Connaught  to  the  Pale, 
but  did  not  succeed  in  bringing  O'Neill 
to  an  engagement. 

A.  D.  1567. — Hugh  O'Donnell  suc- 
ceeded to  the  chieftaincy  of  Tirconnell 
on  the  sudden  death  of  his  brother  Cal- 
vagh, and  proved  to  be  a  more  danger- 
ous and  energetic  foe  to  Shane  O'Neill 
than  any  of  the  others  whom  the  policy 
of  the  deputy  had  raised  up  against  him 
among  the  Ulster  chiefs  ;  although  in  his 
brother's  life-time  he  had  been  Shane's 
friend,  and  was  in  that  chief's  camp 
when  he  invaded  Tirconnell  in  155*7. 
After  the  old  Irish  fashion  Hugh  inau- 
gurated his  rule  by  a  "  chieftain's  first 
hosting"  into  Shane's  territorj^,  and  this 
was  followed  by  another  in  the  follow- 
ing year  (1567),  which  so  exasperated 
the  chief  of  Tyrone  that  he  collected  a 
numerous  army,  and  invaded  Tirconnell, 
crossing  the  estuary  of  the  river  Swilly, 
at  low  watei',  a  short  distance  below 
Letterkenny,  and  attacking  the  small 


*  Shortly  after  the  defeat  of  Shane  O'Neill  before 
Perry,  that  tovra  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  cathe- 
dral, which  had  been  converted  by  the  Englisli  into  an 
arsenal,  fell  a  prey  to  the  flames.  The  powder  magazine 
was  blown  up,  the  provisions  destroyed,  the  sick  soldiers 
killed  in  the  hospital,  and  the  English  garrison  com- 
pelled to  abandon  tho  place.  The  cause  of  this  fire, 
which  occurred  in  April,  1.560,  could  not  bo  explained ; 


forces  of  Hugh,  who  was  encamped  at 
Ardnagarry,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river.  The  position  of  Hugh  was  for  a 
moment  desperate,  but  skilful  general- 
ship and  impetuosity  made  up  for  the 
smallness  of  his  numbers,  and  the  total 
rout  of  O'Neill's  army  was  the  result. 
During  the  battle  the  returning  tide 
had  covered  the  sands  which  a  little 
before  had  aftbrded  so  ready  a  passage, 
and  a  great  number  of  O'Neill's  jDanic- 
strickeu  men  j)lungiug  into  the  waves 
were  drowned,  their  loss  by  flood  and 
by  the  sword  being  variously  stated  at 
1,300  or  3,000  men.  O'Neill  himself 
fled  alone  along  the  banks  of  the  river, 
westward,  to  a  ford  near  Scarrift'hollis, 
about  two  miles  higher  up  than  Letter- 
kenny, where  he  crossed  under  the 
guidance  of  a  party  of  the  O'Gallaghers, 
subjects  of  O'Donnell,  to  whom  he  was 
probably  unknown,  and  thence  he  found 
his  way  back,  quite  crest-fallen,  to  Ty- 
rone. Tlie  annalists  say,  "  his  reason 
and  senses  became  deranged  after  this 
defeat.''  He  hesitated  a  moment  whether 
he  should  offer  his  submission  to  the 
lord  deputy,  or  apj^ly  for  aid  to  the 
Scots,  but  by  the  advice  of  his  secretary 
he  adoj^ted  the  latter  alternative.  An 
army  of  the  Clanu  Donnell  had  just 
arrived  fi-om  the  Hebrides,  under  some 
of  the  very  leaders  whom  Shane  had 


and  the  Irish  attributed  it  to  the  desecration  of  St. 
Columbkille's  sacred  precincts  by  a  heretical  garrison  ; 
as  they  also  did  the  death  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell,  who 
had  brought  the  English  there,  and  %vlio  fell  dead  from 
his  horse,  in  the  midst  of  his  cavalry,  on  the  2Gth  of 
October  that  year. — See  O'SuUivan's  Hisi.  Cath.,  p.  96, 
Dublin,  1800. 


MURDER  OF  SHANE  O'NEILL. 


361 


defeated  not  quite  two  years  before  at 
Glenflesk,  and  who  thirsted  for  revenge. 
They  gladly  accepted  his  invitation,  and 
he  proceeded  to  meet  them  at  Cushen- 
dun  (Bun-abhan-Duine),  in  Antrim, 
sending  his  prisoner,  Sorley  Boy  Mac- 
Donnell,  before  him,  the  better  to 
propitiate  them  should  any  of  their 
old  enmity  remain.  The  Scots  invited 
O'Neill  to  their  camp,  which  he  entered 
unsuspectingly,  accompanied  only  by 
his  mistress,  the  wife  (now  widow)  of 
Calvagh  O'Donnell,  his  secretary,  and 
fifty  horsemen.  A  banquet  was  pre- 
pared, but  in  the  midst  of  the  carousal 
a  brawl  was  purposely  got  up,  and 
several  Scots  rushing  simultaneously 
upon  O'Neill,  despatched  him  with  in- 
numerable wounds,  his  followers  being 
subsequent!)''  cut  to  pieces.  His  body, 
wrapt  in  the  yellow  shirt  of  a  kerne. 


*  The  character  of  Shane  O'Neill  has  been  blackened 
by  English  historians,  but  to  accounts  from  sources  so 
hostile  little  credit  is  due.  Camden  describes  him  as 
"homicidiis  et  adulteriis  contaminatissimus,  helluo 
maximus,  ebrietate  adeo  insigni,  ut  ad  corpus,  vino  et 
aqua  Titse  immodic^  haustJ  inflammatum,  refrigeran- 
dum,  Bepius  mento  tends  terra  couderetur."  (Annales, 
&c.,  p.  130.)  Hoolier  speaks  of  his  cellar  at  Dundrum, 
in  which  he  is  said  to  have  kept  a  stock  of  200  tuns  of 
vrine.  He  possessed  singiilar  strength  of  character. 
Sir  Henry  Sidney,  in  one  of  his  letters,  says  he  "is  the 
only  strong  man  in  Ireland."  Campion,  who  was  his 
contemporary,  and  who  writes  as  his  enemy,  stUl  gives 
him  credit  for  great  charity.  "  Sitting  at  meate,  before 
he  put  one  morseU  into  his  mouth,  he  used  to  slice  a 
portion  above  the  dayly  almes,  and  send  it  namely  to 
some  begger  at  his  gate,  saying,  it  was  meete  to  serve 
Christ  first."  (Campion,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  p.  189,  ed. 
1809.)  But  one  of  the  most  remarkable  circumstances 
connected  with  this  extraordinary  man  was  the  strong 
and  favorable  impression  which  he  had  made  on  the 
mind  of  queen  Elizabeth ;  a  feeling  which,  says  Jloore, 
'  was  shown  by  her  retaining  towards  him  the  same 
friendly  bearing  through  aU  the  strife,  confusion,  and — 
what,  in  her  eyes,  was  even  stiU  worse — lavish  expendi- 
40 


was  cast  into  an  open  pit,  whence  it  was 
soon  after  taken  by  Captain  Pierse,  an 
Englishman,  who  is  suspected  of  having 
suggested  the  murder,  or  of  being  in 
some  way  concerned  in  the  deed  ;  and 
the  head  havins:  been  cut  off  was  taken 
to  the  lord  deputy,  who  caused  it  to  be 
placed  on  a  spike  on  the  highest  tower 
of  Dublin  castle,  and  rewarded  Pierse 
with  a  thousand  marks,  the  sum  offered 
by  proclamation  for  the  head  of  the 
northern  chieftain.  Such  was  the  tragic 
and  unworthy  end  of  Shane  O'Neill, 
whom  English  arms  had  not  been  able 
to  subdue,  but  who  fell  a  victim  to  his 
own  I'ashness,  to  the  treachery  of  pre- 
tended friends,  and  the  unprincipled 
policy  of  the  English  government.* 

About  the  end  of  January,  1567,  Sir 
Henry  Sidney  set  out  on  a  visitation  of 
Munster  and  Connaught,  and  the  account 

ture,  of  which  he  continued  for  several  yeara  to  be  the 

unceasing  cause.''  She  frequently  discountenanced  the 
hostile  movements  against  him,  and  so  well  was  her 
leniency  towards  him  tmderstood  that,  in  1566,  Sir 
William  FitzWilliam  complained  in  a  letter  to  Cecil 
that  "  the  councU  are  not  permitted  to  write  the  truth 
of  CXeUl's  evil  doings."  He  was  jiopular  even  in  the 
Pale,  for  his  generous  and  high  spirit  commanded  the 
respect  both  of  friends  and  foes.  By  the  Irish  he  was 
usually  styled  Shane-an^imnais,  i.  e.  "  John  of  the  am- 
bition or  pride ;"  and  he  is  also  called  DongaUeach,  or 
the  Donnellian,  as  he  was  fostered  by  an  O'Donnell. 
(Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  p.  1569,  note.)  Ware  says,  on  the 
authority  of  official  papers,  that  the  wars  of  Shane 
O'Neill  cost  Elizabeth  the  sum  of  £147,407  "  over  and 
above  the  cesses  laid  on  the  country ;"  and  that  "  3,500 
of  her  majesty's  soldiers  were  slain  by  him  and  his 
party,  besides  what  they  slew  of  the  Scots  and  Irish." 
(Annals,  A.  D.  1568.)  The  interval  between  his  defeat 
by  Hugh  O'Donnell  and  his  murder  by  the  Scots  was 
from  the  Sth  of  May  to  the  middle  of  June.  The  circum- 
stances of  his  death  are  minutely  related  by  Campion 
(pp.  189-192) ;  and,  also,  with  some  slight  discrepancy, 
by  Camden  {nhi  supra). 


3C.2 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


transmitted  by  bim  to  Elizabeth  of  the 
state  of  these  two  provinces  affords  a 
frio-htful  picture  of  the  effects  of  misrule. 
The  country  was  everywhere  reduced  to 
utter  ruin.  Thus,  describing  Munster,  he 
writes : — "  Like  as  I  never  was  in  a  more 
pleasant  country  in  all  my  life,  so  never 
saw  I  a  more  waste  and  desolate  land. 

Such  horrible  and  lamentable 

spectacles  are  there  to  behold  as  the 
burning  of  villages,  the  ruin  of  churches, 
the  wasting  of  such  as  have  been  good 
towns  and  castles ;  yea,  the  view  of  the 
bones  and  skulls  of  the  dead  subjects 
who,  partly  by  murder,  partly  by  fa- 
mine, have  died  in  the  fields,  as  in  troth 
hardly  any  christian  with  dry  eyes  could 
behold."  Even  in  the  territory  subject 
to  the  earl  of  Ormond  he  witnessed  a 
"  want  of  justice,  judgement,  and  stout- 
ness to  execute."  Tipperary  and  Lim- 
erick were  in  a  horrible  state  of  deso- 
lation. The  earl  of  Desmond  was  "  a 
man  both  devoid  of  judgment  to  govern 
and  will  to  be  ruled."  MacCarthy  More, 
who  two  years  before  had  surrendered 
his  territories  to  the  queen,  receiving 
them  back  by  letters  patent,  with  the 
titles  of  earl  of  Clan  care*  and  baron  of 
Valentia,  was  "willing  enough  to  be 
ruled,  but  wanted  force  and  credit  to 
rule."  The  earl  of  Thomond  "had 
neither  wit  of  himself  to  govern,  nor 
grace  or  capacity  to  learn  of  others ;" 
and  the  lord  deputy  confessed  that  he 
would  most  willingly  have  committed 

*  This  title  has  been  variously  written  Clancare, 
Qlencar  (by  Cox),  and  Clancarrha ;  tho  last  form  nearly 
expresses  tho  sound  of  the  Irish  name,  Clancarthig  or 


the  said  earl  to  prison  if  he  could  find 
any  person  in  whom  he  could  confide  to 
put  in  his  place.  The  earl  of  Claniickard 
was  well-intentioned,  and  otherwise  met 
the  deputy's  approbation,  but  "  he  was 
so  overruled  by  a  putative  wife  as  oft 
times  when  he  best  intendeth  she  forceth 
him  to  do  the  worst ;"  and  his  sons  were 
so  turbulent  that  they  kept  the  whole 
country  in  disorder.  He  found  Galway 
like  a  frontier  town,  in  an  enemy's 
country,  the  inhabitants  obliged  to  keep 
watch  and  ward  to  protect  themselves 
against  their  dangerous  neighbors ;  and 
Athenry  was  reduced  so  low  that  there 
were  then  in  it  but  four  respectable 
house-holders,  who  presented  the  dep- 
uty with  the  rusty  keys  of  their  town 
— "  a  pitiful  and  lamentable  present" — 
requesting  him  to  keep  the  keys,  "  inas- 
much as  they  were  so  impoverished  by 
the  extortion  of  the  lords  about  them 
as  they  were  no  longer  able  to  keep 
that  town." 

Such  was  the  state  in  which  Sir 
Henry  Sidney  found  the  countiy — a 
state  which  might  be  traced  to  what  he 
designates  the  "cowardly  policy"  that 
would  rule  the  nation  by  sowing  di- 
visions among  the  peoj^le,  or,  as  he 
himself  expresses  it,  "  by  keeping  them 
in  continual  dissension,  for  fear  lest 
through  their  quiet  might  follow  I  wot 
not  what."  And  he  adds : — "  so  far  hath 
that  policy,  or  I'ather  lack  of  policy,  in 
keeping   dissension   among  them,  pre- 

Clancarthy,  and  was  probably  the  correct  Anglo-Irish 
orthography. 


POLITICAL  KTTRIGUES  IN  DUBLIN. 


363 


vailed,  as  now,  albeit  all  tbat  are  alive 
would  become  honest  and  live  in  quiet, 
yet  are  there  not  left  alive,  in  these  two 
provinces,  the  twentieth  person  neces- 
sary to  inhabit  the  same  !" 

Sidney  encountered  the  difficulties  of 
his  position  with  energy  which  was  un- 
restrained by  either  prudence  or  human- 
ity, and  which  alarmed  even  Elizabeth, 
who  would  have  preferred  dealing  with 
them  in  an  indirect  manner.  He  sternly 
reproved  the  nobles  for  the  mismanage- 
ment of  their  respective  districts ;  but 
against  Desmond  he  was  particularly 
severe.  The  great  power  of  that  noble- 
man, and  his  high  position  in  the  esteem 
of  the  Catholics,  rendered  him  a  special 
object  of  the  deputy's  hostility.  He  was 
accordingly  summoned  to  attend  the 
latter  in  his  visitation  of  Munster,  and 
after  being  unknowingly  guarded  for 
some  days,  was  at  length  publicly  seized 
in  Kilmallock,  and  carried  about  as  a 
prisoner  by  Sidney  during  the  remainder 
of  his  progress.  The  sons  of  the  earl  of 
Clanrickard  were  also  taken  up  in  Con- 
naught,  and  the  lord  deputy  returned 
to  Dublin  with  his  captives  on  the  16th 
of  April,  having  caused  unnumbered 
offenders  to  be  executed  in  the  course 
of  his  visitation.*  The  queen  was  un- 
easy at  the  tumults  which  these  strong 


*  In  one  of  Ms  despatches,  Sidney  thus  alludes  to  the 
countless  executions  which  graced  his  progress  on  this 
occasion.  "  I  write  not,"  he  says,  "  the  names  of  each 
particular  varlet  that  hath  died  since  I  arrived,  as  well 
by  the  ordinary  course  of  the  law,  and  the  martial  law, 
as  flat  fighting  with  them,  when  they  would  take  food 
without  the  good  will  of  the  giver,  for  I  think  it  no 
stuff  worthy  the  loading  of  my  letters  with  ;  but  I  do 


measures  produced,  especially  in  Mun 
ster,  and  Sidney  haviug  sought  permis- 
sion to  explain  his  conduct  in  person, 
proceeded  to  England  for  that  purpose, 
in  October,  taking  with  him  the  eai-1  of 
Desmond  and  his  brother,  John,  who 
was  sent  for  and  then  arrested ;  and 
being  also  accompanied  by  Hugh 
O'Neill,  baron  of  Dungannon,  the 
O'Conor  Sligo,  and  other  Irish  chief- 
tains ;  Dr.  Robert  Weston,  lord  chan- 
cellor, and  Sir  William  FitzWilliam, 
treasurer,  being  left  in  charge  of  the 
government  as  lords  justices. 

A.  D.  1568. — Scarcely  was  Ulster  tem- 
porarily pacified  by  the  death  of  Shane 
O'Neill  when  the  southern  province  be- 
came the  scene  of  troubles  of  a  most 
formidable  character.  During  the  im- 
prisonment of  Gerald,  earl  of  Desmond, 
and  his  brother.  Sir  John,  the  leadership 
of  the  Geraklines  was  assumed,  at  the 
desire,  it  is  said,  of  the  captives,  by  their 
cousin,  Sir  James  FitzGerald — son  of 
Maurice  of  Desmond,  bi'other  of  the  late 
earl,  James.  Sir  James  FitzMaurice,  as 
he  is  usually  called,  was  warlike  and  en- 
terprising. He  resisted  successfully  the 
jiretensions  to  the  earldom  put  forward 
by  Thomas  Rua,  an  elder,  but  illegiti- 
mate brother  of  earl  Gerald's,  although 
this  claimant  was  supported  by  the  But- 


assure  you  the  number  of  them  is  great  and  some  of  the 
best,  and  the  rest  tremble  ;  for  most  part  they  fight  for 
their  dinner,  and  many  of  them  lose  their  heads  before 
they  be  served  with  supper.  Down  they  go  in  every 
corner,  and  down  they  shall  go,  God  willing!"  (Sidney's 
Despatches,  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  MSS. 
Cot.  Titus  B.  X.) 


364 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


lers,  and  by  FitzMaurice  of  Kerry,  and 
others.*  In  tlie  course  of  this  quarrel, 
Sir  James  besieged  FitzMaurice  of  Kerry 
in  his  castle  of  Lixnaw,  but  was  defeated 
and  compelled  to  raise  the  siege. 

About  the  same  time  the  newly- 
created  earl  of  Clancare  threw  off  the 
English  yoke  and  asserted  his  hereditary 
rights  to  South  Munster ;  while  in  the 
absence  of  the  earl  of  Ormond  in  Eng- 
land, his  brother.  Sir  Edmond  Butler, 
involved  himself  in  dissensions  with  the 
Geraldines.  The  attachment  to  their 
ancient  faith  evinced  by  the  Irish  had 
long  since  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Catholic  potentates  of  Euroj^e,  and 
promises  of  aid  were  held  out  to  them 
both  by  France  and  Spain.  The  sover- 
eign pontiff,  on  his  side,  felt  it  his  duty 
to  encourage  and  sustain,  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  those  Catholics 
who  were  engaged  in  a  life-and-death 
struggle  for  their  religion  against  the 
innovators ;  so  that  to  him  also  we  find 
the  Irish  applying,  not  only  for  spiritual 
succour,  but  for  men,  arms,  and  money, 
during  the  wars  of  Elizabeth.  The  po- 
sition of  the  Irish  Catholics  had  become 
intolerable.    If  the  yoke  of  the  stranger 


*  Thomas  Rua,  or  the  red,  was  the  son  of  the  late 
earl,  James,  by  his  first  wife,  Johanna,  daugliter  of 
Maurice  Eoche,  viscount  Fermoy ;  but  as  his  mother's 
marriage  was  pronounced  invalid,  on  tlie  ground  of 
consanguinity,  Thomas  was  reckoned  illegitimate.  On 
failing  in  his  attempt  to  gain  the  earldom  he  lived 
quietly  in  his  castle  of  Conoha,  County  of  Cork,  where 
he  died,  January  18th,  1595.  (Lodge.)  His  son  became 
famous  as  the  so-called  "  Sugan  earl,"  and  will  be 
mentioned  in  our  pages  hereafter. 

f  We  are  unwilling  to  infringe  in  the  slightest  degree 
on  the  field  of  polemics,  but  the  student  of  liistory  can- 
not but  observe  in  passing  how  men  with  whom  private 


had  been  hitherto  hard  enough  to  bear, 
it  was  infinitely  more  so  now,  when  the 
oppressor  added  to  his  ancient,  unre- 
lenting, national  animositj^,  the  fierce 
spirit  of  religious  persecution  which  the 
Reformation  had  everywhere  enkindled 
in  its  partisans.f  The  people  saw  their 
churches  desolate — their  monasteries 
confiscated — their  priests  proscribed — 
and  their  religion  trampled  under  foot. 
They  were  swayed  to  and  fro  by  un- 
steady leaders — they  were  disorganized 
by  their  ancient  strife — but  now  they 
rallied  to  more  sacred  watchwords,  and 
while  they  fought  with  the  chivalry  of 
crusaders,  they  died  with  the  heroism 
of  martyrs.  Such  was  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  struggle  which  had  now 
commenced  in  the  southern  province, 
and  which  was  sustained  for  many 
years,  and  spread  more  or  less  through- 
out all  Ireland. 

A.  D.  1569. — In  September,  1568,  Sir 
Henry  Sidney  returned  to  Ireland  as 
lord  deputy,  and  landed  at  Carrickfer- 
gus,  where  he  received  the  submission 
of  Turlough  Luineach  O'Neill,  who,  on 
the  death  of  Shane,  had  been  elected  to 
the  chieftaincy.  J  The  deputy  came  pre- 


j  udgment  in  matters  of  faith  was  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, would  monopolize  that  privilege  for  themselves, 
and,  with  such  arguments  as  the  sword  and  the  halter, 
compel  other  men  to  surrender  their  private  j  udgment 
to  them.  Yet  such  was  the  case  in  every  country  where 
the  professors  of  the  reformed  creed  gained  the  ascen- 
dency, and  where  the  rest  of  the  population  wished  to 
persevere  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers — but  nowhere  was 
this  spirit  of  persecution  jiroductive  of  more  melancholy 
results  than  in  Ireland. 

J  Sir  Turlough,  who  assumed  the  title  of  the  O'Neill 
after  the  death  of  Shane  an  Diomais,  was  the  son  of 
Niall  Culanagh,  who  was  the  son  of  Art  Oge,  a  younger 


STRIFE  IN  TH0:M0ND. 


365 


pared  with  fresh  instructions  to  carry 
out  the  policy  of  his  royal  mistress,  and 
summoned  a  parliament  to  meet  in 
Dublin  on  the  lYth  of  January,  1569. 
The  history  of  this  body  is  memorable 
for  the  unscrupulous  and  unconstitu- 
tional means  resorted  to  in  order  to 
secm'e  its  subserviency  to  the  crown. 
Members  were  returned  for  towns  not 
incorporated;  mayors  and  sheriffs  in 
some  cases  returned  themselves ;  and 
several  Ens;lishmen  were  elected  as  bur- 
gesses  for  towns  which  they  had  never 
seen.  These  monstrous  irregularities 
gave  rise  to  violent  opposition.  The 
judges  were  consulted,  and  declared 
that  those  who  were  returned  for  non- 
corporate towns,  and  those  who  had 
returned  themselves,  were  disqualified 
fi-om  sitting  as  members,  but  the  elec- 
tions of  the  non-resident  Englishmen 
were  held  to  be  valid ;  and  this  decision 
still  left  the  court  party  in  a  majority. 
By  these  Stauihurst,  recorder  of  Dublin, 
was  chosen  speaker,  and  Sir  Christoj^her 
Barnwell  led  the  opposition.  The  first 
proceedings  were  stormy  in  the  extreme, 
and  the  popular  excitement  out  of  doors 
was  so  great  that  Hooker,  an  English- 
man, who  was  returned  for  the  dilapi- 


brotlier  of  Con  Bacagh  CXeill,  the  first  earl  of  Tyrone. 
He  was  called  Lynoch  (Luineach)  from  having  been 
fostered  by  O'Luinigh  of  Tyrone.  He  was  the  most 
powerful  member  of  the  O'Neill  sept  after  the  death  of 
John,  and  was  therefore  elected  to  succeed  him,  although 
John  had  left  sons.  He  had  proved  himself  on  sundry 
occasions  a  friend  of  the  English,  during  John's  wars ; 
but  this  assumption  of  the  title  of  O'Neill  was  deemed 
an  act  of  rebellion,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  his  sub- 
mission to  the  deputy. 

*  Leland  (vol.  ii.,  p.  241)  describes  the  proceedings  of 
this  packed  parliament. 


dated  borough  of  Athenry,  and  who  has 
left  us  a  chronicle  of  the  period,  had  to 
be  protected  by  a  guard  in  going  to  his 
residence.*  In  this  parliament,  in  which 
the  majority  was  a  mere  English  faction, 
an  act  was  passed  attainting  the  late 
Shane  O'Neill,  suppressing  the  name  of 
O'Neill,  and  entitling  the  queen  and  her 
heirs  to  the  territory  of  Tyrone  and 
other  parts  of  Ulster.  Laws  were  also 
enacted  imposing  a  duty  on  wine  ;  giv- 
ing the  lord  deputy  the  nomination  to 
church  disrnities  in  Munster  and  Con- 
naught  for  ten  years ;  and  for  erecting 
in  the  various  dioceses  charter  schools, 
of  which  the  teachers  were  to  be  Eng- 
lish, and,  of  course,  Protestants.  A  law 
was  also  passed  abolishing  captaincies 
or  chieftaincies  of  septs,  unless  when 
allowed  by  special  patent.f 

A  little  before  this.  Sir  Peter  Carew, 
a  Devonshire  knight,  came  to  Ireland 
and  set  up  a  claim  of  hereditary  right 
to  vast  territories  in  the  south  of  this 
country.  He  revived,  in  fact,  a  claim 
which  had  been  iuvestis^ated  and  re- 
jected  in  the  reign  of  Edward  HI.,  but 
produced  as  fresh  evidence  a  forged 
roll,  which  he  alleged  had  been  discov- 
ered ;  and  the  corrupt  administration  of 

f  It  was  in  the  act  of  attainder  against  O'NeiU,  passed 
in  this  parliament,  that  queen  Elizabeth's  ministers 
affected  to  trace  her  title  to  the  realm  of  Ireland  to 
an  origin  anterior  to  that  of  the  Milesian  race  of  kings ; 
setting  forth  a  ludicrous  tale  of  a  king  Gurmondus, 
"son  to  the  noble  king  Belau  of  Great  Britain,  who 
was  lord  of  Bayon  in  Spain,  as  many  of  his  successors 
were  to  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  who  possessed  the  island 
afore  the  comeing  of  Irishmen  into  the  said  landel" 
(See  Plowden's  Eist.  Rev.,  Append.,  No.  vii.  7mA 
Statutes,  11th  Eliz.,  sess.  3,  cap.  1.  O'ConneU'a  Jfem. 
of  Ireland,  p.  110.) 


366 


REIGJSr   OF  ELIZABETH. 


the  day  admitted  the  title  and  ordered 
him  to  be  put  in  possession ;  rather,  as 
it  would  appear,  to  frighten  the  Mac- 
Carthys,  FitzGeralds,  Kavanaghs,  and 
others,  to  whose  lands  he  laid  claim, 
than  with  any  other  view.*  Some  of 
these  lands  belonged  to  Sir  Edmond 
Butler,  a  man  of  a  restless  spirit,  and 
perpetually  involved  in  strife,  and  who 
now  joined  the  southern  insurgents, 
more  from  private  pique  than  for  public 
motives,  if  we  may  judge  from  his  sub- 
sequent conduct.  Sir  Peter  Carew  was 
ordered  to  take  the  field  against  him, 
and  is  said  to  have  slain  in  one  en- 
counter 400  of  the  Irish,  with  no  other 
loss  on  his  side  than  one  man  wounded ; 
a  statement  from  which,  if  true,  it  would 
follow  that  the  affair  was  not  a  battle, 
but  the  massacre  of  an  unarmed  multi- 
tude. Sir  Edmond  then  induced  his 
younger  brothers.  Pierce  and  Edward, 
to  enter  with  him  into  an  alliance  with 
Sir  James  FitzMaurice;  and  the  con- 
federates despatched  the  archbishop  of 
Cashel,  the  bishop  of  Emly,  and  Sir 
James  Sussex  FitzGerald,  youngest 
brother  of  the  earl  of  Desmond,  as 
emissaries  to  the  pope,  imjiloring  as- 
sistance. They  laid  siege  to  Kilkenny, 
which  was  successfully  defended  by 
Carew.  They  then  proceeded  to  over- 
run the  country  in  various  directions. 
The  Butlers  sacked  the  town  of  Ennis- 


*  Sir  Peter  Carew  claimed  the  barony  of  Idrone  in 
Carlow,  and  one-half  of  the  "kingdom  of  Cork,"  or 
South  Munster,  in  right  of  Robert  FitzStepheu,  one  of 
the  fii'st  adventurers ;  but  as  the  said  FitzStepheu  was 
a  bastard,  and  left  no  children,  it  was  decided  by  the 


corthy,  and  marched  into  Ossory  and 
the  Queen's  county,  where  they  are 
accused  of  committing  every  kind  of 
outrage.  Ultimately  they  returned  to 
the  south  and  rejoined  the  forces  of 
FitzMaurice  and  the  eai'l  of  Clancare, 
when  the  confederates  sent  messengers 
to  Turlough  Luineach,  inviting  him  to 
join  their  standard,  and  to  secure  the 
assistance  of  some  Scottish  auxiliaries. 

At  this  juncture  Sidney  set  out  on  a 
military  expedition  into  Munster,  and 
the  earl  of  Ormond  was  sent  over  by 
the  queen  to  bring  his  refractoiy  broth- 
ers to  order.  This  he  easily  effected ; 
inducing  them  to  accompany  him  to 
Limerick  and  there  submit  to  the  lord 
deputy,  who  consented  to  their  pardon, 
although  Sir  Edmond  was  detained  for 
some  time  in  prison  to  await  the  queen's 
pleasure,  as  he  persisted  in  making 
personal  chai'ges  against  Sidney  him- 
self The  raul<s  of  the  insurgents  being 
thus  broken  up,  James  FitzMaurice  re- 
tired with  a  few  followers  to  the  moun- 
tains, and  Sidney,  having  taken  those 
castles  which  still  held  out,  proceeded 
through  Thomond  to  Connaught,  and 
thence  to  Dublin ;  having  on  this  occa- 
sion put  into  effective  operation  the 
new  form  of  local  govei'nment,  by  pres- 
idents and  councils,  Avhich  he  himself 
had  devised  for  the  two  provinces  of 
Connaught  and  Munster.     Sir  Edward 


inquisition  of  the  5th  Edward  III.  that  the  claim  of  the 
Carews  to  be  his  heirs  could  not  be  true.  See  Four 
Masters,  vol.  v.,  pp.  1737,  1838,  note,  for  some  curious 
particulars  on  this  subject. 


..NAUGHT. 


367 


FittoD,  a  man  well  qualified  to  crusli 
the  people  by  his  excessive  rigor  and 
overbearing  insolence,  was  appointed 
first  president  of  Connaught;  and  Sir 
John  Perrot,  who  was  said  to  be  a 
natural  son  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  was 
also  distina;uished  for  his  extreme  stern- 
ness  and  terrible  activity,  was  placed 
early  in  the  following  year  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  Munster.*  In  the  north 
Turlough  Luineach  evinced  an  intention 
of  joining  the  Southern  insurgents,  but 
an  injury  which  he  received  from  the 
j.ccidental  explosion  of  a  gun  obliged 
him  to  remain  inactive,  and  on  his  re- 
covery he  found  himself  deserted  by 
many  of  his  adherents,  and  deemed  it 
prudent  to  submit  and  sue  for  pardon. 
A.  D.  1570. — Sir  James*  FitzMaurice 
renewed  the  war  early  this  year.  On 
the  second  of  March  he  attacked  Kil- 
malluck,  in  which  an  English  garrison 
had  been  placed,  and  scaling  the  walls 
obtained  possession  of  the  town,  which 
was  then  plundered  and  committed  to 
the  flames,  so  that  nothing  was  left  of 
it  but  the  blackened  walls.  In  Con- 
naught,  to  which  Thomond  had  recent- 
ly been  added  as  a  county,f  the  rigor 
of  Sir  Edward  Fitton  had  goaded  the 
people  into  resistance  ;*  even  the  old 
and  hitherto  faithful  friend  of  the  Eng- 


*  Sir  Warham  St.  Leger  waa  appointed  president  of 
Munster  in  1567,  but  the  system  of  provincial  presidents 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  fully  carried  out  until  two 
years  later,  as  stated  above. 

f  A  few  years  before  this  Connaught  had  been  divided 
by  the  earl  of  Susses  into  sis  counties,  viz. : — Clare, 
Galway,  Mayo,  Sligo,  Roscommon,  and  Leltrim.  The 
territory  comprised  in  the  present  comity  of  Clare  formed 
a  part  of  Connaught  in  the  time  of  queen  Maeve,  that  is, 


lish,  Conor  O'Brien,  earl  of  Thomond, 
being  obliged  to  resist  the  president's 
authority.  Fitton  appointed  a  court  to 
meet  this  year  in  the  abbey  of  Ennis, 
but  the  earl  refused  to  attend,  and  the 
president  was  obliged  to  fly,  committing 
himself  to  the  safe  keeping  of  Teige 
O'Brien,  sheriff  of  Thomond,  who  con- 
ducted him  to  Galway.  The  earl  of 
Ormond  was,  upon  this,  sent  into 
Thomond  to  vindicate  the  authority  of 
government,  and  the  refractory  Conor 
O'Brien  sui-rendered  to  him  all  his  cas- 
tles except  that  of  Ibrickan ;  but  sub- 
sequently he  regretted  his  too  easy 
submission,  and  preferring  any  sacrifice 
rather  than  placing  himself  at  the  mercy 
of  the  president,  he  fled  to  Kerry,  and 
thence  to  France,  where  Norris,  the 
English  ambassador,  negotiated  his  par- 
don with  Elizabeth,  enabling  him  to 
return  to  Ireland,  where  he  afterwards 
remained  a  faithful  subject. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  a  sanguin- 
ary and  memorable  battle  was  fought 
at  Shrule,  a  village  on  the  borders  of 
Mayo  and  Galway,  between  the  north- 
ern Mac  Williams  (Burkes)  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  earl  of  Clanrickard  and 
Sir  Edward  Fitton  on  the  other.  Mac- 
William  had  collected  a  large  army  by 
the  aid  of  his  allies  in  lower  Connaught, 

about  the  Chxistiaji  era,  and  bo  continued  untU  it  was 
conquered  by  Lugaidh  Menn,  fourth  in  descent  from 
Cormac  Cas,  son  of  OUiol  OUum,  king  of  Munster,  when 
it  became  Thomond  or  North  Slunster.  It  was  restored 
for  a  short  time  to  Connaught  in  the  division  of  shire 
land  under  queen  Elizabeth,  but  was  again  added  to 
Munster.  See  note  in  Battle  of  Magh  Lena,  p.  157. 
By  Susses,  also,  the  ancient  territory  of  Anally  was 
formed  into  the  county  of  Longford. 


368 


REIGISr  OF  ELIZABETH. 


and  of  the  O'Flaherties ;  and  the  lord 
president's  infantry  were  routed  -with 
great  slaughter,  although  his  Ccavalry  re- 
mained firm,  and  inflicted  such  damage 
on  the  Irish,  in  their  turn,  that  both  par- 
ties were  able  to  claim  the  victory.  In 
the  south  the  earl  of  Ormond  pursued 
his  way  from  Thomond  through  Hy- 
Connell  Gavra,  in  Limerick,  into  Kerry, 
as  fixr  as  Dunlo  castle,  which  he  de- 
molished, without  meeting  an  enemy 
throughout  his  march  ;  and  among  the 
Irish  chieftains  who  made  their  submis- 
sion about  the  same  time,  Avere  Brian 
Kavanagh,  of  Ballyanne,  in  Wexford, 
MacVaddock,  MacEdmond  Dufi^  and 
MacDavid  More,  heads  of  other  branch- 
es of  the  MacMurroughs,  in  the  same 
county;  besides  O'Farrell  Bane,  and 
O'Farrell  Boy,  of  Longford.* 

A.  D.  1571. — Sir  John  Perrot  entered 
this  year  on  his  first  campaign  against 
the  insurgents  of  Munster,  with  extra- 
ordinary vigor  and  activity.  He  was 
on  the  alert  night  and  day.  Boasting 
that  he  would  "  hunt  the  fox  out  of  his 
hole,"  he  scoured  the  woods  in  the  wild 
and  picturesque  glen  of  Aherlow,  where 
Sir  James  FitzMaurice  had  sheltered 
himself  with  a  few  followers,  but  not- 
withstanding all  this  energy  the  Ger- 
aldine  chief  remained  unsubdued. 

A.  D.  1572. — Neither  did  the  "strong 
measures"  of  Sir  Edward  Fitton  produce 
the  expected  result.  His  ferocity  and 
insolence  fired,  instead  of  subduing  the 

*  See  the  indentures  of  their  submission  published, 
for  the  first  time,  by  Dr.  O'Donovan,  Four  Masters,  vol. 
v.,  pp.  lG48,&c. 


spirit  of  Connaught.  He  called  a  court 
in  Galway,  to  be  held  in'  March  this 
year,  and  to  serve  for  his  whole  juris- 
diction, from  Sligo  to  Limerick.  The 
sons  of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard,  on 
arriving  in  the  town,  lieard  rumors  of 
some  sinister  design  on  the  part  of  the 
president,  and  took  to  flight;  where- 
upon Fitton  arrested  the  earl,  their 
father,  and  carried  him  to  Dublin, 
where  he  committed  him  to  the  charge 
of  the  lord  deputy,  returning  himself 
to  Athlone.  Other  popular  chiefs  of 
Connaught  were  also  seized  by  him, 
aud  left  in  durance  in  Galway;  and 
then,  collecting  a  sufficient  force,  he 
marched  through  Galway  to  the  castle 
of  Aughnanure,  on  the  shore  of  Lough 
Corrib,  and  after  a  siege,  in  which  a 
great  portion  of  the  castle  was  de- 
stroyed, took  it  from  the  sous  of  Donnell 
OTlaherty,  and  gave  it  up  to  Murrough 
O'Flaherty,  surnamed  Na-d-tuadh,  or  of 
the  battle-axes,  who  liad  been  taken 
into  favor  by  the  government,  and 
acknowledged  as  chieftain  of  all  lar- 
Connaught.  The  earl's  sons  were  again 
in  arms;  multitudes  of  the  disaS"ected 
rallied  to  their  standard,  and  among 
the  rest  Fitz-Maurice  of  Desmond  ;  they 
destroyed  nearly  all  the  castles  of  Clan- 
rickard to  render  them  untenable  by 
English  garrisons;  they  crossed  the 
Shannon  into  West  Meath,  burned  part 
of  Athlone,  demolished  the  walls  and 
stone  houses  of  Athenry,  passed  twice 
into  lar-Connaught  in  defiance  of  the 
garrison  of  Galway  and  of  the  forces  of 
Murrough  O'Flaherty,  and  had  overrun 


TUMULTS  IN   CONNAUGHT. 


369 


a  great  part  of  the  west  of  Ireland, 
when  Sir  "William  FitzWilliam,  now 
lord  deputy,  thought  it  prudent  to  try 
conciliation,  and  liberating  the  earl  of 
Clanrickard,  sent  him  down  to  pacify 
his  sons.  This  course  had  the  desired 
effect,  and  the  Connaught  insurgents 
having  dispersed  to  their  homes,  Sir 
James  FitzMaurice,  who  had  been 
waiting  for  an  expected  reinforcement 
of  Scots,  set  out  for  Kerry,  where  he 
arrived  after  encountering  innumerable 
perils,  only  in  time  to  find  that  Castle- 
maine,  the  last  of  his  strongholds,  after 
a  long  and  brave  resistance,  had  been 
compelled,  through  famine,  to  capitu- 
late to  the  lord  president.  In  his 
present  hopeless  state,  FitzMaurice  with 
his  party  of  Scots,  repaired  to  the  wilds 
of  Aherlow,  where,  about  the  end  of 
October,  he  was  surprised  and  attacked 
at  night  by  a  garrison  which  Perrot 
had  placed  in  Kilmallock,  now  partly 
rebuilt.  Thirty  of  the  Scots  were  slain, 
and  the  spirit  of  FitzMaurice  was  com- 
pletely crushed  by  the  blow;  yet  he 
remained  in  the  woods  until  the  fol- 
lowing February,  when  he  sent  Fitz- 
Gerald,  seneschal  of  Imokilly,  and  Owen 
MacRichard  Burke,  with  his  own  son, 
as  a  hostage,  to  proffer  his  submission 
to  the  lord  president,  then  stopping 
with  lord  Koche,  at  Castletown  Roche, 
in  Cork. 

A.  D.  1573. — Humbled  as  he  was,  the 
Geraldine  was  still  an  object  of  fear, 
and  the  offer  of  his  submission  was  re- 
ceived with  welcome.  The  ruined 
church  of  Kilmallock,  which  had  been 

47 


the  scene  of  his  principal  aggression, 
was  appropriately  selected  for  the  cer- 
emony of  reconciliation ;  and  there,  on 
%is  knees,  and,  according  to  the  account 
preserved  in  the  state-paper  office,  in 
most  abject  terms,  he  confessed  his  guilt, 
and  craved  the  pardon  of  the  lord  pres- 
ident, who  held  his  naked  sword  all  the 
while  with  the  point  towards  the  fallen 
chieftain's   breast.     The    latter   kissed 
the  weajion,  and  falling  on  his  face  ex- 
claimed :    "  And    now    this    earth    of 
Kilmallock,  which  town  I  have  most 
traitorously  sacked  and  burnt,  I  kiss,  and 
on  the  same  lie  prostrate,  overfraught 
with  sorrow  upon  this  present  view  of 
my  most  mischievous  part  ?"     On  this 
termination  of  the  insurrection,  the  earl 
of  Desmond  and  his  brother,  John,  who 
had  been  detained  captives  in  England 
for  six  years,  were  set  free.     Tlie  earl 
was   even   graciously   treated   by   the 
queen;  and  his  manners  as  a  gentle- 
man distinguished  him  at  her  court.    A 
ship  was  furnished  to  convey  the  broth- 
ers to  Ireland;    but  for  some  reason, 
suggested   by  the   tortuous   policy    of 
Elizabeth,  the  earl  was  again  put  under 
arrest  on  his  arrival  in  Dublin,  Jolm 
being  permitted  to  return  to  Munster. 
In  Connauo;ht  Sir  Edward  Fitton  was 
removed  from  office,  owing  to  the  re- 
monstrances of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard 
against  his  overbearing  harshness. 

That  the  project  of  planting  Ulster 
from  England,  though  not  fully  carried 
out  until  the  next  reign,  was  present  to 
the  mind  of  Elizabeth  even  in  the  war 
of  Shane  O'Neil,  is  evident  from,  the 


370 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


hints  throwu  out  by  ber  to  the  effect 
that  the  insurrection  was  all  the  better 
for  the  loyalists,  as  it  would  leave  plenty 
of  lands  for  them.  In  1570  the  district'' 
of  Ards,  in  Down,  was  granted  by  her 
to  her  secretary,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  and 
was  described  in  the  preamble  to  the 
grant  as  belonging  to  "  divers  parts  and 
parcels  of  her  highness's  earldom  of 
Ulster,  that  lay  waste,  or  else  were  in- 
habited with  a  wicked,  barbarous,  and 
uncivil  people ;  some  Scottish,  and  some 
wild  Irish,  and  such  as  lately  had  been 
rebellious  to  her."  Smith  sent  over  his 
natural  son  with  a  colony  to  this  dis- 
trict, but  the  young  man  was  soon  after 
killed  in  a  fray  by  the  O'Neills  of  Clan- 
naboy,  the  native  owners  of  the  soil, 
and  the  new  settlement  lingered  feebly 
for  some  years.  The  Scots  who  had 
settled  in  Clannaboy  under  their  chief, 
Sorley  Boy  MacDonuell,  were  for  a 
while  countenanced  by  the  English  gov- 
ernment as  useful  allies  in  removing  or 
crushing  the  native  inhabitants,  who  in 
order  to  be  "  humanized,"  were  to  be 
first  despoiled  of  their  ancestral  lands : 
but  that  territory  was  now  thrown 
open  to  a  more  fixvored  class  of  adven- 
turers. Walter  Devereux,  earl  of  Essex, 
received  a  grant  of  a  moiety  of  the 
seigniories  of  Clannaboy,  Farney,  <fec., 
provided  he  could  expel  the  "rebels" 
who  dwelt  there,  any  rights  on  the 
part  of  the  native  septs  being  wholly 
overlooked.  An  army  of  1,200  men 
was  to  be  placed  at  the  earl's  disposal, 
one-half  to  be  provided  and  maintained 
at  the  queen's  expense  and  the  other  at 


that  of  the  earl ;  eveiy  horseman  who 
volunteered  in  the  expedition  for  two 
years  was  to  receive  400  acres  of  land 
at  two  pence  per  acre,  and  every  foot- 
man 200  acres  at  a  like  rate;  and  the 
earl  was  to  be  commander-in-chief,  or 
earl-marshal  of  Ireland  for  seven  years. 
Several  English  gentlemen  of  distinc- 
tion, among  others  lords  Dacres  and 
Kich,  Sir  Henry  Knollys,  and  the  three 
sons  of  Lord  Norris,  joined  the  adven- 
turers ;  and  Essex  mortgaged  his  estates 
to  the  queen  to  raise  funds  for  the 
enterprise.  But  it  was,  nevertheless, 
well  known  that  the  project  Avas  devised 
and  promoted  by  his  enemy,  the  earl  of 
Leicester,  in  order  to  remove  him  from 
the  court.  Sir  "William  FitzWilliam, 
the  lord  deputy,  complained  of  the  ex- 
cessive power  about  to  be  conferred  on 
Essex  as  incompatible  with  his  own  au- 
thority, and  it  was  accordingly  arranged 
that  the  earl  should  receive  his  com- 
mission from  the  deputy,  to  make  it 
apjDear  that  he  acted  under  him.  Essex 
at  length  arrived,  in  the  summer  of 
1573,  and  notified,  by  proclamation, 
that  he  came  to  take  possession  of  the 
forfeited  lands  of  Clannaboy,  the  Glyns, 
the  Route,  &c.,  but,  that  he  merely 
intended  to  expel  the  Scots,  and  not  to 
act  with  hostility  to  the  Irish.  Soon, 
however,  the  nature  of  the  expedition 
became  known  to  these  latter;  and  the 
native  race  of  Clannaboy,  under  their 
chief,  Brian,  sou  of  Felim  Baccagh 
O'Neill,  and  supported  by  Hugh  O'Neill 
of  Dungannon,  and  by  Turlough  Lui- 
ueach  himself,  rose  in  arms.     Several 


SIDNEY   RETURNS   TO   IRELAND. 


'ill 


conflicts  eusuecl,  and  Essex  soon  found 
himself  in  a  veiy  embarrassing  position. 
Many  of  his  men  were  not  fit  for  the 
hard  service  on  which  they  had  entered, 
and  some  of  his  leaders  deserted  and 
retui-ned  to  England.  He  invited  the 
aid  of  Con,  sou  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell, 
but  when  that  chief  had  joined,  he  seized 
him  on  some  frivolous  pretence  and  sent 
him  a  prisoner  to  Dublin,  at  the  same 
time  taking  possession  of  O'Donnell's 
castle  of  Liffbrd. 

A.D.  1574. — Camden  tells  us  that  Essex 
defeated  Brian  O'Neill  in  battle,  and  slew 
two  hundred  of  his  men ;  but  the  Irish 
chroniclers  give  a  very  different  account 
of  this  transaction.  They  say  that, 
peace  having  been  agreed  upon  between 
Brian  and  the  earl,  a  feast  was  prepared 
by  the  former,  to  which  Essex  and  the 
chiefs  of  his  people  were  invited,  but  that 
after  three  days  and  nights  spent  in  so- 
cial conviviality,  "  as  they  were  agree- 
ably drinking  and  making  merry,  Brian, 
his  brother,  and  his  wife,  were  seized 
upon  by  the  earl,  and  all  his  people  put 
to  the  sword,  men,  women,  youths,  and 
maidens,  in  Brian's  own  presence  ;"  and 


*  We  can  have  no  hesitation  as  to  the  authority  on 
wMch  we  should  rely  relative  to  this  nefarious  trans- 
action. Camden,  v?ho  {Annates  ad  an.  1574)  omits  all 
allusion  to  treachery  in  the  affair,  frequently  suffers 
himself  to  display  his  prejudice  against  the  Irish ; 
■whereas  the  Four  Masters,  who  give  tlie  other  version, 
are  remarkable,  as  even  Leland  confesses,  for  their  free- 
dom from  all  virulence  against  the  English  or  their 
government.  "  Sometimes,  on  the  contrary,"  continues 
that  very  anti-Irish  historian,  "  they  expressly  condemn 
their  countrymen  for  their  rebellion  against  their  prince." 
(Lei.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  B.  iv.,  c.  2,  note.) 

t  Camden  informs  us  that  the  poisoner  of  Essex  had 
been  pointed  out  to  him  in  public  ;  but  Hooker  in  his 


that  "Brian  was  afterwards  sent  to 
Dublin,  together  with  his  wife  and  bro- 
ther, where  they  were  cut  in  quarteivs."  * 
This  horrible  act  of  perfidy  filled  the 
Irish,  as  the  annalists  add,  with  hatred 
and  disgust  for  their  foes,  and  the  whole 
boasted  scheme  of  colonization  soon 
after  fell  to  the  ground.  Essex  went  to 
England  in  1575,  to  induce  the  queen 
to  lend  additional  support,  but  she  dis- 
liked the  project  and  refused.  He  then 
returned  to  Ireland,  abandoned  his 
settlement,  and  repaired  to  Dublin, 
where  he  died  on  the  22d  of  Septem- 
ber, 1576,  the  general  opinion  being 
that  his  death  was  caused  by  poison, 
administered  at  the  desire  of  the  earl  of 
Leicester,  who  soon  after  divorced  his 
own  wife  and  married  the  widow  of 
Essex,  f 

A.D.  1575. — Sir  Henry  Sidney  once 
more  resumed  the  reins  of  government- 
He  landed  at  Skerries  on  the  12th 
of  September  this  year,  and  having  been 
sworn  in  at  Drogheda,  as  the  plague  at 
that  time  raged  in  Dublin,  J  he  marched 
with  six  hundred  horse  and  foot  against 
Sorley  Boy  and  the  Scots  who  were  just 


chronicle,  asserts  that  that  nobleman  died  not  of  poison, 
but  of  an  attack  of  dysentery,  to  which  he  was  subject. 
Esses  complained  bitterly,  in  his  letters  to  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  of  the  queen's  bad  faith  with  him  in  the  affair 
of  the  projected  plantation  of  Clannaboy,  and  protested 
against  the  injustice  which  had  been  inflicted,  through 
him,  on  such  loyal  lords  of  Ulster  as  O'Donnell, 
MacMahon,  and  others,  "  whom  he  had,  on  the  pledged 
word  of  the  queen,  undone  with  fair  promises." 

J  Dublin,  and  many  parts  of  the  Pale,  were  devastated 
by  plague  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1573.  The 
Four  Masters  say : — "  Intense  heat  and  extreme  drought 
in  the  summer  of  tliis  year  ;  there  was  no  rain  for  one 
hour  by  night  or  day  from  Bealtame  (1st  of  May)  to 


372 


REIGN"  OF  ELIZABETH. 


then  besie2:in2:  Carrickferarus ;  and  liav- 
ing  compelled  them  to  submit,  he  re- 
ceived about  the  same  time  the  submis- 
sion of  Tui-lough  Luineach  and  other 
Ulster  chieftains.  Con  O'Donnell,  and 
Con,  son  of  Niall  Oge  O'Neill,  had,  a 
little  before,  made  their  escape  from 
Dublin,  and  the  lord-deputy  sent  a  par- 
don to  the  former,  showing  his  disap- 
proval of  the  unjust  treatment  he  had 
received  from  Essex.  He  then  set  out 
on  a  progress  through  Leinster  and 
Munster.  At  Dungarvan  the  earl  of 
Desmond,  who  had  made  his  escape  in 
1573  from  his  detention  in  Dublin,  came 
in  and  offered  the  deputy  his  services. 
At  Cork  Sir  Henry  held  a  session,  at 
which  several  persons  were  tried,  and 
twenty-three  offenders  executed.  Here 
he  passed  the  Christmas,  which  was 
celebrated  with  unwonted  gaiety  and 
magnificence,  several  of  the  leading 
men,  both  of  English  and  Irish  descent, 
having  come  accompanied  by  their 
wives  to  attend  the  deputy's  court.  In 
Limerick  he  also  held  sessions,  but  as 
his  stay  there  was  brief  he  appointed 
commissioners  to  carry  on  the  proceed- 
ings after  his  dej^arture.  He  next  pro- 
ceeded to  Galway,  where  the  sons  of 
the  earl  of  Clanrickard  came  into  church 
during  divine  service,  and  on  their 
knees  supplicated  pardon;  and  finally 
he  arrived  in  Dublin  on  the  13th  of 
April.     At   this   time  Sir  James  Fitz- 


Lammas  (1st  of  August).  A  loathsome  disease  and  a 
dreadful  malady  rose  from  this  heat,  namely,  the  plague. 
This  malady  raged  virulently  among  the  English  and 
Irish  in  Dublin,  in  Naas  of  Leinster,  Ardee,  MullLngar, 


Maurice  resided  with  his  family  at  St. 
Malo's  in  France,  which  he  visited  after 
passing  through  Sjiain,  and  Munster 
seemed  for  a  moment  to  enjoy  profound 
tranquillity. 

A.  D.  1576. — Sir  Henry  Sidney  had 
taken  with  him  to  Dublin,  as  captives, 
the  sons  of  the  earl  of  Clanrickai-d,  and 
some  of  the  O'Brien's,  but  having  ad- 
ministered to  them  a  severe  reproof 
and  exacted  a  promise  that  they  would 
not  return  to  their  respective  countries, 
he  now  set  them  free  and  commenced 
another  progress  to  the  south.  He  had 
not,  however,  proceeded  far  when  he 
learned  that  the  reckless  De  Burgos 
had  recrossed  the  Shannon,  cast  off 
their  English  costume,  and  once  more 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  The  de- 
puty upon  this  hastened  back  to  Dublin, 
collected  the  available  troops,  and 
marched  with  great  celerity  into  Con- 
naught,  where  he  took  posession  of  the 
towns  and  castles  of  Clanrickard  in  the 
qu'een's  name,  and  seizing  the  earl  him- 
self, whom  he  suspected  of  conniving  at 
his  son's  rebellion,  sent  him  to  be  im- 
prisoned in  Dublin  castle.  Confounded 
by  the  rapid  movements  of  the  deputy, 
the  earl's  sons  fled  to  the  woods  and 
mountains,  and  Sidney  was  able  to 
resume  his  intended  progress  to  Mun- 
ster, although  by  a  different  route  from 
that  he  had  originally  laid  down.  He 
proceeded  from  Galway,  through  Clare, 


and  Athboy.  Between  these  places  many  a  castle  was 
left  without  a  guard,  many  a  flock  without  a  shepherd, 
and  many  a  noble  corpse  without  burial,  in  consequence 
of  this  distemper." 


AGITATION    IX   THE   PALE. 


373 


to  Limerick,  Avbere  he  installed  Sir 
William  Drury  in  the  office  of  Lord- 
president  of  Munster,  formerly  held  by 
Sir  John  Perrot,  and  shortly  after  Sir 
Nicholas  Malby  was  placed  with  similar 
authority  over  Connaught ;  but  the  in- 
human ferocity  of  Fitton  had  rendered 
the  name  of  president  so  odious  in  this 
latter  province,  that  Sidney  thought  it 
prudent  to  invest  Malby  with  the  title 
of  "  Colonel  of  Connaught." 

The  earl  of  Desmond  was  soon 
brought  into  collision  with  the  new  pres- 
ident of  Munster.  He  protested  against 
the  holding  of  courts,  by  the  latter, 
within  his  palatinate  of  Kerry  ;  but 
finding  that  Drury  disregarded  his  priv- 
ilege, and  was  about  proceeding  to 
Tralee  to  hold  a  session  there,  he  made 
a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  offered  the 
hospitality  of  his  castle  to  the  stern 
representative  of  power.  The  invita- 
tion was  accepted,  but  on  approaching 
the  chief  town  of  Kerry,  the  president, 
who,  as  usual  in  these  judicial  visita- 
tions, was  attended  by  an  armed  retinue 
of  some  six  or  seven  score  men,  per- 
ceived that  seven  or  eUAit  hundred 
armed  men  were  assembled,  as  he 
thought,  in  a  hostile  attitude.  His 
apprehensions  may  have  been  well 
founded,  or  his  bravery  only  Quixotic  ; 
but  he  drew  up  his  party  in  battle 
array,  marched  resolutely  forward,  and 
the  real  or  supj^osed  enemj^  fled  to  the 
woods.  The  countess  of  Desmond  came 
out  of  town  in  a  state  of  distraction, 
and  on  her  knees  assured  the  doughty 
president  that  her  lord  had  no  hostile 


intention,  but  that,  the  lord-president's 
visit  being  just  then  expected,  these 
men  had  assembled  for  a  general  hunt- 
ing. Drury  appeared  to  accept  the 
explanation,  and  went  on  to  hold  his 
sessions,  while  the  earl  forwarded  to  the 
government,  in  Dublin,  an  indignant 
complaint  against  the  president's  offen- 
sive proceedings.  Shortly  after  this, 
Sir  William  Drury  seized  the  earl's 
brother  John,  in  Cork,  on  suspicion  of 
some  treasonable  practices,  and  sent  him 
under  an  escort  to  Dublin. 

In  the  mean  time  Sir  Henry  Sidney, 
having  learned  that  a  large  body  of 
Scots  were  about  to  join  the  still  un- 
subdued sons  of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard, 
marched  into  Connaught,  where  Mac- 
William  lochter,  who  had  deserted  the 
cause  of  the  young  De  Burgos,  came  to 
his  standard ;  and  the  Scots  being  dis- 
couraged by  the  prospect  of  affairs,  on 
their  arrival  in  the  west,  abandoned 
their  friends  without  fighting,  and  re- 
turned to  Ulster.  Thus  deserted,  the 
earl's  sons  continued  to  hide  themselves 
in  the  wildest  recesses  of  the  woods  and 
hills,  and  Sidnej^,  having  left  some  troops 
to  hunt  them  down,  returned  to  Dub- 
lin. 

A.  D.  1517. — Difficulties  of  another 
kind  now  disturbed  the  Pale,  owing  to 
the  arbitrary  exercise  of  power  by  the 
lord-deputy,  who,  by  the  sole  authority 
of  the  pri'V'y^  council,  and  Avithout  the 
intervention  of  parliament,  converted 
the  occasional  subsidy,  which  was  grant- 
ed in  emergencies  for  the  support  of  the 
government  and  army,  into  a  regular 


374 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


tax,  abolished  local  and  personal  privi- 
leges of  exemption,  and  decreed  that 
the  assessment  should  be  levied  on  all 
subjects  of  the  crown.  This  proceeding 
received  the  warmest  approval  of  the 
queen,  who  had  always  most  reluctantly 
granted  the  supplies  necessary  for  the 
Irish  establishment ;  but  it  aroused  a 
general  and  violent  feeling  of  discon- 
tent throughout  the  Pale.  The  most 
loyal  joined  in  remonstrances  against 
an  exercise  of  despotic  power  so  odious 
and  oppressive.  The  people  pleaded 
constitutional  rights,  but  the  only  reply 
to  this  was  the  queen's  prerogative. 
The  collection  of  the  cess  was  resisted, 
and  agents  were  sent  in  the  name  of  the 
lords,  and  other  leadiusr  inhabitants  of 
the  Pale,  to  represent  the  grievance  to 
the  queen  and  the  English  privy  coun- 
cil. Their  remonstrance  was  anticipated 
by  letters  from  the  lord  deputy,  and 
after  a  partial  hearing  of  their  complaint 
by  the  queen,  in  jierson,  the  agents 
were  committed  to  the  tower  for  con- 
tumacy, and  Sidney  was  reprimanded, 
by  letter,  for  not  having  immediately 
inmished  those  who  presumed  to  ques- 
tion the  prerogative  of  the  crown.  This 
stretch  of  despotism  augmented  the 
popular  indignation  ;  and  Elizabeth  and 
her  ministers,  alarmed  at  the  clamor 
which  was  raised,  and  sensible  of  the 
danger  of  alienating  the  few  in  Ireland 
who  were  friendly  to  the  government, 
thought  it  better  to  accommodate  mat- 
ters. A  composition  for  seven  years' 
purveyance,  payable  by  instalments, 
was  agreed  to ;  the  agents  and  others 


who  were  imprisoned,  Avere  liberated, 
and  the  question  was  set  at  rest. 

The  w'ars  of  so  many  generations  had 
not  been  able  to  exterminate  the  an- 
cient race  of  Leix  and  Offiilly,  where 
some  sturdy  rei:)resentatives  of  the 
O'Mores,  O'Conors  and  others,  had 
grown  lip  since  the  thinning  of  their 
septs  in  the  late  reigns.  These  shared 
in  the  general  disaffection,  and  were 
roused  into  action  by  the  wild  heroism 
of  the  famous  outlaw  chieftain,  Rory 
Oge  O'More,  who  at  this  time,  kept  the 
borders  of  the  Pale  in  perpetual  alarm 
by  the  daring  of  his  exploits.  With  a 
few  followers  he  was  generally  a  match 
for  the  small  garrisons  by  whom  the 
border-towns  were  guarded.  This  year 
he  surprised  Naas,  the  night  after  the 
annual  festival,  or  "  patron"  day,  of  the 
town,  when  the  inhabitants  were  buried 
in  sleep  after  their  festivities,  and  had  for- 
Sfotten  to  set  the  uaual  watch  on  the  town- 
walls.  His  men  cai-ried  lighted  brands 
on  jwles,  and  with  these  set  the  low 
thatched,  houses  on  fire,  so  that  the 
town  was  in  a  few  minutes  one  sheet  of 
flames,  and  the  terrified  inhabitants, 
roused  from  their  slumbers,  were  unable 
to  make  any  resistance.  The  Anglo- 
Irish  chroniclers,  who  make  Rory  the 
hero  of  the  wildest  adventures,  tell  us 
that  he  sat  for  some  time  at  the  market- 
cross  to  enjoy  the  spectacle,  and  then 
departed  in  triumph  without  taking  any 
life.  Thus  was  Rory  Oge  for  some 
time  the  terror  of  the  Pale,  making 
nightly  attacks  on  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages,   and   having    himself    numerous 


THE  MASSACRE  OF  MTJLLAMAST. 


375 


hair-breadtli  escapes  from  the  attempts 
to  kill  or  capture  Lim.  Many  persons 
in  Kilkenny  and  other  towns  were  sus- 
pected of  being  friendly  to  him,  and  of 
furnishing  him  Avith  information  which 
enabled  him  to  escape  the  snares  laid 
against  him.  On  one  occasion  he  got 
two  English  officers,  Captains  Harring- 
ton and  Cosby,  into  his  power,  and 
took  them  to  his  retreat  in  a  wood  near 
Carlow,  where,  through  the  treachery 
of  a  servant,  he  was  soon  after  surprised 
at  night  by  Robert  Hartpool,  the  con- 
stable of  Carlow,  and  had  a  narrow 
escape,  having  had  to  cut  his  way 
through  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers  who 
surrounded  the  cabin  where  he  slept. 
His  two  English  prisoners  were  rescued 
on  this  occasion,  and  his  wife  and  six- 
teen or  seventeen  of  his  men  slain  ;  and 
the  following  year  he  vras  cut  oif  by 
MacGilla  Patrick,  baron  of  Upper  Os- 
sory,  who  watched  his  movements  with 
a  strong  detachment  of  the  queen's 
troops  and  a  party  of  Irish  kernes. 
O'More  came  out  of  a  wood  to  parley 
with  MacGilla  Patrick's  kerne,  when 
one  of  the  latter  ran  him  throuQ:h  with 
his  sword.  Thus,  on  the  30th  of  June, 
1578,  was  the  Pale  relieved  from  its 
deadliest  source  of  feai',  and  the  Irish 
depiived  of  a  brave  soldier,  who  with  a 


*  Dowling,  according  to  ivlioni  O'More  was  slain  in 

1577,  asserts  tliat  the  chief  maintained  his  independence 
during  eighteen  years,  in  the  course  of  wliich  time  he 
burnt  Naas,  Athy,  Carlow,  Leighlin  bridge,  Eathcool, 
and  other  jilaces  ;  but  the  injury  he  inflicted  on  some  of 
these  towns  must  have  been  very  slight.  The  Four 
Masters,  who  record  his  death  (as  does  also  Ware),  in 

1578,  describe  him  as  "the  head  of  the  plunderers  and 


better  organized  system  of  ojjposition 
might  have  proved  a  very  dangerous 
foe  to  Elizabeth's  government.* 

This  year,  the  nineteenth  of  queen 
Elizabeth,  is  marked  by  a  frightful 
transaction,  the  recital  of  which  has 
often  in  late  times  made  men  shudder, 
while  its  gloomy  interest  has  been  en- 
hanced by  the  mystery  in  which  it  has 
been  shrouded.  It  would  appear  that 
the  heads  of  the  Irish  families  of  Leix 
and  Offaly  were  invited  in  the  queen's 
name,  and  under  her  protection,  to 
attend  a  meetiusr  or  conference  in  the 
great  rath  on  the  hill  of  Mullamast 
(Mullach-Maistean),  in  the  county  of 
Kildare,  and  that  about  four  hundred 
of  them  obeyed  the  summons.  The 
Irish  annalists  assert  that  they  were  peo- 
ple who  had  remained  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  English,  and  that  they  had 
been  "  summoned  to  show  themselves 
with  the  greatest  numbers  they  could 
bring  with  them."  Some  of  them  may 
have  been  implicated  in  the  revolt  of 
Eory  Oge,  who  was  then  verging  to- 
wards his  fall ;  but  no  special  provoca- 
tion is  alleged  against  tbem,  and,  at  all 
events,  they  came  to  the  meeting  under 
the  guarantee  of  the  royal  protection. 
No  sooner,  however,  had  they  assem- 
bled in  the  great  rath  than  they  were 


insurgents  of  the  men  of  Ireland  in  his  time."  The 
baron  of  Ossory  was  oflFered  one  thousand  marks  which 
had  been  promised  as  a  reward  for  the  head  of  O'More  ; 
but  he  only  accepted  one  hundred  pounds,  which  he  di- 
vided among  his  men.  Owen,  or  Owny,  the  son  of  Rory 
Ogc.  was  also  a  valiant  captain,  and  became  celebra- 
ted as  a  soldier  in  the  subsequent  wars  against  Eliza- 
beth. 


3Y6 


REIGK  OF  ELIZABETH. 


encompassed  by  a  treble  line  of  tlie 
queen's  garrison  soldiers,  and  all  of  them, 
to  a  man,  most  inhumanly  butchered  in 
cold  blood — and  this  atrocious  act  was 
committed  with  the  cognizance  and  aj5- 
proval  of  the  queen's  deputy  in  Ireland, 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  !  *  In  this  horrible 
massacre,  coming  so  soon  after  the  mur- 
der of  O'Neill  of  Clanuaboy  and  his 
family,  and  the  slaughter  of  his  follow- 
ers, by  the  earl  of  Essex,  and  followed 

*  According  to  a  traditional  account  of  the  massacre 
of  MuUainast,  given  on  the  authority  of  "  an  old  gentle- 
man named  Cullen,  of  the  county  of  Kildare,  -who  was 
living  in  1705,  and  had  frequently  discoursed  with  one 
Dwyer  and  one  Dowling  actually  living  at  Mullamast 
when  this  horrid  murder  was  committed,"  as  published 
by  Dr.  O'Donovan  (Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  pp.  1695,  1G96) 
from  a  MS.  in  the  handwriting  of  the  late  Laurence 
Byrne,  of  Fallybeg,  in  the  Queen's  county,  it  appears 
that  the  victims  belonged  to  the  seven  septs  of  Leix, 
namely,  the  O'Mores,  O'Kelly's,  O'Lalors,  Devoys,  Maca- 
boys,  O'Dorans,  and  O'Dowlings,  with  some  of  the  fam- 
ily of  Keating  ;  and  that  the  persons  concerned  in  the 
commission  of  the  murder  were  the  Deavils,  Grahams, 
Cosbys,  Pigotts,  Bowens,  Hartpoles,  Hovendons,  Demp- 
seys,  and  Fitzgeralds — the  five  last-named  families  being 
at  that  time  Catholics.     Tradition  attaches  the  most 
blame  in  the  matter  to  the  O'Dempseys,  because  they 
were  not  only  Catholics  but  Irish ;  and  "  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district,"  says  Dr.  O'Donovan,"  now  believe  that  a 
curse  has  followed  this  great  Irish  family  ever  since."   It 
is  probable  that  Cosby  was  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
militaiy  party  called  in  to  execute  the  massacre ;  the 
chief  command  of  all  the  kerne  in  the  queen's  pay  hav- 
ing been  committed  by  lord-deputy  Sussex  to  Francis 
Cosby ;   one  Edmond  O'Dempsey  being  a  captain  of 
kerne  under  liim  (Patent  EoU,  5tli  &  6th  Philip  and 
Mary).     Captain  Thomas  Lee,  an  officer  of  government, 
who,  in  1.594,  addressed  a  memorial  to  Elizabeth  entitled 
"  a  brief  declaration  of  the  government  of  Ireland"  (pre- 
served in  Trinity  College,  Duljlin,  and  printed  in  the 
Desiderata  Curiosa  Hihernica,  vol.  ii.,  p.  91,  and  in  the 
appendix  to  Dr.  Curry's  OimX  Wars  in  Ireland),  mentions 
in  tliat  tract,  among  other  acts  of  oppression,  cruelty, 
ra]>inc,  and  injustice,  the  massacre  of  Mullamast,  in  the 
following  words: — "They  have  drawn  imto  them  by 
protection  three  or  four  hundred  of  these  country  people, 
under  color  to  do  your  majesty  service,  and  brought 
them  to  a  place  of  meeting,  where  your  garrison  sol- 


by  other  like  acts  of  inhumanity  and 
perfidy  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
in  the  south,  and  in  the  merciless  rigor 
with  which  the  laws  were  enforced 
against  the  Irish,  we  obtain  a  fris-ht- 
fux  idea  of  the  principles  then  acted 
upon  in  the  government  of  this  coun- 
try. 

The  aflPair  of  Mullamast  and  the  pros- 
ecution of  some  citizens  of  Kilkenny, 
who  were  suspected  of  holding  commu- 

diers  were  appointed  to  be,  who  have  there  most  dishon- 
orably put  them  all  to  the  sword  ;  and  this  hath  been 
by  the  consent  and  practise  of  the  lord  deputy  for  the 
time  being."     Thady  Dowling,  the  contemporary  Prot- 
estant chancellor  of  Leighlin,  thus  records  the  massacre  : 
"1577. — Morris  MacLasy  MacConyll  (O'More),  lord  of 
Merggi,  as  he  asserted,  and  successor  of  the  baron  of 
Omergi,  with  40  (query  ?  a  mistake  for  400)  of  his  fol- 
lowers, after  his  confederation  with  Eory  O'More,  and 
after  a  certain  promise  of  protection,   was   slain  at 
Mullaghmastyn,  in  the  county  of  Kildare,  the  place  ap- 
pointed for  it  by  Master  Cosby  and  Robert  Hartpole, 
having  been  summoned  there  treacherously,  under  pre- 
tence of  performing  service:"  and  at  the  end  of  tliis 
entry,  whicli  is  in  Latin,  some  zealous  Protestant  has  in- 
terpolated the  following  words  in  English  : — "  HarpoU 
excused  it  that  Moris  had  gevcn  villanous  wordes  to  the 
breach  of  his  protection,"  which  might  mean  that,  in 
order  to  commence  the  slaughter,  a  pretended  liot  was 
raised,  on  the  occasion  of  some  hasty  words  extracted  from 
O'More.    O'SulIivan  (Hist.  Cath.,  p.99,  ed.  1850)  says  that 
ISO  men  of  the  family  of  O'More  were  slain  in  the  i»  assacre. 
According  to  some  traditions  only  one  O'More  escaped 
from  the  slaughter  ;  but  according  to  the  MS.  of  Lawrence 
Byrne,  above  referred  to,  the  popular  tradition  was  that 
the  lives  of  several  others  were  preserved  through  the 
means  of  one  Harry  Lalor,  who  "  remarking  that  none  of 
those  returned  who  had  entered  the  fort  before  him, 
desired  his  companions  to  make  off  as  fast  as  they  could 
in  case  they  did  not  see  him  come  back.     Said  Lalor,  as 
he  was  entering  the  fort,  saw  the  carcasses  of  his  slaugh- 
tered companions ;  then  drew  his  sword  and  fought  his 
way  back  to  those  that  survived,  along  with  whom  he 
made  his  escape  to  Dysart,  without  seeing  the  Barrow." 
Mullamast  (Mullach-Mainstean)  is  a  large  but  not  lofty 
hiU,  situated  about  five  miles  from  the  town  of  Athy,  in 
the  county  of  Kildare,  and  in  our  times  has  been  ren- 
dered further  remarkable  as  the  scene  of  one  of  Mr. 
O'Connell's  most  celebrated  repeal  meetings  in  1843. 


PLANS  OF  FITZMAURICE  ON  THE  CONTINENT. 


377 


nication  with  Rory  Oge  O'More,  are  the 
last  incidents  in  the  government  of  Sir 
Henry  Sidney.  That  statesman  had 
been  four  times  appointed  lord  justice 
of  Ireland,  and  three  times  lord  deputy ; 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  notwithstand- 
ing his  excessive  rigor,  he  is  mentioned 


in  the  Irish  annals  in  terms  which  imply 
respect.  In  compliance  with  his  re- 
peated and  earnest  applications  for 
permission  to  retire,  he  surrendered  the 
sword  of  state  to  Sir  William  Drury, 
the  lord  president  of  Munster,  on  the 
26thof  Mav,  1578, 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


EEIGN    OF    ELIZABETH COJ^TLNUATION. 


Plans  of  James  FitzMaurice  on  the  Continent. — Projected  Italian  expedition  to  Ireland. — Its  singular  fate.— 
FitzMaurice  lands  witli  some  Spaniards  at  Smerwick. — Conduct  of  the  earl  of  Desmond. — Savage  treatment 
of  a  bishop  and  priest. — The  insurgents  scattered. — Murder  of  Davells  and  Carter. — Tragical  death  of  James 
FitzMaurice. — Proceedings  of  Drary  and  Malby. — Catholics  in  the  royal  ranks. — Defeat  of  the  royal  army  by 
John  of  Desmond  at  Gort-na-Tiobrad. — Death  of  Sir  William  Drury. — Important  battle  at  Monasteranena. — 
Defeat  of  the  Geraldines. — Desmond  treated  as  a  rebel. — Hostilities  against  him. — Sir  Nicholas  Malby  at 
Askeaton. — Desmond  at  length  driven  into  rebellion. — ^He  plunders  and  bums  Toughal. — The  country  devas- 
tated by  Ormond. — Humanity  of  a  firiar. — James  of  Desmond  captured  and  executed. — Campaign  of  Pelham 
and  Ormond  in  Desmond's  country. — Capture  of  Carrigafoyle  castle. — Other  castles  surrendered  to  the  lord 
justice. — Narrow  escape  of  the  earl  of  Desmond. — Insurrection  in  Wicklow. — Arrival  of  Lord  Gray. — His  dis- 
aster in  Glenmalure. — Landing  of  a  large  Spanish  armament  at  Smerwick  harbor. — Lord  Gray  besieges  the 
foreigners. — Horrible  and  treacherous  slaughter  in  the  Fort  Del  Ore. — Savage  barbarity  of  Lord  Gray  and  his 
captains.— Butchery  of  women  and  children  near  Kildimo. — Rumored  plot  in  Dublin. — Arrest  of  the  earl  of 
Kildare  and  others. — Premature  executions. — Forays  of  the  earl  of  Desmond. — Melancholy  end  of  Jolm  of 
Desmond. — The  FitzMaurices  of  Kelly  in  rebellion.— Battle  of  Gort-na  Pisi. — The  Glen  of  Aherlow. — Despe- 
rate state  of  Desmond. — His  murder. — His  character. — Mild  policy  of  Perrott. — The  Parliament  of  1585. — 
Composition  in  Connaught. — Plantation  of  Munster. — Brutal  severity  of  Sir  Richard  Bingham  in  Con- 
naught. 

(A.  D.  1579  TO  A.  D.  1587.) 


JAMES  FITZMAURICE,  the  most 
earnest  and  consistent  of  the  Irish 
patriots  of  his  time,  was  not  inactive 
during  the  long  sojourn  he  had  been 
making  on  the  Continent.  While  stay- 
ing with  his  family  at  St.  Malo's,  his 
movements  were   closely  watched   by 

*  Sidney  at  this  time  calls  Sir  James  FitzMaurice, 
"a  papist  in  extremity  (j.  e.,  an  extreme   Catholic), 

4S 


the  spies  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.*  At 
that  moment,  however,  the  relations 
between  England  and  France  were  un- 
favorable to  his  purpose,  and  when  he 
applied  to  Henry  III.  for  help  for  the 
Irish  Catholics,  he  was  merely  told  by 
that  monarch  that  he  would   use  his 


•well  esteemed,  and  of  good  credit  among  the  people.' 
—S.P. 


378 


REIGlSr  OF  ELIZABETH. 


interference  with  Elizabetli  to  proc-nre 
pardon  for  Lim.  Reconciliation  with 
the  queen  of  England  was  the  last  thing 
that  FitzMaui'ice  desired ;  so  he  next 
repaired  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  who, 
being  also  then  at  peace  with  Elizabeth, 
ajipears  to  have  done  no  more  than 
refer  him  to  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  Leav- 
ing his  two  sons  in  Spain,  Sir  James 
proceeded  to  Rome,  where  he  was  most 
favorably  received  by  the  pontiff,  and 
where  his  solicitations  M'ere  warmly 
seconded  by  Cornelius  O'Mulrian,  O.S.F., 
bishop  of  Killaloe,  Dr.  Allen,  called  by 
some  an  Irish  Jesuit,  and  Dr.  Saunders, 
an  eminent  English  ecclesiastic.  The 
pope  granted  a  bull  encouraging  the 
Irish  to  fight  for  the  recovery  of  then- 
liberty  and  the  defence  of  their  religion ; 
and  an  expedition  was  fitted  out  at  the 
cost  of  the  holy  father,  to  be  maintained 
subsequently  by  Philip  II. ;  and,  at  the 
earnest  wish  of  FitzMaurice,  it  was 
intrusted  to  an  English  adventurer 
named  Stukely,*  as  admiral,  while  Her- 
cules  Pisano,   an   experienced   soldier, 


*  Thomas  Stukely,  to  wliose  cliarge  this  ill-fated  ex- 
pedition was  intrusted,  was  a  native  of  Devonshire,  and 
■was  distinguished  for  his  reckless  and  enterprising  dis- 
position. Some  assert  that  he  was  a  natural  son  of 
Henry  VIII.,  and  he  claimed  descent  maternally  from 
Dermott  MacMurrough.  In  1563  he  projected  a  compa- 
ny to  prosecute  discoveries  in  Terra  Florida,  and  obtained 
the  queen's  approbation ;  but  the  scheme  was  not  car- 
ried out  for  want  of  funds.  In  Ireland  ho  ingratiated 
himself  with  Sir  Heiuy  Sidney,  and  in  1567  was  em- 
ployed to  negotiate,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  with 
Shane  O'Neill,  but  Elizabeth  expressed  her  disapproval 
of  the  choice  made  of  him  on  that  occasion.  Soon  after 
he  became  disgusted  with  government,  because,  it  is 
said,  he  was  refused  the  office  of  steward  of  Wexford. 
He  then  expressed  his  sympathy  for  the  disaffected 
Irish,  and  went  to  the  Continent  to  propose  plans  to  the 


had  the  military  command.  Stukely 
sailed  with  his  squadron  from  Civita 
Vecchia,  and  touched  at  Lisbon  at  the 
very  moment  when  Sebastian,  the  chiv- 
alrous and  romantic  kinc:  of  Portu2:al, 
was  setting  out  on  his  expedition  to 
Morocco,  and  was  easily  persuaded  to 
join  in  that  wild  project,  on  receiving  a 
promise  from  the  king  that  after  return- 
ing from  Africa  he  would  either  go 
himself  to  Ireland,  or  give  him  a  larger 
force  for  the  purpose.  Stukely  forgot 
his  engagement  to  the  pope  and  to  the 
Irish,  and  sailed  to  Morocco,  where  he 
with  the  greater  number  of  his  luckless 
men  were  slain  in  the  famous  battle  of 
Alcagar,  in  which  Sebastian  and  two 
Moorish  kins^s  also  fell. 

James  FitzMaurice,  instead  of  accom- 
panying Stukely,  travelled  through 
France  to  Spain,  and  embarked  for 
Ireland  with  about  fourscore  Spaniards 
on  board  three  small  vessels.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Dr.  Saunders,  in  the 
capacity  of  legate,  the  bishop  of  Killa- 
loe, and  Dr.   Allen,    and  was   at  this 


pope  and  the  king  of  Spain  for  the  invasion  of  Ireland. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  his  conduct  ultimately 
was  the  result  of  his  wild  love  of  adventure,  or  of  per- 
fidy to  the  Irish  cause  which  he  had  espoused.  The 
expedition  placed  under  his  care  is  generally  stated  to 
have  consisted  of  800  men.  Muratori  says  600.  O'Daly 
exaggerates  the  number  when  he  says  the  pope  gave 
3,000  soldiers.  (Oeraldines,  p.  75,  Duffy's  ed.)  O'SuUi- 
van  (Hist.  Caih.,  p.  113)  says  there  were  about  1,000 
soldiers,  and  that  a  number  of  these  consisted  of  bands 
of  highwaymen,  who  had  been  pardoned  on  condition 
of  their  joining  the  Ii'ish  expedition.  O'Daly  adds  that 
the  pope  doubted  Stukely's  fidelity,  but  yielded  to 
the  solicitation  of  FitzMaurice,  and  invested  Stukely 
with  the  title  of  lord  of  Idrone ;  English  writers 
mention  other  titles  conferred  on  him  also  by  his  holi- 
ness. 


DESCENT  OF  SPANIARDS  AT  SMERWICK. 


379 


time  wholly  ignorant  of  the  fate  of 
Stukely's  expedition.  His  little  squad- 
ron made  the  harbor  of  Dingle  on  the 
17th  of  July,  1579,  and  so  frequent  was 
the  intercourse  between  that  locality 
and  Spain,  that  some  of  the  Spanish 
mariners  were  recognized  by  persons 
from  the  town,  who  came  alongside  but 
were  not  permitted  to  board  the  ships. 
The  vessels  were  then  brought  round  to 
Smerwick  harbor,  another  small  haven 
in.  the  extremity  of  the  peninsula  in 
which  Dingle  is  situated,  and  here  Fitz- 
Maurice  and  his  handful  of  Spaniards 
disembarked  next  day,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  almost  insulated  rock  of 
Oilen-an-oir,  usually  called  Fort-del-ore, 
which  juts  into  the  bay.  A  rude  kind 
of  fort,  belonging  to  one  Peter  Rice,  of 
Dingle,  already  existed  on  this  small 
peninsula,  and  FitzMaurice  caused  it  to 
be  strengthened  by  a  trench  and  curtain- 
wall  across  the  neck  of  land  by  which 
the  rock  is  joined  to  the  mainland.* 

The  news  of  these  armaments,  grossly 
exaggerated  by  rumor,  created  extraor- 
dinary excitement  throughout  Munster, 
where  the  embers  of  civil  war  were  yet 


*  Dingle,  or  Dingle-I-Couch,  near  the  extremity  of  the 
peninsula  of  Corkaguiney,  in  the  west  of  Kerry,  was 
once  a  town  of  great  importance,  and  from  an  early  pe- 
riod carried  on  an  extensive  commerce  with  Spain.  Its 
name  Daingean-ui-Chuis,  signifies  the  fortress  of  O'Cuis, 
the  ancient  proprietor  of  the  place  before  the  English 
invasion,  not  of  O'Hussey,  as  Dr.  Smith  {Hut.  of  Kerry) 
and  others  have  asserted.  {See  Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  p. 
1714,  z.)  As  to  the  Dano-Irish  name  of  Smerwick, 
which  Camden  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  St.  Marj-- 
wick,  a  local  antiquary  suggests  that  it  may  mean  the 
"  spreading  harbor,"  from  the  Irish  smearam,  to  spread. 
{Kerry  Magazine).  Its  name  was  originally  Ardnacaunt 
or  Aidcanny  Bay,  "  from  a  certayn  devout  man's  name. 


smouldering ;  but  the  old  curse  of 
division  and  misunderstandinof  stUl  over- 
hung  the  country.  The  earl  of  Desmond, 
to  whom  the  people  looked  as  a  leader, 
was  utterly  unfit  for  that  position.  His 
heart  was  undoubtedly  with  the  popular 
cause,  but  he  was  weak-minded  and 
vacillating,  and  mistrusted  those  with 
whom  it  would  have  been  his  duty  to 
act.  He  disliked  James  FitzMaurice, 
whose  active  and  inspiring  spirit  was 
so  wholly  opposed  to  his.  It  is  said 
that  he  also  feared  his  ambition ;  for 
the  line  of  succession  had  often  before 
been  rudely  changed  in  the  earldom  of 
Desmond.  His  apprehension,  not  for 
his  life  but  for  his  family,  where  pos- 
sessions as  vast  as  his  were  at  stake, 
was  also  an  excusable  cause  for  his  long 
hesitation  before  he  involved  himself  iu 
rebellion.  In  a  word,  he  was  either 
induced  by  personal  considerations  to 
discountenance  the  foreign  invasion  and 
the  proceedings  of  his  cousin,  Sir  James 
FitzMaurice,  or  at  least  he  made  a  show 
of  acting  in  that  sense,  and  vainly  en- 
deavored to  convince  the  government 
officials  of  his  loyalty,  while  they,  by 


caUed  Canntns,"  says  on  old  writer.  {Journal  of  Pel- 
Jtam's  Expedition  to  Dingle  in  1580,  kept  iy  Nicholas 
WJiite,  Master  of  tlie  Rolls,  and  forwarded  to  Lord 
Burghley). 

The  Spanish  name  Fort-del-ore  is  synonymous  with 
the  Irish  Dun-an-oir,  the  "  fort  of  the  gold,"  and  was 
given  to  the  rock  in  question  from  the  circumstance 
that  one  of  the  ships  of  the  celebrated  navigator, 
Frobisher,  laden  with  gold  ore  from  the  newly  discov- 
ered land  which  he  called  Meta  Incognita,  the  present 
Greenland,  had  been  wrecked  there  about  a  year  before 
the  landing  of  FitzJIam-ice  and  his  Spaniards,  when  the 
ore  was  stowed  away  in  Peter  Eice's  aforesaid  strong- 
hold by  the  directions  of  the  earl  of  Desmond. 


380 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


tlieir  insulting  taunts  and  doubts, 
seemed  determined  to  drive  liim  into 
open  revolt.  Shortly  before  the  arrival 
of  FitzMaurice  three  persons  in  disguise 
landed  at  Dingle  from  a  Spanish  ship. 
They  were  seized  by  government  spies, 
and  carried  first  before  the  earl  of  Des- 
mond, who  afterwards  took  credit  to 
himself  with  the  State  for  transmitting 
them  to  the  authorities  in  Limerick.  It 
turned  out  that  one  of  them  was  Dr. 
Patrick  O'Haly,  bishop..-of  Mayo,  and 
another  Father  Cornelius  O'Kourke,  the 
name  of  the  third  not  being  mentioned ; 
and  on  Sir  William  Drury's  arrival  at 
Kilmallock  that  year,  he  caused  both 
the  bishop  and  the  priest  to  be  subjected 
to  frightful  torture  in  order  to  extract 
some  confession  from  them.  Ultimately 
they  were  hanged  as  traitors  from  a 
tree,  and  their  bodies  remained  sus- 
pended for  fourteen  days,  to  be  used  as 
targets  by  the  soldiery.*  At  the  same 
time  that  these  ecclesiastics  were  handed 
over  by  the  earl  as  an  evidence  of  his 
loyalty,  as  we  are  led  by  himself  to 
understand,  he  mustered  an  army  to 
resist  the  invasion.  The  earl  of  Clan- 
care  also  held  aloof,  and  the  people 
were  deterred  either  by  the  control  or 
example  of  their  great  lords  from  join- 
ing the  standard  of  FitzMaurice.  It  is 
true  that  John  and  James  of  Desmond, 
the  earl's  brothers,  hastened  to  meet 
their  Spanish  allies,  and  that  some  two 
hundred  of  the  O'Flaherties  of  West 


*  Wadding ;  Artliur  4  Monasterio ;  and  Bruodin,  Paa- 
Bio  Mart.,  p.  437. 


Connaught  came  by  sea  to  rally  under 
the  Catholic  standard ;  f  but  the  Sj^an- 
iards  were  justly  disheartened  at  the 
prosjDect  before  them.  They  were  led 
to  expect  a  general  rising  of  the  people, 
and  there  was  no  such  thing.  They 
wei'e  told  that  the  earl  of  Desmond 
would  be  their  leader,  and  they  saw 
him  arrayed  against  them :  while  on ' 
the  other  hand  it  must  be  observed 
that  their  appearance,  numerically  so 
contemptible,  only  committed  the  Irish 
Catholics,  without  being  capable  of  in- 
spiring them  with  confidence. 

On  the  26th  of  July,  eight  days  from 
their  landing,  the  Spaniards  saw  their 
transports  captured  by  Captain  Courte- 
nay,  who  had  come  from  Kinsale  with 
a  small  ship  of  war  and  a  pinnace ;  and 
the  O'Flaherties  having  made  their  es- 
cape with  their  own  galleys,  the  stran- 
gers were  left  without  means  of  retreat, 
and  to  avoid  being  starved  on  the  rock 
of  Oilean-an-oir  they  marched  into  the 
interior  under  the  three  Geraldines. 
The  earl  of  Desmond,  in  his  defence  of 
himself,  asserts  that  he  pursued  them  to 
Kilmore,  or  the  Great  Wood,  in  the  north 
of  the  county  of  Cork,  bordering  on 
Limerick,  and  that  he  pressed  them  so 
hard  that  on  the  I7th  of  August  they 
were  obliged  to  separate  into  small  par- 
ties; J»hn  retiring  to  the  fastness  of 
Lynamore ;  James,  his  other  brother, 
to  that  of  Glenflesk ;  Avhile  FitzMaurice, 
accompanied  by  a  dozen  horsemen  and 


f  Stated  by  Desmond  in  his  defence  of  himself  pre- 
served in  the  State  Paper  OflBce. 


MURDER  OF  DAVELLS. 


381 


a  few  kernes,  proceeded  towards  Tippe- 
rary,  on  tlie  pretence  of  making  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  relic  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
but  in  reality  to  try  to  rally  the  disaf- 
fected in  Connaught  and  the  north.* 

A  few  incidents  connected  with  this 
wretched  attempt  remain  to  be  related. 
On  the  news  of  FitzMaurice's  arrival 
*  the  lord  justice,  Sir  "William  Drury, 
who  was  in  Cork,  accompanied  by  Sir 
Nicholas  Malby,  dispatched,  in  all  haste, 
Henry  Davells,  constable  of  Dungarvan, 
and  Arthur  Carter,  provost-marshal  of 
Munster,  to  summon  Desmond  and  his 
brothers  to  attack  the  fort  at  Smerwick. 
These  men  were  extremely  officious, 
blustered  a  good  deal  with  the  earl 
about  his  duty,  and  after  reconnoitering 
the  fort,  were  returning  to  l^e  deputy 
to  accuse  Desmond  of  disloyalty,  when 
the  earl's  brother,  John,  followed  them 
to  Tralee,  and  slew  both  of  them  at 
night  in  a  little  inn  v\-here  they  had  put 
up,  near  the  castle.f  This  murder  was 
aggravated  by  the  fact  that  John  and 
Davells  were  intimate  friends,  and  by 
the  English  it  is  said  that  John  did  the 
act  in  order  to  show  FitzMaurice  and 
the  Spaniards  that  he  irretrievably 
committed  himself  to  their  cause.  A 
great  deal  of  indignation  has  been  vented 

*  Before  tliis  separation  some  misunderstanding  is 
said  to  have  taken  place  between  Jolin  of  Desmond  and 
FitzMaurice,  owing  to  the  latter  refusing  to  punish  one 
of  his  men  for  a  gross  act  of  violence  which  he  commits 
ted — so  little  of  cohesion  was  there  among  the  lead- 
ers. 

t  So  says  Hooker ;  but  most  writers  state  that  Davells 
was  slain  in  the  castle  of  Tralee. 

i  "  Desmond,"  says  O'Daly,  "  only  slew  an  avowed 
enemy,  who  not  only  sought  to  crush  the  cause  of  lib- 


about  this  crime,  but  we  have  a  right 
to  measure  it  by  the  standard  of  that 
day,  and  should  bear  in  mind  the  exam- 
ple set  by  the  State  itself  in  the  com- 
mission of  many  fearful  atrocities.  The 
»ath  of  Mullamast  was  still  reeking 
with  the  blood  of  its  victims;  and  as 
the  reader  proceeds  he  will  find  how 
little  reason  there  is  to  select  this  action 
of  the  insurgent  leader  for  special 
obloquy.^ 

To  return  to  James  FitzMaurice,  he 
continued  his  way  through  Hy-Connell- 
Gavra  (Conello)  and  Clanwilliam,  in 
the  county  of  Limerick,  and  in  the  latter 
of  these  districts  seized  some  horses 
from  the  plough  to  replace  the  jaded 
steeds  of  his  party.  This  depredation 
was  committed  on  the  lands  of  William 
Burke  of  Castle-Connell,  whose  sons, 
Theobald  and  Ulick,  obtained  the  aid  of 
Mac-I-Brien-Ai'a,  and  pursued  the  fugi- 
tives, with  whom  they  came  up  at  a 
place  a  few  miles  east  of  Limerick.§ 
FitzMaurice  remonstrated  with  his  as- 
sailants, who  were  his  own  kinsmen,  but 
was  fired  at  and  mortally  wounded. 
He  then  rushed  into  the  thick  of  the 
fight ;  with  one  blow  cleft  the  head  of 
Theobald  Burke,  and  with  another  in- 
flicted a  mortal  wound  on  bis  brother, 

erty,  but  did  signal  injury  to  John  himself  in  the  house 
of  Lord  Muskerry."  {Oeraldiyus, -p.  "iS.)  Smith,  in  his 
Eiitory  of  Kerry,  p.  1G3,  says  "  the  pretence  was  Sir 
Henry  Danvers  holding  session  of  gaol  delivery  in  Des- 
mond's palatinate."  The  name  is  called  Daversius  by 
O'Sullivan,  and  Danversius  by  O'Daly  ;  but  the  correct 
form  is  Davells. 

§  "  Ad  Vadum  semitEP,"  or  Beal-atha^an-Bhorin,  says 
O'Sullivan.  The  place  is  believed  to  be  the  present 
Barrington's  bridge,  sis  miles  east  from  Limerick. 


382 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


so  that  his  enemies,  tliougli  more  nu- 
meroas,  were  more  speedily  put  to  flight. 
James  expired  in  a  few  hours,  and  his 
head  was  cut  ofi"  by  his  cousin,  Maurice 
FitzJohn,  as  some  say,  at  his  own  re- 
quest, that  his  remains  might  not  b* 
recognized  by  the  English ;  but  not 
long  after  his  body,  buried  at  the  foot 
of  a  tree,  was  discovered  by  a  hunter, 
taken  to  Kilmallock,  and  there  sus- 
pended from  a  gallows.* 

The  death  of  FitzMaurice  was  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  cause  of  the  insurgents,  and 
a  source  of  great  joy  to  government. 
Sir  William  Drury  came  with  Malby, 
about  the  beginning  of  September,  to 
Kilmallock,  where  the  earl  of  Desmond 
met  him  and  endeavored  to  exculpate 
himself  from  any  implication  in  the 
proceedings  of  his  brothers.  He  was, 
nevertheless,  kept  under  arrest  for  three 
days ;  but,  on  undertaking  to  send  his 
only  son,  James,  then  a  child,  as  a  host- 
age, he  was  liberated.  He  also  received 
a  promise  that  his  lands  and  tenants 
should  be  respected;  but  this  engage- 
ment was  violated  as  soon  as  made,  for 
some  of  his  lands  were  immediately 
after  plundered  by  Drury's  soldiers; 
and  at  the  same  time  all  his  men  de- 
sei'ted  to  his  brother,  John,  who,  on  the 
death  of  FitzMaurice,  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  insurgents,  and  collect- 
ed a  respectable  force,  into  which  the 
Spanish  oflScers  introduced   a  regular 


*  This  conflict  took  place  on  the  18th  of  August.  It 
is  said  that  Dr.  Allen  was  present  and  administered  the 
last  rites  of  religion  to  FitzMaurice.  Ware  says  that 
Sir  William  Burke,  lather  of  Theobald  and  Ulick,  was 


military  discipline.  Drary  summoned 
all  the  nobility  of  Munster,  on  their 
allegiance,  to  rally  under  the  royal 
standard,  and  thus  gathered  a  consider- 
able army,  composed  to  a  great  extent 
of  Irish  and  Catholics,  who,  partly 
through  fear  and  partly  through  the 
indecision  or  jealousy  of  their  lords, 
found  themselves  thus  serving  against 
the  very  cause  to  which  all  their  na- 
tional and  religious  sentiments  would 
have  naturally  attracted  them.  This 
army  the  lord  justice  sent  in  large 
divisions  to  search  the  wood  of  Kilmore 
and  the  surrounding  country  for  John 
of  Desmond.  One  of  the  parties,  num- 
bering several  hundred  men,  fell  in 
with  the  Irish  army,  under  John  and 
James  of  Desmond,  at  a  place  called 
Gort-na-Tiobrad — in  English,  Spring- 
field— in  the  south  of  the  county  of 
Limerick,  and  in  a  desperate  encounter 
was  cut  to  pieces ;  captains  Herbert  and 
Price,  the  officers  in  command,  and  a 
captain  Eustace,  being  among  the  slain. 
This  success  cheered  the  spirits  of  the 
Irish ;  and  immediately  after  Sir  Wil- 
liam Drury,  while  encamped  at  Antho- 
ny (Beal-atha-na-Deise),  a  ford  about 
four  miles  east  of  Kilmallock,  sickened 
from  incessant  fatigue,  and  intrusting 
the  command  of  the  army  to  Sir  Nicholas 
Malby,  got  himself  carried  by  easy 
stages  to  Waterford,  where  he  died  on 
the  30th  of  September. 


created  baron  of  Castleconnell,  and  was  awarded  an  an- 
nual pension  of  100  marks ;  and  Camden  tells  us  that 
he  died  of  joy  at  the  royal  favors  showered  on  him  in 
reward  for  the  loyalty  of  his  family. 


BATTLE  OF  MONASTERANENA. 


383 


A  reinforcement  of  600  troops  bad 
just  then  reached  Waterford  from 
Devonshire ;  a  fleet  had  arrived  on  the 
coast  under  the  command  of  Sir  John 
Perrott,  the  former  president  of  Mun- 
ster ;  and  on  the  news  of  Drury's  death 
being  received  in  Dublin,  Sir  William 
Pelham,  who  had  recently  come  to  Ire- 
land, was  chosen  lord  justice  by  the 
council.  Sir  Nicholas  Malby  was  not 
idle  in  the  south.  Having  left  a  gar- 
rison of  300  foot  and  50  horee  at  Kil- 
mallock,  he  marched  with  the  bulk  of 
his  aiTiiy  to  Limerick,  and  then  return- 
ing towards  the  south,  on  learning  the 
position  of  Sir  John  of  Desmond,  he  en- 
countered that  chief  on  the  plain  near 
the  magnificent  ancient  abbey  of  Mon- 
asteranena,*  about  two  miles  from 
Croom  and  nine  south  by  west  from 
Limerick.  It  is  said  that  John  hesi- 
tated to  give  battle,  but  yielded  to  the 
opinion  of  Dr.  Allen,  and  that  he  then 
left  the  disposition  of  the  army  to  the 
foreign  officers,  who  had  disciplined 
the  irregular  masses  of  Irish  so  well  as 
to  excite  the  surprise  of  the  English. 
For  a  long  time  victory  seemed  to  be 
with  the  Geraldines.  Malby's  lines 
were  twice  broken,  and  compelled  to 
retreat  in  order  to  reform;  but  ulti- 
mately the  Irish  were  routed  with  the 
loss  of  Thomas  FitzGei-ald,  son  of  the 
earl's  uncle,  John  Oge,  and  of  many  of 
the  warlike  Clann-Sheehy,  and  other 
followers  of  the  Geraldines,  to  the  num- 
ber in  all  of  260  men  killed.f 

*  Locally  it  is  called  Maniater,  tlie  ancient  addition  to 
the  name  being  almost  quite  disused. 


This  battle  was  fousrht  about  the  be- 
ginning  of  October.  The  earl  of  Des- 
mond and  FitzMaurice,  lord  of  Lixnaw, 
watched  its  progress  from  the  top  of 
Tory  Hill,  little  more  than  a  mile  dis- 
tant, and  late-  in  the  evenins:  sent  to 
congratulate  Malby  on  his  victory.  At 
least,  so  the  English  chroniclers  tell  us, 
adding  that  the  message  was  treated 
with  the  contempt  which  it  deserved ; 
and  as  soon  as  his  army  was  ready  to 
march, the  implacable  English  command- 
er proceeded  to  lay  waste  Desmond's  ter- 
ritory in  the  neighborhood.  He  burned 
the  abbey  of  Askeaton,  wasted  Eath- 
keale  and  the  surrounding  district,  and 
despoiled  Adare  in  the  same  manner. 
He  was  then  joined  by  the  Lord-justice 
Pelham,  and  by  the  earls  of  Ormond 
and  Ivildai'e ;  and  the  earl  of  Desmond 
having,  after  such  provocation  and  with 
such  good  reason  to  fear  personal  re- 
straint or  violence,  refused  to  come  to 
their  camp,  they  resolved  to  place  gar- 
risons in  several  of  his  castles.  On  the 
30th  October,  the  earl  of  Ormond  was 
sent  to  summon  Desmond  to  give  up 
the  papal  nuncio.  Dr.  Saunders,  and  to 
surrender  his  castles  of  Carrigafoyle 
and  Askeaton  to  the  lord  justice.  The 
reply  of  Desmond  consisted  of  fi-esh 
representations  of  his  own  wrongs ;  and 
on  the  2d  of  November  Pelham  issued 
a  proclamation  declaring  him  a  traitor 
unless  he  came  in  and  submitted  within 
twenty  days;  and,  without  waiting  for 
any  of  that  interval  to  elapse,  marched 


f  CSullivan  Beare  and  O'Daly  represent  this  battle 
as  gained  by  John  of  Desmond,  but  the  Four  Masters 


384 


REIGN"  OF  ELIZABETH. 


the  very  next  day  witli  a  liostle  army 
into  the  earl's  palatinate  of  Kerry ;  con- 
stituted his  hereditary  foe  the  earl  of 
Orraond,  governor  of  Munster,  and  re- 
turned to  Limerick  on  his  way  to  Dub- 
lin.* 

Thus  was  the  vacillating  Desmond  at 
length  determined  as  to  the  course  he 
should  pursue.  He  took  the  field  with 
his  brothers,  invaded  the  territories  of 
the  Roches  and  Barrys  in  Cork,-|-  and 
siezed  the  town  of  Youghal,  which  he 
plundered  and  committed  to  the  flames, 
so  that  not  a  single  habitable  house 
was  left  in  it.  This  occurred  at  Christ- 
mas ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  earl  of 
Ormond  was  invading  Desmond's  ter- 
ritory of  Hy  Connello,  where  he  ad- 
vanced as   far   as   Newcastle,  burning 

agree  with  Camden,  'who  is  followed  by  Ware  and 
the  other  English  historians,  in  giving  the  victory  to 
JIalby. 

The  English  say  that  Dr.  Allen  was  among  the  slain, 
bat  none  of  the  Irish  authorities  mention  this  fact. 
O'SuUivan  tells  us  that  Ulick  and  John  Burke,  sons  of 
the  earl  of  Clanrickard,  and  Peter  and  John  Lacy,  were 
among  the  Irish  auxiliaries  of  Malby  at  Monaster. 
O'Daly  also  mentions  the  Burkes,  but  the  Four  Masters 
do  not,  although  they  tell  us,  under  the  date  of  1580, 
that  "  the  sons  of  the  earl  were  both  at  peace  with  the 
English." 

*  In  a  letter,  dated  from  his  castle  of  Askeaton,  Oc- 
tober 10th,  1579,  in  which  he  attempts  to  vindicate 
himself  with  the  government,  the  earl  of  Desmond  thus 
describes  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  Malby  against 
him :  "  The  4th  of  this  present  month.  Sir  Nicholas 
Malbie  being  in  campe  at  the  abbeye  Nenaghe  (Monas- 
ter), sent  certeyn  of  his  menne  to  enter  into  Rathmore, 
a  manor  of  myne,  and  there  murdered  the  keepers,  spoil- 
ed the  towne  and  castel,  and  tooke  awaie  from  thence 
certayn  of  my  evidences  and  other  writings.  On  the 
Gth  of  the  same,  he  not  only  spoyled  Rath-Keally  (Rath- 
keale),  a  town  of  myne,  but  also  tyranously  burned  both 
houses  and  corne.  Upon  the  Tth  of  the  same  month, 
the  said  Sir  Nicholas  encamped  within  the  abbey  of 
Asketyn,  and  there  most  maliciously  defaced  the  ould 
monuments  of  my  ancestors,  fired  both  the  abbie,  the 


the  towns  and  villages,  slaughtering 
the  inhabitants,  and  reducing  the  coun- 
try to  a  desert.  Ormond  next  marched 
to  Cork,  and  then  returned  towards 
Cashel,  treating  every  district  through 
which  he  passed,  if  occupied  by  Irish 
or  Catholics,  in  the  same  inhuman  man- 
ner, "  burning  every  house  and  every 
stack  of  corn."  He  discovered  the 
mayor  of  Youghal,  who  was  accused  of 
having  betrayed  his  trust  to  the  earl  of 
Desmond,  and  taking  him  to  the  ruined 
town,  he  caused  him  to  be  hanged  at 
the  door  of  his  own  house.  No  human 
being  was  found  in  that  unhappy  town 
except  a  poor  friar,  who  had  conveyed 
the  body  of  Henry  Davells  from  Tralee 
to  Waterford  to  procure  for  it  decent 
interment. 


whole  towne,  and  the  come  thereabouts,  and  ceased  not 
to  shoote  at  my  menne  within  Asketyn  castel."  By  such 
acts  as  these  the  oiBcials  sought  to  oirge  the  unfortu 
nate  earl  into  an  open  participation  in  the  rebellion, 
that  there  might  be  no  obstacle  to  his  attainder  and 
the  confiscation  of  his  vast  estates.  Foreseeing  that  such 
a  result  would  be  inevitable,  Desmond  executed  a  deed 
of  feoflment  before  this  time,  conveying  his  lands  to 
trustees  for  his  heirs ;  but  this  deed  was  unavailable, 
as  it  was  pronounced  to  have  been  executed  seven  weeks 
after  Ms  treasonable  combination,  the  said  combination 
dating  from  the  18th  of  July,  1578,  when  the  earl  signed 
a  document  along  with  his  brothers,  the  lord  of  Lix- 
naw,  and  many  other  leading  men  of  Munster,  pledg- 
ing themselves  to  resist  the  violence  of  the  lord  deputy. 
Indeed,  this  latter  document  is  rather  an  advice  to  the 
earl  not  to  yield  to  the  unreasonable  requirements  of 
the  lord  deputy,  and  a  pledge  on  the  part  of  the  sub- 
scribers to  "  aid,  help,  and  assist,  the  said  Erie  to  mayn- 
tain  and  defend  this  their  advice  against  the  said  lord 
deputy,  or  any  other  that  shall  covet  the  said  Erie's  in- 
heritance ;"  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  hia 
own  name  should  be  aliixed  to  it  except  that  he  might 
be  committed  to  the  consequences.  Lords  Gormans- 
town  and  Delvin  refused  to  countersign  Pelham's  pro- 
clamation declaring  Desmond  a  traitor. 

•f  Ily  MacaiUe,  or  ImokUly,  and  Hy  Liathain,  in 
which  latter  Castle  Lyons  is  situated. 


ORMOND'S  DEVASTATIOXS. 


385 


A.  D.  1580.-— In  the  mean  time  John 
of  Desmond  had  been  able  to  harass 
the  English  garrisons  of  several  small 
towns ;  and  the  Irish  annalists,  describ- 
ing the  desolation  produced  by  so  much 
mutual  destruction,  say  that  "  the  coun- 
try was  left  one  levelled  plain,  without 
corn  or  edifices."  James,  Desmond's 
youngest  brother,  made  an  incursion 
about  the  beginning  of  the  year  into 
the  lands  of  Sir  Cormac  MacTeige  Mac- 
Carthy  of  Muskerry,  the  sheriff  of 
Cork,*  and,  while  carrying  off  a  prey 
of  cattle,  was  pursued  and  captured  by 
MacCormac's  brother,  Donnell,  who 
took  him  to  Cork,  where  he  was  hanged 
and  quartered  by  Sir  Warham  St.  Leg- 
er,  marshal  of  Munster,  and  captain, 
afterwards  the  famous  Sir  "Walter,  Ra- 
leigh, who  had  recently  entered  the 
queen's  service  in  Ireland.  His  head 
was  spiked  over  one  of  the  city  gates ; 
and  about  the  same  time  another  James 
FitzGerald,  son  of  the  earl's  uncle,  John 
Oge,  was  slain  by  Brian  Duv  O'Brien, 
lord  of  Pobble  Brien  and  Carrigo- 
gunnell. 

Sir  William  Pelham  and  the  earl  of 
Ormond  set  out  early  this  year  on  a 
fresh  campaign  in  Desmond's  country ; 
the  former  marchins:  first  to  Limerick  in 
the  beginning  of  February,  and  the  latter 
to  Cork,  and  both  subsequently  form- 
ing a  junction  at  the  foot  of  Slieve  Mis, 
near  Tralee.  They  spared  neither  age 
nor  sex  in  their  march,  and,  owing  to 
the  state  of  desolation   to  which   the 

*  This  Sir  Cormac  Macartliy  was  so  distinguished  for 
his  loyalty,  that  Sir  Henry  Sidney  pronounced  him  to 
49 


country  had  been  reduced,  suffered  not 
a  little  inconvenience  themselves  from 
want  of  provisions.  They  then  marched 
northward,  to  destroy  the  castles  still 
garrisoned  by  Desmond's  men,  and  first 
laid  siege  to  the  strong  castle  of  Carri- 
gafoyle  (Carrig-au-phuill),  situated  on 
an  island  in  the  Shannon,  on  the  coast 
of  Kerry.  ■  The  Four  Mastei's  say  that 
Pelham  landed  some  heavy  ordnance 
from  Sir  "William  "Winter's  fleet,  wdiich 
arrived  on  the  Irish  coast  about  this 
time,  and  battered  down  a  jjortion  of 
the  castle,  crushing  some  of  the  warders 
beneath  the  ruins ;  but  other  annalists 
make  no  mention  of  cannon  landed  from 
the  ships.  The  castle  was  bravely 
defended  by  fifty  Irishmen  and  nine- 
teen Sjianiards,  under  the  command  of 
Count  Julio,  an  Italian  officer,  who, 
when  summoned  to  surrender,  said  he 
held  his  trust  in  the  name  of  the  king 
of  Spain.  A  large  breach  having  been 
made  the  castle  was  taken  by  storm; 
fifty  of  the  gai-rison  were  put  to  the 
sword,  and  six  hanged  in  the  camp ; 
and  Julio  being  kept  for  two  or  three 
days  was  then  hanged.  The  remainder 
of  the  number  had  been  already  slain. 
The  fate  of  Carriagafoyle  filled  the  other 
garrisons  with  consternation.  The  ward- 
ers of  Ballinloughane  (Baile-ui-Gheile- 
achain)  destroyed  their  castle  before 
deserting  it,  and  those  of  Askeaton 
attempted  to  do  the  same  by  a  train  of 
gunpowder,  when  abandoning  that  cas- 
tle at  night,  but  did   not  succeed  in 

he  "  the  rarest  man  that  ever  was  born  of  the  Irish- 

rie." 


386 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


injuring  the  principal  parts  of  the 
edifice,  wliich  was  taken  possession  of 
uext  morning  by  the  lord  justice.  This 
was  the  last  castle  held  for  the  earl  of 
Desmond.  Pelham  proceeded  to  Lim- 
erick, where  he  remained  forty  days, 
and  again  returned  to  Askeaton,  making 
another  long  stay  there,  during  which 
"  he  never  ceased  by  day  or  night  from 
persecuting  and  extirpating  the  Gerald- 
ines."  He  put  to  death,  among  others, 
an  aered  sfeutleman  named  Wall,  of 
Dunmoylan,  who  was  blind  from  his 
birth,  and  Supple,  of  Kilmacow,  who 
was  over  a  hundred  years  old  ;  and  on 
the  12th  of  June  he  and  Ormond  set 
out  with  his  whole  army  to  explore  the 
dreaded  strongholds  of  Kerry,  and  to 
take  precautions  against  another  ex- 
pected landing  of  the  Spaniards  at 
Dingle.  Ormond's  route  was  through 
Cork  to  Kerry,  while  Pelham  marched 
throusrh  the  mountain  district  of  Sleive- 
loger,  and  by  Castleisland  to  Castle- 
maine  (Castle-Magne),  near  which  he 
found  Ormond  encamped.  While  trav- 
ersing Slievelogher,  he  seized  a  prey  of 
1,500  cows  belonging  to  the  earl  of 
Desmond,  who  had  a  narrow  escape 
of  falliug,  together  with  his  countess 
and  Dr.  Saunders,  into  the  hands  of  the 
lord-deputy,  having  passed  that  way 
only  about  an  hour  before.  Some  of 
the  vestments  and   sacred  vessels  be- 


*  The  earl  of  Desmond  was  now  reduced  so  low,  that 
about  this  time  his  countess  sought  the  lord  justice,  and 
on  her  knees  implored  mercy  for  her  husband  ;  but  her 
prayers  would  not  be  listened  to ;  and  we  are  told  that 
the  unhappy  earl  proposed  to  surrender  himself  to  ad- 
miral Winter,  on  the  sole  condition  of  being  carried  as 


longing  to  the  legate  were  taken  by  the 
soldiers ;  but  excepting  the  fresh  spolia- 
tion to  which  it  gave  occasion,  this 
exploration  would  not  appear  to  have 
led  to  any  important  result.* 

At  this  time  the  O'Byrnes  and  James 
Eustace,  Viscount  Baltinglass,  were  in 
arms  in  Wicklow,  but,  like  the  insur- 
gents of  the  south,  they  were  isolated. 
Sir  William  Pelham  was  recalled,  and 
succeeded  by  Arthur,  Lord  Gray,  of 
Wilton,  who  arrived  at  Howth  on  the 
12th  of  August,  and  was  so  eager  to  en- 
ter upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  that  he 
did  not  wait  for  the  return  of  his  pre- 
decessor to  Dublin,  in  order  to  be  in- 
stalled in  the  usual  way,  but  hastily  set 
out  with  an  army  against  the  Wicklow 
insurgents,  who  were  encamped  in  the 
strong  passes  of  Glenmalure  and  Sliev- 
eroe.  Those  who  had  some  experience 
in  L-ish  warfare  cautioned  the  new  lord 
deputy  against  the  rashness  of  his  pro- 
ceeding ;  but  with  the  self-confidence  so 
usual  with  his  countrymen  on  coming 
to  Ireland,  he  haughtily  rejected  their 
advice,  and,  on  the  25th  of  August,  en- 
tered the  famous  defile  of  Glenmalure. 
The  deputy  himself,  with  the  earl  of 
Kildare,  James  Wingfield,  and  George 
(afterwards  Sir  George)  Carew,  occu- 
pied an  eminence  at  the  entrance  to  the 
valley  with  their  reserve,  while  the  re- 
mainder of  the  army  advanced  into  the 


a  prisoner  to  England,  but  that  this  desperate  expedient 
was  also  unsuccessful.  The  admiral  appears  to  have 
been  a  merciful  man,  and  Hoolier  grumbles  that  he  had 
given  protection  to  some  Irish  who  had  presented  them- 
selves to  him — a  savage  sentiment  which  the  historian 
Leland  properly  rebukes. 


LANDING  OF  SPANISH  ARMAMENT. 


387 


defile.  A  deep  and  mysterious  silence 
prevailed  as  they  made  tkeir  way  over 
the  boggy  ground  wbicli  separated  the 
woods  covering  the  lofty  hills  on  either 
side ;  but  they  had  scarcely  penetrated 
half  a  mile,  when  a  smart  fire  was  opened 
on  them  from  the  underwood.  They 
were  immediately  thrown  into  disorder, 
and  the  Irish,  rushing  from  their  cover, 
soon  completed  with  spear  and  sword, 
what  had  been  so  well  begun  with  their 
fire-arms  ;  so  that  few  of  those  who  had 
advanced  into  the  fatal  valley  lived  to 
return  to  the  lord  deputy,  who,  covered 
with  confusion,  and  vowing  vengeance 
against  the  Irish  race,  made  a  hasty  re- 
treat to  Dublin,  where  he  received  the 
sword  of  state  from  Pelham  on  the  7th 
of  September.* 

The  long  expected  aid  from  the  Con- 
tinent was  at  this  moment  approaching 
the  Irish  coast,  and  Sir  William  Winter 
haviua:  returned  to  Ensjland  from  his 
cruise,  no   impediment   was  ofiered  to 


*  Among  those  slain  on  tliis  occasion  in  Glemnaluie, 
were  Colonel  John  Moor,  Francis  Cosby,  commander  of 
the  kerne  of  Leis,  another  experienced  officer  named 
Audley,  and  Sir  Peter  Carew,  elder  brother  of  the  Geo. 
Carew  mentioned  above,  and  both  the  sons  of  Sir  Peter, 
who  claimed  the  inheritance  of  Idrone  and  of  the  so- 
caUed  kingdom  of  Cork.  Hooker  describes  the  famous 
valley  of  Glenmalure  as  "Ijing  in  the  middle  of  the 
wood,  of  great  length,  between  two  lulls,  and  no  other 
way  is  there  to  pass  through.  Under  foot  it  is  boggy 
and  soft,  and  full  of  great  stones  and  slippery  rocks, 
very  hard  and  evil  to  pass  through ;  the  sides  are  full 
of  great  and  mighty  trees  upon  the  sides  of  the  hills, 
and  full  of  brushments  and  underwoods."  Among  the 
Irish  who  flocked  to  the  standard  of  viscount  Baltin- 
glass  in  this  rising,  the  Four  Masters  enumerate  "  the 
Kavanaghs,  KinseUaghs,  Byrnes,  Tooles,  Gaval-RanneU 
(the  branch  of  the  O'Byrnes  who  possessed  the  district 
in  Wicklow  called  Ranelagh),  and  the  surviving  parts 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Offaly  and  Leix." 


the  descent,  which  accordingly  took 
place  on  the  beach  of  Smerwick  harbor, 
where  about  700  Spaniards  and  Italians 
landed,  early  this  month,  from  four 
Spanish  vessels,  of  which  the  largest 
was  of  400  tons  burden,  the  others  be- 
ing small  craft  of  60  and  80  tons.  The 
expedition  was  under  the  command  of 
Sebastian  de  San  Josef,  a  Spaniard,  the 
other  principal  oflScers  being  Hercules 
PJsano,  and  the  duke  of  Biscay ;  and  in 
the  coutemjjorary  documents  it  is  called 
the  pope's  army.f  A  sujiply  of  arms 
for  5,000  men  was  brought,  together 
with  a  large  sum  of  money  and  a  jM'om- 
ise  of  future  succor,  and  Fort  del  Ore 
was  once  more  occupied  and  its  Works 
repaired  and  strengthened^  The  Four 
Masters  say  the  name  of  the  invaders 
"  was  greater  than  their  importance,  for 
their  fame  was  at  first  so  great,  that, 
had  they  come  to  Limerick,  Galway,  or 
Cork,  these  great  towns  would  have 
been  left  wide  open  to  them." 

f  The  bull  of  Gregory  XTTL,  sent  with  this  expedition, 
was  dated  from  St.  Peter's,  May  13th,  1.580,  and  was 
the  second  issued  by  that  pontiff  in  favor  of  the  perse- 
cuted Irish  Catholics.  His  Holiness  mentions  with  re- 
gret the  death  of  James  FitzMaurice,  and  refers  to  John 
of  Desmond  as  his  successor  in  the  leadership  ;  and  in 
case  of  John's  demise,  appoints  his  youngest  brother, 
James,  general-in-chief ;  but  no  mention  of  the  earl  of 
Desmond  is  made  in  the  document.  (See  the  bull  in 
O'Sullivan's  Hist.  Cath.,  and  a  translation  in  Mcehan's 
Geraldines). 

X  It  is  strange  how  the  fatal  rock  of  Dun-an-Oir 
should  have  been  selected  by  the  Spaniards  in  both  ex- 
peditions. It  could  scarcely  have  afforded  standing 
room  for  those  who  came  on  the  second  occasion,  its  di- 
ameter not  being  more  than  two  chains.  (Four  Masters, 
vol.  v.,  p.  1739,  n)  It  rises  about  fifty  feet  from  the  sea, 
with  perpendicular  sides,  but  it  was  commanded  by  a 
neighboring  hill,  and  was  pronounced  by  English  offi- 
cers  quite  untenable.     O'Sullivan,  who  gives  a  very  con 


388 


REIGN  OP  ELIZABETH. 


The  earl  of  Desmond  hastened  to 
meet  his  foreign  auxiliaries,  but  his 
brother  John  was  then  with  Viscount 
Baltinglass  in  Leiuster,  although  the 
English  chroniclers  represent  him  as 
having  joined  the  Spaniards.*  The 
earl  led  his  allies  upon  some  excursions 
into  the  neighborhood,  in  one  of  which 
they  exchanged  a  few  shots  with  the 
army  of  Ormond,  who  had  come,  with 
all  the  troops  he  could  collect,  to  recon- 
noitre the  invaders.  Desmond  appears 
to  have  then  left  them  to  go  and  raise 
the  country ;  and  Ormond,  finding  that 
he  could  do  nothing  until  he  received 
assistance,  marched  to  Rathkeale  to 
await'  the  lord  deputy.  Thus  was 
the  time  wasted  till  the  close  of  Oc- 
tober. 

Burnins:  to  retrieve  his  disgrace  at 
Glenmalui-e,  Lord  Gray  made  all  the 
haste  he  could  to  collect  his  forces  and 
march  to  the  south.  On  the  31st  of 
October  he  encamped  about  eight  or 
ten  miles  from  the  foi't  at  Smerwick 
harbor,  accompanied  by  the  earl  of 
Ormond,  Captains  Zouch,  Raleigh,  Den- 
ny, Macworth,  and  other  experienced 
officers ;  Vice-admiral  Sir  Richard  Bing- 
ham had  reached  Dingle  before  him ; 
and  on  the  5th  of  November  Admiral 


fused  account  of  these  proceedings,  confounds  the  expe- 
ditions of  1.579,  and  1080. 

*  The  Four  Masters  give  an  interesting  account,  at 
this  date,  of  the  adventures  of  Jolm  of  Desmond,  from 
his  setting  out  iu  July,  from  the  woods  of  Aharlagh 
(Aherlow)  until  he  reached  Eustace  in  Wicklow ;  how 
he  tooli  numerous  spoils ;  how  he  was  joined  by  "  tlie 
sons  of  MacG  ilia-Patrick,  the  son  of  O'Carrol,  and  a 
great  number  of  evil-doers  and  plunderers ;"  and  how 
he  lived  on  Slieve  Bloom  in  a  manner  "  worthy  of  a 
true  plimderer,"  "  for  he  slept  hut  upon  couches  of  stone 


Winter  arrived  with  his  fleet  from 
Kinsale.  H«avy  guns  were  landed 
from  the  ships  to  attack  the  fort;  on 
the  evening  of  the  7th  the  trenches 
were  opened,  and  the  works  were  car- 
ried on  so  actively  that  on  the  third 
day  the  besiegers  had  advanced  within 
a  hundred  and  twenty  paces  of  the 
curtain.  The  accounts  of  the  sequel 
are  contradictory  in  some  of  the  partic- 
ulars. Sir  Richard  Bingham,  in  his 
report  of  the  transaction,  says  the  gar- 
rison demanded  a  parley  on  the  evening 
of  the  third  day,  and  were  then  pre- 
pared to  surrender  at  discretion,  but 
that  it  being  night  they  were  allowed 
until  next  morning,  the  besiegers  in  the 
mean  time  continuing  their  trenches  to 
within  sixty  paces  of  the  fort.  On  the 
morning  of  the  10th,  officers  were  sent 
into  the  fort  to  take  an  inventory  of 
the  ammunition  and  provision  for  the 
queen's  use,  and  the  foreign  commander 
and  his  captains  were  ordered  to  come 
forth  and  deliver  up  their  ensigns.  Ac- 
cording to  Bingham's  account,  Captain 
Denny's  company  then  entered  the  fort 
on  one  side,  and  some  sailors  on  an- 
other— Hooker  says  it  was  Captains 
Raleiffh  and  Macworth  who  commanded 
the  bands  of  executioners — and   they 


or  earth,  he  drank  but  of  tte  pure  cold  streams,  and 
that,  from  the  palms  of  his  hands  or  from  his  shoes ; 
and  his  only  cooking  utensils  were  the  long  twigs  of 
the  forest  for  dressing  the  flesh-meats  carried  away 
from  Ms  enemies."  He  set  out  with  Eustace  and 
others  to  join  the  Spaniards  about  Michaelmas,  but 
only  arrived  in  Kerry  to  find  that  they  had  been  all  cut 
off  by  Lord  Gray.  It  is  possible  that  the  passage  of 
John  and  his  confederates  was  intercepted  by  the  earl 
of  Ormond  ;  and  Leland  (B.  iv.,  c.  2.)  makes  his  ap- 
proacli  an  excuse  for  tho  massacre  of  Fort  del  Ore. 


MASSACRE   OF   THE   FORT   DEL   ORE. 


389 


fell  to,  slaughtering  the  unarmed  for- 
eigners in  cold  blood,  "  in  wLicli  they 
never  ceased  while  there  lived  one,"  the 
number  thus  inhumanly  butchered  be- 
ing, as  some  judged,  between  500  and 
600."  Sir  Richard  Bingham's  object  is 
to  insinuate  that  the  atrocious  massacre 
was  perpetrated  without  orders;  but 
this  shameless  misrepi'esentation  is  con- 
tradicted, not  only  by  the  Irish  accounts, 
but  by  the  disjiatch  of  Lord  Gray  him- 
self, addressed  to  the  queen,  "  from  the 
camp  before  Smerwick,  November  12th, 
1580."  Gray  asserts  that  in  the  parley 
which  took  place,  he  told  the  Spanish 
commander  that  "  no  condition  or  com- 
position were  they  to  expect,  other  than 
they  should  simplie  render  me  the 
forte,  and  yield  themselves  to  my  will 
for  lyf  or  deth."  He  then  proceeds: — 
"  Morning  came,  I  presented  ray  forces 
in  bataille  before  the  forte.  The  coro- 
nel,  with  ten  or  twelve  of  his  chief 
gentlemen  came  trayling  their  ensigns 
rolled  up,  and  presented  them  to  me 


*  The  life  of  the  Spanish  commander  was  spared,  but 
on  his  return  home  he  was  disgraced,  and  is  universally 
charged  with  cowardice  or  treason  in  surrendering  the 
fort.  Muratori  (Annali)  says  it  was  surrendered  ' '  shame- 
fully." It  was  at  all  events  capable  of  a  better  defence. 
Two  days  after  the  massacre,  an  Englishman,  who  had 
served  Dr.  Saimdere,  a  Mr.  Plunket,  who  had  acted  as 
interpreter,  and  an  Irish  priest  taken  In  the  fort,  were 
executed.  Bingham,  in  a  letter  to  Walsingham,  says, 
"  their  arms  and  legs  were  first  broken,  and  they  were 
then  hanged  on  a  gibbet  on  the  walls  of  the  fort." 
Gray,  in  the  dispatch  in  which  he  coolly  avows  the 
commission  of  so  atrocious  a  crime,  dwells  with  great 
unction  on  the  "divine  confession  of  his  faith"  made  by 
"  good  John  Cheeke,"  who  was  wounded  by  a  ball  from 
the  fort ;  "  so  wrought  In  him  God's  Spirit,  plajnlie  de- 
clairing  him  a  child  of  His  elected  ;"  and  he  assures  her 
Majesty  that  in  his  own  parley  with  the  Spaqiards  he 
took  care  to  call  the  Pope  "  a  detestable  shaveling,  the 


with  their  lives  and  the  forte.  ...  I  sent 
streighte  certeyne  gentlemen  to  see  their 
weapons  and  armoires  laid  down,  and 
to  guard  the  munition  and  victual  then 
left  from  spoyle;  then  put  I  in  certeyne 
handes  who  streighte  fell  to  execution. 
There  were  600  slayn!"  This  is  the 
lord  deputy's  own  account.  There  is 
no  attempt  made  to  excuse  the  horrible 
murder,  or  transfer  it  to  other  shoulders ; 
but  a  most  important  circumstance  is 
falsified  in  this  official  statement,  for  we 
are  assured  by  all  the  Irish  authorities 
that  the  lives  and  liberties  of  the  foi"- 
eign  soldiers  were  guarantied  by  the 
deputy,  nor  is  there  any  reason  why 
they  should  have  otherwise  surrendered 
without  striking  a  blow,  while  they  had 
an  abundant  supply  of  ammunition  and 
provisions.  O'Sullivan  tells  us  that 
"  Gray's  faith"— "Graia  fides"— became 
proverbial  through  the  Continent,  where 
this  inhuman  massacre  was  reprobated 
as  an  outrage  against  humanity  and  the 
rights  of  nations.* 

right  Antichrist,  and  general  ambitious  tyrant  over  all 
right  principalities" — thus  showing  by  his  words  how 
much  his  mind  must  have  been  biased  by  sectarian 
animosity.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  number 
slaughtered  in  cold  blood  was  seven  hundred,  and  that 
the  execution  of  the  butchery  was  intrusted  to  the  after- 
wards famous  (Sir)  Walter  Ealeigh,  -^ho  fleshed  his 
maiden  sword  on  the  occasion.  The  Denny  mentioned 
in  the  test  was  "Ned  Dennye,"  who  was  sent  by  Lord 
Gray  as  a  bearer  of  dispatches  to  the  queen.  He  after- 
wards married  the  "  queen's  own  favorite  maid  of  hon- 
or," and  "obtained  plentiful  estate  in  Ireland."  No 
attention  whatever  is  due  to  the  statement  that  the 
foreign  officers,  being  unable  to  produce  any  written 
commission  from  the  Pope  or  the  king  of  Spain,  were 
on  that  account  not  treated  by  Lord  Gray  according  to 
the  laws  of  nations.  This  excuse  was  subsequently  put 
forward  by  the  poet  Spencer,  who  was  Lord  Gray's  sec- 
retary, and  who  tolls  us  that  he  himself  was  "  not  fai 


390 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


A.  D.  1581. — The  war  in  Munster  had 
assumed  a  savage  character,  of  Avhich 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  convey  any 
adequate  idea.  The  brutal  barbarities 
of  Lord  Gray  and  his  captains  had  driv- 
en many  of  the  most  loyal  of  the  Irish 
and  old  English  to  espouse  the  now 
desperate  cause  of  the  insurgents.  Each 
official  endeavored  "  to  do  some  ex- 
ploit," as  it  was  phrased ;  and  Raleigh, 
who  received  the  command  in  Cork, 
was  one  of  those  who  evinced  the  most 
fiendish  activity  in  tracking  and  hunt- 
inar  down  the  miserable  Catholics.  He 
repaired  to  Dublin  for  enlarged  powers 
to  proceed  against  the  old  English  fam- 
ilies of  the  Bariys  and  Roches,  against 
whom  some  charges  of  treason  had  been 
trumped  up.  Lord  Barry  indignantly 
set  fire  to  his  castle  rather  than  allow  it 
to  be  overrun  by  the  soldiery,  and  re- 
paired to  the  woods,  where  he  joined 
John  of  Desmond ;  but  Lord  Roche, 
who,  along  with  his  lady,  was  seized 
and  carried  prisoner  to  Cork,  estab- 
lished his  innocence  and  escaped.    Some 


off."  It  was  a  notorious  fact  tliat  tlie  expedition  was 
Bent  hy  the  king  of  Spain,  as  Camden  says,  to  divert  tlie 
attention  of  Elizabeth  from  the  affairs  of  Belgium  ;  and 
Cox  further  assures  us  that  the  massaere  "  verj'  much 
displeased  the  queen."  See  the  valuable  notes  of  O'Don- 
ovan  in  the  JPour  Musters,  O'Sullivan's  Hist.  Cath., 
Meehan's  Geraldines,  Spencer's  Fie«i  nf  Irchtnd,  Hooker, 
Ware,  C«x,  Leland,  &c.  A  valuable  collection  of  ex- 
tracts from  State  papers  relative  to  the  affair  of  the 
Fort  Del  Ore  appeared  in  Nos.  viii.,  xiii.,  siv.  xv.,  and 
xvi.  of  the  Kerry  Magazine,  for  18o4  and  1855. 

*  The  fate  of  David  Purcell  is  related  by  the  Four 
Masters.  He  descended  the  Shannon  some  time  after 
this  with  a  few  followers,  and  sought  to  conceal  himself 
for  a  night  on  Scattcry  island.  Here,  however,  be  was 
immediately  pursued  by  Turlough  MacMahon  of  Clon- 
deralaw  in  Clare,  who  took  Purcell  and  his  men  to  his 


soldiers  from  Adare  going  on  a  maraud- 
ing excursion  into  the  barony  of  Kenry 
were  cut  off  by  David  Purcell,  the 
representative  of  an  ancient  Anglo- 
Irisk  famil)^  who  had  hitherto  been  an 
exemplary  loj'alist.  Captain  Achiu,  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  station  at 
Adare,  obtained  some  troops  at  Kilraal- 
lock,  and  entering  Kenry  to  wreak  his 
vengeance  on  the  people,  came  to  Pur- 
cell's  castle  ofBallycalhane  near  Kildimo, 
where,  finding  that  David  with  his  men 
had  fled  to  the  Avoods,  he  massacred 
one  hundred  and  fifty  women  and  chil- 
dren who  had  sou,9^ht  refuge  in  the 
castle.""  Foremost  among  the  cajitains 
who  distinguished  themselves  at  this 
time  were  Zouch  and  Dowdall,  bul 
the  former  soon  became  so  promineni 
for  his  services  that  he  was  appoint 
ed  governor  or  presidtvtit  of  Mun- 
ster. 

In  Connaught,  William  Burke,  one 
of  the  sons  of  the  earl  of  Clanricard,  hav- 
ing surrendered  on  a  promise  o\  protec- 
tion, as  our  annalists  say,  was  hanged  in 


castle  of  Colmanston,  where  the  latter  were  hanged  on 
the  nearest  trees,  Purcell  himself  being  taken  sick  in 
Limerick  and  executed  there.  Yet  this  Purcell  "  had 
assisted  the  crown  from  the  very  commencement  of  the 
Geraldine  war."  (Four  Masters,  vol.  v.,  p.  1759.)  Arch- 
bishop Lombard  {Be  Regno  Eib.  Comment.,  p.  535)  re- 
lates some  horrible  cruelties  similar  to  that  mentioned 
above,  as  perpetrated  by  the  government  officials  in 
Munster  even  after  Desmond's  death  and  the  suppre.'rsion 
of  his  rebellion  ;  such  as  the  forcing  of  people  into  castles 
and  houses,  which  were  then  set  on  fire ;  "  and  if  any  of 
them  attempted  to  escape  from  the  flames  they  were 
shot  or  stabbed  by  the  soldiers  who  guarded  them.  It 
was  a  diversion,"  ho  continues,  "  to  these  monsters  of 
men  to  take  up  infants  on  the  points  of  their  spears  and 
whirl  them  about  in  their  agony,"  &c.  Sec  Dr.  Curry's 
Cicil  Wars,  p.  37. 


PREMATURE  EXECUTIONS. 


391 


Galway  on  the  29th  of  May,  and  all  his 
followers  who  had  rashly  relied  on  the 
same  promise,  were  treated  in  like  man- 
ner ;  and  about  the  same  time  Turlough 
O'Brien,  who  had  been  a  year  in  prison, 
was  hanged  in  Clare.  Nor  did  Dublin 
escape  the  rage  for  executions.  It  was 
said  that  some  conspiracy  was  on  foot, 
and  that  a  plot  Avas  formed  to  capture 
the  castle,  massacre  the  English,  and 
overturn  the  government.  We  are  told 
that  forty-five  persons  were  brought  to 
the  scaffold  for  this  imaginary  treason, 
Nugent,  who  had  been  chief -justice  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  being  one  of  the  number. 
The  earl  of  Kildare,  his  son,  and  the  lord 
of  Devlin,  were  arrested  and  sent  for 
trial  to  England,  where  the  groundless- 
ness of  the  charge  against  them  was 
proved ;  and  then  it  became  obvious 
that  the  execution  of  Nutrent  and  the 
others  had  been  premature.  This  over- 
hasty  "vindication  of  justice"  excited 
some  displeasure  in  England,  where  the 
affair  of  Smerwick  Harbor  made  an  im- 
pression not  at  all  favorable  to  Lord 
Gray's  humanity ;  but  the  custom  of 
hanging  men  in  hot  haste  prevailed  to 
a  fearful  extent  in  Ireland  then,  and  for 
centuries  after. 

The  hopeless  struggle  of  the  Geral- 
dines  was  still  protracted.  John  of 
Desmond  made  a  successful   foray  be- 


*  Dr.  Nicholas  Saunders,  or  Sauderus,  was  a  native  of 
Cliarlewood  in  England,  and  had  been  professor  of  canon 
law  at  Oxford ;  but  flying  from  England  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Elizabeth,  he  repaired  to  Rome,  where  he  re- 
ceived priest's  orders  and  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divin- 
ity. He  taught  theology  at  Louvain,  and  was  sent  by 
the  Pope  as  nuncio  to  Spain,  where  he  wrote  his  fa- 


yond  the  Suir  in  May,  slaying  several 
of  his  pursuers  and  carrying  off  the 
spoils  to  the  fastnesses  of  Claenglass,  in 
the  south  of  the  county  of  Limerick, 
and  to  the  neic^hboring  woods  of  Kil- 
more.  In  June  he  took  spoils  from 
MacCarthy  More,  and  again,  about 
Christmas,  Kilfeakle,  in  Tipperary,  was 
plundered  by  him,  or,  as  some  accounts 
have  it,  by  the  earl  of  Desmond.  A 
large  number  of  faithful  followers  still 
surrounded  the  unhappy  earl,  but  while 
encamped  at  Aghadoe,  near  Killarney, 
he  was  attacked  unawares,  on  a  Sunday 
morning,  by  Captain  Zouch,  and  many 
of  his  men  were  slain.  About  the  end 
of  September  he  penetrated  as  far  as 
Cashel,  and  carried  off  a  large  spoil  of 
cattle  and  other  property  to  the  woods  of 
Aherlow,  after  slaying,  say  our  annalists, 
four  hundred  of  his  j^ursuers.  Some 
time  in  the  winter  of  this  year.  Dr. 
Saunders,  the  Pope's  legate,  died  in  cold 
and  wretchedness  in  a  miserable  hovel 
in  the  woods  of  Claenglass.  This  illus- 
trious and  heroic  ecclesiastic,  for  whom 
the  government  would  have  given  a 
large  reward,  was  worn  out  by  fatigue 
and  privation,  and  died  the  death  of  a 
confessor,  attended  in  his  last  moments 
by  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Killaloe,  who 
administered  to  him  the  last  sacra- 
ments.* 


nious  "  History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  English 
Reformation  ;"  but  before  that  work  was  published,  he 
proceeded,  by  orders  of  Gregory  XIII.,  to  Ireland.  Cox 
called  him  "  a  malicious,  cunning,  and  indefatigable 
rebel ;"  but  Mageoghan  more  truly  describes  him  as 
"  a  man  of  exemplary  life,  and  most  zealoiis  in  the 
Catholic  cause."    He  died  of  dysentery,  and  English 


392 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


A.D.  1582.— The  fidelity  of  the  peas- 
antry to  the  Geraldines  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  features  of  this  heart- 
sickening  war.  (Jreat  rewards  were 
offered  for  the  heads  of  the  leaders; 
but  the  humblest  of  their  followers 
were  still  faithful  to  the  last.  An  Irish- 
man was,  nevertheless,  found  to  act  as 
a  spy  on  the  footsteps  of  John  of  Des- 
mond, and  information  obtained  by  this 
man  from  an  unsuspecting  messenger 
enabled  Zouch  to  intercept  John  near 
Castle  Lyons  (Castle  Hy-Liathain), 
while  on  his  way  to  meet  Lord  Barrj^, 
between  whom  and  FitzGerald  of  Imo- 
killy  there  had  arisen  a  misunderstand- 
ing, which  John  wished  to  arrange. 
The  latter  was  accompanied  only  by 
his  kinsman,  James  FitzGerald  of  Stran- 
cally,  and  four  or  five  horsemen ;  and 
when  he  unexpectedly  came  face  to  face 
with  Zouch  and  his  troops,  whom,  in  a 
dark  and  misty  day,  he  had  first  sup- 
posed to  be  Barry's  men,  he  saw  imme- 
diately that  escape  was  impossible.  He 
desired  his  companions  to  fly,  as  their 
enemies  only  sought  for  him ;  but  the 
lord  of  Strancally  refused  to  abandon  his 
leader.  They  made  a  fruitless  attempt 
to  gain  a  wood,  and  were  surrounded 
by  the  soldiers,  one  of  whom,  named 
Thomas  Fleming,  said  to  have  been 
once  in  the  service  of  John  of  Desmond, 
plunged  a  spear  into  that  chief's  throat. 


writers,  who  abhorred  him,  say  that  his  body  when 
found,  was  half  devoured  by  wolves,  while  O'Sullivan 
tells  US  that  he  was  carried  to  the  grave  by  four  Irish 
knights,  of  whom  one  was  his  (O'SuUivan's)  own  father, 
Dermot ;  and  that  his  venerated  remains  were  privately 
interred  at  night  by  priests.    {Huit.  C'ath.,  p.  131).    His 


ere  Zouch,  who  wished  to  capture  him 
alive,  could  ward  off  the  blow.  The 
noble  Geraldine  exj^ired  before  his  ene- 
mies had  carried  him  a  mile,  and  his 
body  Avas  then  thrown  across  his  own 
steed  and  conveyed  thus  to  Cork,  when 
his  head  being  cut  ofi",  was  sent  to  Dub- 
lin to  'be  spiked  in  front  of  the  castle ; 
while  his  mutilated  trunk  was  hung  in 
chains  at  one  of  the  gates  of  Cork, 
"where  it  remained,"  says  O'Daly, 
"  nearly  three  years,  till,  on  a  tempest- 
uous night,  it  was  blown  into  the  sea." 
His  kinsman,  James,  was  hanged  soon 
after,  together  with  his  two  sons ;  but 
Lord  Barry  made  his  peace  with  the 
government.* 

With  the  gallant  John  of  Desmond 
departed  the  last  hope  of  the  Gerald- 
ines ;  but  the  unhappy  earl  himself  was 
still  in  arms.  The  three  sons  of  Fitz- 
Maui'ice  of  Lixnaw  escaped  from  cap- 
tivity in  Limerick,  and  fled  to  their 
paternal  woods.  They  attacked  the 
gan-ison  of  Ardfert,  and  slew  its  cap- 
tain, Hatsim.f  The  lord  of  Lixnaw, 
who  had  hitherto  committed  no  overt 
act  of  treason,  now  joined  his  infatuated 
sons,  destroyed  his  principal  castles,  that 
they  might  not  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  English,  and  retired  to  the  woods 
at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  follow- 
ers ;  and  Zouch,  on  coming  to  Ardfert, 
finding  the  FitzMaurices  were  beyond 

companion  in  suffering,  the  bishop  of  Killaloe,  escaped 
to  Spain,  and  died  in  Lisbon,  A.D.  1017. 

*  Four  Masters. 

f  This  was  no  doubt  the  same  person  as  the  "  Captain 
Achin"  who  slaughtered  the  women  and  children  in 
Purocll's  castle.    (Supra,  p.  425). 


MASSACRE   OF   WOMEN   AND   CHILDREN. 


393 


Lis  reach,  aveuged  tlie  death  of  Hatsim 
by  hanging  a  numbei-  of  hostages  whom 
he  held,  although,  say  the  Four  Mas- 
ters, they  were  mere  children.  Soon 
after  this,  FitzMaurice  repented  of  his 
rashness,  and  jileading  as  an  excuse  that 
the  oppression  of  the  queen's  officers 
had  driven  him  into  rebellion,  he  ob- 
tained his  pardon  through,  the  media- 
tion of  the  earl  of  Ormond. 

By  this  time  Munster  had  been  con- 
verted into  such  a  solitude  that,  as  our 
annalists  tell  us,  the  lowing  of  a  cow  or 
the  voice  of  the  ploughman,  could 
scarcely  be  heard  from  Dunqueen,  in 
the  west  of  Kerry,  to  Cashel,  in  Tip- 
23erary.  That  fair  province  now  pre- 
sented the  hideous  spectacle  of  desola- 
tion which  Spencer  so  graphically  de- 

*  After  developing  his  remedy  for  tlie  ills  of  Ire- 
land, namely,  the  employment  of  large  masses  of  troops 
"  to  tread  down  all  that  standeth  before  them  on  foot, 
and  lay  on  the  ground  all  the  stifihecked  people  of  that 
land,"  and  advising  that  vrai  should  be  carried  on  against 
them  not  in  summer  only,  but  in  ^"inter ;  "  for  then  the 
trees  are  bare  and  naked,  which  use  both  to  clothe  and 
house  the  kerne ;  the  ground  is  cold  and  wet,  which 
usetli  to  be  his  bedding ;  the  air  is  sharp  and  bitter,  to 
blow  through  his  naked  sides  and  legs ;  the  kine  are 
barren  and  without  milk,  -which  useth  to  be  his  food, 
besides  being  all  with  calf  (for  the  most  part)  they  will, 
tlirough  much  chasing  and  driving,  cast  all  their 
calves  and  lose  their  milk,  which  should  relieve  him  in 
the  next  summer''  {State  of  Ireland,  pp.  158,  &c.) ; 
Spencer  proceeds  to  say  that  "the  end  will  be  very 
short,"  and  in  proof  he  describes  what  he  himself  had 
witnessed  in  "  the  late  wars  of  Munster ;"  "  for  notwith- 
standing that  the  same  was  a  most  rich  and  plentiful 

country,  full  of  come  and  cattle yet  ere  one 

yeare  and  a  halfe  they  (the  Irish)  were  brought  to  such 
wretchednesse  as  that  any  stony  heart  would  have  rued 
the  same.  Out  of  every  comer  of  the  woods  and  glynnes 
they  came  creeping  forth  upon  their  hands,  for  their 
legges  could  not  bear  them  ;  they  looked  like  anatomies 
of  death ;  they  spake  like  ghosts  crying  out  of  their 
graves ;  they  did  eate  the  dead  carrions,  happy  where 
they  could  finde  them  ;  yea,  and  one  another  soone  after. 


scribes.*  It  was  reported  that  the 
earl  of  Desmond  was  dead,  and  the 
army  was  thereiipon  considerably  re- 
duced. Complaints,  in  the  mean  time, 
daily  reached  Elizabeth,  of  the  inhuman 
rigor  of  Gray.  That  viceroy  was  truly 
described  as  a  man  of  blood,  who  had 
alienated  the  hearts  of  all  the  Irish 
subjects  by  his  barbarities,  and  who 
"left  her  majesty  little  to  reign  over 
but  carcasses  and  ashes  ;"f  and  he  was 
at  length  recalled  in  August,  and  Loft- 
us,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  Sir  Hen- 
ry Wallop,  the  treasurer  at  war,  ap- 
pointed lord  justices.  A  more  moder- 
ate policy  was  determined  on,  and  sev- 
eral who  had  been  involved  in  the  in- 
surrection were  amnestied ;  the  earl  of 
Desmond,  however,  being  excluded  from 


insomuch  as  the  very  carcasses  they  spared  not  to 
scrape  out  of  their  graves  ;  and  if  they  found  a  plot  of 
water-cresses  or  shamrocks,  there  they  flocked  as  to  a 
feast  for  the  time,  yet  not  able  long  to  continue  there- 
withall :  that  in  short  space  there  were  none  almost  left, 
and  a  most  populous  and  plentifull  country  suddainly 
left  voyde  of  man  and  beast."  (State  of  Ireland,  p.  1G6.) 
Similar  pictures  of  the  frightful  state  to  which  the 
south  of  Ireland  was  reduced  at  this  period  may  be 
seen  in  EoUimlied,  vi.,  459 ;  Fynei  Morrison,  p.  273 
(folio) ;  and  Cox,  p.  449. 

But  the  poet  Spencer,  who  could  suggest  no  better 
means  for  the  subjugation  of  a  race  with  such  kind 
hearts  and  gentle  natures  as  the  Irish,  still  saw  that 
the  scene  of  all  this  horrible  waste  and  devastation  was 
beautiful — too  beautiful,  alas!  for  those  whose  exter- 
mination was  a  necessary  step  to  its  enjoyment  by 
others.  "  And  sure  it  is  yet  a  most  beautiful  and  sweete 
country  as  any  is  under  heaven,"  he  says,  "  being  stored 
throughout  with  many  goodly  rivers,  replenished  with 
aU  sorts  of  fish  most  abimdantly  ;  sprinkled  with  many 
very  sweete  islands  and  goodly  lakes,  like  little  inland 
seas,  adorned  with  goodly  woods ;  also  full  of  very 
good  ports  and  havens  opening  upon  England,  as  in- 
viting us  to  come  unto  them  ;  besides  the  soyle  itselfo 
is  most  fertUe,  and  lastly,  the  heavens  most  milde  and 
temperate."    (State  of  Ireland,  p.  28.) 

f  Cox,  Mib.  Angl.    Lelaud,  vol.  ii.,  p.  287  (8vo.  ed.) 


394 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETPI. 


mercy.  Two  or  three  times  iu  the 
coui'se  of  this  year,  tliis  unhappy  noble- 
man showed  himself  at  the  head  of  sev- 
eral hundred  men.  He  despoiled  the 
territory  of  the  earl  of  Ormond,  during 
the  absence  of  the  latter  in  England ; 
defeated  some  English  troops  in  a  des- 
perate conflict  at  Gort-na-pisi,  or  Pea- 
field,  in  Tipperary  ;  and  almost  annihil- 
ated a  large  irregular  force  led  against 
him  by  the  brothers  and  sons  of  the 
earl  of  Ormond,  at  Knockgraffon,  in 
the  same  county.  He  carried  off  spoils 
from  MacCarthy  and  other  hostile 
parties ;  but  these  few  predatory  suc- 
cesses only  helped  to  prolong  the  mis- 
erable struggle.  By  degrees  his  fol- 
lowers dwindled  away,  and  with  the 
fe'w  faithful  adherents  who  remained 
he  was  hunted  like  a  beast  of  the  forest 
from  one  wood  or  mountain  cavern  to 
another.  The  glen  of  Aherlow,  which 
the  contemporary  English,  writers  some- 
times call  Harlow,  was  one  of  his  favor- 
ite retreats;  at  other  times  he  fre- 
quented woods  in  the  southwest  of  the 
county  of  Limerick ;  and  often  he  sought 
shelter  among  the  woods  and  mountains 
of  his  own  palatinate  of  Kerry.* 

*  The  unhappy  earl,  we  are  told,  passed  the  Christ- 
mas of  this  year  in  great  distress  in  the  ■wood  of  Kil- 
quane,  near  KUmallock,  and  on  the  4th  of  January  apian 
was  laid  by  one  John  Welsh  to  gain  the  large  reward 
offered  for  his  capture.  Hooker  relates  the  circum- 
stances. Captains  Dowdall  and  Bangor,  and  George 
Thorington,  provost  marshal  of  Munster,  led  a  chosen 
hand  of  soldiers  from  the  garrison  of  Kilmallock,  and 
every  thing  was  so  well  arranged  that  they  arrived  by 
break  of  day  at  the  earl's  cabin,  which  was  close  by  a 
river,  then  swollen  from  the  rains.  Desmond's  watch- 
ful car  caught  an  approaching  sound  of  footsteps  or 
breaking  twigs,  and  he  and  the  countess  rushed  from 


A.  D.  1583. — In  the  summer  and  au- 
tumn of  this  year,  say  the  Four  Masters, 
the  earl  of  Desmond  was  attended  by 
only  four  persons,  Avho  accompanied 
him  "  from  one  cavern  of  a  rock,  or 
hollow  of  a  tree,  to  another."  They 
were  so  hunted  from  place  to  place,  that 
"  where  they  did  dress  their  meat,"  says 
Hooker,  "thence  they  would  remove  to 
eat  it  in  another  place,  and  fi'om  thence 
go  to  another  place  to  lie.  In  the 
nights  they  would  watch;  in  the  fore- 
noon they  would  be  upon  the  hills  and 
mountains  to  descry  the  country ;  and 
in  the  afternoon  they  would  sleep." 
Their  enemies  were  well  apprised  of 
these  movements ;  and,  on  one  occasion, 
in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  when  so 
many  as  three  score  gallowgl asses  mus- 
tered round  the  earl  iu  Aherlow,  Cap- 
tain Dow^dall,  with  a  troop  of  soldiers, 
surprised  him  while  they  were  cooking 
a  horse  to  eat.  It  was  their  hour  of 
rest — the  afternoon — and  five  and  twen- 
ty of  the  gallowglasses  were  taken  in 
their  cabins  and  put  to  the  sword, 
many  others  having  been  slain  iu  at- 
tempting to  defend  themselves.  The 
earl  escaped  and  fled  to  Kerry,  whither 


their  wretched  couch  into  the  river,  in  which  they  re- 
mained concealed  under  a  bank,  with  only  their  heads 
over  the  water,  untU  Welsh  and  his  disappointed  party 
had  left.  The  unhappy  Desmond  more  than  once  hum- 
bled himself  to  sue  for  pardon  ;  and  his  countess,  Elea- 
nor, who  was  a  Butler,  being  the  daughter  of  Lord 
Dunboyne,  and  who,  although  she  disapproved  from  tlie 
beginning  of  his  resistance  to  government,  still  shared 
all  his  privations  and  sufferings,  frequently  supplicated 
for  mercy  for  him  in  vain.  His  unconditional  surren- 
der would  alone  be  accepted,  but  we  are  assured  by 
O'Daly  that  ho  was  offered  pardon  if  he  gave  up  Dr. 
Saunders,  a  stipulation  wliich  he  spurned. 


:0^ 


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y«fit^''^J' 


M      l^ 


■x:> 


a 


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V 


DEATH  OF  THE  EARL  OF  DESMOND. 


395 


we  must  follow  to  relate  tLe  last  act  in 
this  harrowing  tragedy. 

On  the  9th  of  November  the  earl  of 
Desmond  left  his  retreat  in  the  woods 
near  Castle-island,  and  went  westwards 
towards  the  bay  of  Ti-alee.  He  sent 
two  horsemen  with  eighteen  kernes  to 
carry  off  a  prey  from  the  Moriartys, 
who  would  appear  to  have  been  hostile 
to  him  ;  he  himself  and  John  MacEligot, 
with  two  or  three  footmen,  staying  for 
them  at  a  place  then  called  Doiremore. 
The  predatory  i^arty  jDroceeded  to  Ca- 
hirnifahj^,  lying  by  the  seaside  Avest  of 
Castle  Gregory,  in  the  peninsula  of 
Corkaguiney,  and  there  took  a  prey 
consisting  of  forty  cows,  nine  horses,  and 
some  other  goods,  from  Maurice  Mac- 
Owen  and  another,  announcing  at  the 
same  time  that  the  earl  of  Desmond 
was  hard  by,  and  that  it  was  for  him 
the  cattle  were  required.  MacOwen 
dispatched  messengers  to  Lieutenant 
Stanley,  at  Dingle,  and  to  his  brothers- 
in-law,  Owen  and  Donnell,  sons  of  Don- 
uell  O'Moriarty ;  and  the  two  latter 
followed  in  the  track  of  the  prey  with 
a  band  of  eighteen  kernes,  of  whom  two 
were  armed  with  muskets.  At  Castle- 
maiue  they  applied  for  aid  to  the 
warder,  Cheston,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Lieutenant  Stanley,  and  obtained 
a  reinforcement  of  five  soldiers.  On 
arriving  at  Tralee  they  traced  the  prey 
in  the  direction  of  Slieve  Losfher  or 


•  The  circumstances  above  related  are  taken  almost 
verbally  from  the  depositions  of  Owen  MacDonnell 
O'Moriarty  (Muircliertaicli),  sworn  before  the  earl  of 
Ormond,  the  bishop  of  Ossory,  and  the  sovereign  of  Kil- 


Luachra,  and,  about  five  miles  east  of 
Tralee,  entering  late  in  the  evening  the 
vale  of  Glanageenty  (Gleann-an-Ghinn- 
tigh),  in  that  mountain  district,  they 
ascended  an  eminence,  and  observed  a 
fire  in  the  glen  beneath  them.  Donnell 
O'Moriarty  explored  the  place  under 
cover  of  the  darkness,  and  reported 
that  the  party  they  were  in  search  of 
were  there,  but  had  not  the  prey  with 
them,  and  he  suggested  that  they  should 
wait  until  morning  to  make  the  attack. 
At  the  dawn  of  day  Owen  and  Donnell 
O'Moriarty,  with  Daniel  O'Kelly,  one 
of  the  soldiers,  who  had  served  some 
time  in  England,  took  the  lead  of  the 
band,  the  kerne  following  next,  and  the 
soldiers  bringing  up  the  rear.  They 
rushed  with  a  loud  shout  to  the  cabin 
where  the  eaiTs  party  had  lain,  but  the 
latter  had  fled  on  the  first  sound  of  the 
enemy's  approach,  with  the  exception 
of  a  venerable  looking  man,  a  woman, 
and  a  boy.  O'Kelly,  who  entered  first, 
aimed  a  blow  with  his  sword  at  the  old 
man  and  almost  severed  his  arm.  The 
old  man  then  exclaimed,  "I  am  the 
earl  of  Desmond,  spare  my  life."  Don- 
nell O'Moriarty  took  him  on  his  back, 
and  carried  him  a  short  distance, 
but,  according  to  their  own  account, 
they  feared  the  earl's  party  might  re- 
turn and  rescue  him,  and  O'Kelly  cut 
off  his  head  at  Owen   Moriarty's   de- 


sire.' 


kenny  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  of  November. 
These  depositions  are  to  be  found  in  a  rare  work  by 
Thomas  Churchyard,  entitled  "A  Scourge  for  Rebels," 
printed  in  1584,  and  have  been  repiiated  in  the  Kerry 


S9G 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


Thus,  on  the  moruing  of  the  11th  of 
JSTovember,  1583,  jjerished  Gerald,  the 
great  earl  of  Desmond — "  iugeus  rebel- 
libus  exem2:)lar,"  as  some  English  writers 
call  him.  Most  assuredly  this  unfortu- 
nate nobleman  was  driven  into  rebellion 
in  order,  once  for  all,  to  crush  the  power 
of  his  family,  and  for  the  baser  purpose 
of  seizing  and  partitioning  his  vast  do- 
mains. He  wanted  the  most  essential 
qualities  of  a  jjopular  leader ;  and  when 
the  time  required  decision  and  action 
he  was  vacillating,  and  therefore  power- 
less. His  jealousy  and  pride  Avould  not 
suffer  him  to  be  guided  by  his  cousin, 
James  FitzMaurice,  or  by  his  brother, 
John,  both  of  whom  possessed  superior 
mental  and  physical  energy ;  and  when 
they  took  the  leadership  he  could  not 
play  a  subservient  part.  Yet  he  pos- 
sessed courage  and  military  ability,  as 
he  proved  in  several  hard-fought  con- 
flicts after  the  death  of  James  and  John ; 
his  sympathies  were  always  with   the 


Magazine  for  July,  1854.  The  story  of  the  earl's  men 
having  shamefully  robbed  "  a  i^oor  widow  named  Mori- 
arty"  is  untrue,  the  woman  in  question  being  the  wife 
of  the  man  called  Maurice  MacOwen,  and  the  sister  of 
Donnell  O'Moriarty.  The  two  horsemen  sent  with  the 
kerne  on  this  expedition  are  called  in  Owen's  deposi- 
tions "  Corroghore  ne  Scolly  and  Shane  Deleo,"  names 
which  have  been  identified  as  "  Conor  O'Driscol  and 
John  Daly."  Brother  Dominic  O'Daly,  bishop  elect  of 
Coimbra,  and  author  of  "  Incrementum,  &c.,  Geraldino- 
rum,"  was  a  near  relative  of  this  Daly,  and  tells  us  that 
"  Cornelius  O'Daly  and  a  few  others  were  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  earl  in  the  vaUey,  watching  the  cattle 
that  had  been  seized  the  day  before,"  and  that  "  John 
Mac  William  and  James  MacDavid  were  the  only  com- 
panions who  partook  of  his  miserable  hut  (and  who  de- 
serted him)  at  the  time  of  his  death."  (Meehan's  Trans- 
lation, p.  108.)  O'Kelly,  who  was  in  such  haste  to  mur- 
der the  old  earl,  was  rewarded  by  government  with  a 
pension  of  £30  a-year,  but  was  hanged  in  London  for 


Catholic  cause;  and  his  heroic  endu- 
rance of  long  and  cruel  sufferings,  his 
unparalleled  misfortunes  and  melancholy 
end,  obliterated  his  faults,  and  have 
caused  his  memory  to  be  venerated  in 
the  traditions  of  the  country.  His 
head  was  carried  to  Castlemaiue,  and 
thence  forwarded  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, who  caused  it  to  be  impaled  in 
an  iron  cage  on  London  bridge ;  and 
his  body  haviug  been  concealed  for 
some  time  by  the  j)easantry,  was  ulti- 
mately interred  in  the  little  chapel  of 
Kilnamanagh,  near  Castleisland. 

During  the  great  Geraldine  rebellion 
the  rest  of  Ireland  was  comparatively 
tranquil.  The  earl  of  Clanrickard — 
called,  by  the  Irish,  Richard  Sasonagh 
— returned  from  his  long  captivity  in 
London  to  breathe  his  native  air  for 
the  last  time  before  he  expired  in  Gal- 
way,  in  August,  1582 ;  and  a  violent 
contention  then  arose  between  his  tur- 
bulent sons,  Ulick  and  John-of-the  Sham- 
highway  robbery ;  and  Owen  O'Moriarty  was  also  hanged 
some  years  after,  in  the  insurrection  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  by 
FitzMaurice  of  Lixnaw,  the  whole  family  becoming  ob- 
jects of  popular  detestation  on  account  of  the  part  he 
took  in  the  earl's  death.  Long  after  Desmond's  death  it 
was  a  popular  belief  that  the  place  where  he  was  slain 
was  still  red  with  his  blood.  The  spot  is  still  called 
Bothar-an-Iarla,  and  an  old  tree  used  to  be  shown  under 
which,  it  was  said,  his  body  was  first  buried.  In  addi 
tion  to  the  authorities  already  quoted,  see  O'SulIivan's 
Hist.  Cath.,  Coxe's  Eib.  Awjl.,  Hooker,  &c.  We  are 
grieved  to  add  that  the  Four  Masters  evince  an  abject, 
time-serving  spirit,  in  all  their  entries  about  the  Ger- 
aldine war.  Their  patron,  FarreU  O'Qara,  was,  as  Dr. 
O'Donovan  observes  in  his  just  animadversions  on  these 
passages,  an  t'leve  of  Trinity  College,  and  they  wrote  for 
him  and  for  the  loyalists  of  the  reign  of  Charles  L  Hence 
tlicy  constantly  stigmatize  the  struggles  of  the  Catholics 
of  the  south  as  treason,  and  apply  disparaging  epithets 
to  their  leaders. 


MILD   POLICY   OF  PERROTT. 


397 


rocks.  The  former  succeeded  as  earl, 
and  the  latter  received  for  Lis  patrimo- 
ny the  barony  of  Leitrim,  in  the  south- 
east of  the  county  of  Galway;  but  the 
next  year  Ulick  slew  his  brother,  John, 
at  night,  and  was  thus  left  in  the  ex- 
elusive  enjoyment  of  the  territory  of 
Clanrickard.  Viscount  Baltinglass  es- 
caped to  Spain,  where  he  died  in  misery; 
and  Captain  Brabazon  "pacified"  the 
north  of  Connaught  in  1582  by  a  series 
of  sanguinary  devastations. 

A.  D.  1584. — Following  the  ordinary 
rule,  that  a  calm  succeeds  a  storm,  an 
interval  of  moderation  and  mercy  suc- 
ceeded the  fierce  persecution  of  the  war 
in  Munster,  and  Sir  John  Perrott  was 
the  man  selected  by  Elizabeth  to  carry 
out  the  new  policy.  He  arrived  in 
Ireland  on  the  21st  of  June,  and  was 
sworn  in  on  the  26th;  and  with  him 
came  Sir  Thomas  Norreys,  or  Norris,  as 
president  of  Munster,  and  Sir  Richard 
Bingham  as  governor  of  Connaught,  in 
the  place  of  Sir  Nicholas  Malby,  who 
had  recently  died  at  Athlone.  The 
new  deputy  set  out  on  a  circuit,  com- 
mencing at  Galway,  where  he  was 
received  with  welcome  by  the  leading 


*  On  this  occasion  seven  counties  were  marked  out  in 
Ulster,  Tiz. : — Armagh,  Monaghan,  Tyrone,  Coleraine, 
Donegal,  Fermanagh,  and  Cavan ;  for  each  of  which 
sherLSs,  commissioners  of  the  peace,  and  coroners,  -n-ere 
nominated. 

f  The  Four  Masters  give  a  list  of  the  chieftains  and 
heads  of  septs  who  attended  this  parliament.  They  ap- 
pear in  the  following  order,  those  who  had  scats,  as  we 
find  by  the  official  list  published  in  the  third  appen- 
dix to  Hardiman's  edition  of  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny, 
being  distinguished  by  an  (*),  viz. : — Torlough  Luin- 
each  (the)  CKeUl ;  *  Hugh  CNeUI,  baron  of  Dungannon, 
treated  earl  of  Tyrone  in  this  parliament ;   *  Hugh 


men  of  Connaught.  He  next  proceeded 
to  Limerick,  and  at  Quiu,  on  his  way 
throu2;h  Thomond,  Donough  Bee;  O'Bri- 
en,  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
late  insurrections,  was  first  hanged  from 
a  car,  then  taken  down  before  he  was 
dead,  and  his  bones  broken  with  the 
back  of  an  axe ;  and  finally  his  bruised 
body  was  hoisted  to  the  top  of  the 
church  steeple,  to  feed  the  birds  and 
"serve  as  a  warninsr  to  future  evil- 
doers."  The  Four  Masters  add,  that 
Perrott  was  "  resolved  to  destroy  and 
reduce  a  great  number  of  gentlemen" 
in  Limerick,  when  he  was  suddenly 
called  away  to  repress  a  movement  of 
Sorley  Boy  MacDonnell,  who  had  lately 
obtained  an  accession  of  strength  from 
Scotland.  This  duty,  however,  was 
easily  performed,  and  the  year  passed 
away  without  any  event  of  importance.* 
A.  D.  1585. — Perrott  summoned  a  par- 
liament, which  met  in  Dublin  on  the 
26th  of  April,  this  year,  and  was  memo- 
rable for  the  great  number  of  Irish 
lords  and  heads  of  septs  who  attended, 
either  as  members  or  without  the  right 
to  vote,  to  give  the  proceedings  the 
sanction  of  .their  jDresence.f     The  first 

O'Donnell,  chief  of  Tirconnell ;  Cuconnaught  Maguire, 
chief  of  Fermanagh  ;  John  Oge  O'Doherty,  chief  of  In- 
ishowen;  Turlough  0 'Boyle,  chief  of  Boylagh,  in  Done- 
gal ;  Owen  O'Gallagher,  O'Donnell's  marshal ;  Ross 
MacMahon,  chief  of  Oriel ;  Rory  O'Kane,  chief  of  Oire- 
achl^O'Cahane;  Con  O'Neill,  chief  of  Clannaboy  (his 
nephew,  *  Shane  MacBrien  O'Neill,  was  one  of  the 
knights  for  the  county  Antrim);  *  Hugh  Magennis, 
chief  of  Iveagh  (one  of  the  knights  for  the  county  of 
Down) ;  Brian  ORouike  ;  *  John  Roe  O'Reilly  (the  offi- 
cial list  has  it  Philip)  and  his  uncle,  *  Edmond  O'Reilly 
(knights  for  the  county  of  Cavan) ;  *  O'Farrell  Bane  and 
*  O'FarreU  Boy  (knights  for  the  county  of  Longford) ; 


398 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


session  closed  on  tbe  29th  of  May,  and 
was  a  very  stormy  one,  owing  to  violent 
debates  between  tbe  court  party  and 
tlie  countiy  party,  into  which  the  mem- 
bers for  the  Pale  were  divided.  Acts 
were  passed  to  attaint  James  Eustace, 
Viscount  Baltinglass ;  to  make  estates 
tail  forfeitable  for  treason ;  and  to  re- 
store in  blood  Laurence  Delahide,  whose 
ancestor  had  been  attainted  during  the 
rebellion  of  Silken  Thomas.  The  second 
session  was  held  on  the  28th  of  April, 
1586,  when  the  late  earl  of  Desmond 
and  a  hundred  and  forty  of  his  adhe- 
rents were  attainted.  A  strong  opposi- 
tion was  given  to  Desmond's  attainder, 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  executed  a 
convej'auce  of  his  estates  to  trustees 
several  years  before ;  but  the  govern- 
ment officers  pretended  to  show  that 
an  act  of  treason  pi'eceded  this  convey- 
ance ;  and  it  was  then  provided  that  any 
such  instrument  made  for  the  last  thii-- 
teen  years  should  be  entered  on  record 
in  the  Exchequer,  within  a  year,  or  be 


Hugh,  son  of  O'Coiior  Don ;  Tiege  Oge  O'Conor  Roe ; 
Donnell  O'Conor  Sligo  ;  Brian  MacDermot,  deputed  by 
MacDermot  of  Moylvirg  ;  Carbry  O'Beirn,  chief  of  Tir- 
Briuin-na-Sinna,  in  Roscommon  ;  Tiege  O'Kelly,  of  Mul- 
laghmore  in  Galway ;  Donnell  O'Madden ;  *  Ulick,  earl 
oi'Clanrickard  ;  John  and  Dermot  O'Shaughncssy  ;  Mur- 
rough-of-the-battle-axes  O'Flaherty  ;  *  Donough  O'Brien, 
earl  of  Thomond ;  *  Sir  Turlough  O'Brien  (knight  for 
the  county  of  Clare) ;  Turlough,  son  of  Tiege  O'Brien  ; 
John  MacNamara ;  *  Boetius  MacClancy,  tlie  brehon  of 
Thomond  (knight  for  the  county  of  Clare) ;  Rossa 
O'Loughlin  of  Burren ;  *  Mae-I-Brien  Aia,  (Protestant) 
bishop  of  Killaloe,  and  chief  of  his  family;  Calvagh 
O'Carroll ;  John  MacCoghlan  ;  Philip  O'Dwyer,  of  Kil- 
namanagh  in  Tipperary;  MacBrien,  of  Coonaghin  Lim- 
erick ;  Brian  Duv  O'Brien,  lord  of  Carrigoguunell ;  Conor 
O'Mulryan  (O'Ryan),  chief  of  the  two  Owneys ;  *  Donnell 
MacCarthy  Jlore,  earl  of  Clancare  ;  Sir  Owen  MacCarthy 


void.  Thus  were  lauds  then  estimated  at 
574,628  acres — but  containing,  in  truth, 
a  great  deal  more — confiscated  to  the 
crown,  to  be  distributed  among  English 
undertakers. 

The  Scots,  under  a  son  of  Sorley  Boy, 
again  excited  troubles  in  Ulster;  but 
the  lord  deputy  on  proceeding  against 
them  found  that  they  had  already  been 
defeated.  Their  leader  was  hanged, 
Sorley  Boy  was  taken  by  Sir  John 
Perrott  to  Dublin,  and  the  government 
of  the  northern  province  was  intrusted 
to  Turlough  Luineach  O'Neil,  Hugh, 
bai'on  of  Dungannon,  and  Marshal  Bag- 
nal.  Meanwhile  the  English  of  the 
Pale  had  begun  to  show  an  inveterate 
opposition  to  Perrott.  His  indulgence 
and  courtesy  towards  the  Irish  had  ex- 
cited the  jealousy  and  displeasure  of 
the  new  English.  The  army  was  also 
dissatisfied  with  his  pacific  policy. 
Archbishop  Loftus  gave  every  possible 
opposition  to  his  favorite  project  of 
establishing  a   university  in    Dublin,* 


Reagh,  of  Carbery  in  the  county  Cork,  and  his  two 
nephews ;  Dermot  and  Donough  MacCarthy  of  Duhal- 
low;  Owen  O'Sullevan  Beare,  and  Owen  O'Sullivan 
More ;  Conor  O'Mahony,  of  Ivahagh  in  Carbery,  county  of 
Cork ;  Sir  Fineen  O'Driscol  More ;  *  Fineen  MacQilla- 
patrick,  lord  of  Upper  Ossory ;  Conla  Mageoghegan,  of 
Kinelcagh  in  West  Meath ;  Connell  O'MolIoy  of  the 
King's  county  ;  and  Fiagh  MacHugh  O'Byrne,  chief  of 
the  Gaval-Rannall,  in  Wicklow.  There  were  none  of 
the  other  O'Byrnes,  Kavanaghs,  O'Tooles,  O'Conors  Faly, 
O'Mores,  O'Dunns,  or  O'Dempseys.  See  Dr.  O'Donovan's 
invaluable  notes  to  the  Four  Masters,  under  the  year 
1585  (vol.  v.,  pp.  1837  to  1841),  in  which  the  existing 
or  last  known  representative  of  each  of  the  above  heads 
of  septs  is  identified. 

*  The  University  of  Trinity  College  was  afterwards 
founded  by  Loftus  himself,  in  1093. 


SIR  RICHARD  BINGHAM. 


399 


The  macbinations  against  him  devel- 
oped an  incredible  amount  of  hatred 
and  baseness.  It  was  even  pretended 
that  he  purposed  to  throw  off  the  Eng- 
lish authority;  letters  were  forged  in 
the  name  of  Turlough  Luineach,  and 
others,  and  sent  to  the  queen  to  under- 
mine him  in  her  confidence ;  and  when 
he  applied  for  leave  to  justify  himself 
in  person,  before  the  queen  and  council, 
his  request  was  refused.  He  was,  how- 
ever, diligent  in  his  duties,  and  succeeded 
in  inducing  the  chiefs  and  lords  of 
Connaught  to  adopt  a  composition  in 
lieu  of  the  former  irregular  assessments, 
the  amount  being  teu  shillings  English, 
or  a  mark  Irish,  on  every  quarter  of 
land,  whether  arable  or  pasture.* 

The  project  for  repeopling  from  Eng- 
land, the  depopulated  districts  of  Mun- 
ster,  was  now  taken  up  with  extraordi- 
nary zeal.  Great  inducements  were 
held  out  to  younger  brothers  to  become 
undertakers.  Estates  were  offered  for 
three-pence,  and  in  some  places  for  two- 
pence, per  acre,  rent  to  commence  only 
at  the  end  of  three  years,  and  only  half 
the  sum  to  be  j^ayable  for  three  years 
more.  Seven  years  were  allowed  to 
each  undertaker  to  complete  his  plan- 
tation. Garrisons  were  to  be  placed  on 
the  borders,  and  commissioners  appoint- 
ed to  decide  differences.  Each  person 
obtaining  12,000  acres  was  to  plant 
eighty-six  English  families  on  his  estate, 

*  The  cartron,  or  quarter,  like  otlier  old  denominations 
of  land  used  in  Ireland,  contained  no  definite  num- 
ber of  acres.  "  Some  cartrons,"  says  Ware,  "contained 
one  hundred,  some  one  hundred  and  twelve,  some  one 
hundred  and  twenty,  and  the  largest  of  aU  one  hun- 


and  for  lesser  quantities  in  proportion. 
The  native  Irish  might  be  employed  as 
laborers — they  might  become  "  the  hew- 
ers of  wood  and  drawers  of  water"  in 
their  own  country — but  on  no  account 
were  they  to  be  admitted  as  tenants ! 
Sir  Walter  Kaleigh,  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton,  Sir  Thomas  Norris,  Sir  Ware- 
ham  Sentleger,  and  Sir  George  Bourchier, 
were  among  those  who  obtained  large 
and  early  grants.  It  was  expected  that 
above  20,000  English  would  be  planted 
in  Muuster  in  a  few  years;  but  this 
fine  scheme  failed  in  its  most  material 
points.  The  stipulations  were  evaded 
in  a  variety  of  ways  by  the  undertakers ; 
and  the  government  on  its  side  failed 
to  provide  thei-equisite  defences.  Above 
all,  the  Irish  in  many  cases  obtained 
leases  and  conveyances,  and  in  some 
places  the  lands  were  abandoned  to  the 
old  possessors.f 

A.D.  1586. — Our  attention  is  now  de- 
manded for  a  while  by  the  afi'airs  of 
Connaught,  where  the  brutal  severity 
of  the  president  or  governor,  Sir  Rich- 
ard Bingham,  was  wholly  ojjposed  to 
the  policy  of  moderation  professed  by 
the  lord  deputy.  At  a  session  held  in 
Galway,  in  January  this  year,  seventy 
persons,  men  and  women,  some  of  them 
people  of  distinction,  were  executed ; 
and  on  the  1st  of  March,  Bingham  laid 
sieo:e  to  the  stronsc  castle  of  Cloonoan, 
in   Clare,  which   was   held  by  Mahon 


dred  and  sixty  acres."     See  Harris's  TFare'g  Antiq.,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  226. 

t  See  Fynes  Moryson,  Smith's  Gork  and  Kerry,  and 
Fitzgerald's  Limericlc,  for  the  names  of  the  principal 
undertakers  in  Munstcr. 


400 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


O'Brien,  "a  cbieffe  cliampion  of  the 
pope's,  and  a  greate  practizer  with  for- 
eign powers."  On  the  seventh  day 
]\Iahon  was  shot  on  the  battlements 
while  bravely  defending  his  castle,  and 
the  garrison  having  then  surrendered, 
were  all  put  to  the  sword  without 
mercy.  The  president  nest  marched 
into  Mayo,  where  the  Burkes  had  shut 
themselves  up  in  their  castles  for  pro- 
tection agaicst  his  oppression.  Richard 
Burke,  surnamed  Deamhan-an-Chorrain, 
or  the  "  demon  of  the  reaping-hook," 
and  his  kinsman,  Walter  Burke,  had 
fortified  themselves  in  the  stronghold 
of  the  Hag's  castle  (caislean-ua-cail- 
lighe),  built  on  an  artificial  island  in 
Lough  Mask.  Bingham  pitched  his 
camj)  on  the  shore,  and  went  with  a 
jiarty  in  four  or  five  boats  to  attack  the 
castle ;  but  a  storm  coming  on,  one  of 
the  boats  was  capsized,  and  Bingham 
himself  had  a  narrow  escape.  A  few  of 
his  men  were  killed  or  drowned,  and 
the  boat  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Burkes,  who  used  it  the  next  night  in 
escaping  to  the  opposite  shore.*  Bing- 
ham then  demolished  the  castle,  and 
lianged  Bichard  Oge,  surnamed  Fal-fo- 
Eiriu,  or  the  "  fence  of  Ireland,"  son  of 
MacWilliam  Burke,  who  had  come  vol- 
iintarily  to  the  camp,  and  several  other 
strongholds  shared  the  fate  of  the  Hag's 
castle.  Soldiers  were  sent  into  West 
Connaught  in  search  of  "rebels,"  and 
they  spared  none  who  came  in  their 


*  Docwra's  Relation,  publislied  in  the  Miscellany  of 
tlie  Celtic  Society. 
t  Four  Masters.  On  this  occasion  they  hanged  Theo- 


way,  slaying  "  women,  boys,  and  aged 
men,"  many  of  their  victims  being  per- 
sons who  considered  themselves  under 
the  protection  of  government,  as  the 
tenants  of  Murrouofh-na-duafjh  O'Fla- 
hert3^•f• 

This  career  of  carnaire  in  cold  blood 
provoked  Sir  John  Perrott,  who  had 
more  than  once  endeavored  to  interrupt 
it.  Bingham  went  to  Dublin  to  defend 
his  violent  measures,  and  words  of  angry 
recrimination  jjassed  between  him  and 
Perrott,  the  council  taking  part  with 
the  former.  Unfortunately,  while  the 
matter  was  still  under  consideration, 
news  arrived  that  the  Burkes  had  con- 
federated to  resist  the  extortions  of  the 
sheriffs,  as  well  as  to  protect  themselves 
against  the  monstrous  tyranny  of  the 
president.  In  fact,  they  had  broken 
out  into  open  rebellion,  so  that  Bing- 
liam,  whose  cruelty  had  produced  that 
result,  enjoyed  a  complete  triumph  over 
the  pacific  deputy.  Perrott  himself 
wished  to  proceed  against  the  unruly 
MacAVilliams,  but  the  council  would 
not  allow  him,  and  Bingham,  returning 
to  Connaught  to  exercise  his  severitj' 
with  redoubled  fury,  commenced  with 
the  execution  of  the  hostages  whom  the 
Burkes  had  given  for  their  allegiance. 
A  fleet  of  highland  Scots  arrived  at 
Inishowen,  and  the  Burkes  sent  to  them 
for  help,  promising  lai'ge  spoils  and  ex- 
tensive lands  in  Connaught,  should  they 
succeed   in    resisting    Bingham.      The 

bald  O'Toole,  the  proprietor  of  the  distant  island  of 
Onicy,  on  the  coast  of  Connemara — a  man  "  who  sup- 
ported the  destitute,  and  practised  hospitality." 


DEFEAT  AND  SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  SCOTS. 


401 


Scots  embraced  the  opportunity,  and 
Sir  Richard  finding  that  the  insurgents 
wei'e  too  powerful  in  the  field,  tried 
what  might  be  done  by  stratagem.  He 
feigned  a  retreat,  and  leaving  the  Scots 
under  the  impression  that  he  fled  from 
them,  he  collected  what  troops  he  could, 
and  by  a  long,  forced  march  on  a  dark 
night,  surprised  the  enemy  on  the 
morning  of  September  2 '2d,  at  Ard- 
naree,  a  suburb  of  Ballina-Tyrawly,  on 
the  Sligo  side  of  the  Moy.  The  Burkes 
were  absent  on  a  foraging  excursion, 
and  the  Scots  made  an  attempt  to  pre- 
sent a  face  to  the  foe,  but  they  were 
routed   with   frightful   slaughter,   and 


frightful 
SI 


compiled  in  their  flight  to  plunge  into 
the  wide  and  rapid  river.  Few  of  them 
escaped,  and  the  Irish  annalists  say  that 
2,000  of  them  were  killed  or  drowned. 
Most  of  the  flying  Scots  were  captured 
and  hanged,  or  otherwise  cut  ofl:*;  and  Ed- 
mond  Burke,  an  aged  gentleman,  whose 
sons  were  in  arms,  was  hanged  by  Bing- 
ham, although  he  was  "a  withered,  gray 
old  man,"  without  strength  to  walk  to  the 
gallows.  Sessions  were  again  held  in 
Galway  in  December,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  were  handed  over  to  the 
executioner,  among  others,  some  of  the 
MacSheehys  of  Munster,  who  had  fought 
in  the  Geraldine  war. 


402 


REIGJST   OF  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

REIGN    OF    ELIZABETH — CONTINUED. 

Affairs  of  Ulster. — Hugh,  earl  of  Tyrone — His  visit  to  Elizabeth — His  growing  power — Complaints  against  him. — 
Sir  Hugh  O'DonneU. — Capture  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell ;  cunning  device. — Sir  William  FitzWilliam,  lord 
deputy. — The  Spanish  armada — The  wrecks  on  the  Irish  coast. — Disappointed  avarice  of  the  Lord-deputy — 
He  oppresses  the  Irish  chiefs — Murders  MacMahon. — Hugh  Geimhleach  hanged  by  Hugh  O'Neill,  who 
then  revisits  London,  excuses  himself  to  Elizabeth,  and  signs  terms  of  agreement. — O'Neill  returns  to  Ire- 
land, and  refuses  to  give  his  siuetiea  until  the  government  should  fulfil  its  engagements. — Hugh  Roe's  first 
escape  from  Dublin  Castle,  and  his  recapture. — Fresh  charges  against  Hugh  O'Neill — He  carries  off  and  marries 
the  sister  of  Marshal  Bagnal. — Brian  O'Rourke  hanged  in  London. — Hugh  Roe's  second  escape — Affecting 
incidents — His  adventures  and  return  to  Tirconnell — Drives  off  an  English  party — His  father's  abdication, 
and  his  own  election  as  chieftain — He  assails  Turlough  Luineach,  and  compels  him  to  resign  the  chief- 
taincy of  Tyrone  to  Hugh  O'NeUl. — An  English  sheriff  hunted  out  of  Fermanagh. — Rebellion  of  Maguire — 
Enniskillen  taken  by  the  English — Irish  victory  at  the  Ford  of  the  Biscuits,  and  recapture  of  Enniskillen. — 
Sir  William  Russell,  lord  deputy. — Hugh  O'NeiU  visits  Dublin — Bagnal's  charges  against  him — Vindication 
of  his  policy. — Fiagh  MacHugh  O'Byrne  and  Walter  Riavagh  FitzGerald. — Arrival  of  Sir  John  Norris. — 
Hugh  O'Ncall  rises  in  arms — Takes  the  Blackwater  Fort. — Protracted  negotiations. — War  in  Connaught ; 
successes  of  O'Donnell — Bingham  foiled  at  Sligo,  and  retreats. — Differences  between  Norris  and  the  deputy. — 
Bingham  disgraced  and  recalled. — Fresh  promises  from  Spain. — Interesting  events  in  Connaught. — Proceed- 
ings of  the  Leinster  insurgents. — Ormond  appointed  lord  lieutenant. — Last  truce  with  O'Neill. — Hostilities 
resumed  in  Ulster. — Desperate  plight  of  the  government. — Great  Irish  victory  of  the  Yellow  Ford. — Ormond 
repulsed  in  Leis. — War  resumed  in  Munster,  &c. 

(A.  D.  1587  TO  A.  D.  1599.) 


SYMPTOMS  of  approaching  storoi 
Avere  now  (1587)  visible  in  Ulster, 
where  the  exactions  and  oppression  of 
the  English  sheriffs  excited  wide-spread 
disaffection.  Turlough  Luineach  had 
become  old  and  feeble,  and  enjoyed  lit- 
tle influence  in  his  sept.  On  the  other 
hand,  Hugh  O'Neill,  the  son  of  Mathew, 
was  daily  advancing  in  power  and  pop- 
ularity. Like  Turlough,  he  had  been 
hitherto  distinguished  for  his  loyalty. 
He  had,  as  it  were,  an  hereditai-y  claim 
to  the  support  of  the  English  govern- 
ment ;  and  in  return  he  had  given  the 


aid  of  his  sword,  and  had  fought  under 
the  Enfrlish  standard  in  the  Gerakline 
war ;  but  his  valor  and  military  habits 
inspired  his  countrymen  with  confi-" 
dence  and  respect ;  he  was  in  the  vigor 
of  his  age,  and  was  looked  to  naturally 
as  the  successor  to  the  chieftaincy  of 
Tyrone.  In  the  parliament  of  1585  he 
took  his  seat  as  baron  of  Dunganuon ; 
and  ere  the  proceedings  had  termin- 
ated, obtained  the  title  of  earl  of  Tyrone, 
in  virtue  of  the  grants  made  to  his 
grandfather,  Con  Bacagh,  and  to  his 
father,  by  Henry  VIII. ;  but  on  the  ques 


HUGH,   EARL   OF  TYRONK 


403 


tion  of  the  inheritance  annexed  to  tlie 
earldom  lie  was  referred  to  the  queen. 
He  accordingly  repaired  to  England, 
carrying  the  warmest  recommendations 
from  the  lord  deputy,  Sir  John  Perrott, 
and  he  gained  the  good  graces  of  Eliz- 
abeth so  effectually,  by  his  courtly 
manners,  and  his  skill  in  flattering  her 
vanity,  that  she  sent  him  back  with 
letters  patent  under  the  great  seal, 
granting  him  the  earldom  and  inherit- 
ance in  the  amplest  manner.  He  was, 
however,  required  to  define  clearly  the 
bounds  of  Tyrone;  to  set  apart  240 
acres  on  the  banks  of  the  Blackwater, 
for  the  erection  of  au  English  fort ;  to 
exercise  no  authority  over  the  neigh- 
boring: chieftains;  and  to  make  sufla- 
cient  provision  for  the  sous  of  Shane 
O'Neill  and  Turlough  Luineach — Tur- 
lough  himself  continuing,  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  to  enjoy  the  title 
of  Irish  chieftain  of  Tyrone,  with 
right  of  superioiity  over  Maguire  and 
O'Cahane,  or  O'Kaue.  On  his  return 
Hugh  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by 
his  countrymen,  and  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him  by  government  was  such 
that  his  proposal  to  keep  up  a  standing 
force  of  six  companies  of  well-trained 
soldiers,  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
north,  was  gladly  accepted ;  a  step 
which  proved  to  be  incautious  on  the 
part  of  tlie  English  authorities. 

With  such  power  thrown  into  his 
hands,  both  by  Irish  and  English,  and 
with  all  the  traditions  of  his  ancient 
race,  and  all  the  wrongs  of  his  oppressed 
country  before  him,  it  was  not  to  be 


expected  that  Hugh  O'Neill  would  qui- 
etly sink  into  the  subservient  minister 
of  his  country's  foreign  masters;  or 
that  he  would  stifle  every  impulse  of 
hereditary  ambition  within  him.  Such 
a  course  would  have  been  revolting  to 
his  aspiring  nature.  From  time  to  time 
complaints  reached  government  from 
minor  chiefs,  over  whom  Hugh  soon 
began  to  extend  his  power.  Turlough, 
and  the  sous  of  Shane-an-Diomais,  ap- 
pealed against  him.  He  kept  up  ami- 
cable relations  with  the  Ulster  Scots, 
and  secured  the  friendship  of  the 
powerful  and  hitherto  hostile  sept  of 
O'Cahane,  by  giving  them  the  fosterage 
of  his  son.  All  these  circumstances 
caused  uneasiness  to  the  government  of 
the  Pale,  which  had  suffered  a  consid- 
erable diminution  of  strength  by  the 
withdrawal  of  a  thousand  soldiers  fron 
Ireland  to  serve  the  queen  in  the  Low 
Countries,  at  the  close  of  1586.  The 
chief  of  Tirconnell,  hitherto  steadfast 
in  his  allegiance,  also  exhibited  a  grow- 
ing spirit  of  independence  which  was 
sufficiently  alarming.  There  was  an  in- 
timacy between  him  and  Hugh  O'Neill 
which  boded  no  good  for  the  English. 
The  earl  of  Tyrone  had  married  a 
daughter  of  Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell,  and 
the  families  were  drawn  together  by 
friendly  ties.  O'Donnell  refused  to  ad- 
mit an  English  sheriff'  into  his  territory, 
and  the  traffic  carried  on  between  his 
remote  coasts  and  those  of  Spain  estab- 
lished relations  between  the  countries 
not  at  all  satisfactory  to  the  English 
authorities. 


404 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


The  course  wliicli  the  government 
adopted  under  these  circumstances  was 
as  extraordinary  as  it  was  infamous.  It 
Avas  known  that  Hugh  Roe,  or  the 
"red,"  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Hugh  O'Don- 
nell,  was  a  youth  of  rare  abilities  and 
aspiring  mind ;  and  it  was  resolved  that 
by  some  means  the  council  should  get 
possession  of  this  boy  as  a  hostage.  To 
accomplish  this  openly  would,  however, 
require  a  large  armj^,  and  rouse  the 
northern  chiefs  to  resistance,  and  Sir 
John  Perrott  proposed  a  plan  by  which 
such  danger  and  expense  would  be 
avoided.  How  the  act  of  treachery, 
which  he  suggested,  is  to  be  reconciled 
with  his  general  character  for  partiality 
to  the  old  Irish  race,  seems  puzzling; 
but  he  may  have  thought  that  a  plan 
which  avoided  bloodshed,  though  not 
the  most  honorable,  was  the  most  hu- 
mane means  of  attaining  the  end  that 
had  been  resolved  on. 

A  vessel,  laden  with  Spanish  wines, 
was  sent  round  from  Dublin  to  the  coast 
of  Donegal,  on  the  pretence  of  traffic, 
and  of  having  come  direct  from  Spain. 
The  commander  was  one  John  Berming- 
ham,  a  Dublin  merchant,  and  the  crew 
consisted  of  fifty  armed  men.  The 
ship  arrived  with  a  favorable  wind  in 
Lough  Swilly,  and  anchored  opposite 
Rathmullen,  a  castle  built  by  Mac- 
Sweeny  of  Fanad,  one  of  O'Donnell's 
commanders  of  gallowglasses ;  it  being 
previously  ascertained  that  Hugh  Roe 
Avas  not  far  off  with  his  foster-fixther, 

*  Four  Masters,  who  abstracted  the  account  from  the 
life  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  written  by  Cuchory,  or  Per- 


MacSweeny-na-tuath.  A  party  of  the 
sailors  landed,  and  while  they  pretended 
to  sell  their  wine  they  took  care  to 
explore  the  country.  The  neighboring 
people  flocked  to  the  shore  ;  abundance 
of  the  liquor  was  distributed  among 
them ;  and  when  Hugh  Roe  came  to 
MacSweeny's  castle,  and  his  host  sent 
to  the  ship  for  wine,  it  was  answered 
that  none  remained  for  sale,  but  that  if 
a  few  gentlemen  came  on  board  all  that 
was  left  would  be  willingly  given  to 
them.  The  unsuspecting  Irish  chiefs 
fell  into  the  snare.  Hugh  Roe,  then 
scarcely  fifteen  years  of  age,  with  Mac- 
Sweeny  and  his  party,  proceeded  in  a 
small  boat  to  the  ship,  were  ushered 
into  the  cabin,  and  served  with  wine, 
until  they  became,  as  the  annalists  tell 
us,  "jolly  and  cheerful;"  then  their 
arms  were  stealthily  removed,  the 
hatches  closed  down,  the  cable  cut,  and 
the  prize  secured.  An  alarm  was  in- 
stantly i-aised,  and  the  peoj^le  crowded 
from  all  quarters  to  the  beach,  but  the 
ship  was  in  deep  water,  and  there  were 
no  boats  by  which  she  could  be  attacked. 
Young  Hugh's  foster-father  rushed  to 
the  shore,  and  offered  any  ransom,  but 
none  of  course  would  be  accepted.  The 
guests  who  were  not  required  were  put 
ashore,  and  the  ship  sailed  for  Dublin, 
where  the  young  scion  of  the  house  of 
O'Donnell  was  safely  lodged  in  Ber- 
mingham  tower,  along  with  several  other 
State  prisonei's  of  the  Milesian  and  old 
English  races  already  confined  there.* 

egrine  O'Qery,  one  of  themselves,  and  preserved  in  tlie 
library  of  the  Koyal  Irish  Academy. 


THE  SPANISH  AKMADA. 


405 


A.  D.  1588. — Hugh,  earl  of  Tyrone, 
led  an  army,  at  tbe  close  of  April, 
against  Turlougli  Luineacli  O'Neill,  aud 
encamped  at  Corricklea,  between  the 
rivers  Finn  and  Mourne.  Sir  Ilngli 
O'Donnell  joined  his  son-iu-law,  tbe 
earl,  while  the  family  of  Sir  Hugh's 
brother,  Calvagli,  took  the  side  of  Tiir- 
lough,  who  was  also  supported  by 
auxiliaries  from  Conn  aught  and  by 
Hugh  O'Gallagher.  A  battle,  in  which 
the  earl  was  defeated,  was  fought  be- 
tween them  on  the  first  of  May.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  importunities  of  Sir 
John  Perrott  to  be  relieved  from  his 
charge  in  Ireland,  were  at  length  lis- 
tened to.  His  enemies  had  become 
insupportable,  and  he  -was  brow-beaten 
at  the  council-board  by  subordinates.* 
On  the  30th  of  June  he  was  succeeded 
by  Sir  William  FitzWilliam — a  man  of 
a  cruel  and  sordid  disposition,  without 
any  redeeming  quality  in  his  character, 

*  See  in  Ware's  annals,  under  A.  D.  1587,  an  account 
of  an  altercation  between  the  lord  deputy  and  Sir 
Kicholas  Bagnal,  the  marshal ;  Perrott  was  in  the  habit 
of  saying  that  he  could  please  the  Irish  better  than  the 
English.  Many  of  the  former  lamented  his  departure ; 
and  old  Turlough  Luineach,  ■nho  accompanied  him  to 
the  water's-side,  wept  in  taking  leave.     See  Ware. 

•f  The  loss  of  the  Spanish  armada,  on  the  coast  of  Ire- 
land, according  to  Thady  Dowling,  was  17  ships  and 
5,394  men — the  numbers  generally  given  by  historians  ; 
but  it  appears  from  a  document  in  the  State-paper  OiEce, 
London,  signed  by  Geofifry  Fenton,  the  Irish  secretary 
of  State,  that  the  total  numbers  were  IS  ships  and  6,19i 
men,  viz. : — in  Lough  Foyle,  1  ship  and  1,100  men  ;  in 
Sligo,  3  ships  and  1,500  men ;  in  Tirawley,  1  ship  and 
400  men ;  on  Clare  Island,  1  ship  and  300  men ;  "  in 
K}"nglasse,  O'JIale's  country,"  1  ship  and  400  men  ;  in 
O'Flaherty's  country,  1  ship  and  200  men  ;  in  the  Shan- 
non, 2  ships  and  COO  men ;  at  Tralee,  1  ship  aud  24 
men ;  at  Dingle,  1  ship  and  500  men ;  in  Desmond,  1 
ship  and  300  men ;  in  Erris,  2  ships,  no  men  lost,  these 
being  taken  into  other  vessels ;  in  "  Shannan,  1  burnt, 


who  had  already  filled  the  office  of  lord 
justice  more  than  once. 

The  preparations  that  had  been  mak- 
ing for  some  time  in  Spain,  for  a  de- 
scent on  the  English  coasts,  had  excited 
much  of  hope  and  of  fear  among  the 
different  classes  of  the  population  in 
this  country.  The  abortive  result  is 
familiar  to  the  world.  Scattered  by  the 
winds  of  heaven,  the  "  invincible  arma- 
da" made  this  year  memorable  by  the 
example  which  it  aftbrded  of  one  of  man's 
proudest  efforts  collapsing  into  nothing- 
ness. Many  of  the  ships  were  wrecked 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland  in  September, 
and  their  crews,  too  fi'equently,  only 
escaped  from  the  dangers  of  the  deep  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  queen's  offi- 
cers, by  whom  they  were  executed  with- 
out mercy.f  The  ruling  passion  of  the 
new  deputy  was  avarice,  and  unfortu- 
nately for  the  Spanish  sailors,  and  for 
the  Irish  on  whose   shores  they  were 

none  lost,  because  the  men  were  likewise  embarked  in 
other  shipps ;"  in  "  Gall  way  Haven,  1  ship  which  escaped 
and  left  prisoners,  70;"  "drowned  and  sunk  in  the 
N.  W.  sea  of  Scotland,  as  appeareth  by  the  confession 
of  the  Spanish  prisoners  (but  in  truth  they  were  lost  in 
Ireland),  1  shipp,  called  St.  Mathew,  500  tons,  men  450  ; 
one  of  Byshey  of  St.  Sebastian's,  400  tons,  men  350 ; 
total  of  shipps,  18 :  men  6,194."— (See  Four  Masters,  vol. 
v.,  p.  1870,  n.)  "  The  Spaniards  cast  ashore  at  Galway/' 
says  Dr.  Lynch,  in  the  Icon  Antistitis,  "  were  doomed  to 
perish ;  and  the  Augustinian  friars,  who  served  them  as 
chaplains,  exhorted  them  to  meet  the  death-struggle 
bravely,  when  they  were  led  out,  south  of  the  city,  to 
St.  Augustiu's  hiU,  then  surmounted  by  a  monastery, 
where  they  were  decapitated.  The  matrons  of  Galway 
piously  prepared  winding-sheets  for  the  bodies,  and  we 
have  heard  that  two  of  the  Spanish  sailors  escaped  de- 
struction by  lurking  a  long  time  in  Galway,and  after 
wards  got  back  to  their  own  coimtry." — Pii  Antis.  Icon 


edited  and  translated  by  tin 
also  p.  176. 


Hev.  C.  P.  Meehan.p.' 


406 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


cast  away,  rumor  attributed  to  the 
former  tlie  possession  of  fabulous  treas- 
ures. A  thousand  Spaniards,  under  an 
officer  named  Antonio  de  Leva,  found 
refuge  with  O'Kourke  and  MacSweeny- 
na-tuath,  the  foster-father  of  young 
O'Donnell,  and  were  urged  to  commence 
hostilities,  but  their  instructions  did  not 
apply  to  such  a  contingency,  and  they 
determined  on  i-eturning  for  orders  to 
Spain.  For  this  purjiose  they  re- 
embarked,  but  a  fresh  storm  arose  and 
the  ship,  with  all  on  board,  went  down 
within  sight  of  the  Irish  coast.  A  com- 
mission was  issued  by  FitzWilliam  to 
search  for  the  treasure  which  these  Span- 
iards were  supposed  to  have  brought, 
but  none,  of  course,  could  be  found,  and 
the  deputy,  not  content  w^ith  this  result, 
resolved  to  visit  the  locality  himself, 
"  in  hopes  to  finger  some  of  it,"  as  Ware 
tells  us.  He  was  accompanied  by  Bing- 
ham, and  laid  waste  the  territories  of 
the  Irish  chiefs  who  had  harbored  the 
strangers.  O'Rourke  escaped  to  Scot- 
land, but  was  delivered  up  to  Elizabeth, 
and  subsequently  executed  in  Loudon  ; 
and  FitzWilliam,  disappointed  in  his 
search  for  Spanish  gold,  carried  off 
John  Oge  O'Doherty  and  Sir  John  Mac- 
Tuathal  O'Gallagher,  "  two  of  the  most 
loyal  subjects  in  Ulster,"  and  threw 
them  into  prison  in  Dublin  castle.  The 
latter  died  from  the  rigor  of  his  impris- 
onment, and  the  former  remained  two 
years  in  captivity,  and  owed  his  libera- 
tion, in  the  end,  to  tlie  payment  of  a 
large  bribe  to  the  conaipt  viceroj*. 
A.D.    1589.— That    the    hatred    and 


distrust  of  the  Iiish  towards  the  Eng- 
lish government  were  kept  alive  by 
such  oppressive  acts  as  these  cannot  be 
a  matter  of  wonder;  but  at  every  step, 
as  we  proceed,  we  meet  similar  outrages. 
A  very  remarkable  and  atrocious  in- 
stance occurred  this  year.  Rosa  Mac- 
Mahon,  chief  of  Monaghan,  having 
abandoned  the  principle  of  tauistry, 
and  taken  a  re-grant  of  his  tei'ritory 
from  Elizabeth,  by  English  tenure,  died 
without  issue  male,  and  his  brother, 
Hugh  Hoe  MacMahon,  went  to  Dublin 
to  be  settled  in  the  inheritance  as  his 
heir-at-law.  His  case  was  perfectly 
legal,  but  he  found  that  a  bribe  to  the 
venal  lord  deputy  was,  nevertheless, 
necessary,  and  sis  hundred  cows  were 
the  stipulated  douceur.  He  was,  how- 
ever, thrown  into  prison  because  some 
of  the  cows,  it  was  said,  were  not  forth- 
coming; but,  in  a  few  days,  all  was 
made  right,  and  FitzWilliam  set  out 
with  him  for  Monaghan,  to  give  him 
possession  of  his  estate.  The  sequel 
would  seem  almost  incredible.  Mac- 
Mahon was  suddenly  arrested  on  a 
chai'ge  of  treason,  because  lie  had  em- 
ployed an  armed  force,  two  yeai's  Ijefoi-e, 
to  recover  rents  due  to  hiiu  in  Fai'uey ; 
he  was  tried  by  a  jury  of  common  sol- 
diers, some  of  whom  being  Irish  were 
shut  up  without  food  until  they  agreed 
to  a  verdict,  while  the  English  soldiers 
on  the  jury  were  allowed  free  egress 
and  ingress,  as  they  liad  immediately 
agreed  to  convict  him ;  and,  in  short, 
within  two  days  from  his  unexpected 
arrest  he  was  indicted,  tried,  and  exe- 


HUGH   O'NEILL   MURDERS   MACMAHOX. 


407 


cuted  at  his  own  house.  FitzWilliam's 
object  iu  proceeding  into  the  country 
was  to  get  rid  of  the  obstacles  which 
the  forms  of  law  would  have  thrown  in 
his  way  in  Dublin ;  and  he  now  has- 
tened to  partition  the  vast  estates  of 
the  murdered  chieftain.  Sir  Henry 
Bagnal,  who  was  wading  to  enormous 
Irish  possessions  through  the  blood  of 
their  owners,  received  a  portion.  This 
man  was  established  at  Newry,  and  had 
succeeded  his  father,  Sir  Nicholas,  as 
marshal.  MacMahon's  chief  residence 
and  some  lands  were  bestowed  upon 
Captain  Henslowe,  who  was  appointed 
seneschal ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  property 
was,  on  payment  of  "  a  good  fine  under- 
hand" to  the  loi'd  deputy,  divided  among 
four  of  the  MacMahon  sept,  subject  to 
an  annual  rent  to  the  queen.*  The 
northern  chieftains  must  have  been 
devoid  of  human  feelings  if  such  pro- 
ceedings did  not  confirm  them  in  their 
aversion  to  English  rule;  nor  can  we 
be  surprised  that  they  were  unanimous 
in  refusing  to  admit  English  sheriffs,  or 
other  ofiicials,  into  their  lands,  or  that 
such  officers,  when  forced  upon  them, 
required  the  constant  presence  of  strong 
guards  to  protect  them.f 

A.  D.  1590. — Hugh  Geimhleach,  «'.  £>., 
Hugh-of=-the-fetters,  an  illegitimate  son 
of  Shane-an-diomais,  communicated  to 


*  So  far  -we  take  the  facts  fronuCamden  and  Fynes 
Moryson,  but  the  infamy  of  Fitz William  is  still  more 
apparent  from  the  State  Papers,  -n-here  that  monster's 
own  correspondence  with  Burghley  shows  that  he  was 
in  treaty  with  one  Brian  JIacHugh  Oge  MacMahon,  to 
get  him  appointed  to  the  chieftaincy  for  enormous  bribes, 
which  he  calls  God  to  witness  "  he  meant  for  the  profit 


the  lord  deputy  charges  of  treason 
against  the  earl  of  Tyrone,  alleging, 
among  other  things,  that  he  had  plotted 
with  the  shipwrecked  Spaniards  to  ob- 
tain help  from  the  king  of  Spain  to 
levy  war  against  the  queen.  The  earl 
denied  the  charges,  and  soon  after  con- 
trived to  seize  his  accusei',  whom  he 
hancred  as  a  traitor,  after  some  form  of 
trial.  The  respect  for  the  memory  of 
Shane  O'jSTeill  was  such  that,  it  is  said, 
no  man  in  Tyrone  would  act  as  the 
executioner  of  his  son,  and  the  earl  had 
to  procure  one  from,  Meath,  though 
Camden  maliciously  asserts  that  the 
earl  himself  acted  as  the  hanofman. 
This  proceeding  exasperated  the  gov- 
ernment, and  Hugh  having  no  confi- 
dence in  the  officials  of  the  Pale,  set  out 
for  England  iu  May,  in  order  to  vindi- 
cate himself  before  Elizabeth.  This 
step,  however,  was  itself  illegal,  as  he 
left  Ireland  without  the  licence  of  the 
viceroy,  and  he  was  accordingly  cast 
into  prison  in  London,  but  his  incarce- 
ration was  neither  long  nor  rigorous, 
and  in  the  following  month  his  submis- 
sion was  graciously  received,  and  articles 
by  which  he  bound  himself  anew  to  his 
former  engagements  were  signed  by 
him.  He  renounced  the  title  of  O'Neill ; 
consented  that  Tyrone  should  be  made 
shire-ground ;    that    gaols    should    be 


of  her  m^esty,  and  not  his  own!" — See  Shirley's  .4c- 
count  of  Farney,  pp.  88  to  98. 

f  When  Maguire  received  notice  from  the  viceroy 
that  a  sheriff  would  be  sent  into  Fermanagh,  he  an- 
swered significantly : — "  Tour  sheriff  will  be  welcome, 
but  let  me  know  his  eric,  that,  if  my  people  cut  off  his 
head,  I  may  levy  it  upon  the  country." 


408 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


erected  there ;  that  a  composition  simi- 
lar to  that  agreed  on  in  Connaught,  in 
1577,  should  be  paid  within  ten  months ; 
that  he  should  levy  no  armed  force,  or 
make  any  incursion  into  a  neighboring 
territory  except  to  foUo-w  a  prey  within 
five  days  after  the  capture  of  such  prey 
from  his  own  lands,  or  to  prevent  dej)- 
redations  from  without.  He  undertook 
to  execute  no  man  without  a  commis- 
sion from  the  lord  deputy,  except  in 
cases  of  martial  law,  and  to  keep  his 
troop  of  horsemen  in  the  queen's  pay 
ready  for  service.  Further,  he  promised 
not  to  admit  monks  or  friars  into  his 
territory ;  nor  to  correspond  with  for- 
eign traitors;  to  promote  the  use  of 
English  apparel ;  to  sell  provisions  to 
the  fort  of  the  Blackwater,  tfec.  For 
the  fulfilment  of  these  conditions  he 
pledged  his  honor,  and  promised  to 
send  unexcei^tiouable  sureties,  who  were, 
however,  not  to  be  detained  as  prison- 
ers in  Dublin  castle,  but  to  be  commit- 
ted to  the  care  of  merchants  in  the  city, 
or  of  gentlemen  of  the  Pale.  The  sure- 
ties might  also  be  changed  every  three 
months.  Government,  on  the  other 
side,  engaged  to  secure  the  earl  from 
all  molestation,  by  requiring  similar 
conditions  from  the  neighboring  chief- 
tains ;  and  Hugh,  on  returning  to  Ire- 
land, confirmed  the  above  articles  before 
the  lord  deputy  and  council ;  but  very 
prudently  excused  himsef  from  the  exe- 
cution of  them  until  the  neis^hborinGf 
Irish  lords  had  given  securities  to  fulfil 
the  conditions  on  their  part,  as  it  was 
stipulated  they  should  be  obliged  to  do. 


Camden  tells  us  that  for  some  time  the 
earl  omitted  nothinar  that  could  be 
expected  from  a  most  dutiful  subject. 

Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  had  now  pined 
for  three  years  and  three  months  in 
captivity,  when,  in  concert  with  some 
of  his  fellow  prisoners,  he  resolved  on 
a  desperate  effort  to  escape.  On  a 
dark  evenino:  towards  the  close  of  win- 
ter,  he  and  his  chosen  companions  let 
themselves  down  by  a  rope  from  one 
of  the  windows  of  Dublin  castle,  crossed 
the  drawbridge,  and  passed  through 
the  city  gate  unobserved.  They  fled 
towards  Slieve  Rua,  or  the  Three- 
Rock  mountain,  which  they  crossed ; 
but  young  O'Donnell  became  too  fa- 
tigued to  advance  another  step.  His 
shoes  were  worn  out,  and  his  feet  torn 
by  the  brambles  in  the  rugged  path- 
ways which  they  had  selected ;  and 
sinking  down  quite  exhausted,  he  lay 
concealed  in  a  wood  while  his  compan- 
ions reluctantly  departed.  One  of  these 
was  Art  Kavanagh,  who  was  recap- 
tured the  following  year  and  hung  at 
Carlow.  A  faithful  servant,  who  had 
been  in  the  secret  of  Hugh's  escape, 
still  remained  with  him,  and  repaired 
for  succor  to  the  house  of  Felim  O'Toole, 
chief  of  Feara  Cualann,  who  resided  in 
the  place  now  called  Powerscourt,  and 
who  had  visited  Hugh  in  prison.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  flight  of  the  prisoners 
had  created  great  excitement  in  Dub- 
lin, and  numerous  bands  were  dispatch- 
ed in  pursuit  of  them.  Felim  O'Toole 
would  have  willingly  protected  young 
O'Donnell,  but  his  friends  persuaded 


O'NEILL'S  ROMANTIC  MARRIAGE. 


409 


liini  tliat  the  attempt  would  be  useless 
to  the  latter,  and  disastrous  to  himself 
and  family;  and  finding  that  the  sol- 
diers were  approaching,  they  went  in 
search  of  the  fugitive  in  the  woods,  and 
made  a  merit  of  giving  him  up  to  his 
pm'suers.  Thus  was  Red  Hugh  con- 
signed once  more  to  the  dungeons  of 
Dublin  castle,  to  be  guarded  more 
strictly  than  before. 

A.D.  1591. — During  this  time  many 
acts  of  the  earl  of  Tyrone  tended  to 
place  him  in  an  equivocal  position  with 
the  government,  and  enemies  were  not 
wanting  to  urge  every  charge  that 
could  be  made  a^rainst  him.  He  was 
accused  of  havinof  attacked  and  wound- 
ed  Turlough  Luineach ;  but  he  replied 
that  the  latter  was  the  aggressor,  and 
had  been  making  an  inroad  into  his 
lands  at  the  time  he  was  hurt.  The 
earl  permitted  Tyrone  to  be  marked 
out  as  shire  land,  and  Duugannon  to  be 
made  the  county  town  in  which  crim- 
inals were  to  be  imprisoned  and  tried ; 
and  the  government  was  so  pleased 
Avith  this  concession,  that  it  would  have 
overlooked  a  more  serious  charee  on 
the  occasion. 

The  earl,  however,  now  involved 
himself  in  a  proceeding  which  raised  up 
for  him  the  bitterest  enemy  of  all. 
We  have  already  made  some  mention 
of  the  marshal.  Sir  Henry  Begnal. 
This  man  hated  the  Irish  with  a  rancor 
which  bad  men  are  kuoAvn  to  feel  to- 
wards those  whom  they  have  mortally 
injured.  He  had  shed  a  great  deal  of 
their  blood,  obtained  a  great  deal  of 


their  lauds,  and  was  the  sworn  enemy 
of  the  whole  race.  Sir  Henry  had  a 
sister  who  was  young  and  exceedingly 
beautiful.  The  wife  of  the  earl  of  Ty- 
rone, the  daughter  of  Sir  Hugh  Mac- 
Manus  O'Dounell,  had  died,  and  the 
heart  of  the  Irish  chieftain  was  caiiti- 
vated  by  the  beautiful  English  girl. 
His  love  jvas  reciprocated,  and  he  be- 
came in  due  form  a  suitor  for  her  hand, 
but  all  his  efforts  to  gain  her  brother's 
consent  to  their  marriasre  were  in  vain. 
The  story,  indeed,  is  one  which  might 
seem  to  have  been  borrowed  from  some 
old  romance,  if  we  did  not  find  it  cir- 
cumstantially detailed  in  the  matter-of- 
fact  documents  of  the  State  Paper  Of- 
fice. The  Irish  prince  and  the  English 
maiden  mutually  plighted  their  vows, 
and  O'Neill  presented  to  the  lady  a 
gold  chain  worth  £100;  but  the  inex- 
orable Sir  Henry  removed  his  sister 
from  Newry  to  the  house  of  Sir  Patrick 
Barnwell,  who  was  married  to  another 
of  his  sisters,  and  who  lived  about  seven 
miles  from  Dublin.  Thither  the  earl 
followed  her.  He  was  courteously  re- 
ceived* by  Sir  Patrick,  and  seems  to 
have  had  many  friends  among  the  Eng- 
lish. One  of  these,  a  gentleman  named 
William  Warren,  acted  as  his  confidant ; 
and  at  a  party  at  Barnwell's  house,  the 
earl  engaged  the  rest  of  the  comjiauy 
in  conversation  while  AYarreu  rode  off 
with  the  lady  behind  him,  accompanied 
by  two  servants,  and  carried  her  safely 
to  the  residence  of  a  friend  at  Drum- 
condra,  near  Dublin.  Here  O'Neill 
soon  followed,  and  the  Protestant  bish- 


410 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


015  of  Meath,  Thomas  Jones,  a  Lanca- 
shire man,  was  easily  induced  to  come 
and  unite  tliem  in  marriage  the  same 
evening.  This  elopement  and  marriage, 
whicli  took  place  on  the  3d  of  August, 
1591,  were  made  the  subject  of  violent 
accusations  against  O'Neill.  Sir  Henry 
Bagnal  was  furious.  "I  cannot  but 
accurse  myself  and  fortune,"  he  wrote 
to  the  lord  treasurer,  "  that  my  blonde, 
which,  in  my  father  and  myselfe  hath 
often  beene  spilled  in  repressinge  this 
rebellious  race,  should  nowe  be  mingled 
with  so  traiterous  a  stocke  and  kindred." 
He  charged  the  earl  with  having  an- 
other wife  living;  but  this  point  was 
explained,  as  O'Neill  showed  that  this 
lady  who  was  his  first  wife,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Brian  MacFelim  O'Neill,  had 
been  divorced  previous  to  his  marriage 
with  the  daughter  of  O'Donnell.  Alto- 
gether, the  government  would  appear 
to  have  viewed  the  conduct  of  O'Neill 
in  this  matter  rather  leniently;  but 
Bagnal  was  henceforth  his  most  impla- 
cable foe,  and  the  circumstance  was  not 
without  its  influence  on  succeeding 
events.* 


*  The  countess  of  Tyrone  died  in  January,  1596,  some 
years  before  the  lust  scene  of  deadly  stril'o  between  her 
brother  and  her  husband. 

\  This  Irish  chieftain  was  famous  for  his  personal 
beauty  as  well  as  for  his  firmness  and  haughty  bearing. 
He  could  not  understand  English,  and  refused  to  plead 
before  an  English  tribunal ;  but  when  told  that  the 
court  would  try  him  and  condemn  liim  whether  he 
pleaded  or  not,  he  merely  said,  "  if  it  must  be,  let.it  be." 
Miler  Magrath,  the  apostate  friar  who  had  been  made 
archbishop  of  Cashel,  was  sent  to  him  just  before  his 
execution,  to  induce  him  to  conform ;  but  the  heroic 
Cfiieftain  told  Magrath  rather  to  learn  a  lesson  from  his 
fortitude,  ajvi  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.    Lord 


A  perpetual  recurrence  of  outrages 
against  the  northern  6hieftains  served 
effectually  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
crisis  which  was  now  fast  approaching 
in  their  province.  This  year  Brian-na- 
Murtha  O'Rouke,  whose  flight  to  Scot- 
land we  have  already  mentioned,  was 
put  to  death  in  London,  under  circum- 
stances that  excited  deep  sjnnpathy  for 
him.  The  principal  charge  against  him 
was,  that  he  had  sheltered  some  of  the 
shipwrecked  Spaniards,  and  refused  to 
surrender  them  to  government.  He 
was  given  up  by  the  Scots,  and  being 
taken  to  London,  was  tried,  condemned, 
and  executed.f 

A.D.  1592 — Once  more  Hugh  O'Don- 
nell shook  off  his  fetters,  and  in  a  dark 
night  of  Christmas  escaped  for  the  sec- 
ond time,  from  the  duuiteons  of  Dublin 
castle.  Henry  and  Art  O'Neill,  sons  of 
Shane-an-diomais,  were  companions  of 
his  flight,  and  it  was  said  that  the  lord 
deputy,  Fitz William,  winked  at  their 
escape,  being  bribed  by  the  earl  of  Ty- 
rone, who  wished  to  get  the  sons  of 
Shane  into  his  own  hands,  as  the  Eng- 
lish might  at  any  moment  have  set  them 


Bacon  says  that  O'Eouke  "  gravely  petitioned  tlie  queen 
that  he  might  be  hanged  with  a  gad  or  withe,  after  his 
own  country  fashion,  which  doubtless  was  readily 
granted  him."  Walker  in  his  Iris?i,  Bards,  and  Har- 
diman  in  his  Irish  Miiutrelsy,  mention  an  extraordinary 
interview  between  Queen  Elizabeth  and  O'Rouke,  but 
the  story  appears  to  rest  on  no  solid  foundation.  Dr. 
O'Donovan  (Four  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  p.  1907,  note)  says 
"  the  family  of  O'Rouke  seems  to  have  been  the  proud- 
est and  most  inflexible  of  all  the  Irish  race,"  and  ad- 
duces the  example  of  this  chieftain's  father,  of  whom 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  said : — "  I  found  hym  the  proudest 
man  that  ever  I  dealt  with  in  Ireland." 


HUGH  ROE'S  ESCAPE  FROM  PRISON. 


411 


up  as  rivals  agaiust  him.*  They  de- 
scended by  a  rope  throngli  the  privy, 
which  opened  into  the  castle  ditch  ;  and 
leavinof  there  their  soiled  outer  sfar- 
ments,  they  were  conducted  by  a  young 
man  named  Turlough  Roe  0'Ha2;an, 
the  confidential  servant  or  emissarj'  of 
the  earl  of  Tyrone,  who  was  sent  to  act 
as  their  guide.  Passing  through  the 
gates  of  the  city,  which  were  still  open, 
three  of  the  party  reached  the  same 
Slieve  Rua  which  Hugh  had  visited  on 
the  former  occasion.  The  fourth,  Henry 
O'Neill,  strayed  from  his  companions 
in  some  way — probably  before  they  left 
the  city — but  eventually  he  reached 
Tyrone,  where  the  earl  seized  and  im- 
prisoned him.  Hugh  Roe  and  Art 
O'Neill,  with  their  faithful  guide,  pro- 
ceeded on  their  way  over  the  Wicklow 
mountains  towards  Glenmalure,  to  Fia2:h 
MacHugh  O'Byrne,  a  chief  fiimous  for 
his  heroism,  and  who  was  then  in  arms 
against  the  government.  Art  O'Neill 
had  grown  corpulent  in  prison,  and  had 
besides  been  hurt  in  descendinsr  from 
the  castle,  so  that  he  became  quite  worn 
out  with  fatigue.  The  party  were  also 
exhausted  with  hunger,  and  as  the 
snow  fell  thickly,  and  their  clothing 
was  veiy  scanty,  they  suffered  addition- 
ally from  intense  cold. 

For  a  while  Red  Hugh  and  the  ser- 
vant supported  Art  between  them ;  but 
this  exertion  could  not  long  be  sustained, 

*  Camden  and  Fynes  Moryson,  who  confoiind  the  two 
escapes  of  Hugh  Eoe,  intimate  that  the  connivance  of  the 
corrupt  lord  deputy  was  obtained  by  a  bribe,  of  which, 
however.  Hugh  Eoe  himself  and  his  biographer  were 


and  at  length  Red  Hugh  and  Art  lay 
down  exhausted  under  a  lofty  rock,  and 
sent  the  servant  to  Glenmalure  for  help. 
With  all  possible  speed  Fiagh  O'Byrne, 
on  receiving  the  message,  dispatched 
some  of  his  trusty  men  to  carry  the 
necessary  succor;  but  they  arrived  al- 
most too  late  at  the  precipice  under 
which  the  two  youths  lay.  "Their 
bodies,"  say  the  Four  Masters,  "were 
covered  with  white-bordered  shrouds  of 
hailstones  freezing  round  them,  and 
their  light  clothes  adhered  to  their  skin, 
so  that,  covered  as  they  were  with  the 
snow,  it  did  not  appear  to  the  men  who 
had  arrived  that  they  were  human 
beings  at  all,  for  they  found  no  life  in 
their  members,  but  just  as  if  they  were 
dead."  On  being  raised  up  Art  O'Neill 
fell  back  and  expired,  and  was  buried 
on  the  spot ;  but  Red  Hugh  was  revived 
with  some  difiBculty  and  carried  to  Glen- 
malure, where  he  was  secreted  in  a 
sequestered  cabin  and  attended  by  a 
physician.  Here  he  remained  until  a 
messenger  came  from  the  earl  of  Tyrone, 
with  whom  he  departed,  though  still  in 
such  a  state  that  it  was  necessary  to  lift 
him  on  and  off  his  horse.  Fiasrh  sent 
an  armed  troop  to  escort  him  to  the 
Liffey,  which  he  crossed  near  Dublin, 
although  all  the  fords  were  guarded  by 
English  soldiers,  and  among  his  escort 
were  Felim  O'Toole  and  his  brother, 
who  did  their  best  to  make  amends  for 


wholly  ignorant.  If  the  corrupf.on  did  not  exist  in 
both  cases,  it  did  at  least  in  that  of  the  second  escape, 
when  an  object  of  importance  to  the  earl  of  Tyrone  waa 
efiFected. 


412 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


their  iuability  to  slaelter  Liin  ia  Ms 
former  fliglit.  Hugh  crossed  the  Boyne 
in  a  boat,  -n-hile  the  servant  conveyed 
the  horses  through  the  town,  and  at 
Mellifont  abbey  they  reposed  for  a  day 
and  a  night  at  the  house  of  an  English 
friend  of  the  earl  of  Tyrone.  At  Dun- 
dalk  they  rode  fearlessly  through  the 
town,  thus  disarming  the  suspicion  of 
those  who  were  watching  for  them  along 
the  borders  of  the  Pale.  On  entering 
the  Fews  they  halted  for  a  day  at  the 
house  of  the  chief,  Sir  Turlough,  son  of' 
Henry  O'jSFeill ;  thence  they  crossed 
Slieve  Fuaid  to  Armagh,  where  they 
remained  for  a  night  in  disguise,  and  the 
following  day  found  them  at  Dungan- 
non,  where  Red  Hugh  was  hospitably 
received  by  the  earl  of  Tyrone.  Ulti- 
mately, young  O'Donnell  arrived  in 
safety  at  his  father's  castle  in  Bally- 
shauuon,  where  he  found  the  couutry 
overawed  and  plundered  by  a  party  of 
200  English,  who,  under  captains  Willis 
and  Conwell,  occupied  the  monastery 
of  Donegal,  and  had  also  fortified  them- 
selves in  a  place  now  called  Ballyweel. 
A  large  assemblage  of  peoj^le  having 
collected  to  greet  Bed  Hugh  on  his 
arrival,  he  invited  them  to  march  with 
him  to  Donegal,  and  there  intimated  to 
the  English  that  they  should  leave — 
but  might  depart  in  safety,  provided 
they  left  behind  any  prisoners  or  cattle 
they  had  seized  in  the  neighborhood. 
Our  annalists  tell  us  that  "  they  did  as 
they  were  ordered,  and  thankful  that 
they  escaped  with  their  lives,  they  went 
back  to  Conuaught,"  while  the   friars 


returned  to  their  monastery  in  Done- 
gal. Red  Hugh  still  suffered  from  the 
effects  of  the  frost  of  the  Wicklow 
mountains,  and  the  phj'sicians  finding 
it  necessary  to  amputate  the  great  toes 
of  both  his  feet,  he  remained  at  Bally- 
shannon  under  their  care  from  the  1st 
of  February  until  April.  A  general 
meeting  of  the  Kinel  Connel  was  then 
summoned,  and  all  having  met  except 
the  partisans  of  Oalvagh  O'Donnel's 
family.  Sir  Hugh  abdicated  the  chief- 
taincy, which  was  then  conferred  amid 
the  acclamations  of  the  meeting  on  his 
son,  Red  Hugh,  The  young  chieftain 
was  inaugurated  on  the  3d  of  May, 
and  according  to  the  ancient  usage, 
proceeded  at  once  to  made  a  hostile 
incursion.  He  entered  the  lands  of  Sir 
Turlough  Luineach,  which  he  laid 
waste ;  and  this  old  chief  having  ap- 
plied for  the  aid  of  some  English 
soldiers.  Red  Hugh  paid  him  another 
visit,  and  drove  his  adherents  to  seek 
an  asylum  in  the  castle  of  O'Kane  of 
Glengiveen,  where,  being  under  the 
protection  of  a  friendly  chief,  he  would 
not  molest  them.  Soon  after,  he  be- 
sieged Sir  Turlough  and  his  Englishmen 
in  the  castle  of  Strabane,  and  burned 
the  town  uj)  to  the  walls  of  the  fortress; 
but  as  these  proceedings  amounted  to 
an  open  defiance  of  English  authority, 
his  friend,  the  earl  of  Tyrone,  feared 
that  a  premature  and  fruitless  war 
would  be  the  result,  and  brought  about 
a  meeting  between  Hugli  Roe  and  the 
lord  deputy  at  Dundalk,  so  arranging 
matters  that  the  former  obtained  a  full 


TROUBLES  IN  ULSTER. 


413 


pardou  for  all  that  was  passed,  in- 
cluding his  escape  from  Dublin  castle. 
This  recognition  of  Hugh  Roe's  chief- 
taincy by  the  government  induced  the 
adherents  of  Calvagh  O'Donnell's  sons  to 
admit  him  as  their  chief,  so  that  his  power 
at  home  was  considerably  augmented.  * 
A.  D.  1593. — O'Donnell  collected  an- 
other army,  this  year,  at  Lifford,  and 
under  his  influence  Turlouo-h  Luiueach 
surrendered  the  chieftaincy  of  Tyrone 
to  Hush  O'jSTeill,  who  now  became  the 
O'Neill,  as  well  as  earl  of  Tyrone ;  and 
Turlough  farther  consented  to  dismiss 
his  English  guard,  so  that  Ulster  was 
left,  once  more,  subject  only  to  its 
ancient  Irish  dynasts,  O'Neill  and 
O'Donnell.  This  took  place  in  May, 
but  in  the  same  month  serious  dis- 
turbances broke  out  in  Breftuy  and 
Fermanagh.  George  Bingham,  the 
brother  of  Sir  Eichard,  entered  the 
former  district,  with  an  armed  force, 
to  distrain  for  rents  claimed  for  the 
queen.  Brian  Oge  O'Rourke  asserted 
that  no  rents  were  unpaid  except  for 
lands  lying  waste,  and  which  ought  not 
to  be  rated.  Bingham,  nevertheless, 
seized  the  cattle  of  O'Kourke,  and  the 
latter  took  up  arms,  and  marching  to 


*  Under  tliis  year  (1592)  Ware  tells  us  that  "  eleven 
priests  and  Jesuits  ivere  seized  in  Connauglit  and  Mun- 
ster,  and  brought  up  to  Dublin,  where  they  Tvere  ex- 
amined before  the  lord  deputy."  The  usual  charge 
against  "popish  priests"  at  that  time  was,  "  that  they 
sowed  sedition  and  rebellion  in  the  kingdom ;"  and 
among  the  witnesses  against  them  in  the  present  in- 
stance was  one  James  Rally,  or  Eeily,  who  swore  that 
■'  Michael  Fitzsimons,  one  of  the  said  priests,  stirred  up 
above  a  hundred  persons,  amongst  whom  he  himself 
was  one,  to  assist  Baltinglass  in  his  rebellion."  The 
witness — a  true  type  of  his  class — said  he  was  sure  he 


Ballymote,  where  Bingham  resided,  re- 
taliated by  acts  of  plunder.  O'Rourke's 
neighbor,  Hugh  Maguire,  was  next 
provoked  into  hostilities.  He  had  pur- 
chased exemption  from  the  presence  of 
an  English  sheriff,  during  Fitz Wil- 
liam's administration,  by  a  bribe  of 
three  hundred  cows,  which  he  had 
given  that  deputy ;  yet  Captain  "Willis 
— the  same  whom  young  O'Donnell  had 
ignominiously  driven  from  Donegal — 
was  appointed  sheriff  of  Fermanagh, 
and  went  about  the  country  with  one 
hundred  armed  men,  and  as  many 
women  and  children,  who  were  all  sup- 
ported on  the  spoils  of  the  district. 
Maguire  hunted  Willis  and  his  retinue 
into  a  church,  where  he  would  assuredly 
have  put  them  to  the  sword  had  not 
Hugh  O'Neill  interfered,  and  saved 
their  lives  ou  condition  that  they  im- 
mediately quitted  the  countiy.  The 
lord  deputy  was  enraged  because  O'Neill 
did  not  punish  Maguire,  and  he  even 
called  him  a  traitor ;  and  O'Neill's  mor- 
tal enemy.  Marshal  Bagnal,  seized  the 
opportunity  to  forward  fresh  impeach- 
ments against  him. 

Meanwhile  Maguire  joined  O'Rourke 
in   open   rebellion.     At    that   moment 

would  be  murdered  if  he  went  back  to  Coimaught ;  and 
being  asked  by  the  lord  deputy  "if  he  would  go  to 
church  and  serve  her  majesty  against  the  rebels,"  he 
answered, "  Then  truly  I  will  forsake  the  devil  and  serve 
God  and  the  queen."  ^Vhe^eupon  the  lord  deputy 
clothed  him,  and  made  him  turnkey  of  the  prison  of 
Dublin  castle.  Father  Fitzsimons,  who  was  the  son  oi 
an  alderman  of  Dublin,  was  executed  in  the  corn  market, 
but  Ware  does  not  mention  the  fate  of  the  other  priests. 
A  great  many  of  the  Catholic  clergy  were,  however,  at 
that  time  pining  in  the  government  prisons,  where  they 
were  left  to  die. 


414 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


Edward  INIacGanraii,  who  bad  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  pope  arclibisbop  of 
Armaffli,  returned  to  Ireland  as  the 
bearer  of  promises  from  the  king  of 
Spain  to  the  Irish  Catholics.  A  re- 
ward was  offered  by  the  deputy  for  his 
apprehension,  but  the  primate  repaired 
to  Maguire,  whom  he  encouraged  by 
his  exhortations,  and  accompanied  in  an 
incursion  into  Northern  Counaught, 
against  Sir  Richard  Bingham.  They 
had  proceeded  as  far  as  Tulsk,  in 
Roscommon,  when  they  unexpectedly 
encountered  the  forces  of  the  president, 
whom  they  put  to  flight,  slaying  one  of 
the  English  officers,  Sir  William  Clif-' 
ford;  but,  unhappily,  Archbishop  Mac- 
Gauran  and  the  abbot,  Cathal  Maguire, 
were  killed,  on  the  Irish  side,  while 
^ministering  to  the  wounded.  The  lord 
deput)^  now  collected  all  the  troops  of 
the  Pale,  and  marched  into  Fermanagh, 
where  he  was  joined  by  the  earl  of 
Tyrone  and  Marshal  Bagnal.  To  the 
latter  he  committed  the  chief  command, 
and,  at  the  same  time.  Sir  Richard 
Bingham  and  the  earl  of  Thomond 
apjjroached  from  Connaught.  For  Ma- 
guire to  attempt  resisting  such  an  over- 
whelming force  was  madness;  yet, 
having  sent  his  cattle  into  Tirconnell, 
he  defended,  with  great  bravery,  a  foi'd 
on  the  river  Erne,  to  the  west  of  Bal- 
leek,  and  lost  two  hundred  of  his  men 
before  the  passage  was  forced.  The 
earl  of  Tyrone,  who  crossed  the  river 
at  the  head  of  the  cavalry,  was  wound- 
ed in  the  thigh,  in  the  conflict ;  and 
O'Sullivan    Beure    tells    us    that    Red 


Hugh  O'Donnell  was  marching  to  the 
aid  of  Maguire,  and  would  have  at- 
tacked the  EnErlisli  the  nifrht  after  the 
battle  of  the  ford,  had  not  O'Neill 
privately  requested  him  to  refrain  from 
doing  so  while  he  was  in  their  ranks. 
Q'Neill  wished  to  abide  his  time,  but 
was  heartily  disgusted  with  the  part 
which  circumstances,  for  the  moment, 
obliged  him  to  play.  The  campaign 
led  to  no  result  except  the  raising  up 
of  Conor  Oge  Maguire,  in  opposition  to 
the  legitimate  chief  of  Fermanagh,  ac- 
cording to  the  old  policy  of  England, 
which  would  rule  Ireland  by  the  divis- 
ions of  her  people. 

A.  D.  1594. — The  lord  deputy  again 
came  to  Fermanagh  this  year,  took  the 
town  of  Enniskillen,  and  having  placed 
an  English  gai-rison  there,  returned  to 
Dublin ;  but  scarcely  had  he  departed 
when  Maguire  appealed  to  O'Donnell, 
who,  throwing  oft' all  semblance  of  alle- 
giance, led  an  army  to  the  aid  of  his 
friend,  besieged  the  English  garrison  in 
Enniskillen,  and  plundered  all  Avho 
lived  under  English  jurisdiction  in  the 
surrounding  territor}-.  The  lord  dej)- 
uty  ordered  the  gentlemen  of  the  Pale, 
with  O'Reilly  and  Bingham,  to  revictual 
the  fort  of  Enniskillen,  where  the  garri- 
son had  already  begun  to  sufter  severely 
from  hunger ;  and  the  force  collected 
for  this  purpose  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  Sir 
Henry  Duke,  and  George  Bingham. 
Maguire,  with  such  men  as  had  been 
left  with  him  by  O'Donnell,  and  Cor- 
mac    O'Neill,    brother   of   the    earl   of 


VINDICATION   OF  TYRONE. 


Tyrone,*  set  out  to  intercept  them,  and 
eucouutered  them  at  a  ford  about  five 
miles  fi'ora  the  town,  where  he  routed 
them  with  the  slaughter,  according  to 
O'Sullivan,  of  four  hundred  of  their  men. 
All  the  provisions  intended  for  the 
beleaguered  fortress  were  taken,  so  that 
the  place  was  called  Bel-atha-na-mBri- 
osgadh,  or,  the  "  ford  of  the  biscuits,"  f 
and  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  defeat 
reached  Enniskillen  the  garrison  capitu- 
lated, and  were  suffered,  by  Maguire,  to 
depart  in  safety. 

The  victorious  Irish  left  a  sufficient 
garrison  at  Enniskillen,  and  marched* 
into  Northern  Connaught,  where  Sir 
Richard  Bingham  exercised  intolerable 
oppi'ession.  They  laid  waste  all  the 
English  settlements,  and  slew  every 
man  from  the  age  of  fifteen  to  sixty 
whom  they  found  who  could  not  speak 
Irish,  so  that  no  Englishman  remained 
in  the  country,  except  in  a  few  fortified 
towns  and  castles ;  and  O'Sullivan  tells 
us  that  the  severity  of  the  Irish  on  this 
occasion  was  in  retaliation  for  the  truc- 
ulence  of  the  English,  who  hurled  old 
men,  women,  and  children  from  the 
bridge  of  Enniskillen,  when  it  fell  into 
their  power. 


*  O'Sullivan  teUs  us  that  O'Donnell,  on  bearing  that 
a  force  was  about  to  march  to  relieve  Enniskillen,  sent 
word  to  O'NeUl  that  he  would  regard  him  as  an  enemy 
unless  he  lent  his  aid  at  such  a  juncture.  Tyrone  was 
convinced  that  a  rebellion  at  that  moment,  before  the 
appearance  of  the  expected  aid  from  Spain,  would  rashly 
peril  the  Catholic  cause ;  yet,  he  also  knew  that  he  gained 
little  by  holding  aloof  himself,  as  he  was  already  an  obj  ect 
of  suspicion  to  the  English  government.  He  was  perplex- 
ed how  to  act,  bat  the  matter  seems  to  have  been  com- 
promised by  the  departure  of  his  brother,  Cormac,  with 
a  contingent  of  one  hundred  horse  and  three  hundred 


On  the  11th  of  August,  this  year,  a 
new  lord  deputy  was  sworn  into  office, 
Sir  William  Russell,  youngest  son  of 
the  earl  of  Bedford,  having  been  sent 
over  to  replace  Sir  William  FitzWil- 
liam,  of  whose  qualities,  as  a  man  or  a 
governor,  the  reader  must  have  formed 
a  low  estimate. 

The  earl  of  Tyrone,  whose  loyalty 
had,  of  late,  become  more  dubious  than 
ever,  made  his  appearance,  unexpected- 
ly, in  Dublin,  a  few  weeks  after  the  in- 
stalment of  the  new  deputy.  He  com- 
plained of  the  unworthy  suspicions  en- 
tertained against  him ;  and  in  vindica- 
tion of  himself,  appealed  to  the  many 
services  which  he  had  rendered  to  the 
government,  more  especially  to  that 
which  he  had  so  lately  performed  against 
Maguire,  and  in  which  he  had  received 
a  serious  Avound.  It  is  thought  that 
the  lord  deputy  was  inclined  to  receive 
his  justification,  but  his  old  enemy, 
Bao^nal,  renewed  his  charfjes  of  high 
treason,  with  more  energy  than  ever, 
against  him.  He  asserted  that  O'Neill 
had  entertained  the  late  ai'chbishop 
MacGauran,  knowing  him  to  be  a  trai- 
tor; that  he  corresponded  with  O'Don- 
nell while  the  latter  was  levying  war 

disciplined  musketeers,  to  join  Maguire,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  did  not  publicly  appear  whether  they  were 
sent  by  CNeUl  or  went  spontaneously.  (Hist.  Cath.,  p. 
166.)  O'Sullivan,  who  gives  a  spirited  description  of 
the  battle  at  the  ford,  says  the  army  sent  to  relieve  En- 
niskillen comprised  four  hundred  horse  and  over  two 
thousand  foot;  whereas  Cos  makes  it  only  forty-sis 
horse  and  sis  hundred  foot. 

f  This  name  is  now  obsolete,  but  the  tradition  of  the 
site  of  the  battle  is  still  preserved.  It  was  fought  where 
Drumane  bridge,  on  the  river  Arney,  now  stands. — 
Four  Masters,  p.  1593,  note. 


416 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


.igaiust  tLe  queen ;  that,  being  allowed 
to  keep  six  companies  in  the  queen's 
service,  he  Lad  contrived,  by  constantly 
changing  them,  to  discipline  to  arms  all 
the  men  in  Tyrone ;  and  that,  under 
the  pretence  of  building  a  castle  for 
himself,  in  the  English  fashion,  he  had 
jDurchased  a  large  quantity  of  lead, 
which  he  kept  stored  up  at  Dungannon, 
as  material  for  bullets. 

O'Neill's  attempt  to  vindicate  him- 
self on  this  occasion,  was  a  last  alter- 
native to  avoid  rebellion.  English 
writers,  and  those  who  adopt  their 
views,  constantly  accuse  him  of  dissim- 
ulation and  duplicity;  yet  the  conduct 
to  Avhich  these  opprobrious  terms  are 
applied,  would  appear  to  have  been,  in 
him,  only  the  result  of  sound  policy  and 
prudence.  He  must,  at  all  times,  have 
I'esented  the  oppression  of  his  country 
by  the  English.  The  English  rulers  of 
Ireland  were  still  regarded  as  strangers 
and  invaders ;  while  he,  the  representa- 
tive of  a  long  line  of  Irish  kings,  con- 
tinued to  preserve  a  remnant  of  heredi- 
tary independence  which  must  have 
rendered  him  an  object  of  hatred  and 
suspicion  to  the  foreign  government. 
Sooner  or  later  that  vestige  of  ancient 
Irish  royalty  should  be  extinguished, 
and  his  own  personal  enem)'-,  marshal 
Bacrnal,  was  the  man  whose  mission  it 
was  to  work  out  •  that  end.  At  the 
same  time  that  O'Neill  knew  all  this, 
the  wisdom  and  depth  of  mind  for 
which  lie   was  so  remaikable,  taught 

*  Captain  Thomas  Lee,  who  at  this  very  time  was 
writing  the  "  memorial"  wliich  he  addressed  to  Queen 


him  the  futility  of  waging  war  against 
England  in  the  old-fashioned  piecemeal 
style.  He  knew  that  the  aid  of  foreisfn 
Catholic  powers  was  indispensable,  and 
that  a  favorable  opportunity  should  be 
awaited;  and  hence,  while  he  would 
promote  a  spirit  of  nationality  among 
the  neighborins:  chiefs,  he  discourasred 
the  rashness  which  would  plunge  the 
country  into  a  premature  civil  war.  It 
was  not  duplicity,  but  common  pru- 
dence, therefore,  which  prevented  him 
from  hastily  flying  to  arms;  and  not 
only  does  it  seem  certain  that  when  he 
entered  the  field  against  the  govern- 
ment, he  was  goaded  into  that  course 
by  insults  and  injustice,  but  it  cannot 
be  positively  asserted  that  he  would 
not  have  lived  all  his  life  in  passive 
submission  to  the  English  crown  had 
he  not  been  ultimately  driven  to  resist- 
ance. He  foresaw  this  contingency 
from  a  distance,  and  was  prepared  for 
it ;  and,  if  he  was  slow  in  rising,  he,  at 
least,  approached  nearer  than  any  other 
Irishman  to  the  liberation  of  his  coun- 
try from  a  foreign  yoke. 

Tyrone  despised  the  malignity  of 
Bagna],  and  offered  to  prove  the  injus- 
tice of  his  charges  by  the  ordeal  of 
single  combat ;  but  his  enemy  added 
cowardice  to  his  malice,  and  declined. 
The  council  deliberated  whether  they 
should  seize  the  earl  while  he  was  in 
their  power,  but  some  of  the  members 
were  friendly  to  him,  and,  he  was  j^er- 
mitted  to  depart  in  safety.'"' 


Elizabeth,  and  who  was  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
characters  of  all  the  parties  concerned,   says: — "Ho 


THE.WICKLOW  INSURGEXTS. 


417 


A.  D.  1595. — Sir  AVilliam  Russell's 
first  exploit  was  an  attack  upon  Fiagh 
MacHugh  O'Byrne,  who  was  called 
"  the  firebrand  of  the  mountains,"  and 
whose  castle  of  Ballinacor  (Baile-na- 
cuirre),  in  Glenmalure,  he  took  by 
surprise  in  January.  Fiagh,  however, 
escaped  with  his  family,  having  been 
alarmed  by  the  accidental  sound  of 
a  drum,  just  as  the  deputy's  troops 
reached  the  outer  rampart.  Wal- 
ter Riavagh,  or  the  swarthy,  one  of  the 
Kildare  Geraldiues,  was  goaded  into  re- 
bellion, and  joined  Fiagh ;  and  scarce- 
ly had  Russell  returned  to  Dublin 
from  Ballinacor,  where  he  placed  an 
English  garrison,  when  Walter  made  a 
nocturnal  excursion  to  the  vicinity  of 
the  metropolis,  and  burned  the  suburb- 


(O'NeiU)  wiU,  if  it  so  stand  witli  your  majesty's  pleasure, 
offer  himself  to  the  marshal,  Tcho  hath  been  the  chiefest 
instrument  against  him,  to  prove  with  his  sword  that 
he  hath  most  wrongfully  accused  him  ;  and  because  it 
is  no  conquest  for  him  to  overthrow  a  man  ever  held  in 
the  world  to  be  of  most  cowardly  behavior,  he  ■n-ill,  in 
defence  of  his  innocency,  allow  his  adversary  to  come 
armed  against  him  naked,  to  encourage  him  the  rather 
to  accept  of  his  challenge." — See  the  Desiderat.  Cur. 
ifiJ.,Tol.u.,pp.91.,  &c. ;  and  appendix  to  Curry's  ifeii'ew. 
Camden,  in  Ms  character  of  Hugh  CNeUl,  gives  him 
credit  for  "great  physical  powers  of  endurance,  in- 
defatigable industry,  mental  qualities  suited  to  the 
greatest  undertakings,  great  military  knowledge,  and  a 
profound  depth  of  mind  to  dissemble  (ad  simulandum)." 
Annales,  an.  1590,  p.  572,  ed.  of  1039.  Dr.  O'Donovan, 
in  his  notes  to  the  Four  Masters,  (vol.  vi.,  p.  1888,)  says 
of  this  most  remarkable  man : — "Whether  this  earl, 
Hugh,  was  an  O'Neill  or  not — and  the  editor  feels  satis- 
fied that  Shane-an-diomais  proved  in  England  that  he 
was  not — he  was  the  cleverest  man  that  ever  bore  that 
name.  The  O'Kellys  of  Bregia,  of  whom  this  Hugh  must 
have  been  (if  he  were  not  of  the  blood  of  the  O'XeiUs), 
were  descended  from  Hugh  Slaine,  monarch  of  Ireland 
from  599  tUl  605.  Connell  Mageoghegan  says  that  there 
reigned,  of  King  Hugh  Slaiae's  race,  as  monarchs  of  this 

kingdom,  nine  kings we  may,  therefore,  wcU 

believe  that  tlie  blood  of  Hugh  Slaine,  which  was 
'53 


an  village  of  Crumlin,  carrying  off  the 
leaden  roof  of  the  church  to  make 
bullets,  while  the  garrison  of  Dublin 
witnessed  the  conflagration  without  be- 
ing able  to  render  any  assistance.  This 
happened  on  the  30th  of  January,  and 
in  the  following  April  he  was  taken 
treacherously  and  executed  in  Dublin.* 
The  Irish  had  been  goaded  by  op- 
pressions under  which  human  nature 
could  not  long  writhe  without  resist- 
ance; and  disaffection  had  become  so 
general,  especially  in  Ulster  and  Con- 
naught,  that  there  could  be  no  longer 
any  doubt  that  a  great  civil  war  was 
imminent.  The  lord  deputy  solicited 
reinforcements  from  England,  and  it 
was  resolved  that  Sir  John  Norris,  or 
Norreys,  an  officer  of  great  experience 


brought  so  low  in  the  grandfather,  found  its  level  in 
the  military  genius  and  towering  ambition  of  Hugh, 
earl  of  Tyrone." 

*  O'Sullevan,  in  his  History  of  the  Irish  Catholics, 
(p.  103,  ed.  of  1850,')  gives  an  interesting  accotmt  of  the 
fate  of  this  Walter  Reagh,  or  Riavagh.  One  Peter 
Fitzgerald,  who  had  become  a  Protestant,  and  who  was 
in  the  employment  of  the  government,  was  his  great  ene- 
my, and  attacked  his  house  of  Gloran.  Walter,  soon 
after,  with  Terence,  Felim,  and  Raymond  O'Byrne,  the 
sons  of  Fiagh,  attacked  Peter's  castle,  and  setting  it  on 
fire,  burned  it  with  its  inmates.  This,  according  to 
O'Sullevan,  'was  the  beginning  of  Walter's  rebellion. 
Subsequently  he  was  besieged  in  his  castle  by  the  Eng- 
lish, and  his  brothers,  Gerald  and  James,  slain,  some 
say  hanged,  when  he  cut  his  way  through  the  enemy 
and  escaped.  Not  long  after  he  was  wounded  in  a  con- 
flict with  a  party  who  were  in  pursuit  of  him,  but  was 
carried  off  by  a  companion  named  George  O'More,  who 
secreted  him  in  a  cavern,  where  he  was  betrayed  by  his 
attendant,  and,  being  conveyed  to  Dublin,  was  impaled 
— other  accounts  say  hanged  and  quartered,  or  hanged 
in  chains.  Terence  O'Byrne  was,  some  time  after,  de- 
livered to  the  English  by  his  own  father,  Fiagh,  who 
was  wrongfully  persuaded  that  he  had  formed  a  plot  to 
betray  him.  O'Sullevan  says  that  Terence  was  exe- 
cuted in  Dubhn,  after  being  offered  Ms  life  if  he  changed 
Ms  religion. 


418 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


and  celebrity,  and  Avhose  brother,  Sir 
Thomas,  was  president  of  Munster, 
should  be  sent  over  as  lord  general 
with  2,000  veteran  troops  who  had 
distinguished  themselves  in  Brittany, 
together  with  1,000  men  of  a  fresh 
levy.  The  earl  of  Tyrone  now  thought 
it  high  time  to  declare  himself.  He 
found  himself  already  treated  as  an 
enemy  by  the  government  on  the  one 
side,  while  on  the  other  his  countrymen 
could  bear  their  galling  yoke  no  longer. 
He  accordingly  seized  the  fort  of  the 
Blackwater,  commanding  the  passage 
into  his  own  territory,  while  O'Donnell, 
who  had  never  faltered  in  his  hostility 
to  England,  and  burned  to  avenge  his 
own  and  his  country's  wrongs,  made 
incursions,  in  March  and  April,  into 
Connaught  and  Annally  O'Farrell,  to 
plunder  the  recent  English  settlements 
there,  and  to  burn  and  destroy  their 
castles.  These  movements  Red  Hugh 
executed  with  such  rapidity  that  he 
escaped  any  serious  collision  with  the 
English  forces. 

As  soon  as  Sir  John  Norris  and  his 
troops  arrived,  an  expedition  to  the 
north  was  prepared,  and  O'Neill  re- 
linquished the  Blackwater  fort,  after 
destroying  the  works  and  burning  the 


*  Thers  are  some  important  circumstances  connected 
with  these  first  movements  in  the  north.  The  Four 
Masters  state  that  O'Neill  had  invited  O'Donnell  to  join 
him,  and  that  they  marched  to  Faughard,  near  Diindalk, 
to  have  a  parley  with  the  deputy,  who,  however,  did  not 
come  ;  while  from  the  English  accounts  it  would  appear 
that  O'NeiU  had  written  letters  both  to  EusseU  and  to 
Norris,  proposing  to  meet  and  confer  with  them  on  the 
occasion,  hut  that  the  letters  were  intercepted  by  Bag- 
nal.  Thus  the  lord  deputy  proclaimed  O'Neill  a  traitor, 
in  ignorance  of  the  overtures  which  the  latter  had  made. 


town  of  Dungaunon,  including  his  own 
house.  Our  annalists  say  that  the 
English  army  marched  beyond  Armagh 
until  they  came  in  view  of  the  in- 
trenched camp  of  the  Irish,  when  they 
returned  to  Armagh,  where  they,  placed 
a  strong  garrison  in  the  cathedral,  and 
strengthened  the  fortifications;  and  that 
Sir  William  Russell  having  theu  com- 
mitted the  command  to  Norris  returned 
to  Dublin,  Avhere  he  proclaimed  O'Neill 
a  traitor  by  the  name  of  Hugh  O'Neill, 
son  of  Mathew  Ferdarough,  or  the 
blacksmith.* 

O'Donnell,  in  the  mean  time,  obtain- 
ed in  the  west  many  successes,  which 
raised  the  confidence  of  the  Irish.  The 
castle  of  Sligo  was  given  up  to  him  by 
Ulick  Burke,  who  had  held  it  for  the 
English,  and  who  took  this  important 
step  after  slaying  George  Bingham  in 
a  private  fray ;  f  the  people  of  Northern 
Connaught  who  had  been  dispossessed 
of  their  lands  by  Bingham  and  his  myr- 
mydons,  returned  to  their  patrimonies  ; 
six  hundred  Scots  arrived  in  Lough 
Foyle,  under  MacLeod  of  Ara,  and  en- 
tered into  O'Donnell's  service,  and  with 
these  he  scoured  Connaught  as  far  as 
Tuam  and  Dunmore,  returning  into 
Donegal  through  Costello    and   Sligo, 


f  George  Bingham  manned  and  armed  a  ship,  with 
which  tie  pillaged  the  coast  of  Tirconnell,  plundering 
the  Carmelite  monastery  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  at  Batlv- 
mullen,  and  the  church  of  St.  ColumbkiUe,  on  Tory- 
island  ;  but  on  his  return  from  the  expedition,  an  alter- 
cation took  place  between  him  and  Ulick  Burke,  son  of 
Redmond-na-Scuab,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  fortress  of 
Sligo,  relative  to  the  share  of  the  spoils  to  which  the 
Irish  section  of  the  crew  were  entitled,  and  Burke  hav- 
ing slain  his  antagonist,  gave  up  the  castle  to  Red  Hugh 
O'Donnell. — Fuur  Masters. 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH  O'NEILL. 


419 


and  thus  avoidiu2:BiD<rliam,  who  tliouQ-lit 
to  intercept  Lim  in  the  Curlieu  mount- 
ains. Sir  Richard,  who  was  accompa- 
nied by  the  earls  of  Thomond  and 
Clanrickard,  with  their  contingents,  fol- 
lowed Red  Hugh  as  far  as  Sligo,  and 
laid  siege  'to  the  castle,  which  was 
bravely  defended  by  O'Donnell's  garri- 
son. He  attempted  to  sap  the  walls 
under  cover  of  a  testudo  or  penthouse, 
constructed  of  the  timber  taken  from  a 
neighboring  monastery ;  but  the  ward- 
ei's  hurled  down  rocks  and  fired  upon 
them  from  the  battlements,  destroying 
their  machinery,  and  compelling  them 
to  raise  the  siege  and  depart.  O'Don- 
uell  then  demolished  the  castle,  that  it 
might  not  fall  at  a  future  time  into  the 
hands  of  the  English,  dismissed  his  Scot- 
tish mercenaiies,  and  returned  home. 

An  attemj^t  made  by  Sir  John  Mor- 
ris and  his  brother,  to  revictual  Ar- 
magh, was  defeated  by  O'Neill.  Both 
Norrises  were  wounded  and  oblia:ed  to 
retreat  to  Newry ;  but  they  succeed- 
ed soon  after  in  throwing  relief  into 
Monaghan,  where  an  English  garrison 
had  fortified  themselves  in  the  monas- 
tery, lu  the  return  march  from  Mon- 
aghan, the  royal  troops  Avere  attacked 
at    Clontibret,   and  a   desperate   fight 

*  O'Sullevan  Beare  (Eist.  CatJi.,  torn  3,  lib.  3,  c.  ii.) 
gives  a  detailed  account  of  this  battle  at  Clontibret,  in 
the  course  of  which  James  Segrave  (Sedgreius)  of  Meath 
encountered  O'Neill  in  single  combat.  Segrave  was  a 
man  of  great  stature  and  strength,  and  the  lances  of 
both  combatants  having  been  shivered,  he  trusted  to 
his  enormous  physical  power,  and  grasping  O'Neill  by 
the  neck,  pulled  him  from  his  horse.  Both  fell  to  the 
ground  and  roUed  over  and  over  in  the  deadly  struggle  ; 
but  O'XeUl  contrived  to  seize  his  dagger,  which  he 


took  place,  in  which  several  of  the  Eng- 
lish were  slain,  and  the  remainder  es- 
caped with  difficulty  to  Newry,  from 
which  town  a  party  had  come  to  succor 
them.* 

O'Neill  had  hitherto  acted  chiefly  on 
the  defensive,  and  when  commissioners 
were  appointed  by  the  queen  to  treat 
with  the  confederated  chiefs,  he  entered 
into  the  negotiations  with  alacrity. 
The  commissioners  were  the  treasurer, 
Wallop,  and  Chief-justice  Gardiner,  with 
whom  the  northern  leaders  conferred 
in  an  open  field  near  Dundalk.  The 
Irish  chiefs  made  such  representations 
of  their  grievances,  that  the  commis- 
sioners confessed  some  of  them  were  rea- 
sonable enough,  but  said  these  should 
be  referred  to  the  queen ;  and  the  confed- 
erates havinof  no  confidence  in  the  Ens'- 
lish  government,  and  being  now  taught 
reliance  on  themselves,  broke  off  the 
conference.  This  occurred  in  July,  and 
unless  some  of  the  incidents  already 
noticed  took  place  subsequent  to  that 
date,  Hugh  O'Neill  remained  inactive 
during  the  rest  of  the  year;f  but  on 
the  death  of  Turlousrh  Luineach,  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  he  assumed  the 
L'ish  title  of  the  O'Neill  in  addition  to 
the   English   one   of   earl   of    Tyrone. 


plunged  into  the  abdomen  of  his  antagonist,  and 
thus  ended  a  combat  of  which  both  armies  stood  spec- 
tators. 

f  There  is  some  discrepancy  in  the  dates  of  these 
events  ;  for  while  the  Irish  accounts  place  the  affair  of 
Clontibret  in  May,  the  English  fix  the  revictualling  of 
Armagh  and  Monaghan  in  the  beginning  of  September, 
and  therefore,  after  the  first  attempt  (in  July)  to  come 
to  terms  with  the  confederates.  (See  Wright's  History 
of  Ireland.) 


420 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


O'Donuell  returned  to  Connaugbt  iu 
December,  and  appeared  to  exercise 
regal  powers  in  that  province.  He  de- 
termined some  disjjuted  titles  to  cLief- 
taiucy,  conferring  that  of  the  O'Dowda 
on  Tiege,  the  legitimate  heii-,  and  form- 
ally inaugurating  Theobald  Burke,  son 
of  Walter  Kittagh,  as  the  MacWilliam.* 
He  destroyed  thirteen  castles  on  this 
occasion,  and  returned  in  triumj^h  to 
Tirconnell.  All  the  Irish  of  northern 
and  eastern  Connaught  had  joined  in 
the  insurrection ;  and  the  hostages  of 
the  province  having,  iu  August  this 
year,  broken  from  their  prison  in  Gal- 
way,  after  drinking  some  Avine,  were 
all  either  shot  by  their  guard,  who 
stopped  them  at  the  west  bridge  in 
that  town,  or  taken  and  hanged  by 
Bingham.f 

A.D.  1596. — Differences  had  long  pre- 
vailed between  the  lord  general,  !Nor- 
ris,  and  the  lord  deputy,  Russell.  "  The 
former,"  says  Leland,  "had  judgment 
and  equity  to  discern  that  the  hostili- 
ties of  the  Irish  had  been  provoked  bj'" 
several  instances    of  wanton  insolence 


*  Tills  Theobald,  whose  father,  Walter  Kittagh  or 
the  "left-handed,"  was  the  son  of  the  MacWilliam 
who  defeated  Sir  Edward  Fitton  at  the  battle  of  Shrule 
in  1750,  was,  according  to  the  pedigree  ia  Archdall's 
Lodge,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  41-1,  &c.,  the  representative  of  the 
eldest  branch  of  the  MacWilliam  lochtar,  or  Lower 
Burkes.  In  1595,  he  took  the  castle  of  Bellcck,  near 
Ballina,  from  Bingham's  garrison,  and  routed  a  body  of 
troops  sent  to  relieve  it.  His  opponent  in  the  claim  to 
the  cliieftaincy  was  another  Theobald  Burke,  better 
known  as  Tioboit-na-Long,  of  whom  presently.  It  may 
be  observed  here  that  Lodge  incorrectly  writes  the  title 
of  the  lower  or  northern  MacWilliams  Oiigltter  instead 
of  lochtar,  and  that  of  the  upper  or  southern  branch, 
Eighter  instead  of  UacJUar,  and  that  the  mistake  has 
crept  into  many  works  on  Irish  history. 


and  oppression."  The  deputy,  who 
was  jealous  of  the  fame  of  Norrls, 
adopted  opposite  views,  and  insisted  on 
a  "  rigorous  persecution  of  the  rebels." 
The  o2:)inions  of  Norris  became  popular 
in  England,  and  a  commission  was 
issued  to  him  and  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton 
to  treat  with  the  confederates.  Terras 
of  submission  were  agreed  on,  and  pro- 
mises of  pardon  given ;  but  our  annal- 
ists tell  us  that  the  Irish  did  not  re- 
gard this  arrangement  of  differences  as 
conclusive.  O'Neill's  first  demand  was 
for  religious  liberty,  and  this  would  not 
be  conceded.  Norris,  who  had  re- 
mained inactive  during  the  winter,  took 
the  opportunity,  however,  to  withdraw 
his  troops  from  Ulster,  and  marched  to 
supi^ress  the  commotion  in  Connaught ; 
but  with  the  exception  of  placing  gar- 
risons in  some  strong  castles  abandoned 
by  the  Irish,  nothing  decisive  was  ef- 
fected there.  The  repeated  complaints 
of  the  barbarities  of  Bingham  had  at 
length  made  some  impression  on  the 
queen  and  her  council.  Sir  Bichard 
left  Ireland  without  permission  to  an- 

\  Among  the  chiefs  of  Eastern  Connaught  who  had 
revolted  at  this  time,  was  DonneU  O'Madden,  chief  of 
O'Maddcn's  country,  on  the  Shannon.  Cloghan,  one 
of  his  castles  in  the  district  of  Lusmagh,  was  sum- 
moned to  surrender  by  the  lord  deputy,  Russell,  in 
March,  1590,  and  we  mention  the  circumstance  on  ac- 
count of  the  memorable  reply  of  the  Irish  garrison. 
O'Madden  himself  was  absent,  but  his  brave  warders 
told  Captain  Thomas  Lee,  who  was  sent  by  the  deputy 
to  summon  them,  that  "  if  every  man  in  his  lordship's 
company  were  a  lord  deputy,  still  they  would  not  sur- 
render." Next  day,  however,  the  castle  was  captured, 
and  forty-six  persons  slain ;  those  who  were  taken, 
being  hurled  from  the  battlements  and  thus  killed 
(See  the  extract  from  Sir  William  Russell's  Journal, 
published  in  Dr.  O'Donovan's  Uy  Maiuj,  pp.  149,  150.) 


FKESH   PROMISES   FROM   SPAIN. 


421 


swer  tLe  charges  agaiust  him,  and  ou 
presenting  himself  at  court  was  com- 
mitted to .piison,  and  Sir  Conyers  Clif- 
ford, a  just  aud  humane  man,  was 
appointed  in  his  stead  presideut  of 
Counaught. 

Scarcely  had  the  cessation  of  arms 
been  agreed  to  between  the  Ulster 
chiefs  and  the  queen's  commissioners, 
when  three  Spanish  pinnaces  arrived 
on  the  coast  of  Donegal,  bringing  en- 
couraging letters  from  the  king  of 
Spain,  and  a  suppl)^  of  military  stores,  ad- 
dressed specially  to  O'Donnell.  O'Neill 
is  charged  by  the  English  with  having 
communicated  to  Fiagh  MacHugh,  and 
the  other  Leiuster  insurgents,  the  news 
of  the  promises  held  out  by  Spain,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  sent  to  the  lord 
deputy,  as  an  evidence  of  the  sincerity 
of  his  submission,  the  letter  which  he 
had  received  from  the  Spanish  monarch. 
Such  charges  of  dissimulation,  so  fre- 
quently reiterated  against  the  earl  of 
Tyrone,  by  English  w^riters,  deserve 
little  attention.  It  is  natural  that  he 
should  have  wished  to  deceive  the  Eng- 
lish government,  and  to  gain  time  until 
his  plans  were  matured  and  expected 
succor  had  arrived ;  and  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  any  means  he  em- 
ployed for  this  purpose  were  not,  under 
the  circumstances,  quite  legitimate.  It 
was  understood  that  several  Irish  chiefs 

*  Several  conflicts,  not  recorded,  indeed,  witli  any 
minute  attention  to  chronology,  would  nevertheless  ap- 
pear from  O'Sullevan  Beare's  Catholic  History  to  have 
taken  place  between  CNeill  and  the  English  before  the 
close  of  this  year.  Owny,  son  of  Rory  Oge  O'More,  was, 
at  this  time,  plundering  the  English  of  Leis,  and  Fiagh 


now  signed  an  invitation  to  the  king  of 
Spain  to  invade  Ireland,  but  that 
O'JSTeill  only  intimated  verbally  his 
accession  to  the  league.  He  remonstra- 
ted  against  the  hostilities  carried  on 
agaiust  his  friend,  Fiagh  MacHugh 
O'Byrue,  and  made  these,  soon  after,  a 
pretext  for  marching  suddenly  ou  Ar- 
magh, and  forcing  that  garrison  to  sur- 
render, before  Sir  John  Norris  could 
come  to  its  relief.  Yet  strange  to  say, 
another  commission,  to  treat  once  more 
with  O'Xeill,  arrived  after  this  from 
England.  English  writers  express  pro- 
found disgust  at  these  repeated  over- 
tures of  peace  on  the  part  of  the 
government,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  course  pursued  impressed  the  Irish 
with  the  idea  of  great  weakness  in  their 
opponents.  O'Neill  refused,  as  usual, 
to  confer  with  the  commissioners  in  a 
town,  and  the  meeting,  like  the  former 
ones,  took  place  in  a  field  near  Dun- 
dalk ;  but  the  other  confederates  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  present,  and  the 
only  result  was  a  renewal  of  former 
terms  with  the  earl  of  Tyrone.* 

A.  D.  1597.— While  O'Neill  was  in- 
active in  Tyrone,  Counaught  was  the 
scene  of  the  wildest  commotions.  To- 
wards the  close  of  the  last  year  O'Conor 
Sligo  returned,  after  a  long  stay  in 
England,  and  manifested  a  zealous  and 
ostentatious  loyalty.     His  old  feudato- 

MacHugh  carried  terror  and  desolation  through  a  great 
part  of  Leinster.  The  former  slew  Alexander  and  Fran- 
cis Cosby,  the  son  and  grandson  of  the  Francis  Cosby  of 
Mullamast  notoriety,  and  routed  their  troops  at  Strad- 
bally  Bridge,  on  the  19th  of  May. — See  Hardiman's 
IHih  Minstrelsy,  vol.  ii.,  p.  165. 


422 


REIGK  OF   QUEEN"   ELIZABETH. 


ries,  MacDonougli  of  Tirerill,  and 
O'Hart,  were  detached,  by  his  influence, 
from  the  Catholic  cause,  and  these  ex- 
amples, together  with  the  popularity  of 
Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  greatly  strength- 
ened the  Eno'lish  ranks  in  the  west. 
Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  took  immediate 
steps  to  punish  the  defection.  In  De- 
cember he  crossed  the  river  of  Sligo, 
and  swept  off  every  head  of  cattle 
belonging  to  the  friends  of  O'Conor; 
and  the  following  January  he  returned 
with  a  much  larger  force,  and  overran 
all  Connaught.  He  burned  the  gates 
of  Athenry  and  iiillaged  the  town ; 
and  all  the  territory  of  Claurickard  was 
plundered  by  him  as  far  as  Maree,  Oran- 
more,  and  the  walls  of  Gal  way.  He 
then  returned  home  laden  with  spoils, 
routing,  on  his  way,  a  force  which 
O'Conor  Sligo  had  collected  to  intercept 
him.  Theobald  Burke,  surnamed  Na- 
Long,  or  "  of  the  ships,"  who  claimed 
the  title  and  estates  of  MacWilliam,  in 
opposition  to  Theobald,  son  of  Walter 
Kittagh,  succeeded,  by  the  aid  of  Clif- 
ford and  O'Conor  Sligo,  in  expelling  his 
rival,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  restored  by 
O'Donnell,  and  once  more  expelled  by 
the  power  of  the  English  and  of  the 


*  Theobald-na-Long,  mentioned  in  the  text,  was  the 
son  of  Risdiard-an-Iarain,  or  "Iron  Ricliard,"  who  was 
higUy  praised  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  and  died  in  1.585. 
Theobald's  mother  was  the  famous  Grace  O'Malley,  or 
Graine-ni-Mhaile  (Granu-Weal),  daughter  of  Owen  O'Mal- 
ley, chief  of  the  Owles,  or  Umaile,  in  Mnyo.  This  sin- 
gular woman  was  married  first  to  O'Flaherty,  chief  of 
West  Connaught,  and  during  the  minority  of  lier  brother 
tooli  the  command  of  a  fleet  of  galleys  on  several  pirati- 
cal excursions.  She  was  then  outlawed,  and  defeated 
gome  troops  sent  to  besiege  her  castle  of  Carrigahooly  ; 


Irish  loyalists.      Thus  was    the  whole 
province  plunged  in  disorder.* 

In  Leinster,  Fiagh  MacIIugh  O'Byrne 
was  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  through  the  jealousy  of  some 
of  his  kinsmen,  and  slain  in  May  this 
year ;  and  on  the  22d  of  the  same  month. 
Sir  William  Russell  was  removed  fi'om 
the  government,  and  Thomas,  Lord 
Borough,  or  Burgh,  sent  over  to  replace 
him.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new 
deputy  was  to  de^irive  Sir  John  Norris 
of  the  generalship,  and  send  him  to 
govern  Munster  with  his  brother.  The 
gallant  veteran,  who  while  in  office  had 
indeed  perfoi-med  no  service  worthy  of 
his  great  military  reputation,  soon  after 
died  broken-hearted.  Lord  Boroucfh 
next  ordered  a  great  muster  of  forces 
at  Drogheda,  on  the  20th  of  July,  and 
marching  at  their  head,  crossed  tlie 
Blackwater  without  opposition;  demol- 
ished a  small  fort  which  O'Neill  had 
raised,  and  erected  a  strong  one  in 
which  he  placed  a  garrison  of  300  men, 
under  the  command  of  a  brave  officer 
named  Williams.  O'Neill,  who  would 
appear  to  have  been  at  first  taken  by 
surprise,  vigorously  assailed  the  lord 
deputy's  camj"),  and  sent  reinforcements 


but,  on  her  marriage  with  Sir  Richard  Burke,  she  was 
reconcUed  to  government,  and  subsequently  performed 
some  valuable  services  for  the  queen.  Many  traditions 
are  preserved  in  the  west  about  her  exploits,  her  visits  to 
Elizabeth,  &c.  On  her  voyage  to  London,  at  the  queen's 
invitation,  about  1.57.5,  her  sou  Theobald  was  born ; 
hence  his  sobriquet  '■  Na-Long" — "  of  the  ships."  Ho 
was  knighted,  it  is  said,  by  Elizabeth  while  an  infant, 
and  was  created  first  Viscount  Mayo,  by  Charles  I. — See 
Lodge;  also,  the  Anthologia  Hibernica  for  1793  and 
1T94. 


DEATH   OF  HUGH  O'NEILL. 


423 


to  Tyrrell,  who  carried  on  the  war  in 
Leinster.* 

Lord  Borough  had  directed  Sir'Con- 
yers  Clifford  to  make  a  simultaneous 
movement  against  O'Donnell,  and  ac- 
cordingly the  loyalist  forces  of  Con- 
naught  assembled  at  the  monastery  of 
Boyle,  on  the  24th  of  July.  They 
marched  to  Sligo,  and  thence  to  the 
Erne,  which,  after  some  hard  fighting, 
they  crossed  at  the  ford  of  Ath-cul-uain, 
about  half  a  mile  west  of  Belleek; 
Murrough  O'Brien,  baron  of  Inchiquin, 
was  shot  by  the  Irish  while  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  ford ;  and  Clifford  having 
obtained  some  cannon  by  sea  from  Gal- 
Avay,  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of  Bally- 
shannon,  which  was  defended  Avith 
great  bravery  for  O'Donnell  by  Hugh 
Crawford,  a  Scot,  with  eighty  soldiers, 
of  whom  some  wei'e  Spaniards,  and  the 
rest  Irish.  An  incessant  fire  was  kept 
up  on  the  castle  for  three  days,  and 
under  the  shelter  of  a  testudo  an  attempt 
was  made  to  sap  the  walls ;  but  the 
beams  and  rocks  hurled  from  the  bat- 
tlements by  the  defenders  demolished 
the  works  of  the  assailants,  and  O'Don- 
nell arriving  with  a  considerable  force, 
besieged  the  royal  army  in  their  own 
camp.     At  the  dawn  of  day,  on  the 


*  About  tills  time  Captain  Tyrrell  cut  off  a  detach- 
ment of  1,000  men  of  the  royal  army  sent  against  him 
from  Mullingar,  under  the  command  of  young  Barnwell, 
son  of  Lord  Trimblestone.  Tyrrell  had  a  much  smaller 
force  under  his  command,  but  prepared  an  ambuscade 
with  great  skill  at  the  place  since  called  Tyrrell's  Pass,  in 
West  Meath,  and  it  is  said  that  only  one  man  of  the 
enemy  escaped  to  relate  the  disaster  at  the  English 
headquarters.  (See  the  Abbe  Mageoghegan's  History 
of  Ireland,  p.  505,  Duffy's  ed.)    It  is  probable,  however, 


15th  of  August,  Clifford  silently  re- 
crossed  the  Erne  at  a  ford  immediately 
above  the  cataract  of  Assaroe,  over 
which  several  of  his  men  were  washed 
by  the  impetuosity  of  the  torrent ;  and 
O'Donnell,  regretting  the  remissness 
which  suffered  the  enemy  to  escape, 
pursued  him  over  the  river.  The  pow- 
der of  the  Irish  was,  howevei-,  spoiled 
by  a  heavy  shower  of  rain,  and  the 
royal  array  was  enabled  to  retreat  in 
safety  to  Sligo,  having  abandoned  three 
pieces  of  ordnance  and  a  quantity  of 
stores. 

The  spirits  of  the  Irish  were  elated 
by  so  many  successes.  O'Neill  laid 
siege  to  the  new  Blackwater  fort ;  but 
in  storming  it  by  the  aid  of  scaling 
ladders — which  proved  to  be  too  short 
— he  lost  thirty  of  his  men,  and  then 
resolved  to  starve  the  ganison  into 
submission.  This  would  have  been 
soon  effected  had  not  Lord  Borough 
marched  witn  a  strong  force,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  the  siege,  and  throwing 
in  relief  both  in  men  and  provisions. 
The  lord  deputy,  however,  fell  danger- 
ously ill  before  the  walls,  or,  as  the 
Irish  accounts  say,  was  mortally  wound- 
ed, and  died  in  a  litter  before  he  could 
be  carried  as  far  as  Newi'y.f     On  the 


that  Tyrrell's  Pass  owes  its  name  not  to  this  conflict, 
but  to  the  castle  of  the  Tyrrells  which  stood  near. 

f  Either  on  this  or  on  his  former  march  to  the  Black- 
water,  the  lord  deputy  lost  liis  wife's  brother.  Sir  Francis 
Vaughan,  who  was  killed  by  the  Irish ;  and  the  earl  of 
Kildare  died  at  Drogheda  of  the  wounds  which  he  re- 
ceived, or,  as  others  say,  of  chagrin  for  his  two  foster- 
brothers,  who  were  killed  before  the  Blackwater  fort. 
This  earl  was  Henry,  who  succeeded  on  the  death  (in 
1585)  of  his  father  Garrett,  brother  of  Silken  Thomas, 


424 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


news  of  liis  death  reaching  Dublin  the 
council  chose  as  his  successor  Sir  Thomas 
Norris,  the  president  of  Munster;  but 
tliis  selection  was  jirovisional,  for  in  a 
month  after,  the  civil  duties  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  committed  to  Archbisho]) 
Loftus,  who  was  also  lord  chancellor, 
jind  Sir  Robert  Gardiner,  chief  justice 
of  the  queen's  bench,  as  lords  justices, 
and  the  military  government  to  the 
earl  of  Orraond,  as  lord  lieutenant. 

Meanwhile  O'Donuell  plundered  the 
lands  of  O'Conor  Roe,  who  had  joined 
the  English  j^artj,  and  this  produced 
some  jealousy  between  O'Donnell  and 
O'Rourke,  who  was  friendly  to  O'Conor. 
Hugh  Maguire  and  Cormac,  brother  of 
O'Neill,  entered  West  Meath  and  sacked 
and  burned  Mulliugar.  Theobald,  son 
of  Walter  Kittagh  Burke,  retook  the 
territory  of  MacWilliam,  and  plundered 
the  Owles  or  O'Malley's  country;  Tyr- 
rell, at  the  head  of  the  Leinster  insur- 
gents, devastated  Ormond,  and  cut  to 
pieces  a  large  body  of  the  royal  troops 
at  Maryborough ;  Sir  John  Chichester, 
governor  of  Carrickfergus,  with  three 
companies  of  his  garrison,  was  cut  off 
by  Sorley  Boy  MacDonnell ;  in  short, 
the  country  M'as  almost  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  Catholics,  ^\'hen  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  earl  of  Ormond  02:)ened 
a  new  door  for  negotiations  with  the 
Irish  chieftains.  Our  annalists  say  that 
shortly  before  Christmas   the  earls  of 


and  he  was  succeeded  in  his  turn  by  his  brother,  Wil- 
liiim.  Among  the  losses  of  the  government  about  this 
period,  it  may  be  stated  that  on  thellth  of  March,  1597, 
144  barrels  of  gunpowder,  just  received  from  England, 


Ormond  and  Thomond  went  to  Ulster 
and  remained  three  days  in  a  conference 
with  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell ;  that  they 
agreed  to  the  terms  of  a  treaty,  which 
were  to  be  submitted  to  the  queen,  and 
that  a  truce  was  to  be  observed  until 
May,  when  the  royal  decision  on  the 
points  at  issue  would  be  made  known. 

A.D.  1598. — The  modifications  which 
Elizabeth  required  in  the  terms  of 
peace  were  received  earlier  than  was 
expected,  and  another  conference  was 
held  with  O'Neill  on  the  15th  of  March, 
to  communicate  them  to  him.  The 
chief  of  Tyrone  discussed  the  several 
points  with  a  freedom  which  showed 
that  he  well  knew  the  weakness  of  the 
government  and  his  own  increased 
strength.  He  refused  to  desert  his  con- 
federates until  they  had  time  allowed 
them  to  come  in  and  submit;  he  con- 
sented to  renounce  the  title  of  O'Neill, 
but  would  reserve  the  substantial  rights 
of  the  chieftaincy ;  he  would  not  give 
up  the  sons  of  Shane  O'Neill,  as  he  had 
not  received  them  into  his  charge  from 
the  State :  he  would  admit  a  sheriff  into 
Tyrone,  provided  he  was  a  gentleman 
of  the  country,  and  not  appointed  im- 
mediately ;  he  would  sm-render  political 
refugees,  but  not  such  as  fled  to  Tyrone 
on  account  of  religious  persecution :  in 
fine,  refused  to  give  up  his  eldest  son 
as  a  hostage.  The  independent  tone  of 
O'Neill  was  deeply  galling  to  the  Eug- 


exploded  in  Winetavem-street,  Dublin,  producing  fear 
ful  havoc  in  the  neighborhood.  (See  Gilbert's  IKat.  of 
Dublin,  vol.  i.,  p.  154.) 


O'NEILL   REJECTS  THE   TERMS   OF   PEACE. 


425 


lish,  but  the  earls  of  Tbomond  and 
Clanrickard,  with  other  distinguished 
Irishmen,  were  nevertheless  delegated 
to  submit  his  propositions  anew  to 
Elizabeth,  and  that  haughty  prin- 
cess not  only  consented  to  abate  some 
of  her  claims,  but  O'Neill's  pardon 
was  actually  drawn  up,  bearing  date 
April  11th,  1598,  and  sealed  with 
the  great  seal  of  Ii-eland.  These  hol- 
low concessions,  however,  came  too  late. 
O'Neill  believed  that  the  oppoi-.tunity 
had  arrived  to  obtain  infinitely  more — 
the  liberation  of  his  country  itself.  He 
expected  the  long-promised  succor  from 
Spain  ;  the  national  cause  was  progress- 
ing favorably  at  home,  and  he  dreaded 
lest  further  delay  should  cool  the  ardor 
of  the  Irish  chieftains.  He  therefore 
broke  off  the  negotiations,  and  rejected 
the  proffered  pardon,  by  avoiding  the 
messenger  sent  to  convey  it  to  him.* 

On  the  Tth  of  June,  the  last  truce 
expired,  and  two  days  after,  O'Neill 
aj^peared  with  a  division  of  his  army 
before  the  Blackwater  fort,  "  swearing 
by  his  barbarous  hand  that  he  would 
not  depart  until  he  had  carried  it;f 
while  he  sent  another  division  into 
Breftny,  to  attack  the  castle  of  Cavan. 
There  could  be  no  more  valiant  man 


*  O'Neill  afterwards  scorned  to  plead  tliis  pardon,  so 
that  lie  was  outlawed  in  1600,  says  Moryson,  on  the  in- 
dictment of  1595.  It  may  be  here  added  that,  during 
the  truce,  James,  brother  of  the  earl  of  Ormond,  with 
other  gentlemen,  made  an  incursion  into  Ikerrin  against 
Bi-ian  Eeagh  O'More,  but  lost  several  of  their  men. 
James  Butler  was  made  prisoner,  but  O'More  gener- 
ously gave  him  up  to  the  earl  of  Ormond  in  a  week 
after.  Redmond  Burke,  son  of  John-of-the-Shamrocks, 
owing  to  the  injustice  of  his  imcle,  the  earl  of  Clan- 
51 


than  Captain  Thomas  "Williams,  Avho 
commanded  in  the  unhappy  fort  of  the 
Blackwater,  and  who  was  resolved  to 
defend  his  charge  to  the  last  man ;  and 
O'Neill,  profiting  by  the  lesson  which 
the  former  vigorous  defence  had  taught 
him,  resolved  to  make  no  more  assaults, 
but  set  about  inclosing  the  fort  with 
vast  trenches,  to  prevent  the  sorties  of 
foraging  parties.  These  trenches,  which 
were  connected  with  great  tracts  of 
bog,  were  more  than  a  mile  in  length, 
and  several  feet  deep,  "with  a  thorny 
hedge  at  the  top."  The  approaches  to 
the  fort  were  "plashed,"  the  roads 
rendered  impassable  to  artillery  by 
trenches,  and  the  Irish  army  so  posted 
that  no  force  could  advance  to  relieve 
the  garrison  without  fighting  a  battle. 
The  fort  was  scarcely  victualled  to  the 
end  of  June,  and  would  have  been  soon 
forced  by  hunger  to  surrender,  had  not 
the  besieged  had  the  good  fortune  to 
seize  "  divers  horses  and  mares,"  on  the 
flesh  of  which  they  subsisted. 

Long  and  anxious  was  the  debate  at 
the  council-board  in  Dublin,  as  to  the 
course  now  to  be  pursued.  The  Eng- 
lish power  in  Ireland  was  in  a  most 
critical  position.  Only  a  few  garrisons 
remained   in   all    Ulster.      Connaught 

rickard,  joined  the  insurgents,  and  received  the  com- 
mand of  100  men  from  O'Neill,  who  sent  him  with 
others  to  fight  under  Tyrrell's  standard  in  Leinster ; 
and  in  Connaught,  O'Kourke,  who  had  made  his  sub- 
mission to  Clifford  on  account  of  his  friendship  for  O'Con- 
or  Roe,  returned  to  the  national  cause,  for,  as  the  Four 
Masters  say,  it  was  at  that  time  thought  safer  in  Con- 
naught "to  have  the  governor  in  opposition  than  to 
be  pursued  by  O'DonneU's  vengeance." 

f  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton  to  Cecil,  June  11th,  1598. 


42G 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


was  in  arms.  A  well-organized  Irish 
army,  under  Captain  Tyrrell,  and  other 
bi'ave  and  experienced  leaders,  threat- 
ened the  seat  of  government  in  Leinster. 
The  prestige  of  O'Neill  and  O'Dounell 
was  becoming  every  day  gi'eater.  The 
latter  entertained  a  hatred  of  England 
which  nothing  could  mitigate;  while 
the  former  was  more  formidable  for  his 
knowledge  of  modern  warfare,  his  con- 
summate prudence,  and  his  subtlety  as 
a  statesman.  Reinforcements  of  troops 
arrived  at  Dungarvan  from  England, 
but  in  attempting  to  reach  Dublin,  they 
were  attacked  by  the  Irish,  and  lost 
over  400  men.*  The  English  govern- 
ment of  Ireland  was  never  in  more 
pusillanimous  hands  than  those  of  the 
present  lord  justices;  and  the  iron-heart- 
ed Ormond  himself — "  a  man  of  great 
energy  and  boldness,"  as  Camden  de- 
scribes him — was  dismayed  at  the  strug- 
gle before  him.  The  council  had  writ- 
ten to  England  for  help  and  advice. 
The  civil  members  strongly  urged  that 
Captain  Williams  should  be  directed 
to  surrender  the  Blackwater  fort  to 
O'Neill  on  the  best  conditions  that  he 
could  obtain.  Even  Ormond  would 
reluctantly  yield  to  this  view,  but  Bag- 
nal  cried  shame  at  such  timidity,  and 
insisted  that  an  army,  which  he  him- 
self undertook  to  command,  should  be 
dispatched  immediately  to  revictual  the 
fort.  At  this  critical  moment,  Ormond 
took  the  fatal  resolution  to  divide  his 


*  See  Four  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  p.  2050,  note, 
f  Letter  of  the  LL.  JJ.  to  the  privy  council  of  August 
16th,  1598. 


forces,  and  to  march  himself  at  the 
head  of  one  division  acjainst  the  Lein- 
ster  insurgents,  while  Bagnal  led  the 
other  to  relieve  the  fort  of  the  Black- 
water.  This  course  was  taken  contrary 
to  the  pressing  advice  of  the  council ; 
but  Ormond  considered  that  the  active 
hostilities  of  Tyrrell  and  his  confederates 
in  Leinster,  involving  as  they  did  the 
devastation  of  his  own  county  palatine 
of  Tipperary,  demanded  the  most  stren- 
uous operations ;  while  the  other  duty 
only  concerned  what  he  styled  "the 
scurvie  fort  of  Blackwater."  Bagnal, 
too,  was  earnest  in  soliciting  for  him- 
self the  task  of  taking  vengeance  on 
the  man  whom,  of  all  others,  he  hated 
with  a  deadly  hatred ;  and  so  the  plan 
was  persevered  in.  At  the  last  moment 
the  lords  justices  sent  a  message  to  the 
commander  to  surrender  the  fort ;  but 
Bagnal,  according  to  his  old  custom, 
intercepted  the  letter,  and  took  it  back 
to  the  council.f 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  August 
14th,  the  army,  which  had  reached 
Armagh  from  Newry,  with  some  slight 
losses  the  preceding  day,  set  out  from 
the  former  city  for  the  Blackwater. 
It  amounted,  by  the  English  accounts, 
to  about  4,000  foot  and  350  horse;;}: 
the  infantry  compi'ising  six  regiments, 
and  the  whole  wei'e  disposed  in  thi'ce 
divisions,  the  van  being  led  by  Colonel 
Percy,  supported  by  the  marshal's  own 
regiment,  while  the  regiments  of  Colonel 


J  Captain  Montague's  report  to  the  council  Bays  3,500 
infantry  and  300  cavalry ;  but  O'SuUevan  Beare  makes 
the  numbers  4,500  foot  and  500  horse. 


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THE  "  JOURNEY  OF  THE  BLACKWATER." 


427 


Cosby  and  Sir  Thomas  Wingfield  came 
next,  and  those  of  captains  Cunis,  or 
Cuynis,  and  Billings,  brought  up  the 
rear.  The  cavaby  was  commanded  by 
Sir  Calisthenes  Brooke  and  captains 
Montafjue  and  Flemins:.  The  main 
body  of  the  Irish,  whose  infantry  was 
about  as  numerous  as  that  of  the  enemy, 
and  the  cavalry  a  little  more  so,  but 
who  in  point  of  arms  and  equipments 
were  greatly  inferior  to  the  royal  army, 
occupied  an  intrenched  position  near 
the  small  river  Callan,  about  two  miles 
from  Armagh,  at  a  place  called  Beal- 
an-atha-buy,  or  the  moutb  of  the  Yel- 
low ford.  Bosfs  and  woods  extended 
on  either  side ;  a  part  of  the  way  was 
broken  by  small  hills,  and  deep  trenches 
and  pitfalls  were  dug  in  the  road  and 
neighboring  fields.  The  leaders  on 
both  sides  harangued  their  respective 
forces,  and  the  Ii'ish  were,  moreover, 
encouraged  by  O'Donnell's  poet,  Fear- 
feasa  O'Clery,  who  produced  the  words 
of  an  ancient  prophecy  attributed  to 
St  Bearchan,  foretelling  that  at  a  place 
called  the  Yellow  ford,  the  foreigner 
would  be  defeated  by  a  Hugh  O'Neill. 
The  morning,  says  O'Sullevan,  was 
calm  and  beautiful,  and  the  English 
army  advanced  from  Armagh,  before 
the  rising  of  the  sun,  with  colors  flying, 
drums  beating,  and  trumpets  sounding, 
in  all  the  pomp  and  pride  of  war ;  but 
their  front  had  not  proceeded  more 
than  half  a  mile,  when  the  Irish  skir- 
mishers began  to  gall  them  severely 
from  the  brushwood  on  either  flank. 
The  most  circumstantial  account  of  the 


sequel  is  that  which  we  obtain  from 
the  English  official  reports.  The  van- 
guard of  the  royal  army  advanced  gal- 
lantly, and  after  a  desperate  struggle 
gained  possession  of  the  first  Irish  in- 
trenchments,  about  two  miles  from 
Armagh.  They  then  pushed  forward 
and  reached  an  eminence,  where  they 
were  vigorously  charged  by  the  Irish, 
and  driven  back  beyond  the  trench. 
Bagnal's  tactics  Avere  a  miserable  fail- 
ure. His  divisions  were  too  far  sepa- 
rated to  support  each  other;  and  his 
leading  regiment  was  cut  to  pieces 
before  the  second  had  come  to  the 
charge.  The  marshal  himself  came  up 
at  the  head  of  his  own  regiment,  and 
behaved  with  extraordinary  valor,  gain- 
ing the  trench  a  second  time ;  but  the 
Irish  were  now  engaged  with  the  royal 
troops  at  every  point,  and  the  fighting 
was  so  hot  in  the  rear,  where  Red 
Hugh  O'Donnell,  Maguire,  and  James 
MacSorley  MacDonnell  charged  the 
English,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the 
reserve  regiments  to  support  their  front. 
Bagnal  raised  the  visor  of  his  helmet, 
to  gaze  more  freely  about  him,  when  a 
musket-ball  pierced  his  forehead  and  he 
rolled  lifeless  to  the  earth.  Almost 
at  the  same  time  an  ammunition  wag- 
on exploded  in  the  central  corps  of 
the  English,  and  scattered  destruction 
around,  killing  and  wounding  several ; 
and  one  of  the  cannon  got  into  a  pit  or 
bog-hole,  and  defied  all  their  eftbrts  to 
extricate  it.  O'Neill,  who  had  the 
Irish  centre  under  his  own  special  com- 
mand, saw  that  the  moment  was  de- 


428 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


cisive.  Confusion  bad  already  seized 
the  English  ranks ;  and  riding  up  with 
forty  horsemen,  followed  by  a  body  of 
spearmen,  he  plunged  -with  a  loud  shout 
into  the  melee,  and  made  the  enemy 
fly  in  disorder.  All  this  time  the 
battle  raged  so  fiercely  in  the  rear  that 
the  English,  according  to  their  own 
account,  had  not  been  able  to  advance 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  an  hour  and  a 
half,  and  the  death  of  the  marshal  was 
not  known  at  that  point  when  the  fight 
had  begun.  Maelmuire  O'Eeilly,  who 
was  called  "  the  handsome,"  and,  as 
being  a  royalist,  was  styled  "  the  queen's 
O'Reilly,"  made  a  desperate  eftbrt  to 
rally  the  royal  troops,  but  he  himself 
was  soon  numbered  with  the  slain. 
About  one  o'clock  the  route  became 
general,  and  the  pits  and  trenches 
along  the  way  caused  more  mischief  to 
the  flying  English  than  even  in  the 
morninc:  march.  The  new  levies  cast 
away  their  arms,  and  if  they  had  not 

*  The  Irish  and  English  contemporary  accounts  of  the 
battle  are  collected  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  his  notes  to 
the  Four  Masters,  an.  1.598  ;  and  all  the  documents  con- 
nected with  it  preserved  in  the  State-paper  Office,  have 
been  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Kilkenny 
Archjeological  Society  for  January,  1857.  John  Jlitchell 
describes  it  in  his  own  nervous  and  eloquent  style,  in 
his  "  Life  and  Times  of  Aodh  O'NeiU,"  in  Duffy's 
Library  of  Ireland.  The  battle  is  sometimes  desig- 
nated the  "journey  of  the  Blackwater,"  but  by  the 
Irish  is  usually  called  the  battle  of  Athbuidhe,  or  the 
Yellow  ford.  Its  site  is  marked  on  the  Ordnance  map 
of  Armagh,  sheet  12 ;  and  the  name  of  Ballinaboy  is 
still  applied  to  a  small  marsh  or  cut-out  bog  in  the 
townland  of  Cabragh,  about  a  mile  and  three-quarters 
north  of  the  city  of  Armagh  (Four  Masters,  vi.,  p.  2061, 
note.)  The  Blackwater  fort  is  called  Portnua  by  the 
Four  Masters,  and  Portmore  by  O'Sullevan  Bearo  and 
other  contemporary  writers.  The  number  slain  on  the 
English  side  is,  by  the  Irish  annalists,  reckoned  2,500, 
including  the  general  and  18  captains ;   and  the  first 


been  so  near  Armagh,  scarcely  a  man 
would  have  e.scaped.  As  it  was,  the 
flight  Avas  not  a  long  one ;  the  ammu- 
nition of  the  Irish  was  nearly  exhausted, 
and  the  shattered  remains  of  the  Ens;- 
lish  army  shut  themselves  up  in  the 
fortified  cathedral,  leaving  their  gen- 
eral, 23  ofiicers,  and  about  1,T00  of 
their  rank  and  file,  on  the  field ;  to- 
gether with  their  artillery,  and  bag- 
gage, a  great  j^ortion  of  their  arms  and 
colors,  their  drums,  <fec.,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Irish.  The  loss  of  the  confeder- 
ates was  estimated,  at  the  highest,  as 
from  seven  to  eight  hundred.  Never 
since  the  English  set  foot  on  Irish  soil 
had  they  received  such  an  overthrow 
in  this  country.  "It  was  a  glorious 
victory  for  the  rebels,"  says  Camden, 
"  and  of  special  advantage ;  for  hereby 
they  got  both  arms  and  provisions, 
and  Tyrone's  name  was  cried  up  all 
over  Ireland  as  the  author  of  their 
liberty.* 


English  accounts  vary  the  loss  from  2,000  to  1,500 ;  but 
the  official  list  forwarded  to  the  privy  council  a  few 
days  after  the  battle,  gives  the  numbers  thus,  viz. : 
killed,  the  general,  14  colonels  and  captains,  9  lieuten- 
ants, and  855  rank  and  file ;  woimded,  363 ;  captain 
Cosby  taken  prisoner,  and  12  stands  of  colors  lost. 
About  300  Irish  in  the  queen's  pay  and  2  Englishmen 
deserted  to  the  confederates.  O'Sullevan  states  the 
loss  of  the  Irish  to  have  been  less  than  200  killed,  and 
over  COO  wounded.  Ormond,  in  a  letter  to  Cecil,  of 
September  15,  referring  to  the  bad  tactics  of  Bagnal,  in 
placing  the  divisions  at  such  intervals,  writes : — "  Suer 
the  devill  bewiched  them  that  none  of  them  did  pre- 
vent this  grose  error !"  The  Four  Masters  give  Aug. 
lOth  as  the  date  of  the  battle,  but  from  the  State-papers 
the  correct  date  appears  to  be  that  given  in  the  text, 
Aug.  14th.  O'SuItevan  says  O'DonneU  commanded  the 
left  wing,  and  Maguire,  the  Irish  cavalry ;  the  whole 
being  under  the  command  of  O'Neill.  Cucogry  O'Clery, 
in  his  life  of  Hugh  Eoe  O'DonneU,  tells  us  that  very 
few  of  the  Irish  were  dressed  in  armor  like  the  Eng- 


REVOLT  IN  MUNSTER. 


4'J9 


The  English  cavaliy,  whicli  Lad  suf- 
fered least,  escaped  the  night  after  the 
battle  to  Dundalk,  under  Captain  Mon- 
tage, pursued  for  a  little  way  by  Ter- 
ence O'HauIon;  and  a  few  days  after 
the  garrisons  of  Armagh  and  the  Black- 
water  fort  capitulated,  and  were  allowed 
to  march  to  Dundalk  with  their  wounded 
men,  leaving  their  arms  and  ammunition 
behind  them.  O'Neill  supposed  that 
Armagh  was  provisioned  for  a  longer 
time  than  it  really  was,  while  his  own 
supplies  were  running  short,  and  he 
knew  that  an  English  force  of  2,000 
men  was  daily  expected  in  his  rear  at 
Lough  Foyle ;  and  hence  the  favorable 
conditions  which  he  granted.  The  Ul- 
ster chiefs  returned  to  their  respective 
homes,  for  it  never  had  been  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Irish  to  follow  uj)  a  victory. 
Their  liostings  were  temporary,  and 
their  commissariat  imperfect.  O'Neill 
knew  the  heljiless  state  of  the  govern- 
ment at  that  moment,  and  it  is  not 
probable  that  he  retired  to  Dungannou 
at  such  an  important  juncture  without 
solid  reasons.  Ormond  was  at  this 
time  shut  up  in  Kilkenny,  whither  he 
had  retired  after  the  discomfiture  of 
his  men  in  Leix ;  and  the  trembling 
lord  justices  were  obliged  to  send  out 
some  six  or  seven  hundred  armed  citi- 
zens, on  the  17th  of  August,  to  prevent 
the  approach  of  the  Leinster  insurgents, 
who  were  expected  before  the  walls  of 


lish,  but  that  they  had  a  sufficient  supply  of  spears 
and  lances  with  strong  handles  of  ash  ;  straight,  keen- 
edged  swords,  and  thin,  polished  battle-axes.  Dr. 
O'Donovan  thinks  that  the  prophecy  which  Fearfeasa 


Dublin.  Elizabeth  was  enraged  at  the 
losses  which  her  arms  had  sustained  in 
Ireland,  and  wrote  upbraiding  letters 
to  her  Irish  council.  She  sent  Sir 
Richard  Biugliam  to  replace  Marshal 
Bagnal ;  and  she  could  not  have  shown 
her  exasperation  better  than  by  renew- 
ing her  commission  to  the  man  who  had 
been  disgraced  for  his  butcheries  of  the 
Irish  in  cold  blood.  Bingham,  how^- 
ever,  died  immediately  after  his  return 
to  Ireland,  and  Sir  Samuel  Bagnal  was 
then  sent  to  Dublin  as  marshal,  with 
the  2,000  men  who  had  been  originally 
intended  for  Lough  Foyle. 

O'Neill  wrote  to  Capt.  Tyrrell,  Owny 
O'More,  and  Redmond  Burke,  to  hasten 
into  Munster,  where  the  sons  of  Thomas 
Roe,  brother  of  the  late  earl  of  Desmond, 
were  prepared  to  raise  the  standard  of 
revolt ;  and  his  orders  w^ere  immedi- 
ately carried  out.  The  Leinster  insur- 
gents plundered  Ormond  in  their  march 
to  the  south,  and  a  great  number  of 
Irish  chieftains  came  to  swell  their 
ranks.  The  new  Munster  rebellion  broke 
out,  says  Fynes  Moryson,  like  lightning. 
Sir  Thomas  Norris  was  at  Killmallock, 
but  as  soon  as  the  confederates  entered 
the  county  of  Limerick  he  withdrew 
hastily  to  Cork.  James,  son  of  Thomas 
Roe,  joined  the  Confederate  army  in 
Connello,  and  they  proceeded  to  destroy 
the  settlements  of  the  English  under- 
takers who  occupied  the  lands  of  the 


O'Clery  turned  to  such  good  account  on  this  memora 
ble  occasion,  was  originally  intended  for  the  Danes, 
as  the  word  "Danair"  is  in  it  applied  to  the  foreign- 
ers. 


430 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


late  eavl  of  Desmond.  Their  castles 
and  houses  were  pulled  down,  their 
forms  desolated,  and  they  themselves 
— cast  out  naked — were  all  either 
slain  or  expelled ;  while,  as  our  annal- 
ists say,  the  spoils  were  so  great  that 
an  in-calf  cow  was  sold  for  sixpence,  a 
brood  mare  for  threepence,  and  the 
best  hog  for  one  penny,  in  the  Irish 
camp.  Ormond  marched  to  Killmal- 
lock,  where  he  was  joined  by  Norris ; 
but  the  Ii-ish  army  presented  so  formi- 
dable a  front  that  he  thought  it  well  to 
return  to  his  own  palatinate,  while  the 
president  retired  to  Mallow.  The  title 
of  earl  of  Desmond  was  conferred,  by 
the  authority  of  O'Neill,  on  James,  son 
of  Thomas  Roe;*  all  the  castles  of 
Desmond  were  I'ecovered  except  those 
of  Askeaton,  Castlemaine,  and  Mallow; 
and  matters  being  thus  advanced  in 
Muuster,  the  Leinster  and  Ulster  con- 
federates returned  home,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Tyrrell — who  remained  to 
organize  the  forces  of  the  newly-created 
earl.  Amon^:  those  who  had  now  risen 
in  arms  in  the  south  were  Patrick  Fitz- 
Maurice,  lord  of  Lixnaw ;  the  kuight 
of  Glynn ;  the  white  knight,  and  most 

*  This  James  is  better  known  by  the  title  of  the 
Sugane  (straw-rope)  earl,  contemptuously  applied  to  him 
by  his  enemies.  For  his  parentage,  tide  supra,  p.  396, 
n.  Cox  says,  he  was  "  the  handsomest  man  of  his 
time;"   but  Camden  calls  him,  "hominem  ohscanissi. 


of  the  other  Geraldines;  some  of  the 
MacCarthj's ;  the  O'Donohoes ;  the  Con- 
dons ;  Lord  Roche ;  Butler,  lord  of 
Mountgarrett,  who  had  married  a 
daughter  of  O'Neill;  Butler  of  Ca- 
hir,  and  other  members  of  that  fam- 

O'Donnell,  who  had  purchased  the 
castle  of  Ballymote  from  MacDonough 
of  Corran,  and  made  it  his  principal 
residence,f  proceeded  with  a  great  host- 
ing, at  the  close  of  the  year,  into  Clan- 
rickard,  slaying  several,  and  carrying  off 
immense  booty;  and  the  following 
spring  (1599)  he  made  an  incursion  on 
a  large  scale  into  Thomond,  and  swept 
away  such  enormous  spoils  that  the 
hills  of  Burren  were  black  with  the 
droves  of  cattle  which  were  driven  to 
the  north.  Thomond  was  at  that  time 
the  scene  of  intestine  broils  among  va- 
rious parties  of  the  O'Briens,  and  when 
O'Donnell  had  left,  Clifford  proceeded 
there  to  punish  those  who  had  given 
evidence  of  disloyalty.  The  earl  of 
Thomond,  who  had  returned  lately  from 
England,  also  came  with  some  ordnance 
from  Limerick,  and  iuflicted  vengeance 
on  the  obnoxious. 

\  The  price  paid  for  the  castle  was  £400  and  300 
cows,  and  Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  president  of  Connaught, 
was  bidding  for  it  in  opposition  to  O'Donnell.  For  thir- 
teen years  before  it  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  royal- 
ists,  and  it  is  curious  to  find  any  thing  like  a  commer- 
cial transaction  carried  on  vmder  the  circumstances. 


THE  EARL    OF  ESSEX  VICEROY. 


431 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


REIGN"    OF    ELIZABETH — CONCLUDED. 


The  Earl  of  Essex  Viceroy — His  incapacity — His  fruitless  erpedition  to  Monster. — O'Conor  Sligo  besieged  at  Col- 
loony. — Sir  Conyers  Clifford  marches  against  O'UonneU. — Total  defeat  of  the  English  at  the  Curlieu  mountains 
and  death  of  Clifford. — Esses  applies  for  reinforcements — His  march  to  the  Lagan — His  interview  with 
O'NeiU — His  departure  from  Ireland,  and  unhappy  fate. — O'Neill's  expedition  to  Monster. — Combat  and  death 
of  Hugh  Maguire  and  Sir  Warham  Sentleger. — Arrival  of  Lord  Moimtjoy  as  Deputy. — O'Neill  returns  to 
Ulster. — Presents  from  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spain. — Capture  of  Ormond  by  Owny  O'More. — Sir  George 
Carew  president  of  Miinster. — His  subtlety — His  plots  against  the  Sugane  Earl  and  his  brother. — Capture  of 
Glin  Castle  and  general  submission  of  Desmond. — Death  of  Owny  O'More. — Barbarous  desolation  of  the 
country  by  the  deputy. — The  son  of  the  late  earl  of  Desmond  sent  to  Ireland — Failure  of  his  mission. — Retri- 
bution on  a  traitor  (7iote). — Docwra's  expedition  to  Lough  Foyle. — Defections  from  the  Irish  ranks. — Preda- 
tory excursions  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell. — Mountjoy's  expeditions  against  O'NeiU. — Complicated  misfortunes 
of  the  Irish. — Niall  Garv  besieged  in  the  monastery  of  Donegal  by  Hugh  Roe. — Arrival  of  the  Spaniards 
at  Kinsale — They  are  besieged  by  Mountjoy  and  Carew. — Extraordinary  march  of  O'Donnell  and  mustering 
of  the  Irish  forces  to  assist  them. — Battle  of  Kinsale,  and  total  route  of  the  Irish  army. — Departure  of  Red  ' 
Hugh  O'Donnell  for  Spain. — Surrender  of  Kinsale,  and  departure  of  the  Spaniards. — Deplorable  state  of  the 
Irish. — Dreadful  famine. — Siege  of  Dunboy  Castle. — Flight  of  O'SuUevan. — Submission  of  O'Neill. — Death  of 
Elizabeth. 

(A.  D.  1599  TO  A.  D.  1C03.) 


TNVESTED  with  more  ample  powers, 
-^  and  endowed  with  a  more  splendid 
allowance  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
the  eai'l  of  Essex  landed  in  Ireland,  as 
lord  lieutenant,  on  the  15th  of  April, 
1599,  and  was  sworn  in  the  same  day. 
He  was  provided  with  an  army  of  20,000 
foot  and  2,000  horse — the  most  power- 
ful and  best  equipped  force  ever  sent 
into  this  country — and  his  instructions 
were  to  prosecute  the  war  strenuously 
against  the  Ulster  insurgents,  and  to 
plant  garrisons  at  Lough  Foyle  and 
Ballyshannon.  This  was,  indeed,  the 
course  which  he  himself  had  warmly 
advocated  in  those  discussions  at  the 
council-board,  in  one  of  which  his  dis- 


respectful manner  extracted  one  of  her 
habitual  oaths  and  a  box  from  the 
withered  hand  of  his  royal  mistress ; 
yet  these  commands,  however  explicit, 
and  however  obvious  the  end  to  be 
attained,  were,  through  some  unaccount- 
able infatuation,  -wholly  overlooked  by 
this  unfortunate  favorite  of  Elizabeth. 

Essex  issued  a  proclamation  on  his 
arrival,  offering  pardon  and  restoration  of 
their  propertj^  to  such  of  the  Irish  as  sub- 
mitted, but  very  few  availed  themselves 
of  the  projffered  favors.  He  sent  rein- 
forcements to  the  garrisons  of  Carrickfer- 
gus,  Newry,  Dundalk,  Drogheda,  Wick- 
low,  and  Naas ;  and  then  instead  of 
marching  with  the  main  body  of   his 


432 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


army  towards  Ulster,  lie  proceeded  to 
the  soutli  with  7,000  of  his  best  soldiers. 
He  was  repeatedly  attacked  along  the 
route  by  Owny*  O'More  and  the  other 
Leinster  Confederates;  and  in  one  of 
these  conflicts,  at  a  place  called  Bearna- 
na-gCleti,  or,  the  gap  or  defile  of  the 
feathers,  from  the  number  of  plumes 
collected  there  after  the  battle,  he  lost, 
according  to  O'Sullevan  Beare,  five  hun- 
dred men.  In  Ormond  Lord  Mount- 
sarrett  made  his  submission,  and  Essex 
then  besieged  the  castle  of  Cahir,  which 
was  held  by  another  of  the  insurgent 
Butlers,  and  was  surrendered  after  part 
of  the  building  had  been  demolished. 
Sir  Thomas  Norris,  president  of  Munster, 
.  while  waiting  for  the  viceroy,  at  Kil- 
raallock  exercised  his  men  in  forays 
against  the  Irish ;  but  in  one  of  these 
he  was  mortally  wounded  by  Thomas 
Burke,  brother  of  the  baron  of  Castle- 
connell,  and  died  a  few  weeks  after  at 
Mallow.f  Near  Limerick,  Essex,  who 
was  accompanied  on  this  expedition  by 
the  earl  of  Ormond,  was  joined  by  Sir 
Conyers  Clifford,  president  of  Con- 
uaught,  the  earls  of  Thomond  and 
Claurickard,  and  Douough  O'Conor 
Sligo.  Clifford  and  Clanrickard,  re- 
turned to  Counaught,  and  Essex  with 
the  other  commanders  marched  against 
the  Geraldines,  who  gave  them  a  warmer 
reception  than  was  antici2:)ated.  After 
some  hard  fighting,  in  his  second  day's 
march  from  Limerick,  the  viceroy 
pitched  his  camp  a  little  to  the  east  of 

*  The  Irish  name  XJaithno  is  Bometimcs  anglicized 
Anthony,  but  more  frequently  Owny. 


Askeaton ;  and  having  succeeded  in 
conveying  some  ammunition  to  that 
garrison,  he  was  again  attacked  in 
marching  to  Adare,  at  a  j^lace  called 
Finneterstown,  where  he  lost  several 
men,  among  others  Sir  Henry  Norris. 
Then,  without  even  attempting  any 
further  service  with  his  fine  array,  he 
returned  by  a  circuitous  route,  through 
Fermoy  and  Lismore,  into  Leinster; 
the  Geraldines  hovering  on  his  rear 
and  cutting  off  several  of  his  men 
in  the  early  part  of  the  march,  while 
the  Leinster  insurgents  were  equally 
unmerciful  to  him  iu  the  latter  portion 
of  it. 

O'Conor  Sligo,  on  returning  from 
Munster,  was  blockaded  iu  his  only 
remaining  castle  of  Coloony,  by  O'Don- 
nell,  and  Essex  directed  Sir  Conyers 
Clifford  to  hasten  with  all  his  available 
forces  to  relieve  him,  and  to  dispatch 
by  sea,  from  Galway,  materials  for  the 
construction  and  fortification  of  a  strong 
castle  at  Sligo,  to  defend  that  passage 
against  the  men  of  Tirconnell.  Cliftbrd 
proceeded  to  obey  these  orders,  and 
while  the  naval  expedition  sailed  round 
the  coast,  under  the  command  of  Theo- 
bald-na-long,  he,  himself,  with  a  well- 
appointed  army,  advanced  from  Ath- 
lone  towards  the  Curlieu  mountains, 
beyond  which  in  the  famous  pass  of  Bal 
laghboy,  Ked  Hugh  O'Donnell  awaited 
him,  with  such  men  as  he  could  spare, 
after  leaving  a  sufficient  force  under 
his  kinsman,  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell,  to 

•f  O'Sullevan  Beare  places  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas 
Norris  two  years  earlier. 


VICEROTALTY   OF  ESSEX. 


433 


continue     the     blockade    of     Coloony 
castle. 

The  eve  of  the  15th  of  August  was 
passed  by  Red  Hugli  in  fasting  and 
prayer,  and  on  the  morning  of  that 
festival  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  mass 
was  celebrated  in  the  Irish  camp,  and 
the  Holy  Communion  administered  to 
O'Donnell  and  several  of  his  men.  The 
day  was  already  far  advanced  when 
the  Irish  scouts  from  the  hill-tops 
signalled  the  approach  of  the  royal 
army  from  the  abbey  of  Boyle,  where 
it  had  encamped  the  previous  night; 
and  O'Donnell  having  addressed  his 
people  in  a  few  spirit-stirring  words, 
invoking  all  the  religious  ideas  which 
the  occasion  suggested,  to  encourage 
them,  sent  the  youngest  and  most  ath- 
letic of  his  men,  armed  with  javelins, 
bows,  and  muskets,  to  attack  the  enemy 
as  soon  as  they  should  reach  the  rugged 
part  of  the  mountain,  the  way  having 
been  already  impeded  by  felled  trees 
and  other  obstructions ;  while  he  him- 
self followed  with  the  remainder  of  his 
small  force,  marching  with  a  steady 
pace,  and  more  heavily  armed  for  close 
fighting.  The  English  say  that  Sir 
Conyers  Cliftbrd  was  deceived  and  did 
not  expect  any  resistance  here ;  but, 
that  a  quarter  of  a  mile  before  he  en- 
tered the  defile  he  found  a  barricade 
defended  by  some  of  the  Irish,  who  ran 
as  soon  as  they  discharged  their  javelins 
and  other  missiles.     The  English  army 

*  O'SuUevan  probably  exaggerates  the  loss  of  tbe 
queen's  forces,  althougb  Fynes  Moryson,  who  passes 
very  lightly  over  this  battle,  decidedly  underrates  it 
55 


continued  to  advance  in  a  solid  column 
by  a  road  which  permitted  twelve  men 
to  march  abreast,  and  which  led  through 
a  small  wood,  and  then  through  some 
bogs,  where  the  L'ish  made  their  prin- 
cipal stand.  It  is  clear  that  the  latter 
behaved  with  desperate  bravery  fi-om 
the  outset.  Their  musketeers  were  few, 
but  they  made  up  for  the  smallness  of 
their  number  by  the  steadiness  of  their 
aim.  Several  English  ofiicers  fell,  and 
the  Irish  fought  with  such  fury  that  the 
English  leaders  had  great  difficulty  in 
bringing  their  men  to  the  charge.  Sir 
Alexander  Eadcliff  was  slain  early  in 
in  the  fight,  and  the  English  vanguard 
was  soon  after  thrown  into  such  disor- 
der that  it  fell  back  upon  the  centre, 
and  in  a  little  while  the  whole  army 
was  flying  panic-stricken  from  the  field. 
Indignant  at  the  ignominious  retreat  of 
his  troops.  Sir  Conyers  Cliflford  refused 
to  join  the  flying  throng,  and  breaking 
from  those  who  would  have  forced  him 
from  the  field,  even  after  he  was  wound- 
ed, he  sought  his  death  from  the  foe. 
The  Four  Masters  say  he  was  killed  by 
a  musket  ball,  but  according  to  O'Sul- 
levan  Beare  and  Dymmock,  he  was 
pierced  through  the  body  with  a  spear. 
O'Rourke,  who  was  encamped  to  the 
east  of  the  Curlieus,  arrived  with  his 
hosting  in  time  to  join  in  the  pursuit 
and  slaughter  of  the  queen's  army,  which 
lost,  according  to  O'Sullevan,  1,400 
men  ;*  the  English  and  the  Anglo-Irish 


Tvhen  he  says  that  the  English  lost  only  120  men.  John 
Dymmock,  a  contemporary  ■writer,  in  his  "  Brief  Rela- 
tion of  the  Defeat  in  the  CorleuB,"  Btatea  that  besidee 


434 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


of  Meatb  having  suffered  most,  as  the 
Gonnaught  royalists  Avere  better  able 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  nature  of  the 
country  in  the  flight.  The  body  of 
Cliftbrd  was  recognized,  after  the  battle, 
by  O'Rourke,  and  his  death  excited  a 
feeling  of  regret  among  the  Irish,  who 
esteemed  him  for  his  exalted  principles 
of  honor  and  humanity.  His  decapi- 
tated body  was  sent  to  be  honorably 
interred  in  the  old  monastery  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  in  Lough  Key,  and  his 
head  was  taken  to  Coloony,  and  shown 
to  O'Conor,  who,  on  receiving  this  evi- 
dence of  the  failure  of  his  friends  to 
relieve  him,  surrendered  his  castle  to 
O'Donnell,  who  magnanimously  restored 
his  lands  to  the  fallen  chief,  together 
with  cattle  to  stock  them.  Red  Hugh 
and  his  late  foe  seemed  now  to  be 
on  friendly  terms,  and  Theobald-na- 
long,  before  returning  with  his  fleet  to 
Galway,  also  made  peace  with  the 
triumphant  chief  of  Tirconuell. 

Essex  had  been  writing  to  Elizabeth 
reports  of  his  experience  in  the  aflfiiirs 
of  Ireland  which  quite  exhausted  her 
patience.  She  was  amazed  at  the  inca- 
pacity and  infatuation  which  he  mani- 
fested ;  and  his  enemies,  who  were 
numerous  in  the  council,  and  who  had 
originally  encouraged  his  appointment 

the  officers,  there  were  slain  two  hundred  men,  whom 
he  calls  "  base  and  cowardlye  raskalls"  because  they 
ran  from  the  Irish. — See  Irish  Archaeological  Society's 
Tracts  for  1843.  Dymmock  adds  that  the  rest  of  the 
royal  army  would  have  inevitably  perished  had  not  Sir 
GrifEn  Markham  charged  the  pursuers  with  Lord  South- 
ampton's cavalry,  and  thus  covered  the  retreat  to  Bojle 
Abbey.  The  English,  according  to  their  own  accounts, 
brought  2,100  men  into  the  field,  under  twenty-five  en- 


to  the  government  of  Ireland    iu    the 
hope  that  it  would  lead  to  his  destruc- 
tion, besides   removing  him  from  the 
court,  where  his  personal  influence  with 
the  queen  was  so  powerful,  now  secretly 
rejoiced  at  every  fresh  evidence  of  his 
folly.     His  splendid  army  was  wasted 
away  to  a  few  thousand  men,  and  he 
wrote   to   England   for   two   thousand 
fresh  troops,  without  which  he  said  he 
could  take  no  step  against  the  Ulster 
chiefs.    The  reinforcement  he  demanded 
came,  and  he  then  wrote  over  to  say  he 
could  do  no  more  that  year  than  march 
to  the  frontier  of  Ulster  with  1,300  foot 
and  300  horse.     When   Essex  arrived 
at  the  Lagan,  where  it  bounds  Louth 
and  Monaghan,  O'Neill  ajjpeared  with 
his  forces  on  the  opposite  hills.     The 
chief  of  Tyrone  sent  OTIagan   to    de- 
mand a  conference,  which  the  aspiring 
viceroy  at  first  refused   but  next  day 
consented  to   grant.     This    memorable 
meeting  took  place  at  Ballyclinch,  now 
Anaghclart-bridge,  on  the  Lagan.   Essex 
cautiously  sent  persons  first  to  explore 
the  place,  and  then  posting  some  cavalry 
on  a  rising  ground  at  hand,  rode  alone 
to  the  bank  of  the  river.     O'Neill  ap- 
proached  unattended  on  the    opposite 
side,    and    urging   his    steed   into   the 
stream,  up  to  the  saddle-girths,  saluted 


signs,  and  lost  all  their  mUitary  stores,  and  nearly  aU 
their  arms,  colors,  &c.  The  Irish,  whose  loss  is  stated 
by  O'Sullcvan  to  have  been  only  140  killed  and  wounded, 
gave  thanks  to  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  attributing 
their  victory,  with  such  inequality  of  numbers  and 
equipments,  to  the  special  intervention  of  heaven. — See 
O'Sullevan's  Hist.  Cath.,  torn.  3  lib.  5,  c.  x. ;  Cucogry 
celery's  Life  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  MS. ;  and  notes 
to  the  Fuur  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  2124,  &c. 


O'NEILL'S  EXPEDITION   TO   MUNSTER. 


435 


the  viceroy,  says  Camden,  witli  great 
respect.  The  interview  lasted  nearly 
an  hour  without  witnesses,  and  it  has 
been  generally  supposed  that  during 
that  time  O'Neill,  who  possessed  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  character,  was  able 
to  make  on  the  mind  of  the  vain  and 
ambitious  Essex  an  impression  by  no 
means  favorable  to  English  interests. 
The  meeting  was  then,  after  a  pause, 
resumed,  with  the  addition  of  six  lead- 
ing men  on  each  side ;  and  the  result 
was  a  truce  until  the  1st  of  the  ensuing 
May,  with  a  clause  that  either  party 
might  at  any  time  renew  the  war,  after 
a  fortnight's  notice.  It  is  evident  that 
O'Neill's  tone  at  the  meeting  was  higher 
and  more  decisive  than  English  writers 
pretend,  for  he  demanded  tha"t  the 
Catholic  religion  be  tolerated  ;  that  the 
principal  oflScers  of  state  and  the  judges 
should  be  natives  of  Ireland ;  that  he 
himself,  O'Donnell,  and  the  earl  of  Des- 
mond (whom  O'Neill  had  created) 
should  enjoy  the  lands  of  their  ances- 
tor ;  and  that  half  the  army  in  Ireland 
should  consist  of  Irishmen. 

This  conference  hastened  the  down- 
fall of  Essex.  He  left  Ireland  suddenly, 
and  without  permission,  to  explain  his 
conduct,  and  on  presenting  himself 
before    the    queen   was    thrown    into 


*Essex  appears  to  have  been  more  tolerant  to  the 
Irish  Catholics  than  his  predecessors.  He  allowed  the 
public  celebration  of  mass  in  chapels  and  other  houses, 
although  not  in  the  parish  churches.  He  also  conferred 
honors  on  some  Catholics,  and  liberated  some  priests 
from  prison ;  such  being  the  extent,  of  the  toleration 
granted  to  Catholics  in  return  for  the  loyalty  displayed 
oy  so  many  of  them  who  fought  under  the  standard  of 


prison.  His  subsequent  proceedings — 
his  insane  attempt  to  cause  a  popular 
outbreak,  his  trial,  his  execution  in  the 
tower  on  the  25th  of  February,  1601, 
and  Elizabeth's  remorse  and  sorrow,  are 
familiar  to  every  reader  of  English 
history.* 

A.D.  1600. — In  the  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  its  native  princes,  Ulster  had 
now  enjoyed  some  years  of  internal 
peace,  and  O'Neill  resolved  to  make  a 
journey  to  the  south,  that  he  might  as- 
certain, by  his  own  observation,  what 
were  the  hopes  and  prospects  of  the 
country.  For  this  purpose,  having  left 
g/irrisons  at  the  principal  points  along 
his  own  frontier,  he  set  out  in  January 
with  a  force  of  nearly  3,000  men.  He 
marched  through  Westmeath,  wasting, 
as  he  passed,  the  lands  of  Lord  Delvin 
and  Theobald  Dillon,  till  their  owners 
submitted  to  him.  He  next  ravaged 
the  territory  of  O'Carroll  of  Ely,  to 
punish  him  for  the  base  murder  of  some 
of  the  MacMahons,  of  Oriel,  whom  he 
had  slain,  after  inviting  them  into  his 
service  as  soldiers.  He  then  continued 
his  march  by  Roscrea  and  the  present 
Templemore,  to  the  abbey  of  Holy 
Cross,  where  the  sacred  relic,  whence 
that  monastery  took  its  name,  was 
brought   forth    and  venerated   by  the 


Elizabeth.  See  primate  Lombard's  Comir.eniaria,  p.  413, 
&c.,  and  O'Sullevan'a  Mst.  Cath.,  p.  30G,  note,  ed.  1850. 
Captain  Thomas  Lee,  who  wrote  in  lo9-l  "  a  brief  declar- 
ation of  the  government  of.  Ireland,"  &c.,  became  a  de- 
voted partisan  of  the  earl  of  Essex,  and  was  implicated 
in  some  of  the  insane  plots  of  that  nobleman  after  hia 
departure  from  Ireland,  for  which  te  was  arsested  in 
the  palace,  tried,  and  hanged  at  Tyburn. 


436 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


northern  cliief  and  Lis  army ;  O'Neill 
presenting  many  I'icb  gifts  to  the  monks, 
and  extending  his  protection  to  the 
lands  of  the  abbey.  The  earl  of  Or- 
moud,  at  the  head  of  the  royal  army, 
approached  O'Neill  in  his  passage 
through  Eliogarty,  but  avoided  a  colli- 
sion. At  Cashel  James  FitzThomas, 
whom  he  had  created  earl  of  Desmond, 
joined  O'Neill  with  some  men,  and' 
accompanied  him  through  the  county 
of  Limerick,  into  Cork,  by  the  pass  of 
Beai-ua-dhearg,  or  Red  Chair.  O'Neill 
laid  waste  the  lands  of  the  loyalist  lord 
Barry,  but  those  of  the  Roches,  and 
other  friendly  families,  were  respected ; 
and,  in  the  beginning  of  March  he  en- 
camped at  Inishcarra,  between  the  rivers 
Lee  and  Bandon,  about  eight  miles  from 
Cork ;  where  he  remained  twenty  days, 
during  which  Florence  MacCarthy,  of 
Carberry,  together  with  the  O'Dono- 
hoes,  O'Donovans,  Donnell  O'SuUevan 
Beare,  the  O'Mahonys,  and  others, 
either  submitted  and  paid  homage  to 
him  in  person,  as  our  annalists  say,  or 
sent  tokens  of  submission  and  presents. 
While  O'Neill  was  thus  encamped  at 
Inishcarra  it  happened  that  one  of  his 
most  valiant  warriors,  Hugh  Maguire, 
while  exploring  the  country,  accompa- 
nied only  by  a  priest  and  two  horsemen 
named  MacCaftry  and  O'Durneen,  met 
Sir  Warham  Sentleger,  president  of 
Munster,  riding  in  advance  of  a  party 


*  Such  is  tlie  account  given  by  O'SuUevan  Beare  of 
this  encounter.  The  English  say  the  meeting  was  acci- 
dental ;  but  the  Irish  assert  that  Sentleger  had  informa- 
tion that  Maguixe  was  attended  only  by  a  small  party. 


of  sixty  horse.  Maguire  was  renowned 
among  the  Irish  for  his  prowess  and 
skill  as  a  champion,  and  Sir  Warham 
enjoyed  the  same  reputation  among  the 
English.  Not  dismayed  by  the  number 
of  the  enemy,  the  Irish  chief,  poising 
his  sjiear,  spurred  his  horse  towards 
Sentleger,  but  the  latter  fired  a  pistol 
and  wounded  him  mortally  as  he  ap- 
proached. Maguire  still  urged  his 
horse  onward,  and  transfixed  Sentleger 
with  his  spear,  while  the  latter  exposed 
himself  by  turning  his  head  to  avoid 
the  blow.  Then,  leaving  the  weapon 
in  the  body  of  his  antagonist,  he  drew 
his  sword  and  fought  his  way  through 
the  English  cavalry,  returning  to  the 
camp  of  O'Neill,  where  he  expired,  after 
receivino:  the  last  sacraments  from  the 
intrepid  priest  who  had  witnessed  the 
struggle.  Sentleger  survived  the  com- 
bat only  a  few  days.* 

The  death  of  Maguire,  and  the  news 
that  a  new  viceroy  was  marching  against 
him  from  Dublin,  determined  O'Neill 
to  withdraw  rather  precipitately  from 
Munster.  The  new  English  governor 
was  Sir  Charles  Blunt,  Lord  Mountjoy, 
who  arrived  at  Howth,  with  the  title  of 
lord  deputy,  on  the  24:th  of  February. 
He  was  known  to  Elizabeth  as  a  man 
of  prudence  and  experience,  and  had 
been  designed  by  her  for  the  ofiice 
before  she  made  the  imprudent  choice 
of  her  favorite  Essex.     Mountjoy  was 


and,  therefore,  had  come  out  from  Cork  Tvith  the  design 
of  cutting  off  the  Irish  warrior.  Compare  the  Pacata 
Sibcrnia  with  the  Four  Masters,  and  O'Sullevan's  Sist. 
Cath. 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  EARL  OF  ORMOND. 


437. 


accompanied  by  Sir  Geoi-ge  Carew,  or 
Carey,  soon  after  appointed  to  succeed 
Sir  Warham  Sentleger  as  president  of 
Munster;  and,  while  the  earls  of  Or- 
mond  and  Thomond  guarded  the  passes 
near  Limerick  and  west  of  the  Shannon, 
he  thought  he  should  find  it  easy  to  cut 
off  O'Neill's  retreat  to  Ulster.  In  this, 
however,  he  was  mistaken.  Notwith- 
standing the  precautions  taken  to  inter- 
cept his  march,  O'Neill  arrived  in  Ty- 
rone without  meeting  the  slightest  ob- 
stacle, havinsr  left  some  forces  with 
Dermot  O'Conor  Don  and  Redmond 
Burke  to  aid  the  earl  of  Desmond  in 
carrying  on  the  war  in  Muster.  O'Neill's 
position  was  now,  in  sofflS*tespects,  that 
of  uncrowned  king  of  Ireland.  The 
fame  of  his  victory  at  the  Blackwater 
had  spread  throughout  the  continent, 
and  had  given  the  best  contradiction  to 
the  false  i-eports  industriously  circulated 
by  the  English  government,  of  the  total 
subjugation  of  the  Irish.  Matthew  of 
Oviedo,  a  Spaniard,  who  had  been 
named  archbishop  of  Dublin  by  the 
Pope,  brought  from  the  holy  father  iu- 
dulsjences  to  all  those  who  had  fought 
for  the  Catholic  faith  in  Ireland,  and  to 
O'Neill  himself  a  crown  of  phoenix 
feathers :  while  from  Philip  III.,  who 
had  succeeded  Philip  II.,  as  king  of 
Spain,  in  1598,  he  brought  a  sum  of 
22,000  golden  pieces  to  pay  the  Irish 
soldiers.* 


*  The  letter  of  Qemeiit  Vm.  to  O'Neill  is  dated  Rome, 
April  16tli,  IGOO,  and  could  not  liare  been  conveyed  to 
him  by  Matthew  of  Oviedo  until  some  time  after  his  re- 
turn from  the  Munster  expedition ;  but  a  Spanish  captain 


Meantime,  Owny  O'More  fought  with 
great  bravery  and  frequent  success, 
against  the  royal  troops,  in  defence  of 
his  ancestral  territory  of  Leix.  Ormond 
came  to  a  conference  with  him  a  few 
miles  from  Kilkenny,  and  was  attended, 
at  the  interview,  by  the  earl  of  Tho- 
mond and  Sir  George  Carew.  Father 
James  Archer,  an  Irish  Jesuit,  famous 
for  his  heroic  zeal  in  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion and  his  country,  accompanied 
O'More,  and  entered  into  an  animated 
discussion  with  Ormond.  They  spoke 
in  English,  and  as  their  words  were 
warm,  the  earl  calling  the  father  a 
traitor,  while  the  latter,  who  was  old 
and  unarmed,  emphatically  raised  his 
cane,  a  young  man  named  Melaghlin 
O'More,  dreading,  perhaps,  some  vio- 
lence to  the  priest,  rushed  forward  and 
seized  the  reins  of  the  earl's  horse, 
and,  almost  at  the  same  moment,  one 
or  two  other  Irishmen  pulled  the  earl 
from  his  saddle.  The  earl  of  Thomond 
and  Sir  George  Carew  immediately 
put  spurs  to  their  steeds,  and  getting 
clear  of  the  throng  which  gathered 
around,  escaj)ed  to  Kilkenny ;  but,  in 
the  melee  which  took  place,  one  man  was 
slain  on  each  side,  and  fourteen  of  Or- 
mond's  people  made  prisoners.  The 
Irish  accounts  do  not  intimate  that  the 
affair  was  premeditated,  while  the  Eng- 
lish not  only  assert  that  it  was,  but 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  it  ^as 


had  arrived,  with  two  ships,  immediately  after  O'Neill's 
conference  with  Esses.  Cerda,  or  Lerda,  another  envoy 
from  the  king  of  Spain,  arrived  in  the  beginning  of  1C03. 
Lombard,  p.  452  ;  O'Sullimn  p.  213,  n.    It  is  possible 


438 


REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 


pre-arranged  with  Ormond  himself. 
The  earl  appears  to  have  acted  rashly, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  suggest  any  rea- 
sonable object  he  could  have  in  surren- 
derinc:  himself  to  the  Irish.  He  re- 
maiued  in  their  hands  from  the  10th  of 
April,  the  day  of  the  meeting,  until  the 
12th  of  J.une,  when  he  was  set  at  lib- 
erty at  the  desire  of  O'Neill,  to  whom 
the  countess  of  Ormond  applied  for  his 
liberation ;  and  Mountjoy,  who  was 
jealous  that  the  military  command  had 
not  been  withdrawn  from  Ormond, 
would,  probably,  have  been  well  pleased 
had  he  remained  a  captive.* 

Sir  George  Carew  prided  himself  on 
his  powers  of  "  wit  and  cunning."  In 
the  "  Pacata  Hibernia,"  he  or  his  secre- 
tary, Stafford,  has  left  us  many  curious 
and  frightful  examples  of  his  subtlety. 
Indeed,  craft  and  treachery  seem  to 
have  been  in  such  constant  requisition 
on  the  royal  side  in  these  wars,  that  we 
can  set  but  little  value  on  any  charges 
made  against  the  Irish  of  employing 
the  same  unworthy  weapons.  Some  of 
Carew's  refined  strokes  of  policy  now 
present  themselves.  Dermot  O'Conor, 
who  has  been  already  mentioned,  and 
who  commanded  1,400  bonnaught^nen, 
or  mercenary  soldiers,  chiefly  from  Con- 
naught,  in  the  service  of  James  Fitz- 
Thomas,  whom  we  may  here  designate 


that  the  present  called  the  phcEnix  feather  was  simi- 
lar to  that  sent  by  a  former  pontiflf  to  Prince  John, 
on  his  being  made  nominal  king  of  Ireland.  Vide 
supra,  p.  230,  n. 

*  The  Four  Masters  say  the  capture  of  Ormond  took 
place  at  Ballyragget  (Bel-atha-Raghat) ;  and,  in  the 
Pueata  Jlibeniia,   the  place  is  called   Corronnedufie. 


by  his  popular  though  derisive  title  of 
the  "sugane  earl,"  was  married  to  Mar- 
gai-et,  daughter  of  the  late  unfortunate 
earl  of  Desmond.  This  lady  naturally 
dislilvcd  the  sugane  earl  as  the  usurper 
of  her  brother's  rights.  To  her,  there- 
forp,  the  lord  president  proposed,  chief- 
ly through  the  agency  of  Miler  Ma- 
grath,  the  Protestant  archbishop  of 
Cashel,  that  her  husband  should  take 
the  sugane  earl  prisoner,  and  deliver 
him  into  his  (the  president's)  hands, 
for  which  act  a  sum  of  £1,000  and  a 
commission  in  the  queen's  pay  would 
be  his  reward.  Other  conditions  flat- 
terinof  to  her  and  her  brother,  who 
from  his  chiWhyod  had  been  in  the 
queen's  custody  in  London,  were  added, 
and  the  Lady  Margaret  prevailed  upon 
her  husband  to  accept  the  lord  presi 
dent's  projiosition.  About  the  same 
time,  a  miscreant  named  Nugent,  who 
had  first  been  servant  to  Sir  Thomas 
Norris,  and  had  then  turned  over  to 
the  insurgents,  presented  himself  to 
Carew,  and  offered,  as  the  price  of  his 
pardon,  to  assassinate  either  the'  sugane 
earl  or  his  brother  John.  A  plot  hav- 
ing been  already  laid  against  the  former, 
Nugent  was  instructed  tojnurder  John ; 
but  when  in  the  act  of  Tevelling  his 
pistol  at  John's  back,  he  was  seized, 
and  being  sentenced  by  the  Irish  lead- 


See  in  the  latter  work,  lib.  i.,  c.  iii.,  the  joint  account  of 
the  affair  given  by  Carew  and  the  earl  of  Thomond  ; 
also,  O'SuUovan's  Hist.  Oat/i.,  torn,  iii.,  lib.  v.,  c.  viii.,  p.  ; 
Lombard's  Comment,  pp.  436,  &c. ;  and  Ledwich,  p. 
275,  2d  ed. 

Ormond  gave   sixteen  hostages   for  the  payment  of 
£3,000,  should  he  seek  any  retaliation. 


DEATH  OF  OWXY  O'MORE. 


439 


ers  to  die,  he  confessed  his  design,  add- 
ing that  the  president  had  hired  several 
others,  who  were  sworn  to  commit  the 
deed.  Carew  then  proceeded  to  carry 
out  his  scheme  against  the  sugane  earl. 
He  dispersed  his  troops  among  differ- 
ent garrisons,  to  give  the  Irish  confi- 
dence, and  then  wrote  a  feigned  letter 
to  his  intended  victim,  implying  that 
an  understanding  existed  between  them, 
and  that  there  was  a  plan  which  he 
urged  him  to  execute  for  delivering  up 
Dermot  O'Conor  dead  or  alive  !  This 
letter  was  conveyed  to  Dermot,  who 
pretended  that  he  hiicl"  intercepted  it, 
and  made  it  a  pretexffo  seize  the  su- 
gane earl,  after  employing  some  inge- 
nious excuses  to  separate  him  from  his 
followers.  This  was  effected  on  the 
18lh  of  June.  Dermot  arrested  the 
sugane  earl  in  the  name  of  O'Neill; 
produced:  the  counterfeit  correspon- 
dence ;  and  charged  the  earl  and  his 
brother  John  with  treason  to  the  Cath- 
olic cause.  He  then  imprisoned  his 
captive  in  Castlelishin,*  and  sent  intel- 
ligence of  his  success  to  Carew,  adding 
that  he  was  ready  to  deliver  to  him 
James  FitzThomas  as  soon  as  he  was 
paid  the  stipulated  reward.  However, 
'^before  this  part  of  the  dastardly  scheme 
could  be  executed,  John  FitzThomas 
and  Fierce  Lacy,  penetrating  O'Conor's 
baseness,  mustered  4,000  men  and  res- 
cued the  sugane  earl ;  whereupon  O'Con- 
or was  obliged  to  withdraw  with  his 

*  In  the  tovmland  of  Castle-Isllin,  parish  of  Knock- 
temple,  connty  of  Cork,  not  far  from  the  borders  of  the 
county  of  Limerick. — Four  Masters,  p.  217?.,  note. 


provincials  into  his  own  country.  Thus 
the  plan  foiled  in  its  primary  object, 
but  it  had  the  effect  of  breaking  up 
the  confederacy  which  O'Neill  had  es- 
tablished in  Munster.f 

Early  in  July  the  castle  of  Glin,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Shannon,  was  taken 
after  an  obstinate  defence,  and  the  gar- 
rison put  to  the  sword,  by  Sir  George 
Carew  and  the  earl  of  Thomond,  who 
marched  on  the  Clare  side  of  the 
river  from  Limerick,  and  crossing  at 
a  convenient  point  attacked  the  castle 
with  ordnance  conveyed  by  shipping. 
O'Connor  Kerry  then  surrendered  his 
castle  of  Carriagafoyle,  and  the  popula- 
tion of  Desmond  in  general  having  fled 
to  the  woods  and  mountains,  the  presi- 
dent planted  garrisons  in  their  castles 
and  returned  with  the  earl  of  Thomond 
to  Limerick;  while  in  a  short  time  the 
sugane  earl  found  himself  abandoned 
by  the  great  bulk  of  his  followers, 
who  made  their  submission  to  govern- 
ment. 

During  this  time  Lord  INIountjoy  was 
engaged  in  making  some  incursions  to 
the  borders  of  Tyrone,  and  in  carrying 
on  a  war  of  extermination  against  the 
people  of  Leix,  who,  under  their  brave 
chieftain,  Owny  O'More,  had  recovered 
all  their  ancestral  possessions  except 
Port-Leix,  or  Maryborough ;  but  the 
intrepid  Ownj',  having  exposed  himself 
incautiously,  was  killed  by  a  musket- 
shot,  on  the  17th  of  August,  and  Leix 


f  See  aU  the  details  of  these  base  plans  related  with 
shameless  parade  in  the  Pacato  Sibernia,  pp.  65,91, 
97,  193,  ed.  1810. 


440 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


fell  once  more  into  the  hands  of  the 
invaders.* 

Elizabeth's  wily  secretary,  Cecil,  be- 
thought himself  of  a  plan  to  render  the 
youthful  James,  son  of  Gerald,  earl  of 
Desmond,  useful  in  the  present  Irish 
wai'.  For  this  purpose  it  was  resolved 
that  he  should  be  released  from  his 
captivity  for  a  space,  and  sent  over  to 
Ireland,  apparent!}^,  but  not  really,  re- 
stored to  his  title  and  inheritance,  in 
order  to  draw  off  the  followers  of  his 
house  from  the  usurper,  James  Fitz- 
Thomas.  Great  precaution  was  em- 
ployed. A  letter  was  written  in  the 
queen's  name  to  Sir  George  Carew,  to 
whom  also  were  sent  the  patents  for 
the  young  earl's  restoration,  to  be  used 
only  as  might  be  found  expedient. 
Reports  of  the  expected  arrival  of  the 
Geraldine  were  circulated ;  a  servant 
wearing  the  well-known  livery  of  the 
family  was  sent  through  the  country 
with  the  news ;  and  at  length,  on  the 
14th  of  October,  the  young  earl  landed 
at  Youghal,  attended  by  a  Captain 
Price,  who  was  directed  to  watch  all 
his  movements,  and  to  report  careful- 
ly every  circumstance  to  government. 
From  Youghal  he  proceeded  to  Mallow, 

*  We  are  told  by  Fynes  Moryson,  -wlio  was  Mount- 
joy's  secretary,  that  -when  tlie  government  troojis  pene- 
trated into  Leix,  on  this  occasion,  they  found  the  land 
weU  manured,  the  fields  well  fenced,  the  towns  populous, 
and  the  roads  and  pathways  well  beaten,  so  that  it 
seemed  incredible,  as  he  insolently  observes,  that  this 
should  have  been  done  "  by  so  barbarous  inhabitants ;" 
and  he  adds,  "  the  reason  whereof  was,  that  the  queen's 
forces,  during  these  wars,  never,  till  then,  came  amongst 
them."  They  came,  alas !  soon  enough,  for  the  same 
historian  tells  us,  "  our  captains,  and  by  their  example, 
the  common  soldiers,  did  cut  down  with  their  sword  all 


where  he  was  met  by  the  lord  presi- 
dent, Carew;  and  thence  accompanied 
by  Miler  Magrath  and  Master  Boyle — 
then  clerk  of  the  council,  and  after- 
wards the  great  earl  of  Cork — he  went 
to  Kilmallock,  whither  the  people 
flocked  in  great  multitudes,  not  only 
filling  the  streets  and  the  windows,  but 
the  very  roofs  of  the  houses,  to  greet 
the  heir  of  ancient  Desmond.  It  re- 
quired the  efforts  of  a  guard  of  soldiers 
to  make  a  passage  for  him  through  the 
crowd ;  but  this  popular  enthusiasm 
was  soon  rudely  checked.  The  next 
morning  being  Sfinday,  the  young  earl, 
who  was  educated  in  the  religion  of 
the  State,  went  to  the  Protestant  ser- 
vice; numbers,  Avho  met  him  on  the 
way,  imjilored  him  in  Irish,  not  to 
desert  the  faith  of  his  fathers ;  but  the 
sad  truth  now  broke  upon  them — the 
son  of  the  earl  of  Desmond  was  a  rene- 
gade, and  those  who  saluted  him  with 
reverence  and  affection  the  day  before, 
groaned  and  reviled  him  as  he  returned 
from  the  Protestant  church.  Shunned 
by  the  people,  the  unhajipy  youth,  be- 
ing useless  to  his  emjjloyers,  was  recalled 
to  his  London  exile,  where  he  sunk  into 
the  grave  a  few  months  after.f 


the  rebels'  corn,  to  the  value  of  £10,000  and  upwards 
the  only  means  by  which  they  were  to  live."  Who 
were  the  barbarians  in  this  instance  1 — the  men  who,  in 
a  few  short  years  of  precarious  security,  gave  such  evi- 
dence of  industry  and  progress,  or  Mountjoy's  soldiers  ? 
About  tliis  time  the  same  viceroy  invaded  OfFaly,  and 
with  a  kind  of  harrows  called  pracas,  constructed  with 
long  pins,  tore  up  from  the  roots  all  the  unripe  corn,  and 
thus  prepared  the  way  for  one  of  the  most  horrible  fam- 
ines which  ever  visited  this  unhappy  country. — See  Four 
Musters,  vol.  vi.,  p.  3187. 

f  The  yoimg  earl  of  Desmond  got  possession  of  Castle- 


DOCWEA'S  EXPEDITION  TO  LOUGH  FOYLE. 


441 


"We  have  now  to  go  back  a  little,  in 
point  of  time,  in  order  to  trace  the 
progress  of  events  in  Ulster.  On  the 
16th  of  May  a  fleet  arrived  in  Lough 
Foyle  from  England,  having  touched, 
in  its  passage,  at  Carrickfei-gus,  to  take 
up  some  troops  that  had  marched  from 
Dublin.  This  fleet  conveyed  an  army 
of  4,000  foot  and  200  horse,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Henry  Doc\vra,  to- 
gether with  large  supplies  of  military 
stores,  building  materials,  and  other 
necessaries.  The  troops  disembarked  at 
C'ulmore,  on  the  Donegal  side  of  the 
bay,  and  constructed  a  fort  there,  in 
which  Captain  Lancelot  Atford  was 
left  with  six  hundred  men ;  and  after 
visiting  Ellogh,  or  Aileach,  where  Cap- 
tain Ellis  Flood  was  placed  with  150 
men.  Sir  Henry  marched  on  the  22d  to 
Derry,  where  he  resolved  to  erect  two 
forts,  and  to  make  a  chief  plantation. 
His  buildings  were  constructed  chiefly 
from  the  materials  of  the  ancient 
churches  which  he  found  there,  and  of 
the  monastery  of  St.  Columbkille.  Lord 

maine  for  the  president  tlirouglj  liia  iufluence  witli  the 
warders,  but  this  was  the  only  service  which  lie  was 
able  to  perform  ;  and  Listowel,  the  last  castle  held  for 
the  Bugane  earl,  was  taken  by  Sir  Charles  Wilmot,  in 
November.  See  Paeata  Hib.  b.  i.,  c.  xvi.  Connected 
with  this  visit  of  the  young  earl  to  Irt4and,  we  find  a 
remarkable  instance  of  retribution  in  the  case  of  the 
traitor  Dermot  O'Conor  Don.  O'Conor  being  married 
to  the  sister  of  the  young  earl  of  Desmond,  wished  to 
visit  his  brother-in-law  on  his  arrival  in  Munstcr,  and 
for  this  purpose  procured  safe-conducts  from  the  lord 
deputy  and  from  Sir  George  Carew.  Thus  prepared, 
and  accompanied  by  an  escort  of  armed  men,  he  set  out 
from  the  country  of  O'Conor  Roe  ;  but  in  his  route  to- 
wards Thomond,  he  was  attaclsed  near  Gort,  in  the 
county  of  Galway,  by  Theobald-na-long,  who  had  the 
''-ommand  of  a  hundred  men  in  the  queen's  pay.  Der- 
moi  and  his  party  sought  refuge  in  a  church,  but  Theo- 
56 


Mouutjoy  made  a  feint  of  entering  Ty- 
rone by  the  Blackwater,  and  thus  drew 
oflf  the  attention  of  O'Neill  and  O'Don- 
nell,  until  Docwra's  expedition  had 
secured  the  required  ground,  when  the 
deputy  returned  to  Dublin,*  and  the 
L-ish  chiefs  hastened  to  attack  the  in- 
vaders at  Lough  Foyle.  The  latter  only 
stood  on  the  defensive,  and,  having 
intrenched  themselves  behind  strong 
works,  were  able  to  resist  the  assaults 
of  the  L-ish  with  little  loss.  A  jsart  of 
the  original  plan  Avas,  that  one  thou- 
sand foot  and  fifty  horse,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Mathew  Morgan, 
should  be  detached  from  the  expedition 
and  sail  to  Ballyshannon,  to  form  an- 
other fort  there ;  but  this  idea  was 
abandoned,  and  all  the  troops  were 
found  few  enough  for  Docwra's  enter- 
prise. Their  ranks  were  soon  greatly 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  some 
renegade  Irish,  the  first  to  come  in  be- 
ing Art  O'Neill,  son  of  Turlough  Luin- 
each,  who  joined  Docwra,  with  a  few 
followers  on  the  first  of  June. 

bald  set  fire  to  the  building,  slew  aboat  forty  of  Dermot's 
men  as  they  issued  from  the  burning  pOe,  and  having 
taken  tlie  traitor  himself  prisoner,  had  him  beheaded 
the  following  day.  Theobald  may  have  been  actuated 
by  some  patriotic  motive  in  this  proceeding,  but  he  ex- 
cused himself  on  the  plea  that  he  only  avenged  the 
death  of  a  kinsman,  Lord  Burke,  who  was  slain  by 
O'Conor  in  Munster.  The  act  greatly  annoyed  the  gov- 
ernment, and  he  was  deprived  of  the  queen's  commis- 
sion.— See  Paeata  Bib.,  b.  i.,  c.  xvii. 

*  The  lord  deputy  marched  to  the  confines  of  Tyrone, 
in  May,  July,  and  September,  this  year.  On  the  last  of 
these  occasions  he  was  repulsed  by  O'Neill,  at  the  Moyry 
Pass,  between  Dundalk  and  Newry  ;  but,  owing  to  some 
remissness  on  the.  side  of  the  Irish,  he  penetrated  soon 
after  beyond  the  pass.  Here,  however,  he  was  vigorous- 
ly attacked  by  O'Neill,  and  returned  to  Dublin  without 
eifecting  any  object  for  that  time. 


442 


REIGN    OF  ELIZABETH. 


Red  Hugh  O'Donnell  soon  grew 
■weary  of  the  slow  work  of  besieging 
the  English  in  their  forts  at  Lough 
Foyle.  His  taste  was  for  a  more 
active  and  desultory  warfare,  and  leav- 
ing the  task  of  watching  the  move- 
ments of  Docwra  to  Niall  Garv  O'Don- 
nell and  O'Dohei'ty  of  luishowen  he 
set  out  himself,  with  the  hosting  of 
North  Connaught,  and  such  men  as 
could  be  spared  from  Tirconnell,  and 
marched  into  the  territories  of  Clan- 
rlckard  and  Thomond.  His  plundering 
parties  visited  almost  the  whole  of 
Clare,  and  the  work  of  pillage  having 
been  completed  without  any  opposition, 
by  the  24th  of  June,  he  returned  home. 
On  the  28th  of  that  month  some  Eng- 
lish troops  were  defeated,  and  their 
leader,  Sir  John  Chamberlaine,  slain  in 
an  attack  on  O'Dohert)' ;  and,  on  the 
.29th  of  July,  O'Donnell  drove  off  from 
their  pastui-e  before  Derry,  a  great 
number  of  the  English  horses,  and  re- 
pulsed Sir  Heniy  Docwra,  who  went  in 
pursuit  with  a  strong  force ;  Docwra 
himself  receiving  a  wound  in  the  fore- 
head, which  obliged  him  to  return  to 
his  fortress. 

In  October,  O'Donnell  set  out  on  an- 
other plundering  excursion  to  Thomond, 
leavinsr  the  command  at  home  to  his 
kinsman  and  brother-in-law,  Niall  Garv ; 
but  Niall,  who  was  the  son  of  Con,  son 
of  Calvagh  O'Donnell,  turned  traitor 
and  Avent  over  to  the  English,  Avith  his 
three  brothers,  Hugh  Boy,  Donnell,  and 


•  Mageoghan  says  it  was  by  these  vessels  that  Math- 
ew  of  Oviedo  and  Cerda  arrived  in  Ireland 


Con.  Niall  marched  with  one  thousand 
men  to  Lifford,  which  he  took  for  the 
English,  who  set  about  constructing  a 
fort  there ;  and  Red  Hugh  hearing  of 
this  defection  before  he  had  passed  Bal- 
lymote,  hastened  back  and  besieged  his 
false  cousin  in  Lifford.  Thus  he  re- 
mained thirty  days,  when  he  thought 
it  time  to  secure  his  army  in  winter- 
quarters.  Two  Spanish  ships  arrived 
off  the  Connaught  coast,  about  Christ- 
mas, and  put  into  the  harbor  of  Killi- 
begs,  at  the  desire  of  O'Donnell,  who 
sent  immediate  notice  to  O'Neill.  The 
latter  hastened  to  Donegal,  where  the 
treasure  and  military  stores  sent  to 
them  from  Spain  were  divided  among 
the  two  chiefs  and  their  adherents.* 
During  the  winter  various  services 
were  rendered  to  the  English  by  their 
new  adherents,  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell 
and  Art  O'Neill ;  so  that  Docwra  con- 
fesses that  but  for  the  "  intelligence  and 
guidance"  of  these  Irish  allies,  little  or 
nothing  could  have  been  done  by  the 
English  troops  at  Lough  Foyle.f 

A.  D.  1601. — Disasters  now  began  to 
rain  thickly  upon  the  Irish  in  every 
part  of  the  country.  Mountjoy  once 
more  crossed  the  Pass  of  Moyry,  in 
June,  this  year,  through  the  negligence 
of  the  Irish,  and  erected  a  strong  castle 
on  the  northern  side.  He  next  marched 
beyond  Slieve  Fuaid  and  the  Black- 
water,  burning  and  destroying  the  crops 
as  he  passed.  From  this  he  threatened 
O'Neill's  castle   of  Benburb,    but   en- 

f  See  Docwra's  Narration,  published  in  the  Miscel- 
lany of  the  Celtic  Society. 


DECLINING   POWER   OF  THE   IRISH. 


443 


countering  a  desperate  resistance  on  his 
raarcli,lie  returned  to  Dublin  in  August, 
after  placing  garrisons  at  several  sti'ong 
points.  Twice  did  Mountjoy  proclaim 
O'Neill.  lie  oflPered  a  reward  of  £2,000 
to  any  one  wlio  would  capture  bini 
alive,  and  £1,000  for  his  head;  yet,  the 
English  writers  complain  that  these 
promises  did  not  induce  a  single  Irish- 
man to  raise  his  hand  against  the  sacred 
person  of  his  chief.  An  Englishman, 
however,  whose  name  is  not  mentioned, 
undertook  to  assassinate  O'Neill,  and 
obtained,  for  that  purpose,  from  Sir 
Charles  Danvers,  governor  of  Armagh, 
leave  to  pass  the  English  sentinels,  on 
his  way  to  Tyrone's  camp.  The  assas- 
sin subsequently  boasted  that  he  had 
drawn  his  sword  to  slay  the  chief.  But, 
he  was  pronounced  to  be  of  unsound 
mind,  "  although,"  says  the  lord  deputy, 
"not  the  less  fit  on  that  account  for 
such  a  purpose." 

The  wretched  susrane  earl  sent  his 
brother  John,  and  Pierce  Lacy,  to 
Ulster,  to  sue  for  aid  from  O'Neill,  while 
he  himself,  deserted  by  all  his  followers, 
save  a  poor  harper  named  Dei'mot 
O'Dugan,  sought  refuge  in  the  wilds  of 
Aherlow.  He  was  chased  from  this 
place,  and  subsequently  taken  in  a  cave 


*  F.  Donatus  Moony,  who  was  the  sacristan  of  the 
Donegal  monastery,  and  afterwards  provincial  of  his 
order  for  Ireland,  gives,  in  his  MS.  history  of  the  Irish 
Franciscans,  compiled  in  1G17,  some  curious  details  of 
the  arrival  of  the  English  soldiers  at  Donegal,  and  of 
the  siege  which  followed.  Up  to  that  time  there  were 
forty  brothers  in  the  house,  and  the  sacred  ceremonies 
wore  performed  there  with  great  solemnity.  He  enu- 
merates  the   suits  of  vestments,  manv  of  which  were 


by  his  old  adherent,  the  white  knight, 
who  delivered  him  to  Sir  George  Carew, 
for  a  reward  of  £1,000.  He  was  then 
tried  at  Cork,  and  convicted  of  high 
treason,  but  his  life  was  spared,  lest  his 
brother,  John,  should  be  set  up  as  earl 
after  him ;  and,  about  the  end  of  Au- 
gust, he  w(\s  sent  in  chains  to  London, 
along  with  Fineen,  or  Florence,  MacCar- 
thy,  who  had  placed  himself  incautiously 
in  the  hands  of  the  president.  Both  were 
confined  in  the  tower  until  their  death. 
In  Conuaught,  Ulick,  eai'l  of  Clan- 
rickard,  who  was  such  an  exemplary 
loyalist  from  the  time  he  murdered  his 
brother,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Rickard,  who  became  a  most  active 
leader  in  the  queen's  service.  Some  of 
the  smaller  chieftains  in  Tirconnell  went 
over  to  the  English,  and  O'Donnell  was 
kept  in  constant  motion  by  enemies  on 
every  side.  The  young  earl  of  Clan- 
rickard  marched  against  him,  but  was 
compelled  to  retire ;  and  Niall  Garv  was 
next  sent  by  Docwra,  with  five  hundred 
English  troops,  to  occupy  the  monastery 
of  Donegal,  where  he  was  besieged  by 
Red  Hugh.*  On  the  evening  of  the 
29th  of  September,  some  gunpowder  in 
the  monastery  having  exploded,  the 
building  took  fire,  and  this  was  a  signal 


of  doth  of  gold  or  silver ;  and  the  sacred  utensils, 
among  which  were  sixteen  large  chalices  of  silver,  only 
two  of  which  were  not  gilt.  Notice  being  received  of 
the  approach  of  the  military,  all  these  valuables  were 
removed  in  a  boat  to  a  place  of  safety  in  the  woods,  but 
in  some  time  after  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  OUver 
Lambert,  when  governor  of  Connaught,  and  were  con- 
verted to  profane  uses.  See  appendix  to  O'SuUivan's 
Eist.  Cath.,  ed.  of  1850. 


444 


REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 


to  O'Donnell  to  attack  the  gaiTison.  A 
struggle,  of  wliich  the  horrors  were  in- 
tensified by  the  conflagi-ation  and  the 
surrounding  darkness,  was  kept  up 
during  the  night,  but  Niall  Garv  held 
out  with  indomitable  obstinacy.  He 
was  supported  by  an  English  ship  in 
the  harbor,  and  retreated  next  morning, 
with  the  remnant  of  his  troops,  to  the 
monastery  of  Magherabeg,  which  he 
fortified,  and  defended  against  the  re- 
newed attacks  of  Red  Hugh. 

The  long-expected  aid  from  Spain  at 
length  arrived.  A  Spanish  fleet,  con- 
veying an  army  of  about  3,000  infantry, 
iinder  the  command  of  Don  Juan  del 
Aguila,  entered  the  harbor  of  Kinsale, 
on  the  23d  of  Septembei-,  and  the  Eng- 
lish garrison  having  retired  to  Cork  on 
their  approach,  the  Spaniards  took  pos- 
session of  the  town,  and  proceeded  to 
fortify  themselves  there,  and  in  two 
castles  which  defended  the  harbor ;  that 
of  Rincorran,  on  the  east,  and  Castle-ni- 
Park,  on  the  west  of  the  mouth.  Lord 
Mountjoy  was  at  Kilkenny  when  he  re- 
ceived news  of  the  invasion,  and  with 
Sir  George  Cai'ew,  lord  president  of 
Munster,  hastened  to  reconnoitre  the 
enemy.  The  army,  Avhich  Carew  had 
under  his  command,  consisted  of  3,000 
men,  of  whom  at  least  2,000  were  Irish ; 
and  the  entire  royal  army,  at  this  time, 
mustered  about  7,000  men.  The 
Sjianiards  were  not  more  than  about 
half  the  number  originally  destined  for 
Ii-eland ;  but  ill-luck  seemed  to  attend 
this  expedition  from  the  beginning. 
Owiua:  to  the   absence  of  the  fleet  at 


Terceira,  its  departure  was  retarded 
until  the  6,000  men,  originally  com- 
posing the  armament,  were  diminished 
to  less  than  4,000 ;  aud  when  the  expe- 
dition did  sail  it  encountered  a  storm 
that  compelled  seven  of  the  ships,  con- 
veying a  chief  part  of  the  artillery  aud 
military  stores,  and  the  arms  intended 
for  distribution  to  the  Irish,  to  put  back 
to  Corunna.  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell 
had  besought  King  Philip  to  send  his 
aid  to  Ulstei',  where  they  would  be  pre- 
pared to  co-operate  with  their  Spanish 
allies,  and  where  a  smaller  force  would 
thus  suffice,  while  in  Munster  they  could 
give  no  help ;  and  yet  this  small  army 
was  thrown  into  an  inconsiderable  port 
of  the  southern  province,  long  after  the 
war  there  had  been  totally  extinguished. 
Mathew  of  Oviedo,  who  arrived  in 
the  Spanish  fleet,  as  well  as  the  general, 
del  Aguila,  sent  notice  to  the  northern 
chiefs,  who,  notwithstanding  the  dis- 
tance and  the  difficulties  of  so  long  a 
journey  in  winter,  prepared  with  de- 
voted bravery  to  set  out  to  join  their 
allies.  O'Donnell,  with  his  habitual 
ardor,  was  first  on  the  way.  He  was 
joined  by  Felim  O'Doherty,  Mac- 
Sweeny-na-tuath,  O'Boyle,  O'Rourke, 
the  brother  of  O'Conor  Sligo,  the 
O'Conor  Roe,  MacDermot,  O'Kelly, 
some  of  the  O'Flaherties,  William  aud 
Redmond  Burke,  and  othei's,  and  mus- 
tered about  2,500  hardy  men.  Fitz- 
Maurice  of  Kerry,  aud  the  Knight  of 
Gliu,  who  had  been  for  some  time  with 
him,  were  also  in  this  corps.  He  set  out 
about    the    end  of    October,    and    had 


THE  SPANIARDS  AT  KINSALE. 


445 


reached  Ikeiriu,  in  Tipperary,  wliere  he 
purposed  to  await  O'Neill,  when  he  found 
that  Sir  George  Carew  was  encamped 
in  the  plains  of  Cashel,  to  cut  off  his 
advance  to  the  south,  while  St.  Law- 
rence, with  the  army  of  the  Pale,  was 
approaching  from  Leinster,  and  the 
lofty  mountains,  which  lay  to  west,  were 
impassable  at  that  season  for  an  army 
incumbered  with  ba2:2:a<je.  Fortunate- 
ly  a  frost  of  unusual  intensity  set  in,  and 
opened  a  firm  I'oad  over  the  bogs,  of 
which  O'Donnell  availed  himself;  and 
by  a  circuitous  route  across  Slieve 
Phelim,  and  by  the  abbej^  of  Owney,  he 
reached  Croom,  after  a  march  of  thirty- 
two  Irish  miles  in  one  day,  on  the  2od 
of  November.  Carew,  still  attempting 
to  intercept  him,  only  succeeded  in 
reaching  Kilmallock  the  same  day ;  but 
despairing  of  being  able  to  cope  with 
"  so  swift-footed  a  general,"  he  rejoined 
the  lord  deputy,  then  besieging  Kin- 
sale,  and  left  O'Donnell  to  pursue  his 
march. 

The  English  carried  on  the  siege 
with  great  activity  during  the  month 
of  November,  and  the  Spaniards,  on 
their  side,  behaved  with  admirable 
bravery.  On  the  1st  of  that  month 
the  besiegers  took  the  castle  of  Rincor- 
ran,  and  made  eighty-six  Spaniards 
prisoners,  besides  a  number  of  Irish 
"  churls,"  and  women  and  children  ;  and 
on  the  20th,  Castle-ni-Park  fell  into 
their  hands.     The  Spaniards  made  sev- 

*  The  Englisli  army  was  about  tliis  time  considerably- 
augmented.  Sir  Cliristopber  St.  Lawrence  arrived  with 
the  levy  of  the  Pale  ;  the  earl  of  Clanrlckard,  with  Ma  re- 


eral  desperate  sorties,  in  which  great 
numbers  were  slain  on  both  sides ;  but 
as  the  chief  part  of  their  artillery  was 
in  those  ships  which  had  put  back  to 
Spain,  they  had  only  three  or  four 
cannon  to  defend  the  fortifications, 
while  the  English  had  about  twenty 
pieces  of  ordnance  constantl}'-  playing 
on  the  walls  of  the  town,  and  an  army 
which  amounted  on  the  20th,  according 
to  Morj^son,  to  11,800  foot  and  857 
horse,  but  which  was  probably  in  the 
gross  nearer  to  15,000  men.*  On  the 
1st  of  December,  a  breach  having  been 
made  j^racticable,  the  English  sent  for- 
ward a  storming  party  of  2,000  men, 
who  were  repulsed  with  great  gallantry 
by  the  Spaniards.  On  the  3d,  the  miss- 
ing portion  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  under 
Don  Pedro  Zubiaur,  arrived  at  Castle- 
haven,  some  twenty-five  Irish  miles 
west  from  Kinsale,  and  landed  over 
700  men,  parties  of  whom  were  put  in 
possession  of  Fineen  O'Driscoll's  castle  of 
Baltimore,  Donnell  O'Sullevan  Beare's 
castle  of  Dunboy,  at  Bearehaven,  and 
the  fort  of  Castlehaven.  Part  of  the 
English  fleet,  under  Admiral  Sir  Rich- 
ard Levison,  was  sent  from  Kinsale  to 
attack  the  Spaniards  at  Castlehaven, 
and  an  action  ensued  on  the  6th,  the 
English  losing  over  300  men,  and  be- 
ma:  oblifjed  to  return  to  Kinsale  next 
day,  although  Moryson,  as  usual,  claims 
the  victory  for  them. 

O'Neill,  who  had  tarried  on  his  way 

tainers :  the  earl  of  Thomond  with  1,000  men  fmm 
England ;  and  2,000  infantry,  with  some  cavalry,  which 
had  been  landed  at  Waterford,  were  all  recent  additions. 


446 


REIGiSr   OF  ELIZABETH. 


to  plunder  Meatli,  at  leugtli  arrived, 
and  ou  the  21st  of  December  sliowed 
himself,  with  all  his  forces,  on  a  hill  to 
the  north  of  Kiusale,  about  a  mile  from 
the  English  camp,  at  a  place  called 
Belgoley.  His  own  division  must  have 
been  under  4,000  men,  seeing  that  with 
O'Donnell's  2,500,  O'Sullevan  Beare's 
retainers,  and  the  few  others  whom 
the  shattered  resources  of  Munster 
could  supply,  the  whole  Irish  army 
amounted,  even  according  to  the  Eng- 
lish accounts,  to  only  6,000  foot  and 
500  horse,  with  300  Spaniards  from 
Castlehaven,  under  Captain  Alphonso 
Ocampo;  while  the  English  force  at 
this  time,  allowing  for  losses,  must  have 
been  at  least  10,000  strong.  The  jwsi- 
tion  of  the  English  was  now  veiy  crit- 
ical. They  were  losing  great  numbers 
by  sickness  and  desertion,  and  were  so 
closely  hemmed  in  between  the  Irish 
ou  one  side  and  the  town  ou  the  other, 
that  they  could  procure  no  fodder  for 
their  liorses,  and  were  threatened  with 
famine,  so  that  Mouutjoy  thought  seri- 
ously of  raising  the  siege  aud  retiring 
to  Cork  for  the  winter.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Spaniards  in  Kinsale 
had  lost  all  patience.  They  had  been 
in  error  as  to  the  state  of  the  country, 
and  learned  with  chagrin,  on  their  ai-i'i- 
val,  that  Florence  MacCarthy  aud  the 
eail  of  Desmond  were  prisonei-s  in  Lon- 
don; that  the  Catholics  of  Muuster  could 
afford  them  no  active  co-operation  ;  and 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  army  arrayed 
against  them  consisted  of  Catholic  Irish. 
Their  own  shipping  had  been  sent  back 


to  Spain,  and  the  harbor  was  block- 
aded by  an  English  squadron,  which 
cut  off  all  hope  of  succor  from  abroad. 
Under  these  circumstances,  Don  Juan 
del  Aguila  wrote  pressing  letters  to  the 
Irish  chiefs,  importuning  them  to  come 
to  his  assistance  without  further  delay. 
He  was  a  brave  soldier,  but  an  incom- 
petent general;  and  in  his  self-conceit 
and  ignorance  of  their  real  circum- 
stances, had  conceived  a  disgust  and 
personal  enmity  for  the  Irish,  that  un- 
fitted him  to  act  effectively  with  them. 
He  urged  them  to  attack  the  English 
camp  on  a  certain  night,  and  promised 
on  his  side  to  make  a  sortie  in  full 
force  simultaneously ;  but  when  this 
plan  was  discussed  in  the  council  of  the 
Irish  chiefs,  it  was  opposed  by  O'Neill, 
who  well  knew  that  wath  delay  the 
destruction  of  the  English  army  by  dis- 
ease and  famine  was  certain.  O'Don- 
nell,  however,  took  a  different  view, 
and  thought  they  were  bound  in  honor 
to  meet  the  wishes  of  their  allies;  and 
the  majority  of  the  leaders  agreeing 
with  him,  tlie  immediate  attack  was 
resolved  on. 

It  happened,  for  the  ill-luck  of  the 
Irish,  that  Brian  MacHugh  Oge  Mac- 
Mahon,  whose  son  had  been  a  page  in 
England  with  the  president,  Carew, 
sent  a  boy,  on  the  night  of  the  22d  of 
December,  to  the  English  camp  to  re- 
quest Captain  William  Taafe  to  pro- 
cui'e  for  him  fi'om  the  president  a  bot- 
tle of  aquavitse  or  usquebagh.  The 
favor  was  gi-anted,  and  next  day  Mac- 
INIahon  again  sent  the  boy  with  a  letter 


THE   BATTLE   OF   KINSALE. 


447 


to  tliank  Carew  for  bis  present,  and  to 
warn  him  of  the  attack  which  the  Irish 
were  to  malce  on  the  English  lines  that 
night.  This  message,  which  was  con- 
firmed by  a  letter  from  Don  Juan, 
which  the  English  intercepted,  was 
acted  on,  and  thus  the  English  were 
perfectly  prepared  against  the  intended 
surprise.  After  some  dispute  about 
the  command — for  it  would  appear  that 
O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  were  not  at  all 
in  accord  ou  this  ill-concerted  enterprise 
— the  Irish  army  set  out  under  cover 
of  the  darkness  ou  the  nis^ht  of  the  23d 
in  three  divisions,  Captain  Tyrrell  lead- 
ing the  vanguard,  O'Neill  the  centre,  and 
O'Donnell  the  rear.  The  obscurity  was 
broken  by  frequent  flashes  of  lightning, 
but  their  lurid  and  fitful  glare  only 
rendered  the  way  more  doubtful.  The 
guides  missed  their  course,  and  after  wan- 
dering throughout  the  night,  O'Neill, 
accompanied  by  O'Sullevan  and  the 
Spanish  captain,  Ocanipo,  ascended  a 
small  hill  at  the  dawn  of  day,  and  saw 
the  English  intrenchments  close  at 
hand,  with  the  men  under  arms,  the 
cavalry  mounted  and  in  advance  of 
their  quarters,  and  all  in  readiness  for 
battle.  His  own  men  were  at  the  time 
in  the  utmost  disorder,  and  O'Donnell's 
division  was  at  a  considerable  distance. 
It  was  therefoi-e  determined  that  the 


*  This  fatal  conflict  took  place  on  the  morning  of  the 
24th  of  December,  ICOl,  according  to  the  old  mode  of 
computation,  which  was  stiU  in  use  among  the  English, 
but  on  that  of  the  ijd  of  January,  1C02,  according  to  the 
reformed  calendar,  which  the  Irish  and  Spaniards  had 
adopted.  Fynes  Moryson  asserts  that  1,200  of  the  Irish 
were  left  dead  upon  the  field,  besides  those  slain  in  the 


attack  should,  under  the  circumstances, 
be  postponed,  or,  as  others  say,  that 
the  men  should  retire  a  little  that  they 
might  be  put  into  order ;  but  this 
moment  of  hesitation  was  fatal.  The 
English  cavalry  poured  out  upon  them, 
and  charged  the  broken  masses.  For 
an  hour  a  jiortion  of  the  Irish  strug- 
gled to  maintain  their  ground  ;  but  the 
scene  was  one  of  frij^htful  caruasfe  and 
confusion,  and  the  retreat,  which  had 
actually  commenced  before  the  charge, 
was  soon  turned  into  a  total  rout. 
Ocampo's  Spaniards  made  a  gallant 
stand ;  but  he  himself  was  taken  pris- 
oner, and  most  of  his  men  were  cut  to 
pieces.  O'Donnell's  division  came  at 
length  into  the  field,  and  repulsed  a 
wing  of  the  English  cavalry;  but  the 
panic  became  general,  aud  in  vain  did 
Red  Hugh  strain  his  lungs  to  rally  the 
flying  multitude.  O'Neill  exerted  his 
wonted  bravery,  but  all  his  efforts  were 
fruitless.  At  least  a  thousand  of  the 
Irish  were  slain  in  that  disastrous  over- 
tlirow,  and  all  of  them  who  were  taken 
prisoners  were  hanged  without  mercy  ; 
while  the  loss  of  the  English  was  very 
trifling,  and  the  pursuit  was  only  aban- 
doned through  fear  of  an  ambuscade, 
or,  as  Moryson  says,  through  the  fatigue 
of  the  hoi'ses,  which  had  been  exhaust- 
ed for  want  of  fodder.* 


pursuit ;  while  on  the  English  side.  Sir  Richard  Greame 
was  killed,  and  Captains  Danvers  and  Godolphin 
wounded ;  but  Camden  says  that  several  of  the  English 
were  wounded.  No  reliance,  however,  can  be  placed 
on  these  numbers,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  English 
loss  was  much  greater  than  was  thus  assumed.  The 
earl  of  Clanrickard  distinguished  liimself  by  his  zeal. 


448 


REIGlSr   OF   ELIZABETH. 


A.D.  1602. — The  uight  after  their  de- 
feat, the  Irish  army  halted  at  Inishan- 
non,  near  Bandon,  and  bitter  was  the 
anguish  in  which  their  leaders  indulged 
for  the  misfortunes  of  that  day.  They 
attributed  it,  say  the  annalists,  to  the 
anger  of  God,  and  deemed  the  number 
of  the  slain  a  trifling  loss  compared  to 
the  irreparable  injury  inflicted  on  their 
cause.  O'Neill,  more  especially,  was 
plunged  in  the  deepest  dejection.  He 
was  already  advanced  in  years,  and 
seemed  to  have  no  hope  of  retrieving 
their  lost  fortunes ;  yet  gloomy  though 

killing  twenty  of  the  Irish  kerne  with  his  own  hand, 
crying  out  to  "  spare  no  rehel ;"  for  which  services  the 
lord  deputy  knighted  him  on  the  field.  That  Mac- 
Mahon,  who  betrayed  to  the  enemy  the  secret  of  the 
intended  attack,  may  have  also  hastened  the  disastrous 
flight  is  not  improbable,  but  history  is  silent  on  tliis 
point.  Carew,  or  his  secretary,  StaiTord,  states  in  the 
Pacata  Hibcrnia,  that  the  carl  of  Thomond  often  men- 
tioned an  old  prophecy,  which  foretold  that  the  Irish 
would  be  defeated  near  Kinsale,  and  Moryson  says  an 
old  manuscript,  containing  the  prophecy,  was  shown  to 
Lord  Slountjoy  on  tlie  day  of  the  battle.  Both  English 
and  Irish  accounts  refer  to  some  deception  which  led 
the  Irish  and  Spaniards  into  error  as  to  their  respective 
movements ;  and  the  English  horsemen,  says  the  Pa- 
cata, imagined  that  they  saw  "  lamps  at  the  points  of 
their  spears"  that  night.  For  the  details  of  this  un- 
fortunate affair,  the  reader  may  consult  the  Hist.  Cath. 
Compcnd.  of  P.  O'Sullevan  Beare,  Fynes  Moryson 's  His- 
tory of  Ireland,  the  Pacata  Hibcrnia,  Camden,  and  the 
Four  Masters. 

*  O'Donnell  landed  at  Corunna  on  the  14th  of  Janu- 
ary, and  was  received  with  great  honor  by  the  Count 
Carajena,  governor  of  Galicia,  who  treated  him  as  a 
prince,  and  with  higher  honor  than  would  have  been 
bestowed  on  any  of  the  grandees  of  Spain.  The  coimt 
presented  him  at  his  departure,  on  the  27th,  with  the 
sum  of  a  thousand  ducats,  and  accompanied  him  as  far 
as  Santa  Lucia.  Next  day  O'Donnell  proceeded  to  the 
city  of  Compostella,  where  the  highest  honor  was  paid 
to  him  by  the  archbishop,  clergy,  and  citizens.  The 
archbishop  invited  him  to  lodge  in  his  own  palace,  but 
O'Donnell  respectfully  declined ;  and  on  the  29th,  the 
prelate  celebrated  mass  with  pontifical  solemnity,  and 
administered  the  Holy  Sacrament  to  O'Donnell.    He  af- 


the  forebodings  of  the  Irish  chiefs  must 
have  been  that  night,  darker  far  was 
the  fate  of  their  country  than  they 
could  have  foreseen.  It  was  resolved 
that  O'Donnell  should  proceed  to  Spain 
to  explain  their  position  to  King  Philip  ; 
and  on  the  sixth  of  January,  1602 
(new  style),  that  is,  three  days  after 
the  battle  of  Kinsale,  Red  Hugh  sailed 
in  a  Spanish  ship  from  Castlehaven, 
accompanied  by  Redmond  Burke,  Hugh 
Mostian  or  Mostyn,  and  fother  Flaithry 
or  Floi"ence,  O'Mulconry ;  and  followed 
by  the  loud  wailings  of  his  people.* 


forwards  entertained  the  Irish  chief  at  dinner  with 
great  magnificence,  and  presented  him  on  his  departure, 
as  the  count  of  Caracena  had  done,  with  a  thousand 
ducats.  "  The  king,"  says  F.  Patrick  Sinnot,  an  Irish 
priest  (whose  letter  from  Corunna,  relating  these  cir- 
cumstances, to  F.  Dominic  Collins,  a  Jesuit  in  the  cas- 
tle of  Dunboy,  is  published  in  the  Pacata  Hibernia), 
"  understanding  of  O'DonneU's  arrival,  wrote  unto  the 
Earle  of  Carai;cna  concerning  the  reception  of  him, 
and  the  affairs  of  Ireland,  which  was  one  of  the  most 
gracious  Letters  that  ever  King  directed;  for  by  it 
plainely  appeared  that  hce  would  endanger  his  king- 
dome  to  succor  the  Catholickes  of  Ireland,  for  the  per- 
fecting whereof  great  preparations  were  in  hand." 
O'Donnell  repaired  to  Zamora,  where  the  king  then  was, 
and  was  graciously  received  by  Philip  III.,  by  whose 
desire  he  returned  to  Corunna,  to  wait  until  the  prep- 
arations for  another  armament  for  Ireland  could  be  com- 
pleted. Spring  and  summer  wore  away,  and  O'Don- 
nell, whose  impatience  would  let  him  wait  no  longer, 
set  out  for  Valladolid,  where  the  court  was  then  held ; 
but  fell  sick  on  the  way  and  died  at  Simancas  on  the 
10th  of  September,  1603,  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his 
age.  He  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  of  Valladolid, 
where  the  king  caused  a  suitable  monument  to  be 
erected  over  him.  Thus  died  one  of  the  most  iUustri 
ous  heroes  that  Ireland  had  produced,  and  with  him 
perished  the  last  hope  of  succor  for  his  country.  In 
his  last  illness  he  was  attended  by  his  confessor,  F. 
Florence  O'Mulconry,  or  Conroy,  and  by  F.  Maurice 
Ultagh,  or  Donlevy,  both  Franciscan  friars.  The  latter 
was  from  the  convent  of  O'DonneU's  town  of  Donegal ; 
and  the  former,  who  was  highly  distinguished  for  his 
learning  among  the  schoolmen  of  Spain,  was,  in  1610, 
made  archbishop  of  Tuam  by  the  pope,  and  obtained, 


CAPITULATION   OF  THE  SPANIARDS. 


449 


O'Neill  returned  by  a  rapid  march 
to  Ulster,  and  Kory  O'Dounell,  to  whom 
the  chieftaincy  of  Tirconnell  had  been 
delegated  by  his  brother,  Red  Hugh, 
proceeded  with  his  followers  to  North 
Counau2;ht.  In  the  mean  time  Don 
Juan  del  Aguila,  after  some  other  fruit- 
less sallies,  sent  proposals  of  capitulation, 
which  were  accepted  by  Mountjoy  on 
the  2d  of  January,  old  style,  or  the  12th, 
new  style.  They  were  very  honorable 
to  the  Spaniards,  who  evacuated  Kin- 
sale  with  their  colors  flying,  and  with 
their  arms,  ammunition,  and  valuables, 
and  were  to  be  conveyed  back  to  Spain 
on  giving  up  their  other  gariisons  of 
Dunboy,  Baltimore,  and  Castlehaven, 
The  siege  had  lasted  for  more  than  ten 
weeks,  from  the  iVtli  of  October;  and 
in  it  the  Spaniards,  who  displayed  great 
bravery,  lost  about  1,000  men;  while 
the  loss  of  the  English,  by  fighting  and 
by  disease,  must  have  been  at  least 
4,000  men.  Don  Juan's  chivalry  was 
of  the  quixotic  kind.  He  challenged 
lord  Mountjoy  to  settle  by  single  com- 
bat the  questions  at  issue  between  king 
Philip  and  Queen  Elizabeth ;  but  the 
offer  was  of  course  rejected ;  and  after 
the  surrender  of  Kinsale  an  intimate 
friendship  grew  up  between  him  and 
Sir  George  Carew.  The  Irish,  for  whom 
Don  Juan  expressed  contempt,  believed 
him  to  be  guilty  of  perfidy  or  cowardice ; 
and  Donnell  O'Sullevan  Beare,  acting 
on  this  impression,  contrived  to  recover 
possession  of  his  own  castle  of  Dunboy, 

in  1616,  from  Philip  III.,  the  foundation  of  the  college 

of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  at  Louvain,  for  Irish  Francis- 

57 


by  causing  an  aperture  to  be  made  in 
the  wall,  and  entering  it  with  eighty 
men,  at  the  dead  of  night,  while  the 
Spanish  garrison  were  asleep ;  and  then 
declaring  that  he  held  it  for  the  king  of 
Spain,  to  whom  he  had  formally  trans- 
ferred his  allegiance.  Don  Juan  was 
enraged  when  he  heard  of  this  proceed- 
ing, which  he  considered  a  violation  of 
the  caj^itulation,  and  offered  to  go  him- 
self to  dispossess  O'Sullevan;  but 
Mountjoy  was  more  desirous  for  his  de- 
parture than  his  assistance,  and  the 
Spaniards  re-embarked  for  their  own 
country,  some  on  the  20th  of  February, 
and  the  remainder  on  the  16th  of  March. 
Don  Juan,  on  his  return,  was  placed 
under  arrest,  and  died  of  grief. 

The  castle  of  Dunboy  (Dunbaoi)  was 
deemed  from  its  position  to  be  almost 
impregnable.  Situated  on  a  point  of 
land  separated  by  a  narrow  channel 
from  Bear  Island,  in  Bantry  Bay,  it 
could  only  be  approached  on  the  laud 
side  through  a  vast  extent  of  mountain- 
ous and  boggy  countxy,  while  by  sea  it 
was  also  difiicult  of  access,  owing  to  the 
extreme  ruggedness  of  the  coast.  Its 
capture  was  therefore  regarded  as  an 
enterprise  full  of  danger  and  difficulties, 
and  many  were  the  arguments  used  with 
Sir  George  Carew  to  dissuade  him  from 
undertaking  it.  The  lord  president  had 
resolved,  however,  upon  the  project,  and 
set  out  from  Cork  on  the  23d  of  April, 
accompanied  by  the  earl  of  Thomond, 
who  had  been  sent  a  little  before  to  re- 
cans.  See  his  life  in  T.  Darcy  Magee's  Irish  Writerg  ; 
also  in  the  Irish  Writers  of  Ware  and  of  O'EeUly. 


450 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


connoitre  tlie  Irish  position.  Carew's 
army  amounted  to  about  3,000  men, 
althougli  lie  himself  says  the  efficient 
men  were  not  above  half  that  number ; 
and  to  these  was  soon  after  added  a 
force  with  which  Sir  Charles  Wilmot 
had  been  hunting  down  the  scattered 
"  rebels"  in  Keriy,  and  with  which  he 
had  forced  his  Avay  across  Mangerton, 
in  spite  of  the  resistance  of  Tyrrell. 
Various  causes  protracted  Carew's 
march  and  the  preparations  for  the 
siege,  but  especially  the  delay  in  the  ar- 
lival  of  the  shipping  which  conveyed 
the  ordnance ;  so  that  it  was  only  on 
the  1st  and  2d  of  June  that  the  army 
landed  on  Bear  Island,  and  on  the  6th 
that  they  crossed  to  the  main  land  on 
the  western  shore  of  Bearehaven,  and 
commenced  the  operations  of  the  siege. 
The  defence  of  the  castle  was  intrusted 
by  O'SuUevan  to  Richaixl  Mageoghegan, 
while  O'Sullevau  himself  and  Tyrrell, 
with  their  forces,  were  encamped  at 
some  distance  in  the  interior.  There 
were  a  few  Spanish  gunners  in  the 
castle,  and  Carew  contrived  to  have  a 
letter  in  Spanish  conveyed  to  them, 
tempting  them  to  desert,  but  ineffectu- 
ally. The  eai'l  of  Thomond  also,  by 
Carew's  directions,  held  a  parley  with 
Mageoghegan  on  Bear  Island,  on  the 
5th  of  June  ;  but  all  the  offers  held  out 
to  him,  and  all  the  earl's  "  eloquence 
and  artifice,"  failed  to  turn  that  brave 
and  faithful  soldier  from  his  duty.  The 
siege  was  now  carried  on  with  unre- 
lenting vigor,  but  the  heroism  of  the 
besieged  could  not  be   subdued.     The 


garrison  consisted  at  the  commencement 
of  only  143  chosen  fighting  men,  who 
had  but  a  few  small  cannon,  while  the 
comparatively  large  army  which  as- 
sailed them  were  well  supplied  with 
artillery  and  all  the  means  of  attack. 
At  length,  on  the  17th  of  June,  when 
the  castle  had  been  nearly  shattered  to 
pieces,  the  garrison  offered  to  surrender 
if  allowed  to  depart  with  their  arms; 
but  their  messenger  was  immediately 
hanged,  and  the  order  for  the  assault  was 
given.  Although  the  proportion  of  the 
assailants  in  point  of  numbers  was  over- 
whelming, the  storming  party  were  re- 
sisted with  the  most  desperate  bravery. 
From  turret  to  turret,  and  in  every 
part  of  the  crumbling  ruins,  the  struggle 
was  successively  maintained  throughout 
the  livelong  day ;  thirty  of  the  gallant 
defenders  attempted  to  escape  by  swim- 
ming, but  soldiers  had  been  posted  in 
boats,  who  killed  them  in  the  water; 
and  at  length  the  surviving  portion  of 
the  garrison  retreated  into  a  cellar,  into 
which  the  only  access  was  by  a  narrow, 
winding  flight  of  stone  steps.  Their 
leader,  Mageoghegan,  being  mortally 
wounded,  the  command  was  given  to 
Thomas  Tajdor,  the  son  of  an  English- 
man, and  the  intimate  friend  of  Captain 
Tyrrell,  to  whose  niece  he  was  married. 
Nine  barrels  of  gunpowder  were  stowed 
in  the  cellar,  and  with  these  Taylor  de- 
clared he  would  blow  up  all  that 
remained  of  the  castle,  burying  himself 
and  his  comj)anions,  with  their  enemies, 
in  the  ruins,  unless  they  received  a 
promise  of  life.     This  Avas  refused  by 


THE  FALL  OF    DUNBOY. 


451 


the  savage  Carew,  Avbo,  placing  a  guai'd 
upon  the  entrance  to  the  cellar,  as  it 
was  then  after  sunset,  returned  to  the 
work  of  slaughter  next  morning.  Can- 
non balls  were  then  discharged  among 
the  Irish  in  their  last  dark  retreat,  and 
Taylor  was  forced  by  his  companions 
to  surrender  unconditionally ;  but  when 
some  of  the  Eng;lish  officers  descended 
into  the  cellar,  they  found  the  wounded 
Mao'eo2:he2;an  with  a  lio'hted  candle  in 
his  hand,  staggering  to  throw  it  into 
the  gunpowder.  Captain  Power  there- 
upon seized  him  by  the  arms,  and  the 
others  dispatched  him  with  their 
swords ;  but  the  work  of  death  was  not 
yet  completed.  Fifty-eight  of  those 
who  had  surrendered  were  hanojed  that 
day  in  the  English  camp,  and  some 
others  who  were  then  reserved  wei-e 
hanged  a  few  days  after;  so  that  not 
one  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-three 
heroic  defenders  of  Dunboy  survived. 
On  the  22d  of  June  the  remains  of  the 
castle  were  blowu  up  by  Carew  with  the 
gunpowder  found  thei'e.* 

The  fall  of  Dunboy  was  of  fatal  im- 
portance to  the  Irish  cause.  As  soon 
as  the  news  reached  Spain,  the  prepar- 

*  See  minute  details  of  tlie  siege  in  the  Pacata  Mi- 
iernia,  and  in  O'Sullevan's  Hist.  Cath.  Among  tlie 
prisoners  taken  in  Dunboy  was  Father  Dominic  Collins, 
or  O'Collane,  -wlio  is  called  in  the  Pacata  a  friar,  and 
by  P.  O'SuUevan  Beare  "  a  lay  religious  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus."  In  his  youth  he  was  an  officer  in  the  French 
service,  but  abandoned  the  world  and  became  a  Jesuit. 
He  was  taken  to  Youghal,  his  native  town,  and  executed 
there.  Father  Archer,  another  Irish  Jesuit,  was  at  that 
time  ui  O'Sullevan's  camp ;  and  in  one  of  the  attacks 
made  by  T\TreU  on  the  English  during  the  siege  of  Dun- 
boy, had  a  narrow  escape  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  his  bitter  enemies.     Among  the  incidents  of   the 


ations  for  a  new  expedition  to  this 
country  were  suspended,  and  on  the 
death  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell,  a  few 
months  latei-,  the  project  was  wholly 
abandoned.  The  war  was  over  in  Mun- 
ster,  but  the  work  of  extermination 
was  only  well  begun.  Captain  Roger 
Harvey  was  sent  into  Carberry  to 
"purge  the  country  of  rebels"  by  mar- 
tial law,  and  Wilmot  returned  to  Ker- 
ry with  instructions  to  remove  the 
whole  population  of  certain  districts. 
All  suspected  persons  of  the  poorer 
class  were  to  be  executed  without 
mercy  ;f  and  in  one  instance  we  find  a 
number  of  sick  and  wounded,  who  were 
left  behind  on  the  removal  of  an  Irish 
camp,  massacred,  "  to  put  them  out  of 
pain  V'X  The  crops  were  destroyed, 
and  in  fact,  Sir  George  Carew  set  about 
reducing  the  country  to  a  desert.  O'Sul- 
levan's castle  on  Dursey  island,  which 
was  intended  as  a  last  retreat,  fell  even 
before  Dunboy,  and  its  garrison  were  put 
to  death  ;  but  Donnell  O'Sullevan  still 
continued  to  maintain  his  independence, 
surrounded  at  first  by  a  numerous  host 
of  followers  in  the  wild  recesses  of  Glen- 
gariif.     Encouraging  promises,  together 

siege  it  should  be  stated  that  the  sons  and  retainers  of 
Owen  O'Sullevan,  who  claimed  the  right  of  chieftaincy 
against  Donnell  O'Sullevan,  were  actively  engaged  on 
the  English  side.  We  may  also  take  this  opportunity 
to  mention,  with  reference  to  the  orthography  of  this 
name,  that  although  the  commonly  received  form  be 
"  O'SulljVan,"  it  was  written  "  O'Sullevan"  by  the  au- 
thor of  the  Historce  Catholicm  Ibernice  Compendium,  the 
latter  being  also  nearer  to  the  Irish  JJa  SuilUabhain. 
Both  spellings  are  used  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  the  Four 
Masters. 

t  Pacata  Hibemia,  p.  449  (ed.  1810). 

X  Ibid.,  p.  659. 


452 


REIGX   OF  ELIZABETH. 


with  a  large  amount  of  gold — which 
had  been  brought  this  summer  from 
Spain  by  Owen  MacEgan,  vicar  apos- 
tolic and  bishop  of  Koss* — had  helped  to 
sustain  them ;  but  O'Donuell's  adher- 
ents gradually  deserted  him,  and  even 
the  gallant  Tyrrell  separated  from  him. 
At  length,  on  the  31st  December,  1602, 
he  set  out  from  Glengariff  with  nearly 
1,000  followers,  of  whom  about  400 
were  fighting  men,  the  I'est  being  ser- 
vants, women,  and  children ;  and  after 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  retreats 
recorded  in  history,  reached  O'Rourke's 
castle  in  Leitrim.  Along  their  entire 
route  they  were  pursued  and  attacked 
by  the  population  of  the  country,  Irish 
as  well  as  English ;  and  what  with 
fighting  all  day  and  marching  all  night, 
there  was  scarcely  any  time  for  repose. 
They  crossed  the  Shannon  at  Portland, 
in  Tipperary,  by  means  of  curraghs, 
which  they  constructed  of  twigs  covered 
with  the  skins  of  their  horses;  and 
having  been  attacked  near  Aughrim  by 
a  considerable  force,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard's 
brother,  and  of  Henry  Malby  and  oth- 
ei-s  they  fought  with  such  desperation 


*  This  prelate  was  slain  by  the  English  in  a  skirmish 
with  some  of  the  fugitive  insurgents  in  Carberry,  on 
the  15th  of  January,  1G03,  new  style.  He  was  clothed 
in  his  pontifical  robes,  and  carried  Ms  breviary  in  one 
hand  and  his  rosary  in  tlie  other,  at  the  time  he  was 
struck  down  by  a  soldier.  He  was  regarded  by  the 
Catholics  as  a  martyr,  and  his  remains  were  interred 
in  the  abbey  of  Timoeague.  A  priest,  who  acted  as  his 
chaplain,  was  taken  at  the  same  time,  and  hanged 
soon  after,  at  Cork.  Vide,  O'Sullevan's  Eist.  Cath  ,  p. 
243,  and  Pac.i/*.,  p.  661. 

\  In  the  party  wlio  reached  O'Rourke's  castle,  were 


that  they  routed  the  enemy,  and  slew 
Malby  and  several  of  the  ofificers. 
A  great  many  fell  in  the  perpetual 
fight  which  they  had  to  sustain ;  several 
who  were  wounded  or  exhausted  by 
fatigue,  had  to  be  abandoned  along  the 
way;  and  at  length  their  number,  on 
arriving  in  Leitrim,  was  reduced  to 
thirty-five,  of  whom  eighteen  were  fight- 
ing men,  sixteen  servants,  and  one 
woman.f 

"Words  cannot  adequately  describe 
the  state  to  which  Ireland  was  reduced 
before  the  close  of  this  eventful  year. 
A  horrible  famine,  brought  on  by  the 
repeated  destruction  of  the  crops  .by 
Mountjoy,  was  wasting  the  country, 
and  unnumbered  carcases  of  its  victims 
lay  unburied  by  the  way-side.  Sir 
Henry  Docwra,  governor  of  Deny,  had 
been  planting  garrisons  at  all  the  points 
he  chose,  without  opposition;  and 
Mountjoy  traversed  Ulster,  during  the 
summer,  erecting  forts,  while  O'Neill, 
driven  into  his  last  fastnesses,'ndth  a  few 
followers,  stood  merely  on  the  defensive. 
About  the  10th  of  August,  Mountjoy's 
forces,  augmented  by  those  of  Docwra 
from   Derry,  Chichester  from  Cari'ick- 


the  father  and  mother  of  the  historian ;  Dermot,  the 
father,  being  then  nearly  seventy  years  of  age.  Philip, 
the  author  of  the  Eistorim  Catholicce  IbernuE  Compen- 
dium, had  been  sent  out  to  Spain  while  a  boy,  in  the 
beginning  of  1603,  and  was  then  at  Corunna,  under  the 
tuition  of  Father  SJunott.  He  was  soon  joined,  in 
Spain,  by  his  whole  surviving  family ;  his  father, 
mother,  brother,  and  two  sisters,  together  with  Donnell 
O'SuUevan  Beare  himself.  When  Plulip  grew  up  he  en- 
tered the  Spanish  navy,  and  while  thus  serving  wrote 
his  invaluable  Catholic  history,  which  was  published  in 
1031. 


O'NEILL  AT  BAT. 


453 


fergus,  Danvers  from  Armagb,  and  of 
some  from  the  Mountjoy,  Mountnor- 
ris,  Blackwater,  and  Charlemont  forts 
whicli  lie  liad  erected,  amounting,  on 
the  whole,  to  at  least  8,000  men,  were 
prejjared  to  act  against  O'Neill.  Their 
first  exploit  was  to  take  a  stronghold 
or  cranoge  called  Inisloghlin,  situated 
in  a  great  bog  on  the  borders  of  Down 
and  Antrim,  and  which  was  defended 
by  only  a  few  men,  but  contained  a 
great  quantity  of  valuables  belonging 
to  O'jSTeill.  Mountjoy  then  proceeded, 
as  he  states  in  a  letter  to  Cecil,  "by  the 
grace  of  God,  as  near  as  he  could,  ut- 
terly to  waste  the  country  of  Tyrone ;" 
and  his  secretary,  Fynes  Morysou,  tells 
us  that  on  the  20th,  hearing  that 
O'Neill  had  passed  from  O'Kane's  terri- 
tory into  Fermanagh,  he  was  resolved 
to  spoil  the  entire  country,  and  to  ban- 
ish the  inhabitants  to  the  south  side  of 
the  Blackwater,  "  so  that  if  O'JSTeill  re- 
turned he  would  find  nothing  in  the 
country  but  the  queen's  garrisons." 
O'Neill  had  now  retired  to  a  great  fast- 
ness near  the  extremity  of  Lough  Erne, 
accompanied  by  his  brother  Cormac,  Art 
O'Neill  of  Clannaboy,  and  MacMahon, 
with  a  muster  of  some  six  hundred  foot 
and  sixty  horse ;  and  Mountjoy  fol- 
lowed him  in  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber -i^ith  his  army,  but  could  get  no 


*  Among  other  examples  of  tli«  "  unspeakable  extrem- 
ities" to  vflucli  the  population  was  driven  by  famine, 
Mountjoy's  secretary,  Fynes  Moryson,  relates  how  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester,  Sir  Richard  Moryson,  and  other 
English  commanders  in  Ulster,  witnessed  "a  most 
horrible  spectaijle  of  three  cliildren  (whereof  the  eldest 
was  not  above  ten  years  old  i  all  eating  and  knawing 
mth  their  teeth  the  entrails  of  their  dead  mother,  upon 


nearer  than  twelve  miles;  besides  which 
the  confederates  had  a  means  of  retreat 
into  O'Rourke's  country.  Henry  and 
Con,  the  sons  of  Shane  O'Neill,  who 
were  in  the  English  service,  and  were 
followed  by  some  of  the  men  of  Ty- 
rone, were  permitted  by  Mountjoy  to 
remain  M'ith  their  creaghts  or  herds- 
men in  the  territory,  which  was  other- 
wise wholly  depopulated ;  and  the  lord 
deputy  returned,  on  the  11th  of  Sep- 
tember, to  Newry.  Describing  this 
march,  in  his  letters  to  Cecil  and  the 
privy  council,  he  says — "  We  found 
everywhere  men  dead  of  famine,  inso- 
much that  O'Hagan  protested  to  us,  that 
between  TuUaghoge  and  Toome  there 
lay  unburied  1,000  dead,  and  that  since 
our  first  drawing  this  year  to  Black- 
water  there  were  about  3,000  starved 
in  Tyrone."* 

Mountjoy  proceeded  to  Connaught 
in  the  latter  end  of  November,  and  at 
Athlone,  on  the  14th  of  the  following 
month,  received  the  submission  of  Rory, 
the  brother  of  Red  Hugh  O'Dounell, 
and  of  O'Conor  Sli<?o.  With  the 
news  of  Red  Hugh's  death  in  Spain, 
on  the  10th  of  September,  every 
vestige  of  hope  was  indeed  destroyed, 
and  none  of  the  Irish  chiefs  now  re- 
mained in  arms  except  O'Neill,  with  his 
companions,  and  the  chief  of  Leitrim, 


whose  flesh  they  had  fed  twenty  days  past."  The  de- 
tails which  foUow  in  this  horrible  description  are  too 
disgusting  in  their  minuteness  for  quotation.  And  he 
adds  that  "no  spectacle  was  more  frequent,  in  the 
ditches  of  townes,  and  especiallie  in  wasted  countries, 
than  to  see  multitudes  of  these  poore  people  dead,  with 
their  mouthcs  all  coloured  greene,  by  eating  nettles, 
dock-s,  and  all  things  they  could  rend  up  above  ground." 


454 


REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. 


whom  Moryson  calls  "the  proud  and 
insolent  O'Rourke."  At  the  close  of  Jan- 
uar\-,  the  lord  deputy  returned  to  Dub- 
lin, and  from  his  correspondence  with  the 
queen  and  council  in  England,  during 
that  and  the  following  month,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  O'Neill  was  still  considered 
formidable,  and  that  unscrupulous  means 
for  his  destruction  were  contemplated. 

A.  D.  1603. — At  lensfth  nes^otiations 
were  entered  into  between  O'Neill  and 
Mountjoy,  through  the  medium  of  Sir 
Garrett  Moore.  Elizabeth  was  so  exas- 
perated against  the  Tyrone  chief,  whom 
she  called  "a  most  ungrateful  vi2:)er," 
that  she  could  with  difficulty  be  in- 
duced to  grant  him  any  terms;  but  she 
died  on  the  24th  of  March,  and  Mount- 
joy  receiving  private  intelligence  of  this 
event  on  the  27th,  while  at  Garrett 
Moore's  castle  at  Mellifont,  hastened  the 
arrangement  with  O'Neill,  who  repaired 
to  ^lellifont  and  made  his  submission 
there  in  the  usual  form,  to  the  lord 


*  After  liis  submission,  O'Neill  wrote  to  the  king  of 
Spain,  requesting  Hin  to  send  liome  his  son,  Henry, 
but  the  boy  never  returned.  He  was  page  to  the  arch- 
dulie  Albert,  and  was  strangled  at  Brussels,  in  1617, 
the  year  after  his  father's  death.  The  murder  was  en- 
veloped in  tlie  profoundest  mystery,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  it  was  contrived  by  English  influence,  as 
the  youth's  great  ability  gave  reason  to  fear  that  he 
would  yet  be  dangerous  in  Ireland.     See  Mooney's  ac- 


deputy,  on  the  31st  of  March.  He  ab- 
jured all  foreign  power  and  jurisdic- 
tion, especially  that  of  tlie  king  of 
Spain;  renounced  the  title  of  O'Neill 
and  all  his  lands,  except  such  as  should 
be  gi-anted  to  him  under  the  crown; 
and  promised  future  obedience,  and  to 
discover  his  correspondence  with  the 
Spaniards ;  but  he  received  a  full  par- 
don, was  restored  in  blood,  and  allowed 
the  free  exercise  of  his  relifrion.  It  was 
only  on  the  5th  of  April  that  the 
queen's  death  was  publicly  announced, 
and  that  O'Neill  discovered  he  had 
made  his  submission  to  a  dead  sove- 
reign, and  lost  the  opportunity  of 
continuing  the  war  against  her  weak 
successor,  or  of  making  more  favor- 
able terms  for  himself  Soon  after 
O'Neill's  submission,  Cerda  arrived 
with  two  ships  conveying  ammunition 
and  money;  which  were,  however, 
returned  to  King  Philip,  as  no  longer 
available.* 


count,  quoted  by  Dr.  Kelly,  in  note  to  the  Hist.  Cath., 
I).  336,  where  the  murdered  youth  is  called  Bernard. 
The  last  year  of  O'NeiU's  war  cost  the  English  treas- 
ury £290,733,  besides  "  contingencies,"  which  would 
appear  from  Cox  to  have  been  at  least  £50,000  more, 
making  the  last  year's  expenditure  for  this  Irish 
war  at  least  £340,733,  while  the  revenue  of  Eng- 
land at  this  period  was  not  more  than  £450,000  per 
annum 


ACCESSION  OF  JAMES  I. 


455 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

KEIGN    OF    JAMES   I. 

The  Irish  submit  to  James,  as  a  prince  of  the  Milesian  race,  and  suppose  him  to  be  friendly  to  their  creed  and 
country — They  discover  their  mistake. — Revolt  of  the  southern  towns. — Hugh  O'Neill  and  Rory  O'Donnell 
accompany  Mountjoy  to  England. — Title  of  Earl  of  TirconneU  created. — Religious  character  of  the  Irish 
wars. — Suspension  of  penal  laws  under  Elizabeth. — Persecution  of  the  Catholics  by  James. — Remonstrance 
of  the  Anglo-Irish  Catholics. — Abolition  of  Irish  laws  and  customs. — O'Neill  persecuted— Inveigled  into  a 
sham  plot. — Flight  of  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell  to  Rome. — Rising  of  Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty — His  fate,  and  that 
of  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell  and  others. — The  confiscation  and  plantation  of  Ulster — The  Corporation  of  London 
receives  a  large  share  of  the  spoils. — A  Parliament  convened  after  twenty -seven  years. — Creation  of  boroughs. 
— Disgraceful  scene  in  the  election  of  Speaker. — Secession  of  the  recusants. — Prototype  of  the  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation.— Treatment  of  the  Catholic  Delegates  by  the  king. — Concessions — Act  of  Pardon  and  Oblivion. — 
Unanimity  of  the  new  Session  of  Parliament.— BiU  of  attainder  against  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell,  passed. — 
First  general  admission  of  the  Irish  under  English  law. — Renewed  persecution  of  the  Catholics. — The  king's 
rapacity. — Wholesale  confiscations  in  Leinster. — Inquiry  into  defective  titles — Extension  of  the  inquiry  to 
Connaught. — Frightful  system  of  legal  oppression. 


Contemporary  Sovereigns. — Popes  :   Clement  VIII.,  Leo  XI.,  Paul  V.,  Gregory  XV.,  Urban  VIII. — Kings  of  France : 
Uenry  IV.,  Louis  XIII.— Kings  of  Spain:  Philip  III.,  Philip  IV. 


(A.  D.  1603  TO  A.  D.  1625.) 


JAMES  I.  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  sovereign  of  England  wbo 
was  undisjiuted  monarch  of  Ireland. 
The  Irish  williugly  submitted  to  him 
as  the  direct  descendant  of  their  own 
ancient  Milesian  kings ;  they  also  be- 
lieved him  to  be  in  secret  friendly  to 

an  opinion  which 


the  Catholic  religion 


*  It  was  the  policy  of  James,  before  his  accession,  to 
gain  the  friendship  of  the  Catholic  potentates,  and  to 
weaken  the  power  of  England.  "  Lord  Home — who 
was  himself  a  Roman  Catholic — was  intrusted,"  says 
Robertson  {Hist,  of  Scot.),  "  with  a  secret  commission  to 
the  Pope.  The  archbishop  of  Glascow,  another  Roman 
Catholic,  was  very  active  with  those  of  his  own  religion. 
Sir  James  Lindsay  made  great  progress  in  gaining  the 


he  had  himself  encouraged — and  thus 
they  hailed  his  accession  as  a  new  and 
haj^pier  era  for  their  country  and  their 
creed.*  It  was  generally  supposed  by 
Catholics  that  the  ancient  faith  would 
be  restored  under  him  as  it  had  been 
under  Mary ;  and  so  strong  was  this 
delusion,  that  the  people  of  the  southern 


English  papists."  As  to  his  intrigues  for  facilitating 
his  own  approach  to  the  throne  by  "  wasting  the  vigor 
of  the  state  of  England,"  they  were  suspected  by 
Elizabeth  herself  (tide  Robertson) ;  and  Dr.  Anderson 
{Royal  Genealogies,  p.  786),  says,  that  during  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  James  "  assisted  the  Irish  privately  more 
than  Spain  did  publicly." 


456 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  I. 


towns,  -who,  altliough  Auglo-Irish,  and 
wholly  free  hitherto  from  any  "taint 
of  rebellion,"  were  almost  -universally 
Catholic,  thought  they  might  resume 
with  impunity  the  public  exercise  of 
their  religious  worship.  In  some  places 
they  took  possession  of  their  own  ancient 
churches,  which  had  been  appropriated 
to  the  Protestant  service,  and  once 
more  celebrated  in  them  the  Divine 
Mysteries ;  and  in  others  they  thought 
of  repairing  the  ruined  abbeys  and  mon- 
asteries. Moreover,  the  mayors  of  Cork 
and  Waterford,  supposing  the  authority 
of  Elizabeth's  deputy  to  be  no  longer 
valid,  delayed  obeying  his  orders  for 
the  proclamation  of  the  new  king. 
The  news  of  these  proceedings  came  by 
surprise  upon  Mountjoy.  He  was  pro- 
voked at  such  "  simplicity,"  as  he  called 
it,  and  marching  with  a  formidable 
array  to  the  south,  speedily  convinced 
the  Catholic  townspeople  of  tlieir  error. 
Cork  first  submitted.  The  citizens  of 
Waterford  closed  their  gates,  pleading 
the  privilege  of  an  ancient  charter 
which  exempted  them  from  receiving 
soldiers;  but  the  lord  deputy  threat- 
ened to  "cut  to  pieces  the  charter  of 
King  John  w-ith  the  sword  of  King 
James,"  and  to  "  strew  salt"  on  the  ruins 
of  their  town.  No  further  show  of  resist- 
ance was  made ;  and  the  towns  of  Kil- 
kenny, Wexford,  Cashel,  and  Limerick 
were  compelled  in  their  turn  to  submit. 


*  Sir  Jolin  DaWs,  ivlio  was  king  James's  attorney- 
general  for  Ireland,  referring,  in  his  Historical  Rela- 
tions, to  his  experience  on  these  Irish  circuits,  says: 
"  The  truth  is,  that  in  time  of  peace  the  Irish  are  more 


To  allay  the  ferment  in  the  popular  mind, 
the  king  published  an  act  of  general 
indemnity  and  oblivion,  and  a  brief 
period  of  profound  tranquillity  followed- 
Mountjoy,  on  Avhom  James  conferred 
the  higher  dignity  of  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  with  the  privilege  of  residing 
in  England,  left  Sir  George  Carew  as 
lord  deputy,  and  proceeded  to  England 
in  May,  1603,  accompanied  by  Hugh 
O'Neill,  Rory  (or  Roderick)  O'Don- 
nell,  and  other  Irish  gentlemen.  The 
king  received  the  two  Ulster  chieftains 
very  graciously,  and  confirmed  the  for- 
mer in  his  restored  title  of  earl  of  Ty- 
rone, while  he  granted  to  O'Donnell 
that  of  earl  of  Tirconnell.  Niall  Garv, 
it  must  be  observed,  had  forfeited  all 
claim  to  reward  for  his  former  services 
to  the  government  against  Reel  Hugh. 
Docwra  had  found  his  insolence  and  am- 
bition intolerable ;  and  on  the  submission 
and  reconciliation  of  Rory  to  the  State, 
Niall  threw  off  all  restraint  and  got 
himself  proclaimed  the  O'Donnell.  His 
revolt,  however,  was  easily  put  down, 
and  he  was  content  to  receive  pardon 
and  his  patrimonial  inheritance.  Eng- 
lish law  was  now  for  the  first  time  in- 
troduced into  the  territories  of  Tyrone 
and  Tirconnell.  The  first  sheriffs  were 
appointed  for  them  by  Carew ;  and  Sir 
Edward  Pelham  and  Sir  John  Davis 
were  the  first  to  administer  justice  there 
according  to  the  English  forms.* 


fearful  to  offend  the  law  than  the  English,  or  any  other 
nation  whatsoever ;"  and  in  concluding  that  tract,  he 
observes:  "There  is  no  nation  of  people  under  the  sun, 
that  doth  love  equal  and  indifferent  justice  better  than 


RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  THE  WARS. 


457 


That  the  Irish  fought  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  Catholic  religion  as  well  as 
for  their  national  independence,  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  there  cannot  be  any 
reasonable  doubt.  All  the  contempo- 
rary authorities  show  that  the  wars 
both  of  Ulster  and  Munster  were  es- 
sentially religious  wars.  The  English 
writers  pretend  that  they  were  chiefly 
fomented  by  the  priests ;  and  most  of 
the  Irish  writers  of  that  period  express- 
ly distinguish  the  national  forces  as  the 
Catholic  army.  Nevertheless,  a  vast 
number  of  Catholics,  Irish  as  well  as 
Anglo-Irish,  from  one  cause  or  another, 
fought  under  the  royal  standard,  and 
their  services  could  not  be  dispensed 
with  by  Elizabeth.  Hence,  while  a  san- 
guinary and  unrelenting  persecution  was 
carried  on  as^ainst  Catholics  in  England 
during  her  reign,  it  was  necessary  in  Ire- 
land to  suspend  to  a  great  extent  the 
operation  of  her  persecuting  laws.  This 
did  not  amount  to  toleration.  Simply, 
it  was  not  convenient  in  many  cases  to 
put  in  force  the  existing  laws  against 
Catholicism.  Under  James,  however, 
the  case  was  different.  Ireland  had  at 
length  been  conquered ;  a  large  portion 
of  the  Irish  race  had  been  exterminated; 
all  was  profound  peace ;  the  services  of 
Catholics  were  no  longer  required ; 
and,  in  fine,  there  was  no  reason  in  the 


tlie  Irish ;  or  will  rest  better  satisfied  witli  the  execu- 
tion thereof,  although  it  be  against  themselves,  so  that 
they  may  have  the  protection  and  benefits  of  the  law, 
when,  upon  j  ust  cause,  they  do  desire  it." 

*  Plowden,  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  338. 

f  Shortly  after  he  came  to  the  throne,  James  sent 
orders  to  Dublin  that  the  oath  of  supremacy  should  be 
58 


shape  of  expediencj^,  why  religious 
persecution  should  be  longer  delayed. 
The  puritan  party  was  rising  into  power, 
and  James,  who,  as  a  Stuart,  was  "ever 
forward  in  sacrificing  his  friend  to  the 
fear  of  his  enemy,"*  thought  the  time 
favorable  for  dissipating  the  illusions  of 
the  Irish  Catholics  about  the  public  tol- 
eration of  their  faith.f  Accordingly,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1605,  he  issued  a  procla- 
mation, formally  promulgating  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  (2  Eliz.),  and  command- 
ing the  "  Popish  clergy"  to  depart  from 
the  realm ;  and  an  insulting  commis- 
sion was  issued  to  certain  respectable 
Catholics,  requiring  them,  under  the 
title  of  inquisitors,  to  watcb  and  in- 
form against  those  of  their  own  faith 
who  did  not  frequent  the  Protestant 
churches  on  the  appointed  days.  The 
great  Anglo-Irish  families  of  the  Pale 
remonstrated  against  this  severity,  and 
presented  a  petition  for  freedom  of  re- 
ligious worship ;  but  the  leading  peti- 
tioners were  confined  in  the  castle  of 
Dublin,  and  their  principal  agent,  Sir 
Patrick  Barnwell,  was  sent  to  England 
and  committed  to  the  tower.  The 
same  year  the  ancient  Irish,  customs  of 
tanistry  and  gavelkind  were  abolished 
by  a  judgment  of  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  and  the  inheritance  of  property 
was  subjected  to  the  rules  of  English  law. 


administered  to  all  Catholic  lawyers  and  justices  of  the 
peace,  and  that  the  laws  against  recusants  should  be 
strictly  enforced.  Accordingly,  sixteen  Catholic  alder- 
men and  citizens  of  Dublin  were  summoned  before  the 
Privy  Council,  and  six  of  them  were  fined  £100  each, 
and  three  others  £50  each,  wMle  aU  were  committed 
prisoners  to  the  castle  during  the  pleasure  of  the  court. 


458 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  I. 


A.D.  1607. — While  the  Irish  feelings 
and  institutions  were  thus  trampled 
tinder  foot,  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  would  be 
left  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  the  vast 
tracts  of  country  which  they  still  con- 
tinued to  possess.  The  former  illustri- 
ous chief  was  persecuted  in  a  variety  of 
ways.  He  himself  complained  that  he 
was  so  watched  by  the  spies  of  the  gov- 
ernment that  the  slightest  of  his  actions 
could  not  escape  their  notice.  His 
claims  to  portions  of  his  ancestral  lands 
were  disputed  under  the  English  law, 
and  he  was  harassed  by  legal  inquiries 
into  title,  and  processes  issued  from  the 
courts  in  Dublin.  George  Montgomery, 
the  Protestant  bishop  of  Deny,  was 
his  chief  persecutor  in  this  way,  and 
obtained  against  him  the  aid  of  O'Ca- 
hane,  or  O'Kane,  with  whom  O'Neill 
had  a  dispute  about  certain  boundaries. 
Finally,  a  conspiracy,  devised  most 
px'obably  by  Cecil  himself,  was  resorted 
to.  Christopher  St.  Lawrence,  baron 
of  Howth,  was  employed  to  carry  the 
scheme  into  execution,  Avhich  he  did 
by  entrapping  the  earls  of  Tyrone  and 

*  Mr.  Moore,  who  read  the  correspondence  of  Lord 
Howth,  and  the  depositions  of  Lord  Devlin,  taken  on 
the  6th  of  November,  1007,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell  had  really  entered 
into  the  conspiracy.  Hist,  of  Ird.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  453,  &c. 
This,  considering  all  the  circumstances,  is  extremely 
probable,  for  the  religious  persecution  at  that  time  had 
become  intolerable.  See  some  of  its  features  set  forth 
in  a  Latin  letter  dated  May,  1607,  and  signed  by  a 
bishop,  a  vicar-general,  six  priests,  and  a  knight.  This 
document,  published  for  the  first  time  by  Dr.  Kelly,  in 
his  edition  of  O'Sullevan's  CothoUe  History,  p.  271,  has 
the  following  passage:  "Even  the  illustrious  earl  of 
Tyrone,  the  Catholic  Mardochai,  already  oppressed  in 


Tirconnell,  the  baron  of  Devlin,  and 
O'Cahane,  into  a  sham  plot.  Their 
meetings  were  held  at  Maynooth,  the 
ancient  seat  of  the  eai-ls  of  Kildare; 
but  none  of  the  Kildare  family  were 
cognizant  of  their  proceedings.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Insh  chieftains  may 
have  entered  seriously  into  the  plans 
proposed  to  them,  St.  Lawrence  having 
kindled  their  anger  by  the  statement 
that  he  had  private  information  of  fresh 
persecution  intended  against  their  re- 
ligion ;  but  the  plot  was,  nevertheless, 
a  sham.  On  a  certain  day  an  anony- 
mous letter,  addressed  to  Sir  William 
Ussher,  clerk  of  the  privy  council,  was 
dropped  at  the  door  of  the  council 
chamber,  mentioning  a  design,  then  in 
contemplation,  for  seizing  the  castle  of 
Dublin,  murdering  the  lord  deputy, 
and  raising  a  general  revolt,  to  be  aided 
by  Spanish  forces.  This  letter  came 
from  Lord  Howth ;  and,  although  it 
mentioned  no  names,  it  was  pretended 
that  government  was  already  in  posses- 
sion of  information  that  fixed  the  guilt 
of  the  conspiracy  on  the  earl  of  Ty- 
rone.*    Shortly  after,  the-  country  was 


various  ways,  is  now  coming  to  Dublin,  under  a  cita- 
tion from  the  viceroy.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  foretell  evil : 
but  the  malice  of  the  heretics  towards  him,  and  their 
inveterate  guile,  compel  us,  at  least,  to  have  some  fear 
for  him."  The  account  of  the  so-called  conspiracy,  pre- 
served by  tradition  in  his  time,  is  briefly  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Anderson,  an  English  Protestant  divine,  in  his 
Royal  Genealogies,  a  work  printed  in  London  in  1736, 
and  dedicated  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  In  page  786,  he 
says :  "  Artful  Cecil  employed  one  St.  Laurence  to  en- 
trap the  earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tirconnell,  the  lord  of 
Devlin,  and  other  Irish  chiefe,  into  a  sham  plot  which 
had  no  evidence  but  his.  But  these  chiefs  being  basely 
informed  that  witnesses  were  to  be  hired  against  them, 


THE  "  FLIGHT  OF  THE  EARLS." 


459 


startled  by  the  news  that  O'Neill  and 
O'Donnell,  with  their  families,  had  fled 
privately  from  Ireland.  They  took 
shipping  at  Rathmullen,  on  Lough 
IS  willy,  in  Donegal,  on  the  14th  of 
fsBeptember,  and  sailed  to  Normandy, 
M'hence  they  proceeded  through  Flan- 
ders to  Rome,  where  they  lived  on  a 
pension  from  the  pope  and  the  king  of 
Spain.  O'Donnell  died  the  following 
year;  but  O'Neill  survived  until  1616, 
when  he  died  at  an  advanced  age, 
having  become  blind  towards  the  close 
of  his  life.  Less  impulsive  and  enter- 
prising than  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell, 
but  equally  valiant  and  devoted,  Hugh 


foolislily  fled  from  Dublin,  and  so  taking  guilt  upon 
them,  they  were  declared  rebels,  and  six  entire  coun- 
ties in  Ulster  were  at  once  forfeited  to  the  crown,  which 
was  what  their  enemies  wanted."  That  this  Christo- 
pher St.  Laurence,  baron  of  Howth,  who  had  embraced 
the  new  doctrines,  was  a  fit  person  to  carry  out  the  ne- 
farious plan,  appears  from  the  statement  of  Camden, 
who  says  (Eliz.  p.  741),  that  he  oflTered  his  services  to 
the  earl  of  Essex  to  murder  Lord  Grey  de  Wilton  and 
the  Secretary,  lest  they  should  prejudice  the  queen 
against  the  earl,  but  that  the  latter  declined  availing 
himself  of  such  means.  Lord  Delvin  was  arrested,  but 
contrived  to  escape  by  means  of  a  rope,  conveyed  to 
him  by  a  friend,  and  was  afterwards  pardoned.  Cor- 
mac,  the  brother  of  O'Neill  and  O'Kane,  were  sent  to 
the  tower  of  London. 

*  Some  curious  particulars  about  the  departure  of 
O'Neill  from  Ireland  are  given  by  Sir  John  Davis  {Siit. 
Sel.),  agreeing  very  nearly  with  those  which  appear  in 
an  Irish  MS.  at  St.  Isidore's,  of  which  an  extract  has 
been  published  by  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  the  Four  Masters, 
p.  2353,  &c.  In  the  beginning  of  September,  1607, 
nearly  four  months  after  the  pretended  discovery  of  St. 
Laurence's  plot  by  the  anonymous  letter,  O'NeUl  was  at 
Slane  with  the  lord  deputy,  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  and 
they  conferred  relative  to  a  journey  which  the  former 
was  to  make  to  London,  before  Michaelmas,  in  compli 
ance  with  a  summons  from  the  king.  AVhile  here,  a 
letter  was  delivered  to  O'Neill  from  one  John  Bath,  in- 
forming him  that  Maguire  had  arrived  in  a  French  sliip 
In  Lough  SwiUy.  He  then  parted  from  the  deputy  in 
Badness,  and  was  observed  to  weep  bitterly  on  leaving 


O'Neill  was  a  better  strategist  and 
commander.  His  tastes  were  enlight- 
ened ;  his  manner  dignified,  polished, 
and  agreeable ;  his  habits  temperate ; 
his  powers  of  endurance  very  great. 
He  possessed  an  acute  understanding 
and  great  prudence ;  and  while  he  was 
generally  an  overmatch  for  English 
statesmen  in  council,  he  was  decidedly 
the  most  formidable  adversary  in  the 
field  which  the  English  power  ever  en- 
countered in  this  country.  With  the 
heroic  struggles  of  O'Neill  and  O'Don- 
nell terminated  the  power  of  the  Irish 
chiefs,  and  the  national  independence 
of  the  Milesian  race.* 


the  house  of  his  old  friend,  Sir  Garrett  Moore,  at  Melli- 
font,  where  he  took  his  leave  even  of  the  children  and 
the  servants.  On  his  way  northward,  he  remained  two 
days  at  his  own  residence  in  Dungannon,  and  proceeded 
thence  hastUy  to  Rathmullen,  on  the  shore  of  Lough 
Swilly,  where  he  found  O'Donnell  and  several  of  his 
friends  waiting  and  laying  np  stores  in  the  French  ship. 
The  Four  Masters  enumerate  the  principal  companions 
of  his  voyage.  There  were  his  countess,  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Magennis  (O'Neill's  fourth  wife) ;  his  three 
sons,  Hugh,  baron  of  Dungannon,  John,  and  Brian  ;  Art 
Oge,  the  son  of  his  brother  Cormac,  and  others  of  his 
relatives :  Rory,  or  Boderic,  O'Donnell,  earl  of  Tir- 
connell ;  Caffar,  or  Cathbar,  his  brother,  and  his 
sister,  Nuala,  who  was  married  to  Niall  Garv  O'Don- 
nell, but  abandoned  her  husband  when  ho  be- 
came a  traitor  to  his  country ;  Hugh  O'Donnell,  the 
earl's  son,  and  other  members  of  his  family;  Cucon 
naught  Maguire ;  Owen  Eoe  Mac  Ward,  chief  bard  ot 
TirconneU,  &c.  "  Woe  to  the  heart  that  meditated, 
woe  to  the  mind  that  conceived,  woe  to  the  council  that 
decided  on  the  project  of  their  setting  out  on  this  voy- 
age !"  exclaim  the  annalists  of  Donegal,  thus  Lntima 
ting  that  the  flight  of  the  Irish  princes  was,  in  the 
opinion  of  their  contemporaries,  a  rash  proceeding,  or 
that  it  was  artfully  prompted  by  their  enemies.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  earls  in  France,  the  English  minister 
demanded  their  surrender  as  rebels,  but  Henry  IV. 
would  not  give  them  up.  In  passing  thence  through  the 
Netherlands,  they  were  honorably  received  by  the  Arch- 
duke Albert ;  and  in  Rome,  "  the  conmion  asylum  of  all 
Catholics,"  as  it  is  called  in  the  epitaph  on  young  Hugh 


460 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  I. 


A.  D.  1608. — The  slumber  which  fol- 
lowed these  sad  events  was  soon  and 
vudely  broken.  Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty, 
chief  of  Inishowen,  had  hitherto  lived 
on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  Eng- 
lish authorities,  but  he  was  taunted 
with  being  privy  to  the  escape  of 
O'Neill ;  and  Sir  George  Paulett,  who 
had  succeeded  Sir  Henry  Docwra  as 
governor  of  Derry,  carried  his  insults 
so  far  as  to  strike  him  on  the  face.  The 
blood  of  the  young  chieftain,  who  was 
only  in  his  twenty-first  year,  boiled  with 
rao^e  at  this  indignity.  The  annalists 
say  he  was  driven  almost  to  madness, 
and  rested  not  till  he  took  fearful  ven- 
geance. He  got  possession  of  Culmore 
fort  by  stratagem  at  night,  the  3d  of 
May.  Cox  adds  that  he  put  its  garrison 
to  the  sword  ;  and  before  morning  he 
marched  to  Dei-ry,  which  he  took  by 
surprise ;  he  slew  Paulett  and  some 
other  leading  persons,  slaughtered  the 
trai-rison,  and  sacked  and  burned  the 
town.  Thus,  his  revolt  was  kindled  in 
a  moment.  He  was  joined  by  several 
of  the  northern  chieftains,  and  expect- 


CNeill's  tomb,  tliey  met  an  affectionate  and  honorable 
welcome  from  Pope  Pius  V.  The  venerable  pontiff  re- 
garded them  as  confessors,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the 
king  of  Spain,  afforded  them  liberal  pensions  for  their 
support.  But  these  illustrious  exiles  soon  dropped  into 
their  foreign  graves.  O'Donnell  died  July  28th,  1G08  ; 
his  brother,  Caffar,  September  ITth,  the  same  year ; 
Hugh,  the  baron,  son  of  O'Neill,  died  the  2.jd  of  Sep- 
tember, the  following  year,  in  the  24th  year  of  his  age ; 
and,  lastly,  the  renowned  Tyrone  himself  departed  on 
the  20th  of  July,  IGIG.  Their  way  to  death  -was 
smoothed  by  all  the  consolations  of  religion,  and  their 
ashes  repose  together  in  the  Franciscan  church  of  St. 
Peter-in-Montorio,  on  the  Janiculum.  The  murder  of 
Henry  (or  Bernard),  anotlier  son  of  O'Neill's,  at  Brussels, 


ing  foreign  aid  through  the  intervention 
of  the  Irish  princes  abroad,  held  out 
until  July,  when  he  was  killed^  by  an 
accidental  shot  in  a  conflict  with  Wing- 
field,  the  marshal,  and  Sir  Oliver  Lam- 
bert, and  his  head  sent  to  Dublin. 
Niall  Garv  O'Donnell,  his  son  Naughtan, 
and  his  brothei's,  were  ari'ested  as  con- 
federates of  O'Doherty's,  and  the  two 
former  were  sent  to  London  and  confined 
in  the  Tower,  until  their  death  in  1626. 
Felim  MacDevit  and  others  were  exe- 
cuted.* 

All  this  seemed  to  happen  most  op- 
portunely for  King  James,  who  was  now 
enabled  to  carry  out  his  favorite  scheme 
of  colonization  to  his  heart's  content. 
Six  counties  of  Ulster,  Tyrone,  Derry, 
Donegal,  Fermanagh,  Armagh,  and 
Cavan,  were  confiscated  to  the  crown, 
and  were  parcelled  out  among  adventu- 
rers from  England  and  Scotland.  Vari- 
ous plans  were  proposed  for  the  purpose, 
and  among  others,  Lord  Bacon  was  con- 
sulted ;  but  his  plan  was  disapproved 
of  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  the  lord 
dejjuty,  was  found  to  be  more  useful 


has  been  already  mentioned.  Maguire  died  at  Genoa, 
on  his  way  to  Spain,  August  12,  1608.  Of  the  elegy 
composed  for  the  earls  by  MacWard,  a  beautiful  Eng- 
lish version,  by  Clarence  Mangan,  will  be  found  in  the 
Ballad  Poetry  of  Ireland,  "Duffy's  Library  of  Ireland." 
*  It  is  clear  from  statements  in  Sir  Henry  Docwra's 
Narration,  that  Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty  had  been  goaded 
into  resistance  by  acts  of  legal  spoliation,  under  which 
he  suffered  before  he  was  charged  with  rebellion  or 
publicly  insulted  by  Paulett.  He  had  been  induced  to 
make  some  conveyances,  probably  during  his  minority, 
and  endeavored,  in  vain,  to  have  them  rescinded.  Ac- 
cording to  tradition  in  the  country,  says  Dr.  O'Donovan, 
Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty  was  killed  under  the  rock  of  Doon> 
near  Kilmacrenan.     Four  Masters,  p.  23G2,  n. 


RELIGIOUS  PERSECUTION. 


461 


and  practical  in  his  views,  and  richly 
was  he  rewarded  for  the  assistance 
which  he  rendered  to  his  royal  master. 
He  received  the  wide  lands  of  Sir  Cahir 
O'Doherty  for  his  share  in  this  whole- 
sale spoliation.  But  the  wealthy  citi- 
zens of  London  were  the  largest  parti- 
cipators in  the  plunder.  They  obtained 
209,800  acres,  and  rebuilt  the  city, 
which,  since  then,  has  been  called  Lon- 
donderry. According  to  the  plan  final- 
ly adopted  for  the  *'  plantation  of  Ul- 
ster," as  this  scheme  was  called,  the  lots 
into  which  the  lands  were  divided  were 
classified  into  those  containing  2,000 
acres,  which  were  reserved  for  rich  un- 
dertakers and  the  great  servitors  of  the 
crown;  those  containing  1,500  acres, 
which  were  allotted  to  servitors  of  the 
crown  in  Ireland,  with  permission  to 
take  either  English  or  L-ish  tenants; 
and  thirdly,  those  containing  1,000  acres, 
which  were  to  be  distributed  with  still 
less  restriction.  The  exclusion  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants,  and  the  proscrip- 
tion of  the  Catholic  religion,  were  the 
fundamental  principles  which  were  to 
be  acted  on  as  far  as  practicable  in  this 
settlement.* 

A.  D.  1611. — The  persecution  of  the 
Catholics  was  becoming  daily  more 
sanguinary  and  relentless,  but  the  exe- 
cution of  the  venerable  Conor  O'Devany, 
bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  which 
took  place  this  year  in  Dublin,  affords 


*  See  Pynnar's  Survey  of  Ulster,  and  other  original 
documents  published  in  Harris's  Hiierniea;  also,  TTu 
Confiscation  of  Ulster,  by  Thomas  MacNevin.  in  Duffy's 
Library  of  Ireland.    Cos.  says,  that  in  the  instructions. 


the  most  striking  example  of  the  extent 
to  which  it  was  carried  at  this  time. 
This  venerable  prelate,  who  was  then 
about  eighty  years  of  age,  was  originally 
a  Franciscan  friar,  and  was  condemned 
to  death  on  the  nominal  charge  of  hav- 
ing been  with  O'Neill  in  Ulster ;  and 
at  the  same  time  a  priest  named  Pat- 
rick O'Loughrane  was  tried  and  con- 
demned for  having  sailed  in  the  same 
ship  with  O'Neill  and  O'Donnell  to 
France,  although  it  appeared  that  he 
was  only  accidentally  their  fellow-pas- 
senger, the  real  offence  of  these  pious 
men  being  the  rank  which  they  held  in 
the  Catholic  Church.  The  sentence 
was  that  they  be  first  hanged,  then  cut 
down  alive,  their  bowels  cast  into  the 
fire,  and  their  bodies  quartered.  When 
the  hangman,  who  was  an  Irishman, 
heard  that  the  bishop  ■was  condemned, 
he  fled  from  the  city,  and  no  other 
Irishman  could  be  found  to  execute  the 
atrocious  sentence,  so  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  release  and  forgive  an  English 
murderer,  that  he  might  hang  the  bish- 
op. The  old  prelate,  fearing  that  the 
horrible  spectacle  of  his  torments  might 
cause  the  priest  to  waver,  requested  the 
executioner  to  put  the  latter  to  death 
fii-st ;  but  the  priest  said  "  he  need  not 
be  in  dread  on  his  account,  that  he 
would  follow  him  without  fear ;  remark- 
ing, that  it  was  not  meet  a  bishop 
should  be  without  a  priest  to  attend 


printed  for  the  direction  of  the  settlers,  it  was  especially 
mentioned  "that  they  should  not  suffer  any  laborer, 
that  would  not  take  the  oath  of  supremacy,  to  dwell 
upon  their  land." 


i62 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  I. 


him.  This  he  fulfilled,  for  he  suffered 
the  like  torture  with  fortitude,  for  the 
sake  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  for 
his  soul."*  These  executions  produced 
great  excitement  among  the  people. 
The  Catholics  collected  the  blood  of 
the  victims,  whom  they  justly  regarded 
as  martyi-s,  and  the  next  day  they  con- 
trived to  procure  the  mangled  remains, 
and  to  inter  them  in  a  becomins:  man- 
ner.f 

A.  D.  1613. — Sir  Arthur  Chichester, 
who  still  held  the  reins  of  government 
in  Ireland,  Avas  resolved  to  carry  out 
his  puritanical  principles^  to  the  utmost, 
and  conceived  a  plan  for  erecting  a 
"  Protestant  ascendency"  in  this  coun- 
try. The  plantation  of  Ulster  with 
English  Protestants  and  Scotch  Presby- 
terians had  paved  the  way  for  this  pro- 
ject, but  the  work  was  as  yet  only  half 
done.  The  deputy  persuaded  James 
that  a  parliament  should  be  called.  It 
was  twenty-seven  years  since  one  had 
been  held  in  Ireland;  but  the  vast  pre- 
ponderance of  population,  property, 
and  influence  was  still  on  the  side  of 
the  Catholics,  and  to  break   that  down 


*  Four  Masters. 

■f  P.  O'Sullevan  Beare,  who  gives  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  the  trial  of  the  bishop  and  priest,  mentions 
several  other  cases  of  the  execution  of  Catholics  about 
this  period  ;  among  others,  that  of  the  prior  of  Lough 
Derg,  who  was  hanged  and  quartered.  Vide  Hist. 
Cath.,  p.  269. 

I  This  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  was  a  pupil  of  the  fa- 
mous Puritan  minister,  Cartwright,  who  was  in  the  habit 
of  praying  in  his  sermons  :  "  0  Lord,  give  us  grace  and 
power  as  one  man  to  set  ourselves  against  them  "  (the 
bishops).  "  At  this  time,"  says  Plowden  (Hiiitory  of 
Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  338),  "  the  general  body  of  the  re- 
formed clergj-  in  Ireland  was  Puritan  ;  the  most  eminent 


a  great  deal  was  to  be  done  in  the  shape 
of  preliminary  arrangements.  The 
deputy  demanded,  and  easily  obtained 
from  the  king,  ample  powers  for  these 
preparations,  with  which  he  undertook 
to  secure  a  sufficient  majority  in  both 
houses.  Seventeen  new  counties  had 
been  formed  since  the  last  parliament ; 
but  many  of  these  would  send  Catholic 
representatives,  and  it  was  by  the  crea- 
tion of  new  boroughs  that  Chichester 
proposed  to  overwhelm  the  Catholic 
rank  and  population  of  the  country. 
Forty  new  boroughs  were  accordingly 
created,  many  of  them  paltry  villages 
or  scattered  houses,  inhabited  only  by 
some  half  dozen  of  the  new  Ulster  set- 
tlers, and  several  of  them  not  being  in- 
corporated until  after  the  writs  had 
been  issued.  No  previous  communica- 
tion of  the  design  to  summon  parliament, 
or  of  the  laws  intended  to  be  enacted, 
had  been  made  pursuant  to  Poyning's 
act,  and  the  Catholics  justly  appre- 
hended a  design  to  impose  fresh  griev- 
ances upon  them.  A  letter  signed  by 
six  Catholic  lords  of  the  Pale  was  ac- 
cordingly addressed  to  the  king,  but  he 

of  whom  for  learning  was  Ussher,  then  (1610)  Provost 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  afterwards  (1634)  Arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  who  by  his  management  and  contri- 
vance procured  the  whole  doctrine  of  Calvin  to  be  re- 
ceived as  the  public  belief  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  and 
ratified  by  Cliichester  in  the  king's  name.  Not  only  the 
famous  Lambeth  articles  concerning  predestination, 
grace,  and  justifying  faith,  sent  down  as  a  standard  of 
doctrine  to  Cambridge,  but  immediately  suppressed  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  afterwards  rejected  by  King 
James,  but  also  several  particular  fancies  and  notions 
of  his  own  were  (in  1615)  incorporated,  says  Cart^ 
(Orm.,  vol.  i.,  p.  73),  into  the  artaclea  of  the  Church  of 
Ireland." 


VIOLENT  PROCEEDINGS  IN  PARLIASIENT. 


463 


treated  their  remonstrance  with  con- 
tempt. He  pronounced  their  memorial 
to  be  a  rash  and  insolent  interference 
with  his  authority,  and  the  lord  deputy 
was  allowed  to  pack  his  parliament  as 
he  pleased*  The  first  trial  of  strength 
was  in  the  election  of  a  speaker.  Sir 
John  Everard,  who  had  resigned  his 
position  as  justice  of  the  king's  bench, 
rather  than  take  the  oath  of  supremacy, 
was  pi'oposed  by  the  recusants,  and  Sir 
John  Davis,  the  attorney-general,  by  the 
court  party.  The  proceedings  which 
ensued  were  scandalous.  The  recusants 
deemed  the  numerical  majority  of  their 
opponents  to  be  factious  and  illegal,  as 
it  really  was,  and  in  the  absence  of  the 
court  party  in  another  room  to  be 
counted,  according  to  the  forms  then  in 
use,  they  placed  their  own  candidate  in 
the  speaker's  chair.  On  the  return  of 
the  court  party  into  the  house  a  tumul- 
tuous scene  took  place.  These  placed 
Sir  John  Davis  in  the  lap  of  Sir  John 


*  Of  the  233  members  returned,  125  were  Protestants, 
101  belonged  to  the  "  recusant"  or  Catholic  party,  and 
6  were  absent.  The  Upper  House  consisted  of  16  tem- 
poral barons,  25  Protestant  prelates,  5  viscounts,  and  4 
earls,  of  whom  a  considerable  majority  belonged  to  the 
court  party.  The  wonder,  observes  Plowden,  is  how  so 
large  a  majority  of  Protestants  was  obtained,  consider- 
ing how  very  few  of  the  Irish  had  adopted  the  new 
doctrines  ;  not  sixty,  says  the  Abbe  Mageoghegan,  down 
to  the  reign  of  James. 

f  "  It  may  be  here  remarked,"  observes  Mr.  Moore, 
"  as  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  sad  sameness  of  Irish  his- 
tory, that  nearly  200  years  after  these  events,  when,  by 
the  descendants  of  these  Catholic  lords  and  gentry,  the 
same  wrongs  were  still  suffered,  the  same  righteous 
cause  to  be  upheld,  it  was  by  expedients  nearly  similar 
that  they  contrived  to  resist  peaceably  their  persecutors. 
In  the  separate  assembly  formed  by  the  recusants  we 
6nd  the  prototype  of  the  Catholic  Association  ;  while 


Everard,  and  then  pulled  the  latter  out 
of  the  chair,  tearing  his  garments  in  the 
act.  The  Catholic  party  thereupon 
seceded  fi'om  parliament,  and  sent  a 
deputation  to  London  to  lay  their  com- 
plaints before  the  king,  eight  peers  and 
about  twice  as  many  commoners  being 
chosen  for  this  purpose,  parliament 
having  in  the  mean  time  been  pro- 
rogued.f 

The  reception  given  to  the  Catholic 
delegates  M^as  harsh  and  insulting. 
Two  of  the  membei"?,  Talbot  and  Lut- 
trell,  were  committed,  one  to  the  Tower, 
and  the  other  to  the  Fleet  prison  ;  but 
ultimately  James  dismissed  them  after 
a  severe  rating  in  his  own  peculiar 
style,;];  and  a  commission  of  inquiry  was 
granted ;  one  of  the  concessions  made 
being,  that  the  members  for  boroughs 
incorporated  after  the  writs  were  issued 
had  no  right  to  sit.  In  the  subsequent 
sessions  of  this  parliament,  until  it  was 
dissolved  in  October,  1615,  no  furthei 


the  large  funds  so  promptly  raised  to  defray  the  cost  o/ 
the  deputation  to  England  was,  in  its  spirit  and  national 
purpose,  a  forerunner  of  the  Catholic  Rent." — History 
of  Ireland,  vol.  iv.,  p.  106. 

X  This  silly,  pedantic  despot,  whom  his  flatterers  styled 
the  *  British  Solomon,"  and  who  has  been  landed  by 
Hume  and  others  for  his  Irish  legislation,  taunted  the 
Irish  agents  as  "  a  body  without  a  head ;  a  headless 
body  ;  you  would  be  afraid  to  meet  such  a  body  in  the 
streets  ;  a  body  without  ahead  to  speak  !"  and  he  asked, 
"  Wliat  is  it  to  you  whether  I  make  many  or  few  boroughs  ? 
My  council  may  consider  the  fitness  if  I  require  it ;  but 
if  I  made  forty  noblemen  and  four  hundred  boroughs — 
the  more  the  merrier,  the  fewer  the  better  cheer."  As  to 
his  Irish  government,  he  told  them  there  was  nothing 
faulty  in  it,  "  unless  they  would  have  the  kingdom  of  Ire. 
land  like  the  kingdom  of  heaven !"  See  his  incoherent 
speech,  which  was  addressed  to  the  lords  of  the  council  in 
presence  of  the  Irish  delegates,  given  in  full  by  Cox. 


464 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  I. 


display  of  angry  feelings  between  the 
two  parties  took  place.  There  appeared, 
indeed,  to  have  been  mutual  concessions. 
An  intended  penal  law,  of  a  very 
sweeping  character,  was  not  brought 
forward  ;*  and  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
large  subsidies,  which  gratified  the  in- 
satiable rapacity  of  the  monarch,  were 
voted,  an  act  of  oblivion  and  general 
pardon  was  passed  in  return  ;  and  the 
Irish  in  general  were,  for  the  first  time, 
taken  within  the  pale  of  the  English 
law.  But  the  measure  which  renders 
this  parliament  of  James's  most  memo- 
rable, was  that  for  the  attainder  of 
Hugh  O'Neill,  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell, 
Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty,  and  several  other 
Irish  chiefs, — an  unjust  and  vindictive 
act  for  which  the  grounds  were  never 
proved,  and  which,  as  being  sanctioned 
by  the  Catholic  party  in  a  suicidal  spirit 
of  compromise,  assumed,  remarks  Mr. 
Mooi-e,  "  a  still  more  odious  character, 
and  left  a  stain  upon  the  record  of  their 
proceedings  during  this  reign."f 

A.  D.  1616.:j: — Sir  Arthur  Chichester 
having  completed  his  task,  and  received 
as  his  reward  an  additional  grant  of 
Irish  lands,  together  with  the  title  of 
baron  of  Belfast,  withdrew  from  the 
Irish  government,  and  was  replaced  by 


»  See  O'SuUevan'3  JIUt.  Cath.,  pp.  310-313.     Ed.  1850. 

f  It  has  been  argued  that  the  Irish  chieftains  pos- 
sessed only  the  auzerainU,  and  not  the  property  of  the 
soil ;  and  that  therefore  the  rights  of  their  feudatories 
to  the  latter  could  not  have  been  forfeited  by  the  rebel- 
lion of  the  cliiefs.  See  translator's  note  to  De  Beau- 
mont's Ireland,  p.  57.  Mr.  O'Connell,  in  his  Memoir  of 
Ireland  (p.  172),  argues  that  James  undermined  his  own 
title  to  the  six  confiscated  counties  of  Ulster  by  declar- 


Sir  Oliver  St.  John,  afterwards  created 
Viscount  Grandison,  whose  instructions 
were  to  enforce  with  extreme  rigor  the 
fine  inflicted  on  Catholics  for  absence 
from  the  Protestant  service.  This 
penal  tax  was  not  only  most  galling  to 
the  feelings  of  Catholics,  but  was  most 
oppressive  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view; 
for  while  the  sum  levied  each  time  was 
only  twelve  pence  according  to  the  law, 
it  was  swelled  up  to  ten  shillings  by 
the  fees  always  exacted  for  clerks  and 
ofiicers;  and  the  appropriation  of  the 
penalty  to  works  of  charity,  as  the  act 
required,  was  shamefully  evaded,  as  it 
was  argued  that  the  poor  being  Catho- 
lics themselves  were  not  fit  to  receive 
the  money,  but  "  ought  to  pay  the  like 
penalty  themselves." 

In  1617  a  proclamation  was  issued 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  Catholic  regu- 
lar clergy,  and  the  city  of  Waterford 
was  deprived  of  its  charter  and  liberties 
in  consequence  of  the  spirited  and 
steadfast  rejection  of  the  oath  of  su- 
premacy by  its  corporation.  In  1622 
Henry  Carey,  Viscount  Faulkland,  was 
sent  over  as  lord  deputy,  and  at  the 
ceremony  of  his  inauguration,  the  cele- 
brated James  Ussher,  then  Protestant 
bishop  of  Meath,  and  soon  after  made 


ing  that  the  exiled  earls  had  no  title  whatever  to  the  pos- 
sessions forfeited.  These,  however,  are  but  speculative 
objections.  As  to  the  Catholics  who  voted  the  attainder 
of  O'Neill,  they  were  chiefly  Anglo-Irish. 

I  The  Four  Masters  desert  us  at  this  date,  under 
which  they  give  their  last  entry :  the  death  of  Hugh 
O'Neill ;  and  for  the  few  preceding  years,  from  the 
death  of  Red  Hugh  O'Donnell,  the  information  they 
afford  is  very  scanty. 


WHOLESALE   SPOLIATION   IN   LEINSTER. 


465 


archbishop  of  Armagh,  taking  as  his 
text  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  He  bear- 
eth  uot  the  sword  in  vain,"*  delivered 
a  fanatical  harangue,  which  filled  the 
Catholics  with  alarm ;  and  finally,  in 
the  following  year,  another  proclama- 
tion was  issued  for  the  banishment  of 
all  the  "Popish  clergj^,"  regular  and 
secular,  ordering  them  to  depart  from 
the  kingdom  within  forty  days,  and 
forbidding  any  one  to  hold  intercourse 
with  them  after  that  period. f  Thus 
was  the  penal  code,  although  then  only 
in  its  infancy,  rapidly  apjiroaching  that 
acme  of  cruelty  which  it  afterwards 
reached. 

The  systematic  rapine  called  "plan- 
tation" was  so  successful  in  Ulster,  that 
James  was  resolved  to  extend  it  into 
other  parts  of  the  kingdom.  For  this 
purpose  he  appointed  a  commission  of 
inquiry  to  scrutinize  the  titles  and  de 


*  RoU.  xiii.  4.  For  Ussher's  Puritanism,  see  note, 
p.  oOl. 

f  P.  O'SuUevan  Beare,  wlio  -wrote  towards-  tlie  close 
of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  Bays  he  did  not  know  the 
number  of  ecclesiastics  then  in  Ireland ;  but  he  was 
aware  that  government  had,  through  its  spies,  ascer- 
tained the  names  of  1160  priests,  regular  and  secular; 
and  Dr.  Kelly,  in  his  note  on  this  passage  {Hist.  Cath., 
p.  298),  says  he  once  saw  a  list  of  all  the  Catholic  clergy 
in  Ireland  at  this  time,  but  that  at  present  it  is  not 
easily  accessible.  F.  Moony  says  there  were  120 
Franciscan  friars,  of  whom  35  were  preachers,  in  Ire- 
land ;  besides  40  more  engaged  in  their  studies  at  Lou- 
vain  when  he  ivrote  (about  1616).  It  is  said  in  the 
Hibernia  Dominicana  that  there  were  but  four  Domini- 
cans in  Irelaad  at  the  time  of  Elizabeth's  death.  The 
Jesuits,  though  uot  numerous,  were  exceedingly  active. 
F.  Verdier  reported  that  there  were  53  Fathers,  8  coad- 
jutors, and  11  novices  of  the  Company  of  Jesus  in  Ire- 
land in  1659.  Thj  affairs  of  the  Irish  Church  were 
chiefly  managed  by  the  four  Ai-chbishops,  the  succession 
of  whom  was  well  kept  up  by  the  Pope.  These  ap- 
pointed Vicars-General,  with  Apostolic  authority  in  the 
59 


termine  the  rights  of  all  the  lands  in 
Leinster,  that  province  being  the  next 
theatre  of  this  iniquitous  spoliation ; 
and  so  rapid  was  the  progress  of  the 
commissioners,  that  in  a  little  time  land 
to  the  extent  of  385,000  acres  more 
was  placed  at  the  king's  disposal  for 
distribution.  Old  and  obsolete  claims, 
some  of  them  dating  as  far  back  as 
Henry  II.,  were  revived ;  advantage 
was  taken  of  trivial  flaws  and  minute 
informalities.  The  ordinary  principles 
of  justice  were  set  at  naught ;  perjui-y, 
fraud,  and  the  most  infamous  arts  of 
deceit  were  resorted  to  ;  and,  as  even 
Leland  tells  us,  "  there  are  not  wantincr 
proofs  of  the  most  iniquitous  practices 
of  hardened  cruelty,  of  vile  perjury, 
and  scandalous  subornation  employed 
to  despoil  the  fair  and  unfortunate  pro- 
prietor of  his  inheritance.''^  From 
Leinster  the  system  was  extended  into 

suffragan  dioceses,  and  these,  again,  appointed  the  par. 
ish  priests.  O'Sullevan  gives  the  names  of  the  four 
Archbishops  when  he  wrote  (1618)  as :  Eugene  Magau- 
ran,  of  Dublin  ;  Da\-id  O'Carny,  of  Cashel ;  Peter  Lom- 
bard, of  Armagh  ;  and  Florence  O'Mulconry,  of  Tuam. 
He  mentions,  as  then  established,  the  Irish  seminaries 
of  Salamanca,  ComposteUa,  and  SevUle,  in  Spain  ;  Lis- 
bon, in  Portugal ;  Louvain,  Antwerp,  and  Tournay,  in 
Flanders  ;  and  Bordeaux,  Toulouse,  and  Paris,  in  France. 
Irish  stiidents  were  also  received  in  other  colleges,  and 
in  some  of  the  places  just  mentioned  the  seminaries  for 
the  Irish  were  not  yet  regularly  founded. — History  of 
Ireland,  B.  iv.,  c.  8. 

X  See  as  an  Olustration  of  this  scandalous  plunder,  and 
of  the  imprincipled  ingenuity  and  perseverance  of  the 
"  discoverers,"  as  they  were  called,  the  account  of  the 
spoliation  of  the  O'Bymes  of  Eanelagh,  in  Wicklow,  as 
given  in  Taylor's  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  inlrelarid, 
vol  i.,  pp.  243,  24C,  and  quoted  in  full  in  O'Connell's 
Memoirs  of  Ireland,  p.  161,  &c.  The  native  septs  of 
the  Queen's  county  were  transplanted  to  Kerry  ;  and  in 
many  instances  proprietors,  as  in  the  case  of  the  FarraHs, 
were  dispossessed  without  receiving  any  compensation. 


466 


REIGN  OF   CHARLES   I. 


Connaught,  but  its  principal  opei'ation 
in  the  latter  province  was  reserved  for 
the  next  reign.  James  I.  died  on  the 
27th  of  March,  1625 ;   and   in   conse- 

*  Some  of  the  minor  crimes  of  James's  government 
against  the  Irish,  are  thus  summed  up  by  Leland  (B.  iv., 
c.  8) :  "  Extortions  and  oppressions  of  the  soldiers  in 
various  excursions  from  tlieir  quarters,  for  levying  the 
king's  rents,  or  supporting  the  civil  power ;  a  rigorous 
and  tyrannical  execution  of  martial  law  in  time  of  peace  ; 
a  dangerous  and  unconstitutional  power  assumed  by  the 
Privy  Council  in  deciding  causes  determinable  by  com- 
mon law ;  the  severe  treatment  of  witnesses  and  jurors 
in  the  Castle-chamber,  whose  evidence  or  verdicts  had 


quence  of  his  wholesale  plunder,  op- 
pression, and  persecution  of  the  Irish, 
left  a  woeful  legacy  to  his  unfortunate 


successor. 


been  displeasing  to  the  State  ;  the  grievous  exaction  of 
the  established  clergy  for  the  occasional  duties  of  their 
fimctious  ;  and  the  severity  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts." 
As  to  the  punishment  of  jurors,  it  was  laid  down  as  a 
principle  by  Chichester  that  the  proper  tribunal  to  pun- 
ish jurors,  who  would  not  find  for  the  king  on  "suffi- 
cient evidence,"  was  the  Star-chamber  ;  sometimes  they 
were  "  pilloried  with  loss  of  ears,  and  bored  through  the 
tongue,  and  sometimes  marked  on  the  forehead  with  a 
hot  iron,  &c." — Commons'  Journal,  vol.  i.,  p.  307. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


REIGN    OF   CHARLES    I. 

Hopes  of  the  Catholics  on  the  accession  of  Charles,  and  corresponding  alarm  of  the  Protestants — Intolerant 
declaration  of  the  Protestant  bishops. — -The  "graces." — The  royal  promise  broken.— Renewed  persecution  of 
the  Catholics. — Outrage  on  a  Catholic  congregation  in  Cook-street. — Confiscation  of  Catholic  schools  and 
chapels. — Government  of  Lord  Wentworth  or  Strafford — He  summons  a  Parliament — His  shameful  duplicity. 
— The  Commission  of  "  Defective  Titles"  for  Connaught. — Atrocious  spoliation  in  the  name  of  law. — Jury- 
packing. — Noble  conduct  of  a  Galwayjury — Their  punishment. — Plantation  of  Ormond,  &c. — Fresh  subsidies 
by  an  Irish  Parliament. — Strafford  raises  an  army  of  Irish  Catholics — He  is  impeached  by  Parliament — His 
execution. — Causes  of  the  great  insurrection  of  1641. — Threats  of  the  Puritans  to  extirpate  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion in  Ireland. — The  Irish  abroad — Their  numbers  and  inflnence. — First  movements  among  the  Irish 
gentry — Roger  O'More — Lord  Maguire— Sir  Phelrra  O'NeUl. — Promises  from  Cardinal  Richelieu. — Officers  in 
the  king's  interest  combine  with  the  Irish  gentry^Discoveiy  of  the  conspiracy. — Arrest  of  Lord  Maguire  and 
MacMahon. — Alarm  in  Dublin. — The  outbreak  in  Ulster — Its  first  successes — Proclamation  of  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neill — Feigned  commission  from  the  lung. — Gross  exaggeration  of  the  cruelties  of  the  Irish. — Bishop 
Bedell  and  the  remonstrance  from  Cavan. — The  massacre  of  Island  Magee. — The  fable  of  a  general  massacre 
by  the  Catholics  refuted. — Proclamations  of  the  lords  justices. — The  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  Pale 
insulted  and  repulsed. — Scheme  of  a  general  confiscation. — Approach  of  the  northern  Irish  to  the  Pale — They 
take  Mellifout  and  lay  siege  to  Drogheda.— Sir  Charles  Coote's  atrocities  in  Wicklow.— Efforts  of  the  Catholic 
gentry  to  communicate  with  the  king. — Outrages  of  troopers— The  gentry  of  the  Pale  compelled  to  stand  on 
their  defence.— Meeting  on  the  HiU  of  Crofty.— The  lords  of  the  Pale  take  up  arms.— The  insurrection  spreads 
into  Munster  and  Connaught.— Royal  proclamation.- Conduct  of  the  English  parlioment.— The  insurrection 
general— Seige  of  Drogheda  raised.— The  battle  of  Kilrusb.— The  general  Assembly,  &c. 


(FIIOM  A.  D.  1G26  TO  A.  D.  1642.) 


THE    well    known    moderatign     of 
Charles  I.  inspired  the  Irisli  Cath- 
olics with  hope  of  a  mitigation  of  tlie 


intolerance  under  which  they  groaned, 
but  a  corresponding  alarm  was  mani- 
fested by  the  Protestants  lest  any  such 


SUBSIDY   OF  THE   IRISH  CATHOLICS   TO   CHARLES   I. 


467 


mercy  should  be  extended  to  their 
opponents.  In  1626  FaulkLind,  who 
was  still  lord  deputy,  advised  the 
Catholics  to  send  agents  to  the  king, 
encouraging  them  to  expect  some  favor 
in  i-eturn  for  pecuniary  support ;  and 
taking  this  implied  promise  for  a  reali- 
ty, they  are  said  to  have  boasted  too 
i-eadily  of  the  relief  which  they  antici- 
pated. This  kindled  the  zeal  of  all 
classes  of  Protestants.  The  Protestant 
pulpits  I'esounded  with  declamations  on 
the  subject;  and  Archbishop  Ussher, 
with  all  the  prelates  of  the  state  church, 
joined  in  protest,  declaring  that  "  to 
grant  the  papists  a  toleration,  or  to 
consent  that  they  may  freely  exercise 
their  religion  and  profess  their  faith 
and  doctrines,  was  a  grievous  sin,"  and 
"a  matter  of  most  dans;erous  couse- 
quence;"  wherefore  they  prayed  God 
"  to  make  those  in  authority  zealous, 
resolute,  and  courageous  against  all 
popery,  superstition,  and  idolatry." 
No  political,  or  any  other  than  theo- 
logical grounds,  were  put  forward  for 
this  ebullition  of  bigotrj' ;  but  in  the 
mean  time  the  Catholic  agents  perse- 
vered in  their  negotiations  with  the 
king,  whose  exigencies  were  well  un- 
derstood. The  prodigality  of  his  father 
had  burdened  him  ^Yith  a  heavy  debt, 
and  foreign  wars  demanded  supplies 
which  his  parliament  refused  to  grant, 
except  on  hard  and  dishonorable 
terms.  He  was  thei-efore  glad  to  ac- 
cept from  the  Irish  Catholics  the  oftej- 
of  a  voluntary  subsidj^  of  £120,000,  to 
be   paid   in   three    annual    instalments, 


and  in  return  he  undertook  to  grant 
them  certain  concessions  or  immunities 
which  are  known  in  the  history  of  the 
period  as  the  "  graces."  Many  of  these 
"  graces"  applied  to  others  in  Ireland 
besides  Catholics.  The  more  important 
were  those  which  provided  "  that  recu- 
sants should  be  allowed  to  practise  in 
the  courts  of  law,  and  to  sue  out  the 
livery  of  their  lands  on  taking  an  oath 
of  civil  allea-iance  in  lieu  of  the  oath  of 

O 

supremacy ;  that  the  undertakers  in  the 
several  plantations  should  have  time  al- 
lowed them  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of 
their  tenures ;  that  the  claims  of  the 
crown  should  be  limited  to  the  last 
sixty  years ;  and  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Connaught  should  be  permitted  to 
make  a  new  enr.olment  of  their  estates." 
The  contract  was  duly  ratified  by  a 
royal  proclamation,  in  which  the  con- 
cessions were  accompanied  by  a  promise 
that  a  parliament  should  be  held  to  con- 
firm them.  The  first  instalment  of  the 
money  was  paid,  and  the  Irish  agents 
returned  home,  but  only  to  learn  that 
an  order  had  been  issued  against  "  the 
popish  i-egular  clergy,"  and  that  the 
royal  promise  was  to  be  evaded  in  the 
most  shameful  manner.  When  the 
Catholics  pressed  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  compact,  the  essential  formalities 
for  calling  an  Irish  parliament  were 
found  to  have  been  omitted  by  the  offi- 
cials, and  thus  the  matter  fell  to  the 
ground  for  the  present.  Lord  Faulk- 
land  was  recalled  at  the  representation 
of  the  Puritans ;  and  viscount  Ely  (the 
chancellor)  and  the  earl  of  Cork  (lord 


468 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES  I. 


high  treasurer)  having  been  appointed 
lords  justices,  the  pcr^alties  agairivSt  recu- 
sants, under  the  2d  of  Elizabeth,  were, 
without  any  instructions  from  the  king, 
put  in  force  with  extreme  rigor,  and  a 
system  of  frightful  terrorism  carried 
out.'" 

A  sing;le  fact  will  show  the  nature  of 
the  persecution  to  which  the  Catholics 
were  subjected  at  this  time  in  Dub- 
lin. The  protestant  archbishop,  doctor 
Launcelot  Bnlkelev,  being  informed 
that  a  fraternity  of  Carmelites  had  the 
temerity  to  celebrate  Mass  publicly  in 
their  chapel  in  Cook-street,  proceeded 
thither  with  the  mayor  and  a  file  of 
soldiers,  durina:  the  celebration  of  Hisfh 
Mass,  on  St.  Stephen's  Day,  December, 
1629,  dispersed  the  congregation,  pro- 
faned the  altar,  and  heaved  down  the 
statue  of  St.  Francis,  and  arrested  some 
of  the  friars.  These  were,  however, 
rescued  by  the  people,  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  pursue  even  the  archbishop 


*  Sir  Richard  Boyle,  commonly  called  the  "great" 
earl  of  Cork,  one  of  the  lords  justices  mentioned  above, 
and  one  of  the  most  fortunate  of  all  English  adventurers 
in  Ireland,  left  an  autobiography  which  he  caUed  his 
"  True  Remembrances,"  and  of  ivhich  a  portion  has 
been  printed  in  Lodge's  Irish  Peerage  (ArchdaU's  Lodge, 
vol.  i.,  p.  150,  &c.)  He  was  second  son  of  a  Mr.  Roger 
Boyle,  of  Herefordshire,  and  being  too  poor  to  support 
liimself  as  a  student  in  the  Middle  Terriple,  became  a 
clerk  to  the  chief  baron  of  the  English  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer ;  but  he  says  ''  it  pleased  Divine  Providence  to 
lead  him  into  Ireland,"  where  he  arrived  in  1388,  being 
then  in  his  twenty-second  year.  He  was  a  lucky  and  a 
prudent  man,  and  opportunities  were  not  wanting  at 
that  time  in  Ireland  for  such  a  person  to  make  a  large 
fortune.  He  was  made  clerk  of  the  council  in  Munster  ; 
was  the  bearer  of  the  news  of  the  English  victory  at 
Kinsale  to  Elizabeth  ;  purchased  the  Irish  estates  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  amounting  to  many  thousand  acres  in 
Cork  and  Waterford,  for  £1,500  ;  married  as  his  second 
wife  (liis  first  being  a  Jlrs.  Apsley,  a  Limerick  lady. 


himself  and  compel  him  to  seek  shelter 
in  a  house.  A  few  days  after  an  order 
arrived  from  the  English,  council  to 
have  the  chapel  demolished,  and  three 
other  chapels  and  a  Catholic  seminary 
in  Dublin  seized  and  converted  to  the 
king's  use.f  Eight  Catholic  aldermen 
of  Dublin  were  arrested  for  not  assist- 
ing the  mayor,  and  the  persecution  was 
afterwards  extended  over  the  kincrdom : 
yet  at  this  time  the  Catholics  formed  a 
majority  of  at  least  a  hundred  to  one  of 
the  population  of  Ireland. 

In  July,  1633,  viscount  Wentworth, 
whose  hateful  memory  is  better  pre- 
served by  his  subsequent  title  of  earl  of 
Strafford,  commenced  his  duties  as  lord 
deputy  of  Ireland.  He  had  recently 
abandoned  the  popular  cause  in  Eng- 
land, and  attached  himself  to  the  king, 
to  whom  he  became  a  most  devoted,  but 
most  unprincipled,  minister.  He  came 
to  Ireland  "with  feelings  of  thorough 
contempt  for  all  classes  here,  and  his 

who  brought  him  £500  a-year),  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Geoffrey  Fenton,  the  potent  and  despotic  secretary  of 
state  for  Ireland  ;  and  obtained  a  variety  of  titles,  until 
he  became  earl  of  Cork,  lord  high  treasurer,  and  lord 
j  ustice  of  Ireland.  "  At  great  expense,"  says  the  memoir, 
"  he  encouraged  the  settlement  of  Protestants,  the  sup- 
pression of  jjopery,  the  regulation  of  the  army,  the  in- 
crease of  the  public  revenue,  and  the  transplantation  of 
many  septs  and  barbarous  clans  from  the  fruitful  prov- 
ince of  Leinster  into  the  wilds  of  Kerry."  Robert 
Boyle,  the  philosopher,  was  the  youngest  of  his  sons. 

f  The  circumstances  are  thus  related  by  Harris  and 
others  on  the  authority  of  a  publication  called  Foxes 
and  Firebrands ;  but  the  Carmelite  and  Franciscan 
chapels  were  both  at  tliis  time  in  Cook-street,  and  Mr. 
Gilbert  {Hisl.  of  Bub.,  vol,  i.,  p.  299)  says  it  was  in  the 
latter  this  outrage  was  committed.  He  adds,  that  con- 
sequent upon  this  affair  the  Franciscan  schools  through- 
out Ireland  were  dissolved,  and  F.  Valentine  Browne,  the 
provincial,  sent  the  novices  to  complete  their  studies  in 
foreign  countries. 


DUPLICITY   OF   WENTWORTH.. 


469 


supercilious  bearing  gave  great  offence 
to  the  council  and  the  nobility.  In 
July,  1634,  he  assembled  a  parliament, 
the  subserviency  of  which  he  en- 
deavored to  secure  by  having  a  number 
of  persons  in  the  pay  of  the  crown, 
chiefly  military  officers,  returned  as 
members.  The  question  of  the  "  graces" 
still  agitated  the  public  mind ;  and  he 
gave  the  strongest  assurances  that  those 
concessions  would  be  confirmed,  pro- 
vided the  supplies,  demanded  by  the 
king,  were  readily  voted.  "  Surely," 
said  he,  in  his  speech  from  the  throne, 
"  so  great  a  meanness  cannot  enter  your 
hearts,  as  once  to  suspect  his  majesty's 
gracious  regards  of  you,  and  perform- 
ance with  you,  where  you  affie  your- 
selves upon  his  grace."  The  supplies 
were  accordingly  granted,  and  with  so 
generous  a  hand,  that  six  subsidies  of 
£50,000  each  were  voted,  although 
Weutworth  tells  us  that  "  he  never 
propounded  more  to  the  king  than 
£30,000."  But  while  parliament  acted 
thus,  relying  on  the  j^romises  of  the 
king  and  his  deputj',  the  latter  had 
basely  resolved  that  those  promises 
never  should  be  fulfilled,  and  contrived 
to  evade  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  re- 
move the  odium  of  doing  so  from  his 
royal  master,  who,  however,  unfortu- 
nately for   his   own   fame,  fully  sauc- 


*  The  king  -n-rites  thus  to  the  deputy  : — "  \Ventworth : 
Before  I  answer  any  of  your  particular  letters  to  me  I 
must  tell  you  that  your  last  public  despatch  has  given 
me  a  great  deal  of  contentment ;  and  especially  for  keep- 
ing off  the  envy"  (odium) "  of  a  necessary  negative  from 
me,  of  those  unreasonable  graces  that  people  expected 


tioned  the  scandalous  treachery  of  his 
servant."" 

The  "si'ace"  to  which  "Wentworth 
had  the  strongest  objection  was  that 
which  would  make  sixty  years  of  un- 
disputed jDossessiou  a  bar  to  the  claims 
of  the  crown,  in  cases  of  landed 
property — and  with  good  reason,  as  he 
showed ;  for  as  soon  as  pai-liament  was 
dissolved  in  April,  1635,  a  commission 
of  "  defective  titles"  was  issued  for 
Counaught,  with  the  design  of  confis- 
cating the  whole  of  that  province  to 
the  crown  by  fictitious  forms  of  law. 
James  I.  having  extended  the  system  of 
spoliation  called  "planting"  wherever 
the  native  Irish  continued  to  hold  their 
own,  first,  in  the  six  counties  of  Ulster, 
and  then  in  the  Irish  parts  of  Leinster, 
as  Lougford,  which  was  the  O'Farrell's 
country ;  Wicklow,  which  was  held  by 
the  O'Tooles  and  O'Byrnes ;  the  north 
part  of  Wexford,  which  belonged  to 
the  Kavanagh's ;  Iregan,  in  the  Queen's 
County,  which  belonged  to  the  Mageo- 
ghegans ;  and  Kilcoursey,  in  the  King's 
County,  belonging  to  the  O'Molloys; 
and  having  also  replanted  Desmond, 
\vhich  had  been  desolated  in  the  last 
war  in  Munster,  it  now  remained,  in 
order  to  find  fresh  ground  for  a  Protest- 
ant colonization  from  England  and 
Scotland,  to  hunt  out  old   claims,    or 


from  me."  Strafford's  State  Letters, vol. i.p.ZSl.  VVent- 
TTorth  describes  how  Sir  John  Radcliffe  and  two  of  the 
judges  assisted  him  in  his  plan  ;  and  how,  through  the 
medium  of  a  committee,  a  positive  refusal  to  recommend 
the  passing  of  the  "  graces"  into  law  was  conveyed  to 
parliament  at  its  next  session."    Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  279,  &c 


470 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


supposed  claims,  of  the  crown,  and  thus 
to  reacli  lands  long  held  under  the  se- 
curity of  the  English  law*  Went- 
wortli  commenced  the  work  of  plunder 
with  Roscommon,  and,  as  a  preliminary 
step,  directed  the  sheriff  to  select  such 
jurors  as  might  be  made  amenable,  "in 
case  they  should  prevaricate;"  or,  in 
other  woi'ds,  they  might  be  ruined,  by 
enormous  fines,  if  they  refused  to  find  a 
verdict  for  the  king.f  The  jurors  were 
told  that  the  object  of  the  commission 
was  to  find  "a  clear  and  undoubted 
title  in  the  crown  to  the  province  of 
Connaught,"  and  to  make  them  "  a  civil 
and  rich  people"  by  means  of  a  planta- 
tion ;  for  which  purpose  his  majesty 
should,  of  course,  have  the  land  in  his 
own  hands  to  distribute  to  fit  and 
proper  persons.  Under  threats  which 
could  not  be  misunderstood  the  jury 
found  for  the  king,  whereupon  Went- 
worth  commended  the  foreman,  Sir 
Lucas  Dillon,  to  his  majesty,  that  "  he 
might  be  remembered  upon  the  dividing 


*  Leland  describes  Wentwortli's  project  in  tlie  follow- 
ing words :  "  His  project  was  nothing  less  than  to  sub- 
vert the  title  to  every  estate  in  every  part  of  Connaught, 
and  to  establish  a  new  plantation  through  this  whole 
province ;  a  project  which,  when  first  proposed  in  the 
late  reign,  was  received  with  horror  and  amazement, 
but  which  suited  the  undismayed  and  enterprising 
genius  of  Lord  AVentwortli.  For  this  he  had  opposed 
the  confirmation  of  the  royal  graces,  and  taken  to  him- 
self the  odium  of  so  flagrant  a  violation  of  the  royal 
promise.  The  parliament  was  at  an  end,  and  the  deputy 
at  leisure  to  execute  a  scheme,  which,  as  it  was  offensive 
and  alarming,  required  a  cautious  and  deliberate  proce- 
dure. Old  records  of  state  and  the  memorials  of  ancient 
monasteries  were  ransacked  to  ascertain  the  king's 
original  title  to  Connaught.  It  was  soon  discovered 
that  in  the  grant  of  Henry  HI.  to  Richard  do  Burgo,  five 
cantreds  were  reserved  to  the  crown,  adjacent  to  the 


of  the  lands,"  and  also  olitained  a  com- 
petent reward  for  the  judges. J 

Similar  means  had  a  like  success  in 
Mayo  and  Sligo ;  but  when  it  came  to 
the  turn  of  the  more  wealthy  and  popu 
lous  county  of  Galway,  the  jur-y  refused 
to  sanction  the  nefarious  robbery  by 
their  verdict.  Wentworth  w^as  furious 
at  this  rebuff,  and  the  unhappyjurors 
were  punished  without  mercy  for  their 
"contumacy."  They  wei'e  compelled 
to  ap2")ear  in  the  castle  chamber,  where 
each  of  them  was  fined  £4,000,  and 
their  estates  were  seized  and  they 
themselves  imprisoned  until  these  fines 
should  be  paid ;  while  the  sheriff  was 
fined  £1,000,  and  being  unable  to  pay 
that  sum,  died  in  prison.  Wentworth 
proposed  to  seize  the  lands,  not  only  of 
the  jurors,  but  of  all  the  gentry  who 
neglected  "to  lay  hold  on  his  majesty's 
gi-ace  ;"  he  called  for  an  increase  of  the 
army  "  until  the  intended  plantation 
should  be  settled;"  and  recommended 
that  the  counsel  who  arofued  the  cases 


castle  of  Atldone ;  that  this  grant  included  the  whole 
remainder  of  the  province,  which  was  now  alleged  to 
have  been  forfeited  by  Aedh  O'Connor,  the  Irish  pro. 
vincial  chieftain ;  that  the  land  and  lordship  of  De 
Burgo  descended,  lineally,  to  Edward  IV.,  and  were 
confirmed  to  the  crown  by  a  statute  of  Henry  VII. 
The  ingenuity  of  court  lawyers  was  employed  to  invali- 
date all  patents  granted  to  the  possessors  of  these  lands, 
from  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth."  Hist,  of  D.  B 
iv.,  c.  i. 

f  Strafford's  Letters,  i.,  p.  443. 

I  Sir  Lucas  Dillon  received  a  large  estate,  probably 
out  of  his  own  lands ;  and  we  are  told  by  Straflbrd 
{Letters,  ii.,  p.  241)  that  Sir  Gerard  Lowthcr,  chief-justice 
of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  the  chief  baron,  got  tour 
shillings  in  the  pound  of  the  first  year's  rent  raised 
under  the  commissioners  of  "  Defective  Titles."  Never 
was  justice  more  disgraced. 


LIBERALITY   OF   THE   IRISH  PARLIAMENT. 


471 


against  the  king  before  the  commission- 
ers should  be  silenced  until  they  took 
the  oath  of  supremacy,  whicli  was  ac- 
cordingly done.*  A  title  iu  the  crown 
to  the  baronies  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Ormond,  in  the  county  of  Tipperary, 
and  to  some  adjacent  ten-itories,  all  be- 
longing to  the  earls  of  Ormond,  was 
also  set  up,  and  an  inquisition  for  try- 
ing the  claim  ordei'ed ;  but  Lord 
Ormond  prudently  compromised  the 
matter,  although  he  knew  that  his  own 
case  was  perfectly  good,  and  that  the 
crown  would  have  an  insuperable  diffi- 
culty in  the  production  of  the  ancient 
title-deeds.  He  thus  secured  a  large 
proportion  of  the  lands  for  himself  and 
his  friends.f  Besides  this  scandalous 
system  of  spoliation,  other  modes  of 
legal  persecution  were  resorted  to.  A 
Court  of  Wards,  by  which  the  heirs  of 
estates  were  reared  up  in  the  Protestant 
religion,  was  instituted ;  also  a  high 
commission  court,  which  exei'cised  a 
fearful  tyranny  over  all  classes ;  and  the 
extortions  practised  by  the  ecclesiastical 
coui'ts  were  wholly  intolerable. 

Matters  proceeded  thus  for  a  few 
years,  and  iu  1640  we  find  another  L'ish 
parliament  appealed  to  for  subsidies 
under  the  pressure  of  the  Scottish  rebel- 
lion,   and    a    voluntary    contribution, 


*  "  The  gentlemen  of  Connaught,"  says  Carte  {Life  of 
0)VBo/!cf,  vol.  i.)  "  labored  under  a  particular  hardship  on 
this  occasion  ;  for  their  not  having  enrolled  their  patents 
and  surrenders  of  the  13th  Jacobi  (which  was  what  alone 
rendered  their  titles  defective)  was  not  their  fault,  but  the 
neglect  of  a  clerk  intrusted  by  them.  For  they  had  paid 
near  £3,000  to  the  offices  at  Dublin  for  the  enrolment  of 
these  surrenders  and  patents,  which  was  never  made." 


headed  by  £20,000  from  Wentworth 
himself,  raised  to  meet  the  immediate 
wants  of  the  monarch.  Though  not  a 
warm  nor  generous  patron,  Charles 
could  not  fail  to  recoojuize  so  much  de- 
votedness  on  the  part  of  the  deputy, 
who  was  accordingly  rewarded  with  the 
titles  of  earl  of  Straiford  and  baron  of 
Raby,  and  with  the  dignity  of  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland.  As  on  the  last  occa- 
sion, the  L'ish  parliament  was  loyal  and 
liberal  in  the  extreme,  and  voted  four 
entire  subsidies ;  some  of  the  members 
protesting,  with  characteristic  warmth, 
that  six  or  seven  more  ought  to  be  given, 
and  others  declarinc:  that  "  their  hearts 
contained  mines  of  subsidies  for  his 
majesty."  The  annual  revenue  of  L'e- 
landhad  been  increased  under  Strafford's 
management  to  over  £80,000.  The 
trade  of  the  country  had  considerably 
improved ;  and  although  he  destroyed 
the  Irish  woollen  manufiicture,  which 
threatened  to  affect  the  staple  of  Eng- 
land, he  attempted  to  give  a  substitute 
by  encouraging  the  growth  of  flax  and 
the  manufacture  of  linen,  for  which  pur- 
pose he  expended  large  suras  of  money. 
He  raised  an  army  of  8,000  foot  and 
1,000  horse  in  Ireland,  at  least  nine- 
tenths  of  this  force  being  Catholic,  and 
committing  the  government  to  his  friend 


The  same  authority  tells  us  that  all  these  proceedings  of 
Wentworth  were  sanctioned  by  the  king  ;  his  majesty 
having  assured  the  deputy  before  the  English  council  in 
1036  that  his  treatment  of  the  Galway  jurors  "  was  no  se- 
verity," and  wished  him  "  to  go  on  in  that  way ;"  adding 
"  that  if  he  served  him  otherwise  he  would  not  serve 
him  as  he  expected."  (Caxte's  Ormond,  iii.,  p.  11.) 
f  Carte,  vol.  i.,  p.  59. 


L. 


472 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


Sir  Christopher  Wandesford,  as  his 
deputy,  he  went  to  England,  and  took 
the  command  of  the  army  sent  against 
the  Scots.  Fortune  now  turned  against 
him ;  he  was  unsuccessful  as  a  com- 
mandei-,  and  had  incurred  the  hatred  of 
the  Scots  and  English  to  even  a  greater 
extent  than  that  of  the  Irish.  The  long 
parliament  was  opened  on  the  3d  No- 
vember, 1640,  and  one  of  its  first  acts 
was  the  impeachment  of  Straftbrd. 
Many  of  the  charges  against  him  re- 
lated to  his  Irish  administration,  but 
the  most  serious  of  them  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Puritans  were  his  attempts  to  estab- 
lish the  arbitrary  j)ower  of  the  ci'own, 
and  his  enrolment  of  an  army  of  "  Irish 
Pajjists,"  which  he  was  accused  of  in- 
tending to  bring  over  to  support  the 
king  against  his  subjects  in  England. 
A  deputation  from  the  Irish  parliament 
arrived  with  a  "  remonstrance  of  griev- 
ances" against  him ;  and  he  was  con- 
victed of  offences  amounting  in  the  ag- 
gi'egate  to  constructive  treason.  The 
wretched  king  was  compelled  to  sign 
his  death-warrant,  and  on  the  12th  of 
May,  164],  Strafford  was  beheaded  on 
Tower-hill,  a  fate  which  he  deserved, 
if  not  for  the  charges  laid  against  him, 
at  least  for  the  horrible  injustice  that 
he  exercised  during  the  eight  years  of 
his  administration  in  Ireland.* 

A.  D.  1641. — With  the  forty  preced- 
ing years'  continuity  of  wholesale  spoli- 
ation, galling  oppression,  terrorism,  re- 


*  It  should  be  mentioned  as  a  reaeeming  feature  in 
Strafford's  character  tliat  he  persecuted  no  man  solely 


ligious  proscription,  and  national  degra- 
dation still  present  to  us,  and  with  a 
due  consideration  of  the  traditions  of 
the  people  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the 
passing  events  in  surrounding  countries 
on  the  other,  the  reader  will  not  be  at 
a  loss  to  account  for  the  events  which  it 
now  becomes  our  duty  to  relate.  The 
royalist  earl  of  Castlehaven,  M^ho  writes 
as  an  eyewitness,  and  was  not  preju- 
diced in  fixvor  of  the  native  Irish,  tells 
us  that  these  latter  assigned  as  the 
causes  of  the  civil  war  of  1641,  first, 
that  "  they  were  generally  looked  upon 
as  a  conquered  nation,  seldom  or  never 
treated  like  natural  or  free-born  sub- 
jects;" secondly,  "that  six  whole  coun- 
ties in  Ulster  were  escheated  to  the 
crown,  and  little  or  nothing  restored 
to  the  natives,  but  a  great  part  be- 
stowed by  king  James  on  his  country- 
men ;"  thirdly,  "  that  in  Strafford's  time 
the  crown  laid  claim  also  to  the  coun- 
ties of  Roscommon,  Mayo,  Galway,  and 
Cork,  witli  some  parts  of  Tipperary, 
Limerick,  Wicklow,  and  others ;"  fourth- 
ly, that  "great  severities  were  used 
against  the  Roman  Catholics  in  England, 
and  that  both  houses  (of  the  Irish  par- 
liament) solicited  by  several  petitions 
out  of  Ireland  to  have  those  of  that 
kingdom  treated  with  the  like  rigor; 
which,"  he  adds,  "  to  a  people  so  fond 
of  their  religion  as  the  Irish,  was  no 
small  inducement  to  make  them,  while 
there   was    an    opportunity  offered,  to 


on  account  of  his  religion,  and  that  he  disliked  the  Puri' 
tans  quite  as  much  as  he  did  the  Catholics. 


CAUSES   OF  DISCONTENT  AMONG  THE   IRISH. 


473 


stand  upon  their  guard;"  fifthly,  "that 
they  saw  how  the  Scots,  by  pretending 
grievances,  and  taking  up  arms  to  get 
them  redressed,  had  not  only  gained 
divers  privileges  and  immnnities,  but 
got  £300,000  for  their  visit  (to  Eng- 
land), besides  '£850  a  day  for  several 
months  together ;"  and  lastly,  "  that 
they  saw  a  storm  draw  on,  and  such 
misunderstandings  daily  arise  between 
the  king  and  parliament  as  portended  no 
less  than  a  sudden  rupture  between 
them,"  and  therefore  they  believed  that 
"  the  king  thus  engaged,  partl}^  at  home 
and  partly  with  the  Scotch,  could  not 
be  able  to  suppress  them  so  far  off," 
but  "  would  grant  them  any  thing  they 
could  in  reason  demand,  at  least  more 
than  otherwise  they  could  expect."* 

One  point,  put  only  obscurely  among 
the  preceding  reasons,  was  in  reality  of 
considerable  importance,  namely,  the 
dread  which  the  Irish  Catholics  at  this 
time  entertained  of  the  extirpation  of 


*  Castlehaven  a  Memoirs,  pp.  S,  11 ;  ed.  1819.  AnEng- 
lisli  contemporary  Protestant  writer  represents  the  mo- 
tives of  tlie  Ii-isli  much  in  the  same  way,  and  particu- 
larly observes  that  they  considered  "  that  they  also  had 
sundry  grievances  and  grounds  of  complaint,  both 
touching  their  estates  and  consciences,  which  they  pre- 
tended to  be  far  greater  than  those  of  the  Scotch.  For 
they  fell  to  think  that  if  the  Scotch  were  suffered  to  in- 
troduce a  new  religion,  it  was  reason  they  should  not  be 
punished  in  the  exercise  of  their  old,  which  they  glory 
never  to  have  altered." — Hoicel's  Mcrcuvius  Hibcrnicus 
for  1613. 

f  See  some  of  the  autliorities  on  this  point,  collected 
by  Dr.  Curry  in  his  RccUio  of  the  Cicil  Wars,  pp.  147, 
118  ;  ed.  1810.  "  Some  time  before  the  rebelllou  broke 
out,"  says  Carte,  "  it  was  confidently  reported  that  Sir 
John  Clotwortny,  who  well  knew  the  designs  of  the  fac- 
tion that  governed  the  House  of  Commons  in  England, 
had  declared  there  in  a  speech  that  the  conversion  of  the 
Papiets  in  Ireland  was  only  to  be  effected  by  the  Bible 
CO 


their  religion.  This  appears  from  a 
multitude  of  authorities.  Petitions 
which  tended  to  nothing  less  than  the 
destruction  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
of  the  lives  and  estates  of  Catholics, 
were  privately  circulated  among  the  Pro- 
testants, and  were  countenanced  by  the 
verymen  whohadthe  government  of  Ire- 
land then  in  their  hands ;  it  was  confi- 
dently reported  that  the  Scottish  army 
had  threatened  never  to  lay  down  their 
arms  until  the  Catholic  relis^ion  had 
been  suppressed,  and  a  uniformity  of 
worship  established  in  the  three  king- 
doms. Letters  to  that  effect  vrere  inter- 
cejited ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  course  which  events  were  then 
taking  beyond  the  channel  rendered 
the  veiy  worst  of  these  apprehensions 
probable.f 

Another  circumstance  that  presents 
itself  in  a  strong  light  to  us,  while  in- 
vestigating the  causes  of  the  great  out- 
break which  renders  this  year  so  mem- 


in  one  hand,  and  the  sword  in  the  other  ;  and  Mr.  Pyne 
gave  out  that  they  would  not  leave  a  priest  in  Ireland. 
To  the  like  effect  Sir  William  Parsons  (one  of  the  lords 
justices  of  Ireland),  out  of  a  strange  weakness,  or  detest- 
able pohcy,  positively  asserted  before  so  many  witnesses 
at  a  public  entertainment,  that  within  a  twelvemonth 
no  Catholic  should  be 'seen  in  Ireland.  He  had  sense 
enough  to  know  the  consequences  that  would  naturally 
arise  from  such  a  declaration  ;  which,  however  it  might 
contribute  to  his  own  selfish  views,  he  would  hardly 
have  ventured  to  make  so  openly  and  without  disguise, 
if  it  had  not  been  agreeable  to  the  politics  and  measures 
of  the  English  faction  whose  yarty  he  espoused."— 
Carte's  Ormond,  vol  i.,  p.  235.  Dr.  Warner,  a  Protest- 
ant writer,  observes  {Hist,  of  the  Irish  liebel.)  that  it 
was  evident  from  a  letter  of  the  lord  justice  to  the  earl 
of  Leicester,  then  lord  lieutenant,  "  that  they  hoped  for 
an  extirpation,  not  of  the  mere  Irish  only,  but  of 
all  the  old  English  families  also,  that  were  Roman 
Catholics." 


474 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


orable  in  our  history,  is  the  position, 
ill  point  of  numbers  and  influence,  which 
Irishmen  then  occupied  on  the  conti- 
nent. In  their  struggles  for  national 
and  religious  independence,  during  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  Irish  looked  for 
help  to  the  great  Catholic  jjowers ;  but 
now  their  own  countrymen  in  Spain, 
France,  and  the  Low  Countries  had  ac- 


*  Early  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  Irisli  began  to 
seek  refuge  in  foreign  countries  from  tlae  ruin  and  deso' 
lation  ivhic'a  had  overspread  their  own.  A  great  many, 
Bays  O'Sullivan,  speaking  of  his  own  times,  went  to 
France,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  flocked  to  Spain  ; 
and  everywhere,  he  adds,  those  exiles  for  their  faith 
were  received  most  hospitably  and  courteously  by  Cath- 
olics. TJie  king  of  Spain,  in  particular,  was  most 
generous  to  them,  assigning  monthly  pensions  to  their 
principal  men,  according  to  their  rank,  and  putting 
others  under  military  pay.  He  formed  an  Irish  legion, 
which  served  with  great  bravery  in  Belgium,  first  under 
Henry  O'Xeill,  and  after  his  death,  under  his  brother, 
John— both  sons  of  tlie  illustrious  Hugh  O'Neill.  {Hist. 
Cath.,  p.  263.)  The  number  of  Irish  soldiers  abroad* 
was  very  much  increased  by  the  licence  which  James  I. 
granted  in  1623  for  the  enlistment  of  Irish  for  the 
Spanish  service  ;  and  on  that  occasion  great  terror  was 
excited  in  the  Pale  by  the  assembling  of  bands  of  Irish- 
men, preparatory  to  their  embarkation,  under  the  sons 
of  their  ancient  chieftains  then  acknowledging  allegi- 
ance to  a  foreign  king.  Such  Vpas  the  origin  of  the 
Irish  Brigade,  afterwards  so  celebrated  in  the  history  of 
Europe.  It  was  a  little  before  the  date  at  which  we 
have  now  arrived,  namely  in  June,  looii,  that  an  Irish 
regiment  in  tlie  Spanish  service,  under  their  colonel, 
Preston,  immortalized  themselves  by  their  heroic  de- 
fence of  Louvain,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  incidents 
in  the  history  of  the  time.  (See  it  related  in  O'Conor's 
Military  Memoirs  of  the  Irish,  and  in  the  introduction 
of  Dr.  French's  works  in  Duffy's  Library  of  Ireland.) 
The  great  Irish  Franciscan,  Father  Luke  Wadding,  was 
at  this  time  a  centre  of  intellectual  attraction  among 
the  learned  and  the  pious  in  Rome.  But  not  to  dwell 
on  those  children  of  the  Green  Isle,  who,  by  attaining 
to  distinction  in  the  church  and  the  court  among  the 
most  enlightened  nations  of  the  world,  vindicated"  in 
that  age  the  character  of  their  country  as  the  missionary 
Irish  saints  and  scliolars  on  the  continent  had  done  a 
thousand  years  before  ;  we  come  to  an  important  and 
significant  list  of  "  Irishmen  abroad,"  made  out,  about 
the  very  time  referred  to  in  the  text,  by  some  indus- 


quired  great  military  eminence,  many 
of  whom  were  able,  of  themselves,  to 
furnish  armies  and  money.  These 
friends  abi'oad  were  not  unmindful  of 
their  suffering  fatherland,  and  during 
the  whole  of  1640  and  1641  the  pros- 
pect of  an  invasion  of  Ireland  seems  to 
have  ascitated  their  minds.* 

Early  in  the  latter  of  these  years  we 

trious  spy  of  the  English  government.     The  compiler 

of  this  list,  after  observing  that  the  dangers  of  Ireland 
"  doe  depend  most  on  the  practices  of  their  Romish 
priests,  the  plots  and  purposes  of  Irish  commanders 
serving  foreign  princes,  and  the  discontentment  of  the 
people,  especially  the  Irish  natives ;"  and  stating  that 
"  the  Romish  priests  were  much  multiplied  of  late  years 
in  number,  power,  and  countenance,"  proceeds  to  enu- 
merate the  chief  men  of  Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  extraction 
then  serving  foreign  princes,  in  Spain,  Italy,  France, 
Germany,  Poland,  and  the  Low,  Countries.  The  list 
begins  with  Don  Richardo  Burke,  "  a  man.  much  expe- 
rienced in  martial  affairs,"  and  "  a  good  inginiere."  He 
served  many  years  under  the  Spaniards  in  Naples  and 
the  West  Indies,  and  was  the  governor  of  Leghorn  for 
the  duke  of  Florence.  Next,  "  Pliellomy  O'NeiU,  neph- 
ew unto  old  TjTone,  liveth  in  great  respect  (in  Milan), 
and  is  a  captaine  of  a  troop  of  horse."  Then  comes 
James  Rowthe  or  Rothe,  an  alfaros,  or  standard-bearer 
in  the  Spanish  army,  and  his  brother,  Captain  John 
Rothe,  "  a  pensioner  in  Naples,  -who  carried  Tyrone  out 
of  Ireland."  One  Captain  Soloman  MacDa,  a  Geraldinei 
resided  at  Florence,  and  Sir  Thomas  Talbot,  a  knight 
of  Malta,  and  "  a  resolute  and  well-beloved  man,"  lived 
at  Naples,  in  which  latter  city  "  there  were  some  other 
Irish  captaines  and  oflacers."  The  list  then  proceeds  : 
"  In  Spain,  Captain  PheUomy  Cavanagh,  son-in-law  to 
Donell  Spaniagh,  serveth  under  the  king  by  sea.  Cap- 
tain Somlevayne  (O'Sullivan),  a  man  of  noted  courage. 
These  live  commonly  at  Lisbonne,  and  are  sea-captaines. 
Besides  others  of  the  Irish,  Captain  DriscoU,  the  younger, 
Sonne  to  old  Captain  Driscoll,  both  men  reckoned  val- 
ourous.  In  the  court  of  Spaine  liveth  the  Sonne  of 
Richard  Bourke,  which  was  nephew  untoe  William,  who 

died  at  VaUadolid he  is  in  high  favour  with  the 

king,  and  (as  it  is  reported)  is  to  be  made  a  marquis. 
Captain  Toby  Bourke,  a  pensioner  in  the  court  of  Spain, 
another  nephew  of  the  said  William,  deceased.  Captain 
John  Bourke  M'Shanc,  who  served  long  time  in  Flan- 
ders, and  now  liveth  on  his  pension,  assigned  on  the 
Groyne.  Captain  Daniell,  a  pensioner  at  Antwerp.  In 
the  Low  Countries,  under  the  Archduke :  John  O'Neill, 


MEETING   OF   THE   IRISH   GEXTRY. 


475 


find  a  few  of  the  native  Irish  gentry  at 
home,  meeting  together  to  talk  over  a 
plan  for  redressing  their  grievances  by 
insurrection.  The  first  movement  is 
traced  to  Mr.  Roger  O'jMoi-e,  or  Moore, 
a  member  of  the  ancient  family  of  the 
chiefs  of  Leix:  and  with  him  we  find 
associated  by  degrees,  Lord  Maguire,  an 
Irish  nobleman  who  retained  a  small 
fragment  uf  the  ancient  jDatrimony  of 
his  family  in  Fermanagh,  and  who  was 
overwhelmed  witli  debt ;  his  brother, 
Roger  Mao^uire ;  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  of 
Kinnaird,  of  the  illustrious  stock  of 
Tyrone  ;*  Turlough  O'Neill,  brother  of 
the  last-named ;  Sir  Con  Magennis ; 
Philip  MacHugh  O'Reilly;  Colonel 
Hugh  Oge  MacMahon ;  Collo  Mac- 
Brian  MacMahon ;  Evan  JNIacMahon, 
vicai'-geueral  of  Clogher,  and  others. 
To  enforce  his  views,  O'More  employed 
arguments  similar  to  those  whic-h  we 
have  quoted  from  Lord  Castlehaven. 
He  spoke  of  the  afflictions  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  native  Irish,  and  of  the 
general     discontent     which     prevailed 


Bonne  of  the  arclitraitor,  Tyrone,  colonel  of  the  Irish 
regiment.  Yoiuig  O'Donnel,  sonne  of  the  late  traitor 
ous  Earl  of  Tirconnel.  Owen  O'Neill  (Owen  Roe),  ser- 
geant-major (equivalent  to  the  present  lieutenant-colonel) 
of  the  Irish  regiment.  Captain  Art  O'Xeill,  Captain 
Cormack  O'Neill,  Captain  Donel  O'Donel,  Captain  Thady 
O'Sullevane,  Captain  Preston,  Captain  FitzGerrott ;  old 
Captain  FitzGerrott  continues  sergeant-major,  now  a 
pensioner;  Captain  Edmond  O'Mor,  Captain  Bryan 
O'Kelly,  Captain  Stanihurst,  Captain  Corton,  Captain 
Daniell,  Captain  Walshe.  There  are  diverse  other  Cap- 
taines  and  officers  of  the  Irish  under  the  Archduchess 
(la-ibella),  some  of  whose  companies  are  cast,  and  they 
3adc  pensioners.  Of  these  serving  under  tlie  Arch- 
duchess there  are  about  100  able  to  command  companies, 
and  20  fill  to  be  colonels.  Many  of  them  are  descended 
of  gentlemen's  families  and  some  of  noblemen.  These 
Irish  soldiers  and  pensioners  doe  stay  their  resolutions 


among  the  new  as  well  as  the  ohl  Irish. 
He  dwelt  particularly  on  the  injury 
done  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  alluded 
to  the  well-grounded  rumor  that  parlia- 
ment intended  the  utter  subversion  of 
their  religion.  He  had  already,  he  said, 
ascertained  that  the  principal  Irish  gen- 
try of  Leinster  and  Connaught  were 
favorable  to  the  design  of  taking  up 
arms ;  and  urged  that  they  never  would 
have  a  better  opportunity  of  improving 
their  condition  and  recoveriner  at  least 
a  poi'tion  of  their  ancient  estates  than 
during  the  present  Scottish  troubles. 
O'More  was  a  man  of  handsome  person 
and  fascinating  manners,  as  well  as  of 
great  bravery  and  undoubted  honor, 
and  we  need  not  wonder  that  he  became 
one  of  the  most  popular  leaders  of  the 
exciting  time  which  followed.  Lord 
Maofuire  was  active  as  a  medium  of  com- 
munication  between  the  confederates ; 
but  among  those  we  have  yet  men- 
tioned, Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  was  destined 
to  play  the  most  important  part  in  their 
future  proceedings. 


until  they  see  whether  England  makes  peace  or  war  with 
Spaine.  If  peace,  they  have  practised  already  with  other 
soveraine  princes,  from  whom  they  have  received  hopes 
of  assistance :  if  war  doe  ensue  they  are  confident  of 
greater  ayde.  They  have  been  long  providing  of  arms 
for  any  attempt  against  Ireland,  and  had  in  readiness  five 
or  six  thousand  arms  laid  up  in  Antwerp  for  that  pur- 
pose, bought  out  of  the  deduction  of  their  montlily  pay, 
as  will  be  proved,  and  it  is  thought  they  have  now 
doubled  that  proportion  by  these  means."  This  ex- 
tremely curious  document,  which  is  preserved  in  the 
State-paper  Office,  and  was  first  brought  to  light  in  the 
Nation  of  February  5th,  18.59,  would  appear  to  have  been 
prepared  very  shortly  before  1640,  and  throws  consider- 
able light  on  some  facts  in  the  sequel  of  our  history. 

*  He  was  fourth  in  descent  from  John  of  Kinnaird, 
youngest  brother  of  Con  Saccagh  O'NeLU,  first  earl  <rf 
Tvrone. 


476 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  I. 


About  May,  1641,  Nial  O'Neill  ar- 
lived  in  Ireland  as  a  messenger  from 
the  titular  earl  of  TjTone  (Jolin,  son 
of  Hugh  O'Neill)  in  Spain,  to  inform 
his  friends  that  he  had  obtained  from 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  prime  minister  of 
France,  a  promise  of  arms,  ammunition, 
and  money  for  Irelaud,  when  required, 
and  desirins:  them  to  hold  themselves 
in  readiness.  The  confederates  sent 
back  the  messenj^er  with  information 
as  to  their  proceedings,  and  announcing 
that  they  would  be  jirepared  to  rise  a 
few  days  before  or  after  All-hallow-tide, 
according  as  the  opportunity  answered  ; 
but  scarcely  was  the  messenger  dis- 
patched when  news  was  received  that 
the  earl  of  Tyrone  was  killed,  and  an- 
other messenger  was  sent  with  all  speed 
into  the  Low  Countries  to  Colonel  Owen 
O'Neill,  who  was  the  next  entitled  to 
be  their  leader."  Ordei's  had  been  is- 
sued by  the  English  parliament  to  dis- 
band the  ''  popish"  army  raised  b}^ 
Straftbrd  in  Ireland ;  and  that  the  men 
might  be  removed  from  the  country, 
license  was  given  that  they  might  enter 
into  foreicrn  service.  Certain  officers 
were  ostensibly  commissioned  to  enrol 
them  for  that  purpose.  But  here  we 
have  a  double  plot ;  for  the  real  object 
of  these  officers  was  to  keep  the  men 
collected  at  home  ready  to  be  employed 


*  Colonel  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  was  son  of  Art,  the 
youngest  brother  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone,  and 
was,  therefore,  first  cousin  of  the  titular  earl,  John, 
whose  death  has  been  j  ust  mentioned.  Some  have  er- 
roneously called  him  the  grand-nephew  of  Tyrone,  and 
others,  withoat  any  authority,  make  him  illegitimate 
for  three  successive  generations.  See  the  Rev.  J.  Wil- 
lis's Life  of  Owen  Roc,  and  a  paper  by  H.  F.  Hore,  Esq., 


in  the  kiua^'s  interest.  Amonsr  those 
sent  to  Ii'eland  for  this  purpose  were 
Colonels  Plunket,  Bourn,  or  Byrne,  and 
Sir  James  Dillon,  and  Captain  Brian 
O'Neill,  and  it  required  little  ingenuity 
to  bring  about  a  common  understandino: 
between  the  gentlemen  thus  interested 
for  the  kinsr  and  the  Irisb  associates  of 
Koger  O'More.  Conferences  were  held 
between  a  few  of  either  side,  and  Colo- 
nel Plunket  and  his  fi'iends  were  the 
first  to  suggest  that  Dublin  castle  should 
be  seized  by  surprise,  and  the  arms,  of 
which  a  large  quantity  were  stored 
there,  distributed  among  the  insurgents. 
In  the  course  of  September  their  plans 
were  matured,  and  after  some  changes 
as  to  the  day,  the  23d  of  October  was 
finally  fixed  on  for  the  execution  of 
them.  There  w^as  to  be  a  simultaneous 
movement  throughout  the  country,  and 
at  the  same  time  that  Dublin  castle  was 
to  be  taken,  with  two  hundred  men 
counted  off  for  that  purpose,  all  the 
strong  places  in  the  kingdom  were  to 
be  attacked  or  surprised.  They  were 
to  seize  on  the  forts  and  arms,  and  to 
make  the  gentry  prisoners,  but  it  was 
particularly  directed  that  none  should 
be  killed,f  "  but  where  of  necessity  they 
must  be  forced  thereunto  by  opjjosi- 
tion."  It  was  also  resolved  that  noth- 
incf  should  be  done  to  attract  the  ani- 

in  the  Ulster  Journal  of  Archmology.  This  is  decidedly 
erroneous,  the  only  case  of  illegitimacy  in  his  pedigreo 
being  that  of  Ferdoragh.  The  name  of  Colonel  Owen 
O'Neill  appears  in  the  list  given  in  the  note  in  the  last 
page. 

f  See  Relation  of  Lord  Maguire,  from  which  the 
above  particulars  of  the  conspiracy  are  taken.    Bor- 
I  lane's  Hist,  of  the  Irish  Rcbell.    App. 


IRISH  PARLIAMENT  PROROGUED. 


477 


mosity  of  the  Scots.  Encoumgiug  news 
was  received  from  Colouel  Oweu 
O'Neill,  lioldiug  out  Lopes  of  aid  from 
Cardinal  Kiclielieu,  and  desiring  that 
the  rising  should  take  place  as  speedily 
as  possible. 

Sir  William  Parsons  and  Sir  John 
Borlase,  who  were  at  this  time  lords 
justices,  were  violent  partisans  of  the 
English  parliament.'^  They  were  men 
of  narrow  minds,  violent  prejudices, 
and  the  meanest  intellect,  and  were  ca- 
pable of  acting  for  the  basest  motives. 
They  received  sundry  intimations  of  the 
approach  of  danger,  but  treated  them 
with  stolid  indifference ;  and  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  nothing  could 
have  gratified  them  more  than  a  move- 
ment which  would  place  the  Catholic 
landed  gentry  at  their  mercy.f  In 
compliance  with  a  petition  of  griev- 
ances from  the  Irish  parliament,  the 
king  ordered  the  lords  justices  to  assure 
his  Irish  subjects  that  his  former 
promises  should  be  speedily  performed, 
and  to  prepare  for  that  purpose  two 
bills  for  securing  the  titles  of  estates, 
and  limiting  the  claims  of  the  crown  to 
sixty  years.  This  was  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  unfortunate  Charles  to  re- 
cover the  confidence  and  affection  of 
the  Irish  people,  but  nothing  could  be 


*  The  earl  of  Liecester,  wlio  was  appointed  lord-lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  after  tbe  execution  of  StraflTord,  also 
Decame  a  partisan  of  the  parliamentary  faction.  He 
never  came  to  Ireland. 

f  So  early  as  the  16th  of  March,  lG-11,  the  king 
ordered  secretary  Vane  to  send  notice  to  the  lords 
justices  of  an  intended  rebellion  in  Ireland;  his  majesty 
having  received  advices  to  that  eSect  from  Ids  minister 
in  Spain,  who  had  observed  the  movements  among  the 


further  from  the  intention  of  Parsons 
and  Borlase  than  any  sach  consumma- 
tion. When  it  was  known  that  the 
Irish  agents  were  returning  with  the 
royal  answer,  the  lords  justices,  not- 
withstanding entreat}'  and  remon- 
strance, prorogued  parliament  for  three 
months,  and  refused  to  issue  a  procla- 
mation announcing  the  wishes  of  the 
king.  This  proceeding  greatly  exaspe- 
rated the  gentry  of  the  Pale,  and 
heljied  to  hasten  and  extend  the  subse- 
quent outbreak.  J 

At  length  the  eve  of  the  23d  of 
October  arrived,  and  several  of  the  con- 
federates assembled  in  Dublin,  accord- 
ing to  appointment.  Among  these 
were  Lord  Maguire,  Roger  O'More, 
Colonels  Plunket,  Bourn,  and  Hugh 
MacMahon,  Captains  Brian  O'Neill  and 
Fox,  and  others  ;  but  it  was  found  that 
some  were  not  punctual  in  sending  their 
contingents  of  men,  and  that  of  two 
hundred  who  were  to  seize  the  castle 
next  day,  only  eighty  were  in  town 
that  afternoon.  Still,  they  resolved  on 
carrying  out  their  plan ;  but  in  an  evil 
hour  Hugh  MacMahon  revealed  their 
project  to  one  Owen  O'Connolly,  who 
had  been  reared  a  Protestant,  and  was 
a  servant  to  the  fanatical  Sir  John 
Clotworthy.     This  infatuation  of  Mac- 

Irish  refugees.  This,  however,  did  not  disturb  the 
security  of  Parsons  and  Borlase. 

if  Such  was  the  opinion  of  the  king  himself,  who, 
in  answer  to  a  declaration  of  the  English  parliament, 
said:  "If  he  had  been  obeyed  in  the  Irish  affairs 
before  he  went  to  Scotland,  there  had  been  no  Irish 
rebellion ;  or  after  it  had  begun,  it  would  have  been 
in  a  few  months  suppressed." — Reliq.  Sac.  CaroliiuB, 
p.  273. 


478 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


Mahou's,  at  the  last  moment,  has  not 
been  explained.  O'Connolly  hastened 
to  denounce  the  conspiracy  to  Sir 
"William  Parsons,  who,  perceiving  that 
lie  v.'as  partly  intoxicated,  did  not 
credit  his  stoiy.  On  reflection,  how- 
ever, the  lord  justice  went  to  consult 
Avith  his  colleague,  Sir  John  Borlase, 
who  resided  at  Chichester  House,  in 
College  Green.  It  was  then  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  and  O'Connolly  having  been 
brought  before  them,  and  repeating  his 
statement,  immediate  steps  were  taken 
to  ari-est  the  conspirators.  The  city 
gates  were  closed,  and  search  made  for 
the  confederates,  but  O'More  and  some 
of  the  others,  having  timely  notice  of 
the  discovery,  contrived  to  escape  across 
the  LifFey.  MacMahon  was  taken  in 
his  lodgings  near  the  King's  Inns,  but 
seemed  to  feel  little  concern  at  his  posi- 
tion ;  for  he  passed  the  time  during  the 
night,  in  the  hall  of  Chichester  House, 
sketchino-  with  chalk  the  fisrures  of  men 
on  gibbets,  or  slain  in  various  postures, 
and  observiuo'  that  it  was  too  late  to 
stop  the  rising,  which  had  already 
taken  place,  and  that  he  would  be 
am2:)ly  revenged.  Lord  Maguire  was 
captured  in  the  morning  in  a  loft  in 
Cook-street,  and  he  and  MacMahon 
were  subsequently  taken  to  London, 
where  they  were  tried  and  hanged  at 
Tyburn. 

All  was  now  alarm  in  the  city.  Early 
in  the  morning  a  proclamation  was 
issued,  announcing  the  discovery  of  a 
"detestable  consj^iracy,  intended  by 
some  evil  affected  Irish  papists,  against 


the  lives  of  the  lords  justices  and 
council,  and  many  other  of  his  majesty's 
faithful  subjects,  universally  through- 
out the  kingdom."  The  Castle  was 
put  into  a  state  of  defence,  under  Sir 
Francis  Willoughby,  the  governor  of 
Galway,  who  had  arrived  the  pi-eceding 
night;  Sir  Charles  Coote  was  made 
governor  of  the  city;  the  earl  of 
Ormond,  then  at  Carrick-on-Suir,  re- 
ceived notice  to  I'epair  to  Dublin  with 
his  troop ;  arms  were  distributed  among 
the  Protestants,  and  also  to  some  Catho- 
lics; commissions  of  martial  law  were 
issued ;  and  all  persons  not  residing  in 
Dublin  or  the  suburbs  were  ordered  to 
depart  under  pain  of  death.  The  lords 
and  gentlemen  of  the  Pale,  who  were 
almost  to  a  man  Catholics,  complained 
that  the  words  "  Irish  papists"  in  the 
proclamation  appeared  to  involve  them 
in  the  charge  of  rebellion,  and  accord- 
ingly, on  the  29th,  another  proclama- 
tion was  p)ublished  exi^laining  that 
these  words  were  only  intended  to 
designate  "  such  of  the  old  mere  Irish 
in  the  province  of  Ulster  as  had 
plotted,  contrived,  and  been  actors  in 
that  treason,  and  othei's  that  adhered 
to  them,  and  none  of  the  old  English 
of  the  Pale." 

The  failure  of  the  plot  in  Dublin  did 
not  prevent  its  success  in  the  north, 
where  several  important  places  were 
surprised  or  captured  by  the  confeder- 
ates before  the  news  of  the  premature 
discovery  in  Dublin  could  jienetrate  so 
far.  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  got  possession 
by  stratagem  of  Charlemont  Fort,  and 


PROCLAMATION   OF   SIR   PHELIM   O'NEILL. 


479 


of  its  commander,  Sir  Tobias  Caulfield  ; 
Newry  was  seized  l>y  Sir  Con  Magennis, 
and  the  arms  and  ammunition  stored 
up  there  were  distributed  among  the 
people ;  Roger  Maguire  overran  Fer- 
managh ;  Castleblaney,  Cari'ickmacross, 
Dungannon,  Mountjoy  Fort,  and  a  great 
number  of  small  stations  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  insurgents,  who  so  far 
contented  themselves  with  plunder, 
stripping  and  turning  out  the  English 
occupiers.  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  issued 
the  following  proclamation : 

"  These  are  to  intimate  and  make 
known  unto  all  pei-sous  whatsoever  in 
and  through  the  whole  country,  that 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  us 
whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed, 
that  the  first  assembling  of  us  is  nowise 
intended  against  our  sovereign  loi-d  the 
king,  nor  hurt  of  any  of  his  subjects, 
either  English  or  Scotch ;  but  only  for 
the  defence  and  libertie  of  ourselves 
and  the  Irish  natives  of  this  kingdom. 
And  we  further  declare  that  whatso- 
ever hurt  hitherto  hath  been  done  to 


*  The  subjoined  published  letter,  •\vritten  by  Sir  Con 
Magennis  two  days  after  the  rising,  shows  the  spirit  in 
which  the  Irish  took  up  arms.  It  is  preserved  in  the 
Custom-house,  Dublin,  with  some  other  papers  of 
historical  interest,  in  the  same  place  with  the  Down 
survey : — 

"  To  my  loveinge  friendes,  Capt.  Vaughan,  Marcus 
Trevor,  and  other  commanders  of  Down  these  be. 
Deere  friendes, — My  love  to  you  ail,  although  you 
thinke  it  as  yet  otherwise.  Sure  it  is,  I  have  broken 
Sir  Edward  Trevor's  letter,  fearing  that  any  thinge 
should  be  written  agaiust  us.  We  are  for  our  lives  and 
liberties,  as  you  may  understand  out  of  that  letter.  'We 
desire  no  blood  to  be  shed,  but  if  you  meane  to  shed  our 
blood,  be  sure  we  will  be  as  ready  as  you  for  the  pur- 
pose. I  rest  your  assured  fricnde,  Connob  Magneisse. 
Newry,  23th  October,  1G41." 


any  person  shall  be  presently  repaired, 
and  we  will  that  every  person  forth- 
with, after  proclamation  hereof,  make 
their  sjieedy  re2:)aii-e  unto  their  own 
houses  under  paine  of  death,  that  no 
further  hurt  be  done  unto  any  one 
under  the  like  paine,  and  that  this  be 
proclaimed  in  all  places.— At  Dungan- 
non, the  23d  October,  1641. 

.Phelim  O'Neill."* 

A  few  days  after,  Sir  Phelim  ex- 
hibited a  commission  which  he  pre- 
tended to  have  received  from  the  kinff; 
having  taken  for  that  purpose  a  seal 
from  an  old  patent  found  in  Charlemont 
Fort,  and  attached  it  to  the  fictitious 
royal  commission.  The  ruse  had  the 
desired  efifect  in  inducing  some  royalists 
to  join  his  standard;  but  it  was  also 
laid  hold  on  by  the  king's  enemies  as  a 
chai'ge  agaiust  that  unfortunate  prince. 
Sir  Phelim  afterwards  declared  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  that  he  never 
received  any  commission  or  other  au- 
thorization from  the  king.f 

There  were  few  places  of  strength  in 


f  At  the  trial  of  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  in  February,  1653, 
an  infamous  attempt  was  made  by  the  judges  to  blacken 
the  memory  of  the  late  king  by  endeavoring  to  elicit 
from  the  prisoner  that  he  really  had  a  commission  from 
the  unfortunate  Charles.  Tliey  lirst  in  private,  and 
afterwards  publicly,  olfered  him  his  pardon  and  the 
restitution  of  his  estates  if  he  made  a  public  confession 
to  that  effect,  but  he  protested  that  he  could  not  do  so. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  trial  the  sentence  was  deferred 
to  the  next  day,  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  consider- 
ing the  tempting  offer.  But  Sir  Phelim  persevered  in 
asserting  that  tlie  king  had  no  hand  in  the  matter,  and 
he  called  witnesses  to  prove  tliat  he  himself  had  attached 
the  seal  to  the  pretended  document.  Finally,  on  the 
scaffold,  the  offer  was  repeated  to  him  by  the  order  of 
Ludlow,  and,  raising  his  voice.  Sir  Phelim  said  :  "  I  de- 
clare, good  people,  before  God  and  his  angels,  and  all 


480 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES  I. 


Ulster  which  had  not  fallen  by  the  end 
of  the  first  week  into  the  hands  of  the 
insurgents.  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  already 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  some 
30,000  men,  as  yet  of  course  undisci- 
plined, and  but  few  of  them  efficiently 
armed ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  exjfjected 
that  such  an  irregular  multitude,  with 
wild  passions  let  loose,  and  so  many 
wrongs  and  insults  to  be  avenged,  could 
have  been  encyasfed  in  scenes  of  war, 
even  so  long,  without  committing  some 
dee  Is  of  blood  which  the  laws  of  regu- 
lar  waifare  would  not  sanction.  In 
some  cases  resistance  was  punished  by 
them  with  little  humanity;  they  had 
little  compassion  for  the  English  settlers 
and  undei'takers ;  and  life  was  taken  in 
some  few  instances  where  the  act  de- 
served the  name  of  murder;  but  the 
cases  of  this  nature,  on  the  Irish  side, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  rebellion, 
were  isolated  ones ;  and  nothing  can  be 
more  unjust  and  false  than  to  describe 
the  outbreak  of  this  war  as  a  "  massa- 
cre." A  single  murder  is  a  disgrace  to 
our  nature,  and  it  is  most  painful  to 
have  to  refer  to  such  a  crime  in  a  way 
that  sounds  like  iialliation  ;  but  the  foul 
misrepresentation  Avhich  has  sought  to 
blacken  the  character  of  the  northern 


you  tliat  hear  me,  that  I  never  liad  any  commission 
from  the  king  in  wliat  I  hae  dovne  in  lei-ying  and 
prosecuting  tliis  war."  (Carte's  Ormond,  vol.  ii.,  p.  181. 
Nahon'a  Historical  Collections.)  We  have  thought  it 
needless  to  allude  in  the  text  to  the  statement  of  the 
earl  of  Antrim,  that  before  the  breaking  out  of  the 
rebellion,  orders  had  been  conveyed  to  hira  and  to  the 
earl  of  Ormond  to  seize  the  castle  of  Dublin,  and  to 
raise  an  array  of  20,000  men  in  Ireland  to  make  war 
against  the  parliament.    The  carl  of  Antrim  (Randal 


Irish  by  charging  them  with  prear- 
ranged and  systematic  murder  in  this 
insurrection,  is  no  less  a  disgrace  to  his- 
tory. The  cruelties  which  may  be  ob- 
jected to  the  Irish  insurgents  belong  to 
a  somewhat  later  period  of  the  war. 
"  It  was  as  yet" — observes  a  recent  wri- 
ter, of  undoubted  learning  and  research, 
but  of  the  strongest  bias  against  the 
Irish  Catholics — "  an  insurrection  of 
lords  and  gentlemen ;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  to  believe  that  any  thing  more 
was  designed  by  these  than  a  partial 
transfer  of  property,  and  certain  stipu- 
lations in  favor  of  the  Church  of  Rome."* 
But  the  successes  of  the  Irish  Avere  soon 
interrupted  by  serious  reverses,  in  which 
they  were  treated  with  barbarous  se- 
verity; several  strong  places  were  re- 
taken from  them,  and  in  their  attacks 
on  others  they  were  repulsed.  Sir 
Charles  Coote,  the  most  truculent  and 
merciless  of  the  Puritan  commanders, 
had  very  early  commenced  his  work  of 
carnage  in  the  vicinity  of  Dublin ;  and 
a  numerous  body  of  the  plundered  Eng- 
lish Protestants,  uniting  with  the  Scot- 
tish garrison  of  Carrickfergus,  with 
whom  they  had  sought  shelter,  wreaked 
their  vengeance  on  the  unprotected  and 
unoffending  peasantry  of  the  neighbor- 

MacDonneU,  grandson  of  Sorley  Boy,  and  second  of  that 
title)  was  notoriously  a  vain  and  frivolous  man,  and  was 
either  deceived  by  a  Mr.  Burke,  a  relative  of  the  earl  of 
Clanrickard,  who  pretended  to  bring  such  a  message 
from  the  king ;  or  else,  in  order  to  increase  his  im- 
portance, magnified  some  silly  circumstance  into  the 
story  in  question.  See  his  statement  and  the  remarks 
on  it  in  Clarendon's  Vindication  of  Ormond. 

*  The  Rev.  James  Wills'  Illustrious  and  Dlstinr/uishcd 
Irishmen,  vol.  ii.,  p.  437. 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  GENTRY. 


481 


hood  by  a  fearful  massacre.  These  cir- 
cumstances and  many  local  causes  com- 
bined to  exasperate  the  Irish,  and  to 
elicit  ]-etaliatiou  at  AvLicli  the  heart 
sickens.  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  who  was 
si^meM'liat  volatile  and  was  subject  to 
violent  fits  of  passion,  was  not  the  man 
to  control,  as  he  should  have  done,  the 
irregular  masses  which  he  commanded  ; 
and  at  a  later  j^eriod  he  lamented  the 
cruelties  which  he  had  tolerated  or  or- 
dered, but  from  the  beginning,  Roger 
O'More,  and  other  leaders,  set  their 
faces  against  the  commission  of  any  act 
of  unnecessary  severity.* 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the 
learned  and  amiable  William  Bedell, 
Protestant  bishop  of  Kilraore,  drew  up 
a  remonstrance  for  the  Catholic  gentry 
and  people  of  Cavan,  among  whom  he 
continued  to  reside  in  safety;  the  re- 
spect and  affection  entertained  for  him 
by  his  Catholic  neighbors  rendering  his 
house  an  inviolable  sanctuary  for  all 
those  who  sought  shelter  in  it.f  Dr. 
Bedell  would  not  have  sanctioned  what 
he  did  not  believe  to  be  the  truth,  yet 
this  remonstrance,  prej^ared  by  him, 
after  alluding  to  the  causes  of  fear 
which  the  Catholics  believed  themselves 

*  A  contemporary  writer,  unfriendly  to  the  native  Irisli, 
says : — "  The  truth  is,  they  were  very  Woody  on  both 
sides,  and  though  some  mtH  throw  all  on  the  Irish,  yet 
'tis  well  known  who  they  were  that  used  to  give  orders 
to  their  parties,  sent  into  enemies'  quarters,  to  spare 
neither  man,  woman,  or  child.  And  the  leading  men 
among  the  Irish  have  this  to  say  for  themselves,  that 
they  were  all  along  so  far  from  favoring  any  of  the  mur- 
derers, that  ilot  only  their  agents,  soon  after  the  king's 
restoration,  but  even  in  their  remonstrance,  presented 
by  the  Lord  Viscount  Gormansto'mi  and  Sir  Robert  Tal- 
bot, on  the  17th  of  March,  1643,  the  nobility  and  gentry 
61 


justified  in  entertaining,  namely,  "  of  in- 
vasion from  other  parts  (Scotland)  to 
the  dissolving  of  the  bond  of  mutual 
agreement  which  hitherto  hath  been 
held  inviolable  between  the  several  sub- 
jects of  the  kingdom,"  thus  continues : 
— "For  the  preventing  of  such  evils 
growing  upon  us  in  this  kingdom  we 
have,  for  the  preservation  of  his  majes- 
ty's honor  and  our  own  liberties,  thought 
fit  to  take  into  our  own  hands,  for  his 
highness's  use  and  service,  such  forts 
and  other  places  of  strength  as  coming 
into  the  possession  of  others,  might 
prove  disadvantageous  and  tend  to  the 
utter  undoiuo;  of  the  kinQ;dom."  And 
it  thus  refers  to  the  acts  of  violence  al- 
ready committed,  in  terms  that  would 
not  seem  to  imply  that  any  "  massacre" 
was  among  the  number :— "  As  for  the 
mischiefs  and  inconveniences  that  have 
already  happened,  through  the  disorder 
of  the  common  sort  of  people  against 
the  English  inhabitants,  or  any  other, 
we,  with  the  nobility  and  gentlemen, 
and  such  others  of  the  several  counties  of 
this  kingdom,  are  most  willing  and  ready 
to  use  our  and  their  best  endeavors  in 
causinn'  restitution  and  satisfaction  to  be 
made,  asjn  part  we  have  already  done.";}; 

of  the  nation  desired  that  the  murders  on  both  sides 
committed  should  be  strictly  examined,  and  the  authors 
of  them  punished,  according  to  the  utmost  severity  of 
the  law ;  which  proposal,  certainly,  their  adversaries 
could  never  have  rejected,  but  that  they  were  conscious 
to  themselves  of  being  deeper  in  the  mire  than  they 
would  have  the  world  believe." — Castlchaven's  Memoirs, 
p.  31,  ed.  1815. 

f  He,  and  all  those  within  Ms  walls,  says  his  biogra- 
pher. Bishop  Burnet,  "  enjoyed,  to  a  miracle,  perfect 
quiet." 

+  Burnet's  Life  of  Beddl. 


482 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES  I. 


There  appears  to  be  good  reason  for 
the  assertion  that  the  outrage  near 
Carrickfergus,  already  alluded  to,  was 
the  "  first  massacre"  perpeti'ated  at  this 
dismal  period.  The  statement  is,  that 
about  '  the  beginning  of  November, 
1641,  the  English  settlers,  who,  being 
plundered  by  the  Irish,  sought  refuge 
in  Carrickfergus,  sallied  forth  at  night 
with  the  Scotch  garrison,  and  murdered 
all  the  people  whom  they  found  in  the 
neighboring  peninsula  called  Island 
Magee,  to  the  number  of  about  3,000, 
men,  women,  and  children,  all  innocent 
persons,  as  none  of  the  Catholics  of  the 
county  of  Antrim  had.  yet  taken  up 
arms.  As  to  the  fact  of  this  massacre 
there  is  no  doubt,  but  some  question 
has  been  raised  as  to  the  time  and 
the  number.  Protestant  historians 
would  make  it  ajjpear  that  it  took 
place  a  few  months  later,  and  they  also 
argue  on  the  improbability  of  so  many 
persons  residing  in  so  small  a  district, 
the  length  of  the  peninsula  being  little 

*  See  the  "  Collection  of  some  of  the  massacres  and 
murders  committed  on  tlie  Irish  in  Ireland,  xinee  the  2Zd 
of  Oct.  1641,"  appended  to  Clarendon's  Vindication  of 
the  Earl  of  Ormond,  and  to  Curry's  Review  of  the  Civil 
Wars,  p.  623.  It  was  first  published  in  London  in  1662, 
and  its  truth  has  never  been  disproved,  although  it 
makes  frequent  appeals  to  the  testimony  of  enemies 
then  living. 

f  That  there  was  no  premeditat-ed  design  of  a  general 
massacre,  in  the  great  Irish  rebellion  of  16-11,  and  that 
no  such,  massacre  took  place,  are  facts  that  by  the  closest 
investigation  of  the  subject  may  be  established.  How 
the  monstrous  falsehoods  and  exaggerations  on  this 
matter  first  got  info  circulation  is  a  curious  subject  of 
inquiry.  Clarendon,  in  his  history,  loosely  asserted  that 
40  or  50,000  Protestants  were  murdered  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  rebellion,  before  they  suspected  any 
danger,  wliich  must  have  been  within  the  first  three  or 
four  days,  at  the  farthest.     Sir  John  Temple  exaggerates 


more  than  five  Irish  miles,  and  its 
greatest  width  only  a  mile  and  a  half. 
Leland's  statement  is  that  only  thirty 
families  were  butchered  on  the  occa- 
sion ;  but  the  contemporary  authority 
which  we  have  for  the  number  and 
time  first  stated  appears  to  be  undeni- 
able; the  population  of  the  place  may 
have  been  increased  at  the  moment  bv 
many  persons  flying  to  that  remote 
locality  from  danger  in  other  quarters; 
and  it  is  expressly  added,  that  "this 
was  the  first  massacre  committed  in 
Ireland  of  either  side."*  The  subject 
of  these  massacres  is  revolting  to  human 
nature,  and  we  cordially  agree  with 
those  who  wish  that  it  could  be  efikced 
from  the  page  of  Irish  history ;  but  as 
long  as  the  calumnies  of  Sir  John 
Temple  and  Borlase  remain  in  print, 
and  as  the  character  of  Ireland  is  held 
up  to  execration  for  a  "  universal  mas- 
sacre of  Protestants,"  which  never  took 
place,  so  long  will  it  be  necessary  to 
discuss  these  horrible  details.f 


the  number  to  150,000 !  Sir  William  Petty  made  it  a 
subject  of  statistical  estimate,  and  fixed  the  number, 
more  moderately,  at  upwards  of  30,000.  A  writer 
named  May  has  raised  it  to  200,000 !  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Warner,  an  EngUsh  Protestant  clergj-man,  in  his  Histo- 
ry of  tlie  Rebellion  in  Ireland,  took  great  pains  to  ascer- 
tain the  truth  out  of  "  authentic  documents,"  and  the 
result  of  his  minute  inquiry  was,  "  that  the  number  of 
persons  killed  out  of  tear,  not  at  the  beginning  only,  but 
in  the  course  of  the  two  first  years  of  the  rebellion, 
amounted,  altogether,  to  2,109  ;  on  the  report  of  other 
Protestants,  1,019  more ;  and  on  the  report  of  some  of 
the  rebels  themselves,  a  further  number  of  300 ;  the 
whole  making  4028  ;"  besides  8,000  more  killed  by  Ul 
usage  ;  and  he  adds :  "  If  we  allow  that  the  cruelties  of 
the  Irish  out  of  war  extended  to  these  numbers,  which, 
considering  the  nature  of  several  of  the  depositions,  I 
think,  in  my  conscience,  we  cannot,  yet,  to  be  impartial, 
we  must  allow  that  there  is  no  pretence  for  laying  a 


PROCLAMATIONS   OF   THE   LORDS   JUSTICES. 


483 


The  lords  justices  published  a  procla- 
mation on  the  30tk  of  October,  to  con- 
tradict the  statement  that  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neill  held  any  commission  from  the 
king ;  and  another  on  the  1st  of 
November,  offering  pardon  to  such  of 
the  insurgents  as  would  come  in  within 
two  days,  and  were  not  freeholders; 
but  the  conditions  were  clearly  intend- 
ed to  prevent  the  pardon  from  having 
any  effect.  The  lords  and  gentlemen 
of  the  Pale,  although  not  yet  involved 
in  any  disloyalty,  were  treated  with 
coldness    and     suspicion.      Parliament 


greater  number  to  their  charge."  This  account,  he  tells 
us,  was  corroborated  by  a  letter  which  he  copied  out  of 
the  council  books  at  Dublin,  and  which  was  written  ten 
years  after  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion,  from  the 
parliament  commissioners  in  Ireland  to  the  English  par- 
liament. The  commissioners  expressly  say  in  this  letter 
"  that  it  tlien  appeared  that,  besides  848  families,  there 
were  killed,  hanged,  and  burnt  6,0G2."  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  these  numbers  and  those  quoted 
above,  which  vary  from  Petty's  30,000  to  Mr.  May's 
200,000;  but  an  examination  of  the  "authentic  docu- 
ments," on  which  both  Dr.  Warner  and  the  parlia- 
mentary commissioners  grounded  their  calculations,  will 
show  that  little  or  no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  them 
and  that  the  very  lowest  estimate  is  most  probably  a 
monstrous  exaggeration.  A  commission  was  issued  by 
the  lords  justices  in  1644,  to  "inquire  what  lands  had 
been  seized ;  what  murders  committed  by  the  rebels ; 
what  number  of  British  Protestants  had  perished  on  the 
way  to  any  place  whither  they  fled,  &c.,"  and  the  com- 
missioners continued  from  March  till  October  to  take 
depositions.  Crowds  came  with  their  stories,  but  their 
evidence  was  nearly  all  a  heai'say,  and  but  few  of  them 
were  sworn.  Great  numbers  of  them  were  poor  women 
and  servants,  illiterate  persons  unable  to  sign  their 
names ;  and  it  may  be  suspected  that  the  mere  parole 
evidence  of  such  persons,  under  the  circumstances,  could 
be  of  little  value.  They  allowed  free  scope  to  their 
imagination  ;  every  one  wished  to  exceed  his  neighbor's 
story  ;  and  most  of  them  could  only  tell  what  they  heard 
others  say  while  they  were  prisoners  with  the  Papists. 
If  a  Protestant  girl  heard  a  Papist  cow-boy  boast  of  the 
number  of  murders  that  he  and  his  friends  committed — 
making  no  allowance  at  all  for  the  grim  waggery  of  such 
a  persou  wishing  to  frigliten  the  poor  Protestant  jirisou- 


met,  accoi'ding  to  adjoui'nment,  on  the 
16tli  of  November,  but  was  again  pro- 
rogued, and  the  lords  justices  plainly 
intimated  that  they  required  neither 
the  advice  nor  the  co-operation  of  any 
beyond  the  small  clique  of  Puritans 
who  acted  as  their  council.  It  was 
obviously  the  design  of  these  men  to 
urge  the  Catholic  landed  gentry  into 
rebellion,  for  the  purpose  of  confiscating 
their  property,  and  "  they  were  often 
heard  to  say,"  as  we  are  told  by  one 
well  acquainted  with  them,  "that  the 
more  were  in  rebellion,  the  more  lands 

ers  out  of  iheir  wits — the  horrible  tale  was  brought  to 
the  commissioners,  and  a  deposition  taken  to  that  effect. 
Sometimes  the  examinations  related  to  the  ghosts  of  the 
murdered  Protestants  who  appeared  walking  on  the 
water,  brandishing  spectre  swords,  and  raising  their 
hands  to  heaven.  A  great  part  of  the  deposition  of  the 
Rev.  Robert  MaxweU,  afterwards  Protestant  bishop  of 
Kilmore,  is  actually  taken  up  with  these  dreadful  appa- 
ritions? Many  of  the  deponents  described  the  samo 
murders  as  if  committed  in  different  places  ;  and  many 
also  deposed  to  numbers  of  persons  who  were  known  to 
be  alive  several  years  after.  However,  all  the  depositions 
were  collected  and  carefully  bound  up  in  thirty-two  folio 
volumes,  wliich  are  stiU  preserved  in  the  library  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  these  are  the  precious  docu- 
ments on  which,  and  on  some  official  reports.  Dr.  Warner 
made  his  calculations.  Sir  John  Temple  collected  from 
them  the  best  extracts  he  could  for  his  history,  and  these 
have  been  republished  innumerable  times  as  authentic 
evidence,  but  the  whole  together  are  of  little  historic 
value  except  as  a  curious  monument  of  the  times.  Dr. 
Lingaxd  (vol.  vii.,  note  NNN.  6th  ed.)  quotes  several  dis- 
patches, letters,  and  commissions  from  the  lords  justices 
to  the  English  parliament,  privy  council,  &c.,  written 
within  the  first  two  months  after  the  outbreak,  which 
eiiher  make  no  allusion  at  all  to  murders,  or  do  so  in 
terms  which  plainly  indicate  that  there  was  no  general 
massacre  ;  and  that  profound  historian  argues — "  If  we 
consider  the  language  of  these  dispatches,  and  at  the 
same  time  recollect  who  were  the  writers,  and  what  an 
interest  they  had  in  exaggerating  the  excesses  of  the  in- 
surgents, we  must,  I  think,  conclude  that  hitherto  no 
general  massacre  had  been  made  or  attempted," — that 
is,  the  reader  will  observe,  no  massacre  of  the  Prot- 
estants bv  the  Catholics. 


484 


REIGN    OF   CHARLES  I. 


I 


should  be  forfeited  to  them."*  This 
nefarious  scheme  of  forfeiture  was, 
indeed,  scarcely  concealed  from  the 
beginning.  The  greedy  lords  justices 
exulted  openly  at  the  rich  harvest 
which  they  anticipated  ;  and  not  later 
than  two  months  after  this  time  a  com- 
pany of  adventurers  was  formed  in 
London,  who  calculated  on  the  confisca- 
tion of  ten  millions  of  acres  in  Ireland, 
as  soon  as  the  work  of  reduction  could 
be  comjileted. 

The  state  of  feeling  thus  produced 
in  the  Pale  encouraged  the  northern 
Irish,  who  marched  towards  Drogheda, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neill,  now  invested  with  the  title  of 
"  lord  general  of  the  Catholic  army  in 
Ulster."  On  the  24th  of  November 
ibey  took  Lord  Moore's  house  at  Melli- 
font,  and  put  the  foot-soldiers  Avho  de- 
fended it  to  the  sword,  the  cavalry  hav- 
ing cut  their  way  through  to  Drogheda. 
This  latter  town  was  now  closely  be- 
sieged, the  garrison  being  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Henry  Tichboui'ne,  who 
was  ably  assisted  by  Lord  Moore. 
About  this  time  the  Irish  were  repulsed 
in  an  assault  on  Lisburn,  then  called 
Lisnagarvy ;  but  their  loss  was  repaired 
soon  after  by  a  victory  over  an  English 
detachment  of  six  hundred  or  seven 
hundred  men,  who  were  sent  from  Dub- 
lin to  relieve  Drogheda,  and  were  cut 
to  pieces  at  the  bridge  of  Gillianstown, 
near  Julianstown,  one  hundred  only, 
with  three  of  the  officers,  making  their 

*  Castlehaven's  Memoirs,  p.  28. 


escape  to  Drogheda.  This  success  gave 
fresh  courage  to  the  insui-gents,  who 
levied  contributions  in  the  surroundinor 
country,  and  caused  no  slight  alarm  to 
the  government.  Some  of  the  nobility 
joined  in  an  address  to  the  lords  jus- 
tices, but  their  remonstrances  were 
treated  with  contempt.  Lords  Dillon 
and  Taaffe  had  been  sent  with  letters 
to  the  king  from  the  Irish  parliament, 
but  they  were  made  prisoners  at  Ware, 
and  their  papers  seized.  The  arms  that 
had  been  given  in  the  first  alarm  to  the 
Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  were  re- 
called, and  they  themselves  were  or- 
dered to  withdraw  to  their  respective 
habitations,  which  were  thus  rendered 
defenceless. 

The  sanie  day  that  the  detachment 
was  defeated  by  the  Irish  on  the  march 
to  Drogheda,  Sir  Charles  Coote  was 
sent  into  Wicklow,  where  it  was  said 
the  people  had  risen,  and  seized  several 
strong  places.  The  sanguinary  charac- 
ter of  this  officer  has  been  already  al- 
luded to.  In  the  town  of  Wicklow  he 
cruelly  put  to  death  several  innocent 
persons,  without  distinction  of  age  or 
sex,  and  is  charged  with  saying,  when 
he  saw  a  soldier  carrying  an  infant  on 
the  point  of  his  pike,  "  that  he  liked 
such  frolics."*  On  his  return  to  Dub- 
lin, his  conduct  was  highly  approved 
by  the  lords  justices  ;  and  a  rumor  was 
spread  that  he  made  a  proposal  at  the 
council-board  to  execute  a  general  mas- 
sacre of  the  Catholics.     "  The  character 

*  Carte's  Ormmid,  i.,  p.  243. 


CRUELTY  OF  THE   LORDS   JUSTICES. 


485 


of  the  man,"  says  Dr.  Cuny,  "  was  sucb, 
tbat  this  re^Dort,  whether  true  or  not, 
was  easily  credited."*  "  All  this  while," 
says  Lord  Castlehaven,  "parties  were 
sent  out  by  the  lords  justices  and  coun- 
cil from  Dublin,  and  most  garrisons 
throughout  the  kingdom,  to  kill  and 
destroy  the  rebels ;  but  the  officers  and 
soldiers  took  little  or  no  care  to  distin- 
guish between  rebels  and  subjects,  but 
killed  in  many  places  promiscuously 
men,  women,  and  children ;  which  pro- 
cedure not  only  exasperated  the  rebels, 
and  induced  them  to  commit  the  like 
cruelties  upon  the  English,  but  fright- 
ened the  nobility  and  gentry  about; 
who,  seeing  the  harmless  country  people, 
without  respect  to  age  or  sex,  thus  bar- 
barously murdered,  and  themselves 
openly  threatened  as  favorers  of  the 
rebellion,  for  paying  the  contributions 
they  could  not  possibly  refuse,  resolved 
to  stand  upon  their  guard."f 

These  gentlemen,  however,  made  an- 
other attempt  to  convey  their  loyal 
sentiments  to  the  king,  before  they 
would  commit  themselves  in  any  way 
with  his  majesty's  Irish  government. 
For  that  purpose  they  j)revailed  on  Sir 
John  Kead,  a  gentleman  in  the  king's 
service,  to  take  a  memorial  from  them 


*  "  Sir  Charles  Coote,"  says  Leland,  "  in  revenge  of 
the  depredations  of  the  Irish,  committed  such  unpro- 
voked, such  ruthless  and  indiscriminate  carnage  in  the 
town  of  Wicldow,  as  rivalled  the  utmost  extravagan- 
cies of  the  northerns." — Hist,  of  Ir.,  vol.  iii,,  p.  14C. 
"  He  was  a  stranger  to  mercy,"  says  Warner,  "and  com- 
mitted many  acts  of  cruelty,  without  distinction,  equal 
in  that  respect  to  any  of  the  rebels."— iZi'si.  of  the  Ir. 
Rtb.,  p.  135.  Borlase  tells  us  that  he  was  "as  terrible 
to  the  enemy,  as  his  very  name  was  formidable  to  them." 


into  his  charge  ;  but  Read  was  arrested 
and  imprisoned,  and  soon  after  put  to 
the  rack,  one  of  the  questions  which  he 
was  pressed  to  answer  being,  whether 
the  king  and  queen  were  privy  to  the 
Irish  rebellion.  About  this  time,  also, 
Patrick  Barnwell  of  Kilbrew,  a  man 
sixty-six  years  of  age,  was  also  put  to 
the  rack  to  extort  similar  information. 
At  length,  on  the  3d  of  December,  the 
lords  justices  summoned  several  of  the 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  the  Pale  to 
attend  in  Dublin  on  the  8th,  on  the 
pretence  of  holding  a  conference  with 
them ;  but  suspecting  that  this  was  only 
an  artifice  to  draw  them  within  the 
clutches  of  those  functionaries,  and  de- 
prive them  of  their  liberty,  these  gen- 
tlemen replied  by  a  letter,  which  they 
agreed  to  at  a  meeting  held  at  Swords, 
stating  that  they  had  cause  to  think 
that  their  loyalty  was  suspected  by  the 
lords  justices,  and  "that  they  had  re- 
ceived certain  advertisement  that  Sir 
Charles  Coote,  at  the  council-board,  had 
uttered  certain  speeches,  tending  to  a 
pur^jose  to  execute  upon  those  of  their 
religion  a  general  massacre,  by  which 
they  were  deterred  from  waiting  on 
their  lordships,  not  having  any  security 
for  their  safety."     The  same  day  this 


Lord  Castlehaven  calls  him  "  a  hot-headed  and  bloody 
man,  and  as  such  accounted  even  by  the  English  Pro- 
testants ;  yet,"  he  adds,  "  this  was  the  man  whom  the 
lords  justices  picked  out  to  intrust  with  a  commission  of 
martial  law  to  put  to  death  rebels  or  traitors,  that  is,  all 
such  as  he  should  deem  to  be  so;  which  he  performed  with 
delight,  and  with  a  wanton  kind  of  cruelty." — Vide  Carte's 
Ormond,  i.,  pp.  379,  380.  It  was  after  his  brutal  massa- 
cre in  Wicklow  that  he  was  made  governor  of  Dublin, 
f  Castleluiven's  Memoirs,  p.  30. 


486 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


letter  was  dispatched  to  the  lords  jus- 
tices a  party  of  troopers  slaughtered 
four  poor  men  at  Santry,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Dublin,  one  of  the  four  happening 
to  be  a  Protestant.  On  the  15th  Coote 
was  sent  with  a  troo})  of  horse  to  Clon- 
tarf,  Raheu}^,  and  Kilbarrack,  where 
they  burned  the  houses,  and  among 
others  the  house  of  Mr.  King  at  Clon- 
tarf 

It  was  a  few  days  previously  that,  on 
the  invitation  of  Loi'd  Gormanston,  a 
meeting  of  Catholic  noblemen  and  gen- 
try was  held  on  the  hill  of  Crofty,  in 
Meath.  Among  those  wlio  attended 
were  the  earl  of  Fingal,  Loixls  Gor- 
manston, Slane,  Louth,  Dunsany,  Trim- 
leston,  and  Netterville ;  Sir  Patrick 
Barnwell,  Sir  Clu'isto})her  Bellew,  Pat- 
rick Barnwell  of  Killjrew,  Nicholas 
Darcy  of  Flatten,  James  Bath,  Gerald 
A}lmer,  Cusack  of  Gormanston,  Ma- 
lone  of  Lismullen,  Segrave  of  Kileglan, 
tfec.  After  beina;  there  a  few  hours  a 
party  of  armed  men  on  horseback,  with 
a  guard  of  musketeers,  were  seen  to 
ap^iroach.  The  former  were  the  insur- 
gent leaders,  Roger  O'JMore,  Philii:) 
O'Reilly,  MacMahou,  Captains  Byrne 
and  Fox,  &c.  The  lords  and  gentry 
rode  towards  them,  and  Lord  Gormans- 
ton, as  spokesman,  demanded,  "  for 
what  reason  they  came  armed  into  the 
Pale?"  O'More  answered,  "that  the 
grounil  of  their  coming  thither,  and 
taking  up  arms,  was  for  the  freedom 
and  liberty  of  their  consciences,  the 
maintenance  of  his  majesty's  preroga- 
tive, in  which  they  understood  he  was 


abridged,  and  the  making  the  subjects  of 
this  kinojdom  as  free  as  those  of  Ena:- 
land."  Lord  Gormanston  then  said — 
"  Seeing  these  be  your  true  ends,  we  will 
likewise  join  with  you  therein."*  This 
is  the  first  act  of  combination  between 
the  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  Pale  and 
the  northern  insurgents  of  which  we 
have  any  authentic  account.  The  meet- 
ing, which  of  course  Avas  prearranged, 
was  one  deeply  interesting ;  and  in  a 
Aveek  after  a  more  numerous  meeting 
of  the  gentry  was  held  on  the  hill  of 
Tara. 

A.  D.  1642. — On  the  first  of  January 
the  king  issued  a  proclamation  against 
the  "  L'ish  rebels,"  and  on  several  occa- 
sions, both  before  and  after  that  date, 
he  proposed  to  come  to  L'eland  himself, 
to  take  the  command  against  them. 
He  complained  of  the  negligence  of  the 
parliament  to  adopt  proper  measures  to 
put  down  the  insurrection ;  but  that 
body  Avas  too  much  occupied  Avith  other 
views.  On  no  account  would  the  parlia- 
ment suffer  Charles  to  visit  Leland ; 
and,  notwithstanding  all  his  protesta- 
tions, and  all  his  denunciations  of  his 
"rebellious  Llsh  subjects,"  they  pre- 
tended to  believe  that  the  unfortunate 
monai'ch  was,  himself,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Ii  ish  movement.  He  had  committed 
the  af]Riirs  of  Ireland  entirely  to  their 
charge,  and  on  the  8th  of  the  preceding 
month  they  had  plainly  indicated  upon 
what  principle  they  were  resolved  to  act, 

*  Examination  of  Edward  Dowdall,  one  of  the  gen. 
tlemcn  wlio  attended  tlie  meeting.  Borlase's  Eist.  of 
the  Irish  lasurr.,  p.  39. 


REWARDS  FOR  THE   HEADS   OF  THE   [RISH  LEADERS. 


487 


by  voting  that  "  they  would  never  con- 
sent to  any  toleration  of  the  Popish  reli- 
gion in  Ireland,  or  in  any  other  part  of  "his 
majesty's  dominions."*  They  calculated, 
Avith  confidence,  on  being  able  to  ci'ush 
the  Iiish  when  they  chose,  and,  after  a 
little  while,  proceeded  to  vote  the  con- 
fiscation of  some  millions  of  Irish  acres, 
and  to  promise  Irish  estates  for  the  pay 
of  their  troopers ;  but,  although  they 
sent  over  several  large  reinforcements 
to  the  lords  justices,  they  were  chiefly 
concerned,  at  present,  in  preparing  for 
the  war  which  they  themselves  were 
about  to  levy  against  their  king  ;  and 
throughout  the  progress  of  the  Ii'ish 
troubles  they  continued  to  make  these 
a  pretence  for  raising  men  and  money 
to  be  employed  in  their  own  rebellion. 
For  that  purpose,  also,  they  encouraged, 
by  every  means  in  their  power,  the  most 
false  and  extravagant  reports  of  "  Po- 
pish massacres  and  outrages,"  which 
they  turned  to  good  account  in  appeal- 
ing to  the  pockets  and  prejudices  of  the 
affrighted  people  of  England.f 

Mean  while  matters  went  on  but  in- 
differently with  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  and 
the  northern  Irish.  They  were  repulsed 
in  several  assaults  hy  the  garrison  of 
Drogheda,  and  some  powerful  reinfoi'ce- 
ments  having  reached  that  town,  they 


*  Borlase,  p.  34. 

f  The  first  commission  to  collect  depositions  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  crimes  imputed  to  the  Irish  was  issued  on 
the  23d  of  December,  1641,  to  Dr.  Jones,  dean  of  Kil- 
more,  and  six  other  Protestant  clergymen  ;  a  fresh 
commission  for  the  same  purpose  being  issued  in 
1644.  We  have  already  seen  what  amount  of  credit  is 
due  to  the  information  obtained,  by  the  commissioners, 
on  those  occasions. 


finally  raised  the  siege  on  the  3d  of 
March.  On  the  26th  the  English  re- 
covered  possession  of  Dundalk.  The 
lords  justices,  by  a  proclamation  of  tlie 
8th  of  February,  had  offered  large  re- 
wards for  the  heads  of  the  Irish  leaders : 
a  thousand  pounds  being  offered  for  that 
of  Sir  Phelim ;  six  hundred  pounds 
each  for  several  of  the  others ;  and 
smaller  sums  for  the  men  of  less  impor- 
tance. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  rein- 
forcements which  arrived  to  them  from 
England,  Parsons  and  Borlase  were 
afraid  to  allow  their  army  to  puisue 
the  Irish  to  any  distance.  Ormond  had 
been  sent  to  overawe  the  Irish  force 
collected  before  Drogheda,  but  was 
strictly  prohibited  from  crossing  the 
Boyne ;  and  Tichburne,  who  now  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  very  eflicient 
force  in  Drogheda,  was  ordered  not  to 
pursue  the  Irish  so  far  that  he  could  not 
return  to  that  town  in  the  evening. 
But  the  lords  justices  were  fully  as  bru- 
tal as  they  were  pusillanimous  in  their 
orders.  The  instructions  to  their  com- 
manders to  pillage,  burn,  and  slay  were 
most  imperative,  and  their  lieutenant- 
general,  the  earl  of  Ormond,!];  more  than 
once  incurred  their  displeasure  for  what 
was  thought  to  be   too   much   leniency 

i  The  earl  of  Ormond,  so  familiar  to  the  reader  as  a 
captain  and  a  statesman,  during  the  wars  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  who  was  known  among  the  Irish  as  "  Black 
Thomas,"  died  in  1614,  at  the  advarcsd  age  of  82  years, 
having  been  old  enough  to  have  been  the  playmate  of 
Edward  VI.  At  the  close  of  bis  life  he  became  blind, 
and  died  a  Catholic,  lamenting  the  part  which  he  had 
taken  against  the  Catholic  religion  and  his  country. 
{O'Sul.  Mist.  Cath.,  p.  290  ;  and  Lynch's  Alithonologia). 


488 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  I. 


in  tlie  execution  of  these  horrible  com- 
mands. Ormond,  however,  was  gener- 
ally accompanied  by  Sir  Charles  Coote, 
whose  thirst  for  blood  could  not  be 
easily  restrained,  were  the  commander- 
in-chief  even  inclined  to  be  merciful. 
This  was  instanced  in  the  case  of  Father 
Higgins,  of  Naas,  who,  although  under 
Ormond's  protection,  v\^as  executed, 
without  trial,  by  Coote  ;  and  in  that  of 
Father  White,  to  whom  Ormond  had 
also  extended  his  protection,  until  he 
could  be  taken  to  Dublin  to  be  im- 
prisoned, but  who  was  brutally  2:»ut  to 
death  by  the  soldiers,  who  mutinously 
demanded  the  priest's  life.'"^ 

It  was  some  weeks  before  the  insur- 
rection penetrated  into  Munster;  but 
about  the  middle  of  December  Sir 
William  St.  Leger,  lord  president,  com- 


It  was  generally  supposed  that  he  was  converted  hj 
Father  Archer  during  his  captivity  with  Owny  O'More. 
This  extraordinary  man  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew, 
Sir  Walter,  the  11th  earl  of  Ormond,  who  was  a  Cath- 
olic, and  received  the  nick-name  of  "  Walter  of  the 
Rosaries,"  from  his  piety.  {Dr.  French's  Unkind  Desert- 
er, p.  26).  His  vast  estates  were  most  unjustly  seques- 
trated by  James  I.  in  favor  of  Preston,  who  had  beea 
made  earl  of  Desmond ;  but  they  were  restored  to  his 
grandson,  James,  who  succeeded  to  the  earldom  on 
Walter's  death  in  1033,  and  had  married  the  daughter 
of  Preston,  in  1G29.  This  James,  who  was  born  in 
England  in  1  GOT,  was  educated  as  a  Protestant  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  to  whose  care  he  had  been  com- 
mitted by  the  king,  on  the  death  of  his  father.  Sir 
Thomas,  who  was  a  Catholic,  and  was  drowned  at  Sker- 
ries, returning  from  England  in  1619  ;  and  it  is  to  him 
— "  the  great  duke  of  Ormond"  of  a  subsequent  date — 
that  we  are  introduced  at  the  present  epoch.  He  was  a 
Ditter  enemy  of  the  Irish,  and  of  the  Catholics.  The 
able  author  of  the  Confederation  of  Kilkenny,  describ- 
ing his  character,  writes  : — "  With  military  talents  of 
a  superior  order,  he  was  in  every  respect  equal  to  many 
of  the  generals  of  his  time.  In  diplomacy,  however,  ho 
excelled  them  all.  With  the  most  fascinating  and  art- 
ful address,  he  easily  worked  himself  into  the  confidence 


menced  a  series  of  atrocities  which  soon 
kindled  the  flame  of  civil  war  in  that 
province.  In  retaliation  for  some  wan- 
ton outrage,  the  peasantry  di'ove  off  in 
a  tumultuous  way  a  number  of  cattle 
from  the  lands  of  his  brother-in-law : 
and  to  aveuare  this  indisruitv  Sir  Wil- 
liam  sallied  forth  with  two  troop  of 
horse,  and  slaughtered  a  great  number 
of  men  and  women  wholly  innocent  of 
the  offence.  Lord  Muskeiry  and  other 
noblemen,  who  had  made  thankless 
offers  of  their  services  to  preserve  the 
peace,  respectfully  remonstrated  against 
these  cruelties;  but  their  friendly  in- 
terference was  treated  with  insult,  and 
the  lord  president  told  them  "  that 
they  were  all  rebels,  and  he  would  not 
trust  one  of  them,  and  that  he  thought 
it  most  prudent  to  hang  the  best  of 


of  friends  and  foes  ;  but  under  the  guise  of  simplicity  and 
candor  he  covered  a  heart  which  was  full  of  treachery 
and  craft."  (The  Rev.  C.  P.  Meehan's  Confed.  of  KU., 
p.  23.) 

*  The  case  of  Father  Higgins  excited  a  great  deal  of 
interest.  He  had  been  extremely  kind  to  the  English 
and  the  Protestants,  having,  says  Carte,  saved  many  of 
them  from  the  fury  of  the  Irish,  and  afforded  them  sub- 
sequent relief;  and  relying  upon  this  conduct  on  his 
part,  and  on  his  own  unblemished  character,  he  pre- 
sented himself  before  Ormond  at  Naas,  instead  of  at- 
tempting to  escape,  and  only  besought  his  lordship  to 
preserve  him  from  the  violence  of  the  soldiery,  for  they 
might  then  try  him  in  Dublin,  on  any  charge  they  could 
bring  against  him.  The  historian  tells  us  that  "  when 
it  was  spread  abroad  among  the  soldiers  that  he  was  a 
Papist,  the  ofBcer  in  whose  custody  he  was,  was  assaulted 
by  them,  and  it  was  as  much  as  the  earl  could  do  to 

compose  the  mutiny Within  a  few  days    after, 

when  the  earl  did  not  suspect  the  poor  man's  being  in 
danger,  he  heard  that  Sir  Charles  Coote  had  taken  him 
out  of  prison,  and  caused  him  to  bo  put  to  death  in  the 
morning  before,  or  as  soon  as  it  was  light."  The  earl 
complained  of  this  barbarity,  but  the  lords  justices  did 
not  seem  to  think  that  the  provost-marshal  had  ex- 
ceeded his  duty. 


HUMANITY  OF  THE  IRISH  CLERGY. 


489 


them."  These  proceedings  liad  the  de- 
sired effect,  and  the  people  rose  in  arms* 
They  first  took  possession  of  Cashel,  on 
which  occasion  Philip  O'Dwyer  and 
the  other  popular  leaders  acted  in  the 
most  friendly  manner  towards  the  Eng- 
lish, protecting  them  against  the  vio- 
lence of  those  whom  St.  Leger's  brutal- 
ity had  exasperated;  but  the  human- 
ity disjilayed  by  the  Catholic  clergy 
was  particularly  praiseworthy.  Father 
James  Saul,  a  Jesuit,  sheltered  several 
jiersons,  and  among  others  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Samuel  Pullen,  Protestant  chancel- 
lor of  Cashel  and  dean  of  Clonfert,  with 
his  family;  Fathers  Joseph  Everard 
and  Redmond  English,  Franciscan  friars, 
concealed  some  of  the  Protestant  fugi- 
tives in  their  chapel,  and  even  under 
the  altar;  and  others  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  exhibited  the  like  generous  com- 
passion.* 

In  Connaught  the  exertions  and 
influence  of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard, 
who  was  a  Catholic,  but  was  devotedly 


*  The  particular  views  for  goading  this  province  into 
rebellion,"  observes  Plowden,  "  are  fully  laid  open  in 
Lord  Cork's  letter  to  the  speaker  of  the  English  House 
of  Commons,  which  he  sent,  together  with  1,100  indict- 
ments against  persons  of  property  in  that  province,  to 
have  them  settled  by  crown  lawyers  and  returned  to 
him  ;  'and  so,'  says  he,  'if  the  house  please  to  direct 
to  have  them  all  proceeded  against  to  outlawry,  where- 
by his  majesty  may  be  entitled  to  their  lands  and  pos- 
sessions, which  I  dare  boldly  afiBrm  was,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  insurrection,  not  of  so  little  yearly  value  as 
£200,000.'  This  earl  of  Cork  was  notorious  for  his 
rapacity,  but  this  last  effort  he  called  'the  work  of 
works.'  In  Dublin  many  were  put  to  the  rack,  in  order 
to  extort  confessions ;  and,  in  the  short  space  of  two 
days,  upwards  of  4,000  indictments  were  found  against 
landholders  and  other  men  of  property  in  Leinstcr." — 
nist.  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.,  p.  375. 

f  Various  other  instances  are  on  record  of  the  hu- 
Gi 


attached  to  the  cause  of  the  king  and 
to  the  English  interests,  stayed  for  a 
long  time  the  progress  of  the  insurrec- 
tion ;  and  even  when  the  movement 
had  reached  Galway,  he  nevertheless 
procured  the  submission  of  the  town 
without  bloodshed.  But  all  his  active 
loyalty  did  not  obtain  for  him  the 
confidence  of  the  lords  justices,  and 
he  himself  complained  that  these  offi- 
cials acted  towards  him  "  as  if  their 
design  were  to  force  him  and  his  into 
resistance."f 

The  discordant  elements  of  old  and 
new  Irish,  nationalists  and  royalists, 
now  involved  in  the  insurrection,  were 
at  length  about  to  be  amalgamated, 
and  organization  introduced  into  the 
movement.  This  was  to  be  effected  by 
the  Catholic  clergy,  whose  influence 
these  various  parties  recognized;  for 
whatever  might  have  been  their  other 
principles  of  action,  they  had  at  least 
one  in  common,  namely,  a  devoted  at- 
tachment to  the  Catholic    Church.     A 

manity  of  the  Catholic  priests  at  this  disastrous  period, 
notwithstanding  the  persecution  which  then  raged 
against  themselves.  Mr.  ECardiman  {lar  Oonnmight,  p. 
406)  quotes,  from  the  famous  depositions  in  Trinity  Col- 
lege, extracts  which  show  the  exertions  of  the  clergy  of 
Galway  to  save  the  Protestants  when  the  O'Flaherties 
entered  that  town,  in  the  beginning  of  1642,  with  several 
himdred  men,  and  laid  siege  to  the  fort.  Among  others, 
Mary  Bowler,  servant  to  Lieutenant  John  Gell,  who 
commanded  in  the  fort,  deposed  "  that  she  herself  saw 
the  priests  of  the  towne  and  other  priests,  being  about 
eight  in  number,  going  about  the  towne  in  their  vest^ 
ments,  with  tapers  burning  and  the  Sacrament  borne 
before  them,  and  exhorting  the  said  Murrough-na-)na?'i 
(O'Flaherty)  and  his  company,  for  Christ's  sake  and  our 
Lady's  and  St.  Patrick's,  that  they  would  shed  no  more 
blood,  and  if  they  did  they  would  never  have  mercy." 

f  Mem.  of  the  Marq.  of  Clanricarde.    This  earl  was 
the  son  of  him  who  fought  against  the  Irish  at  Kinsale 


490 


REIGX  OF  CHARLES  I. 


provincial  synod,  convened  by  Hugh 
O'Keillj^,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  Avas 
the  first  step  in  this  direction.  It  was 
held  at  Kells,  on  2f>d  of  March,  and 
was  attended  by  all  the  bishops  of  the 
province,  except  Thomas  Dease,  bisho^i 
of  Meath,  who  had  opposed  the  rising 
as  premature,  and  who,  by  preventing 
supplies  of  men  and  provisions  from 
being  sent  to  Sir  Phelim  O'Neil,  had, 
it  was  considered,  caused  the  failure  of 
the  siege  of  Drogheda.  The  synod 
pronounced  the  war  undertaken  by  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  lawful  and  pious ; 
issued  an  address  denouncing  murders, 
and  the  usurpation  of  other  men's  es- 
tates ;  and  took  steps  for  convoking  a 
national  synod,  to  be  held  at  Kilkenny, 
on  the  10th  of  May. 

Eeinforcements  arrived,  almost  every 
week,  of  Scots  in  Ulster,  or  of  English 
troops  at  Dublin;  but  the  lords  jus- 
tices continued,  to  call  for  more,  and 
to  aj^peal  to  the  generosity  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  on  behalf  of  the  numerous 
plundered  English  Protestants  who 
crowded  the  streets  of  Dublin  and 
other  towns.  On  the  15th  of  April  an 
additional  detachment  of  2,500  Scots 
arrived  at  Carrickfergus,  under  the 
command  of  General  Monroe,  a  man  of 
violent  sectarian  feelinijs,  and  of  a 
savage,  unrelenting  nature,  Avho  now 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  nu- 
merous and  powerful  army,  com|X)sed 
chiefly  of  Scots,  with  an  admixture  of 
the  despoiled  English  settlers,  who 
took  the  field  with  accumulated  rancor 
against  their  Irish  Catholic  foes. 


Meanwhile  the  Irish  throughout  the 

O 

countrjr  acted  without  -plan  or  co-opera- 
tion, and  were  consequently  defeated 
in  detail.  Lord  Mountgarret,  whose 
family  and  personal  interest  was  very 
great,  seized  Kilkenny  without  any 
bloodshed,  and  through  his  exertions 
almost  every  place  of  strength  in  the 
counties  of  Kilkenny,  Waterford,  and 
Tipperary  fell  into  the  power  of  the 
Irish  in  the  space  of  a  week.  He  then 
marched  to  the  south,  and  took  several 
places  in  the  county  of  Cork ;  but  the 
people  of  that  county  preferred  Gerald 
Barry  as  their  leader,  and  for  want  of 
unanimity  they  failed  in  their  attemjits 
on  Youghal,  Bandon,  and  Kiusale,  and 
were  successfully  repulsed  before  Cork, 
by  St.  Leger  and  Lord  luchiqui-u. 
Lord  Mountgarret  returned  to  Lein- 
ster,  and  having  mustered  a  numerous, 
but  ill-armed  and  undisciplined  force, 
thought  to  intercept  the  earl  of  Or- 
moud,  who  was  returniu"  to  Dublin 
after  some  services  in  the  south  of  the 
county  of  Kildare.  The  two  armies 
were  in  view  of  each  other  at  Athy, 
when  Ormond  wished  to  avoid  a 
battle ;  but  after  a  parallel  march  of 
both  armies  for  a  few  miles,  an  action 
took  place  near  Kilrush,  about  twenty 
miles  from  Dublin,  when  the  Irish 
were  totally  routed,  and  driven  into 
a  bog  at  their  rear,  having  lost  about 
six  hundred  men,  with  all  their  am- 
munition, and  twenty  pair  of  colors. 
Amons:  the  killed  on  the  Irish  side 
were  the  sons  of  Lord  Dunboyne  and 
Lord  Ikerrin;  and  after  this  the  gallant 


SYNOD   OF  KILKENNY. 


491 


Eoger  O'More  ceased  to  appeal*  on  the 
scene.'"  Ormoud,  avIio  was  accompa- 
nied by  Sir  Cliarles  Coote,  Colonel 
Monck,  Sir  Tbomas  Lucas,  and  other 
officers  of  note,  was  received  with  great 
triumph  in  Dublin,  and  the  English 
parliament  voted  £500  to  purchase  a 
jewel  to  be  presented  to  him  as  a  mark 
of  their  esteem.  Lord  Mountgarret  re- 
turned  to  Kilkenny.f 

At  length  the  10th  of  May  arrived, 
and  the  national  synod  met  at  Kil- 
kennj'.  It  was  attended  by  the  arch- 
bishops of  Armagh,  Cashel,  and  Tuam ; 
the  bishops  of  Ossory,  Elphin,  Water- 
ford  and  Lismore,  Kildare,  Clonfert, 
and  Down  and  Connor;  the  proctors 
of  the  archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  of  the 
bisho2")s  of  Limerick,  Emly,  and  Killa- 
loe ;  and  by  sixteen  other  dignitaries 
and  heads  of  religious  orders.  The 
occasion  was  most  solemn,  and  the 
proceedings  were  characterized  by 
calm  -dignity  and  an  enlightened  tone. 
An  oath  of  association,  which  all 
Catholics  throughout  the  land  were 
enjoined    to    take,    was    framed;    and 

*  According  to  other  accounts  O'More  retired,  disap- 
pointed, to  Flanders,  after  the  failiue  of  the  siege  of 
Drogheda,  but  returned  to  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the 
Synod  of  Kilkenny,  and  died  in  the  latter  town.  See 
Wills'  Ulud.  Irishmen,  vol.  ii.,  part  ii.,  p.  433. 

f  The  pedigrees  of  this  nobleman  (Richard,  third 
Viscount  Mountgarret)  and  of  James,  twelfth  earl  (and 
afterwards  duke)  of  Ormoud,  tho  commander  of  the 
English  at  the  battle  of  Kilrush,  meet  in  Pierce 
Biitler,  eighth  carl  of  Ormond,  who  died  in  l.j39  ;  the 
former  being  the  third  and  the  latter  fifth  in  descent 
from  Pierce  through  his  two  sons.  Lord  MoimtgaiTet, 
whose  first  -n-ife  was  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  tho 
great  Hugh,  earl  of  Tyrone,  was  always  found  on  the 
Irish  side,  and  distinguished  himself  in  tho  last  war  of 
Elizabeth's  reign. 

%  The  Acts  of  the  Synod  decreed,  among  other  things, 


those  who  were  bound  together  by 
this  solemn  tie  were  called  the  "  Con- 
federate Catholics  of  Ireland."  Such 
a  bond  of  union  and  expression  of 
oiiinion  was  essential  where  parties  so 
different  were  to  act  in  concert,  A 
manifesto  explanatory  of  their  motives, 
and  containing  rules  to  guide  the  con- 
federation, and  an  admirable  plan  of 
provisional  government,  Avas  issued.  It 
was  ordained  that  a  General  Assembly, 
comprising  all  the  lords,  spiritual  and 
temporal,  and  the  gentry  of  their 
party,  should  be  held ;  and  that  the 
Assembly  should  select  members  from 
its  bodjr  to  represent  the  different 
provinces  and  principal  cities,  and  to 
be  called  the  Supreme  Council,  which 
would  sit  from  day  to  day,  dispense 
justice,  appoint  to  offices,  and  carry  on, 
as  it  were,  the  executive  government 
of  the  country.  Severe  i:)enaltie3  were 
pronounced  against  all  who  made  the 
war  an  excuse  for  the  commission  of 
crime;  and  after  three  days'  sittings 
this  im^iortant  conference  brought  its 
labors  to  a  close.J 

that  "  whereas  the  war  which  now  in  Ireland  tho 
Catholics  do  maintain  against  sectaries,  and  chiefly 
against  Puritans,  (is)  for  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion, for  the  maintenance  of  tlie  prerogative  and  royal 
rights  of  our  gracious  king,  Charles — of  our  gracious 

queen,  so  unworthily  abused  by  the  Puritans, and 

lastly,  for  the  defence  of  their  own  lives,  lands,  and  pos- 
sessions,   we,   therefore,  declare  that  war,  openly 

Catholic,  to  be  lawful  and  just;  in  which  war,  if  somo 
of  the  Catholics  be  found  to  proceed  out  of  some  particu- 
lar (iirivate)  and  unjust  title — covetou-sncss,  cruelty,  re- 
venge, or  hatred,  or  any  such  unlawful  private  intentions 
— we  declare  therein  grievously  to  sin,"  &c.  That 
nothing  be  done  to  excite  emulation  or  comparison  be- 
tween the  diiferent  provinces,  towns,  families,  &c.  That 
a  councU,  composed  of  the  clergy,  nobOity,  &c.,  be  con- 
stituted in  each  pro\'ince  ;  tho  jirovincial  councils  to  bo 


492 


KEIGlSr  OF  CHARLES  I. 


Altliougli  the  war  during  this  time 
was  not  carried  on  witli  mucli  activity 
on  either  side,  several  incidents  took 
place  worthy  of  note.  Lord  Lisle,  sou 
of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  having  arrived 
in  Dublin  a  few  days  after  the  battle 
of  Kilrush,  with  his  own  regiment  of 
600  horse  carbiniers  and  300  dragoons, 
went,  with  Sir  Charles  Coote,  to  the 
relief  of  Letitia,  baroness  of  Offaly, 
who  was  besieged,  in  her  castle  of 
Geashil],  in  the  king's  county,  by  the 
O'Dempseys.  This  lady,  who  was 
grand-daughter  of  Gerald,  earl  of  Kil- 
dare,  the  brother  of  Silken  Thomas, 
showed  much  heroism  in  defying  the 
menaces  of  the  assailants:  and  the 
siege  having  been  raised,  Coote  and 
Lord    Lisle,    burning   the    country   as 

Bubordinate  to  the  general  or  national  eouncU.  That 
an  inventory  he  kept  in  each  province  "  of  the  murders, 
burnings,  and  other  cruelties  which  are  committed  by 
the  Puritan  enemies,  with  a  quotation  of  the  place,  day, 
cause,  &c.,  subscribed  hy  one  of  public  authority."  That 
"  all  who  forsake  this  union,  fight  for  our  enemies,  and 
accompany  them  in  their  war,  defend  or  in  any  way  as- 
sist them,  be  excommunicated ;"  and  also  that  "  aU  those 
that  murder,  dismember,  or  grievously  strike ;  aU 
thieves,  unlawful  spoilers,  &c.,  be  excommunicated." 

The  following  was  the  "  oath  of  association,"  as  given 
by  Lord  Castlehaven,  the  form,  according  to  Borlase, 
being  substantially  the  same : — "  I,  A.  B.,  do  profess, 
Bwear,  and  protest  before  God,  and  his  saints  and  angels, 
that  I  will,  during  my  life,  bear  true  faith  and  aUegianco 
to  my  sovereign  lord,  Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God 
king  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  and  to  his 
heirs  and  lawful  successors ;  and  that  I  will,  to  my 
power,  during  my  life,  defend,  uphold,  and  maintain  all 
his  and  their  just  prerogatives,  estates,  and  rights,  the 
power  and  privilege  of  the  parliament  of  this  realm,  the 
fundamental  laws  of  Ireland,  the  free  exercise  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith  and  religion  throughout  this  land ; 
and  the  lives,  just  liberties,  possessions,  estates,  and 
rights  of  all  those  that  have  taken,  or  that  shall  take, 
this  oath,  and  perform  the  contents  thereof;  and  that  I 
will  obey  and  ratify  all  the  orders  and  decrees  made,  or 
to  be  made,  by  the  supremo  council  of  the  confederate 


they  proceeded,  marched  to  Trim,  of 
which  they  took  possession,  the  Catho- 
lic army  having  retired  at  their  ap- 
proach. Lord  Lisle  now  set  out  for 
Dublin,  Sir  Charles  Coote  remaining 
to  place  Trim  castle,  of  which  the  walls 
were  quite  dilapidated,  in  a  state  of 
defence ;  and  the  .Irish  I'eturned,  on  the 
7  th  of  May,  and  attempted  to  regain 
the  place.  They  were  unsuccessful  in 
their  effort,  but  Coote  was  killed  on 
the  occasion,  as  it  was  supposed  by  a 
shot  from  one  of  his  own  troopers,  and 
the  death  of  a  foe  so  merciless  and 
active  was  deemed  in  itself  a  sufficient 
triumph.  Coote's  son  was  appointed 
provost-marshal  of  Connaught.* 

Limerick   liad    opened,  its  gates   to 
General    Barry    and    Lord    Muskerry 

Catholics  of  this  kingdom,  concerning  tlje  said  public 
cause,  and  wOl  not  seek,  directly  or  indirectly,  any 
pardon  or  protection  for  any  act  done  or  to  be  done, 
touching  this  general  cause,  without  the  consent  of  the 
major  jiart  of  the  said  council ;  and  that  I  will  not,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  do  any  act  or  acts  that  shall  preju- 
dice the  said  cause,  but  will,  at  the  hazard  of  my  life  and 
estate,  assist,  prosecute,  and  maintain  the  same.  More- 
over, I  do  further  swear  that  I  will  not  accept  of,  or  sub- 
mit unto  any  peace  made,  or  to  be  made,  with  the  said 
confederate  Catholics,  without  the  consent  and  approba- 
tion of  the  general  assembly  of  the  said  confederate 

Catholics So  help  me  God  and  his  holy  gospel." 

*  An  incident  mentioned  by  the  earl  of  Castlehaveu 
occurred  probably  a  few  weeks  before  this  time.  The 
earl  gives  it  on  the  authority  of  his  brother,  who  relates 
how,  while  accompanying  a  party  sent  out  by  the  earl 
of  Ormond,  they  met  Sir  Arthur  Loftus,  governor  of 
Naas,  returning  with  a  party  of  horse  and  dragoons 
after  having  killed  such  of  the  Irish  as  they  met.  "  But 
the  most  considerable  slaughter,"  he  proceeds,  "  was  in 
the  great  strait  of  furze,  seated  on  a  hill,  where  the  peo- 
ple  of  several  villages,  taking  the  alarm,  had  sheltered 
themselves.  Now,  Sir  Arthur,  having  invested  the  hiU, 
set  the  furze  on  fire  on  all  sides,  where  the  people,  being 
a  considerable  number,  were  all  burnt  or  killed,  men, 
women,  and  children.  I  saw  the  bodies  and  furze  still 
burning."    (CastMavcn's  Memoirs,  p.  38). 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  CONFEDERATES. 


493 


long  before  tliis  time,  but  Captain 
Conrtenay  continued  to  defend  liimself, 
in  tlie  castle,  witb  great  bravery,  and 
the  protracted  siege  was  not  brought 
to  a  close  until  the  23d  of  June,  when 
the  garrison  capitulated.  The  cannon 
and  ammunition  taken  by  the  confeder- 
ates on  this  occasion  were  of  great  im- 
portance ;  and  most  of  the  neighboring 
castles  surrendered  to  them.  One  of 
the  guns  was  a  thirty-two  pounder, 
and  requu-ed  twenty-fiv^e  yoke  of  oxen 


to  draw  it.  Sir  William  St.  Leger 
died  at  his  house  near  Cork  on  the  2d 
of  July ;  and  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Inchi- 
quin,  was  appointed  to  succeed  him  as 
lord  president  of  Munster.  This  de- 
generate descendant  of  the  great  Brian 
rivalled  the  most  sanguinary  of  the 
Puritan  generals  in  the  cruelties  which 
he  executed  upon  his  Catholic  country- 
men, and,  in  the  traditions  of  the 
peasantry,  his  name  M'as  long  preserved 
as  "  Murrough  of  the  burnings."* 


494 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVIII. 


KEIGN   OF   CHARLES   I.  CO]S[CLUDED. 


Tlie  arrival  of  Owen  Roe  O'Neill — Ho  assumes  tlie  command  of  tlio  Irish  army  in  Ulster. — Conduct  of  the  Scots  in 
Ulster. — Lord  Lieven's  opinion  of  Owen  Roe. — Colonel  Preston's  arrival  in  Wexford  with  officers  and  arms. 
— Position  of  the  lords  justices. — State  of  the  belligerents  in  Conuaught  and  Munster. — Opening  of  tho 
General  Assembly — Outline  of  their  proceedings.— Constitution  of  the  Supreme  Council — Appointment  of 
generals,  &c. — Levy  of  money  and  soldiers. — Remittances  from  the  Continent — Establishment  of  a  Mint. — 
Progress  of  the  war. — Overture  from  the  king  to  the  Confederates. — Hostile  conduct  of  Ormond. — Gallant 
defence  of  Ross. — Preston  defeated  near  Ross. — Conference  with  the  Royal  Commissioners  at  Trim — Re- 
monstrance of  grievances — Obstacles  to  negotiation. — Success  of  the  Confederates. — Death  of  Lord  Moore. — 
Capture  of  Colonel  Vavasour. — Foreign  envoys. — Arrival  of  Father  Scarampi. — Divisions  in  the  Supreme 
Council. — Disgrace  of  Parsons. — Treaty  of  Cessation  signed — Its  rejection  by  the  Puritans. — The  Scots  in 
Ulster  take  the  Covenant. — Bravery  of  the  Irish  soldiers  sent  into  Scotland  for  the  king. — Ormond  appointed 
lord  lieutenant. — His  negotiations  with  the  Confederates. — -Catholic  and  Protestant  deputations  to  the  king. 
— Infringement  of  the  Cessation  by  the  Scots. — Abortive  expedition  of  Castlehaven  against  Monroe. — The 
king's  impatience  for  a  peace  in  Ireland. — Ormond's  prevarication. — Renewed  hostilities  in  the  south  and 
west. — Death  of  Archbishop  O'Kealy. — Mission  of  Glamorgan — His  secret  treaty  with  the  Confederates. — 
Mission  of  the  Nuncio  Rinuccini — His  arrival  in  Ireland — Reception  at  Kilkenny. — Renewed  discxission  of  tlie 
peace  question. — Arrest  of  Glamorgan. — Division  among  tho  Confederates. — Treaty  of  peace  signed  by 
Ormond — Not  approved  by  the  Nuncio. — Siege  of  Bunratty. — Battle  of  Bcnburb. — Increasing  opposition  to 
the  peace. — Ormond's  visit  to  Munster. — Glamorgan  joins  the  Nuncio's  part}'. — Dublin  besieged  by  the  Con- 
federates.— Given  up  to  the  Parliamentarians. — Ormond  leaves  Ireland. — Dissensions  in  the  Assembly. — 
Battles  of  Dungan  Hill  and  Knocknonos. — O'NeiU  takes  arms  against  the  Confederates. — Ormond  returns. — 
The  peace  of  1040. — Departure  of  the  Nuncio. — Prince  Rupert's  expedition. 

(FEOM  A.  D.  1G42  TO  A.  D.  1049.) 


T^IIE  position  of  the  confederate 
-*-  Catholics  at  the  time  to  which 
the  preceding  chapter  has  brought  us 
was  discouraging  enough,  hut  brighter 
prospects  were  about  to  dawn  upon 
them.  The  organization,  of  which  they 
Avere  yet  destitute,  was  soon  to  be  suji- 
plied  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 
their  want  of  military  leaders  was 
about  to  be  filled  up  by  the  arrival  of 
Colonel  Owen  Koe  O'Neill  and  Colonel 

*  These  occurrences  are  thus  recorded  in  Sir  Phelim 
O'Neill's  journal :  "  He  (Owen  Hoe)  came  with  a  single 


Thomas  Preston.  The  former  of  these 
distino-uished  commanders  landed  near 
Castle  Doc,  'in  Donegal,  about  the 
middle  of  July,  1642,  accompanied  by 
a  hundred  officers,  and  having  with 
him  a  quantity  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion. Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  went  to  re- 
ceive him,  and,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Irish  gentry,  resigned  to  him  the  com- 
mand of  the  Catholic  army  of  Ulster.* 
Endowed  with  a  high  sense  of  honoi'. 


ship,  commanded  by  Captain  Antony  Fleming,  and  ono 
company  of  soldiers.     He  landed  at  tho  castle  of  Doe. 


1(0  i>a^    0^   C4^^x,i. 


.HJU- 


1 


OWEX  ROE  O'NEILL. 


495 


aucl  inured  to  the  strict  discipline  of 
the  soldier,  the  gallant  defender  of 
Arras  expressed  the  strongest  disap- 
probation of  the  retaliatory  cruelties 
which     had    been     tolerated    by    Sir 


A  day  of  general  meeting  was  appointed  at  Clones.  The 
clan  of  the  O'Xeills  canie  with  tlie  general  (Sir  Phelim) 
and  Owen ;  also,  the  OReillys,  O'Kanes,  MacRorys, 
O'Dalys,  MacMahons,  and  the  MacDonnells  with  Sir 
James  MacAlistcr.  Sir  Phelim  resigned  the  general- 
ship, which  was  conferred  on  Owen ;  Sir  Phelim  being 
nominated  President  of  Ulster." 

*  Owen  O'Neill,  says  Carte,  who  writes  In  no  friendly 
spirit,  "was  a  man  of  clear  head  and  good  judgment, 
sober,  moderate,  silent,  excellent  in  disguising  his  senti- 
ments, and  well  versed  in  the  arts  and  intrigues  of 
courts."  As  to  the  cruelty  attributed  to  his  predecessor 
in  the  command,  Sir  Phelim,  it  has  been  grossly  exag- 
gerated, although  his  character  was  far  from  .being 
faultless.  One  of  the  principal  crimes  laid  to  Sir 
Phelim *s  charge  was  the  murder  of  Lord  Charlemont, 
when  removed  from  Charjemont  fort  to  Kinard,  on  the 


*  Duiiluce  Castle  is  situated  three  miles  to  the  east  of  Portrnsh.  It 
is  famous  for  its  situation,  the  picturesqiieness  of  which  is  hardly  ex- 
celled by  that  of  any  other  ruin  in  tlie  world.  On  the  top  of  a  per- 
pendicular rock  which  rises  upwards  of  a  hundred  feet  from  the  sea, 
this  Tenerable  remains  of  antiquity  looks  prondly  out  on  the  oceaa, 
the  waves  of  which  girdle  the  rock  on  which  it  stands,  except  where  a 
deep  chasm  separates  the  rock  from  the  mainland — a  junction  being 
formed  at  its  bottom  by  a  narrow  wall.  The  yawning  chasm  above  is 
spanned  by  a  bridge  which  forms  the  only  entrance  to  the  castle,  which, 
Bu  long  as  the  bridge  is  secured,  is  impregnable.  The  ruins  cover  a 
considerable  space,  and  so  accurately  has  the  building  been  framed  to 
the  rock  that  the  whole  looks  like  one  formation,  and  it  appears 
rather  to  have  been  constructed  by  the  hand  of  nature  than  by  that  of 
man.  When  the  castle  was  entire  it  must  have  contained  a  great 
many  apartments.  One  of  its  vaulted  chambers  is  said  to  be  inhabited 
by  a  banshee,  the  legend  having  probably  arisen  from  the  cleanness 
and  fret-dom  from  dust  in  which  it  is  kept  by  the  wind.  There  is 
auothcr  remarkable  chamber.  The  rock  on  which  it  was  originally 
built  and  on  which  it  rested  has  fallen  away,  and  the  apartment  now 
hangs  suspended  in  the  air  like  a  dove-cot.  A  long  narrow  cave  per- 
forates the  rock  on  whicli  the  castle  is  built,  at  its  biise,  from  the  sea 
to  the  rocky  basin  on  the  land  side.  Into  it  the  sea  rolls  incessantly, 
the  waves  of  which  have  rtolished  through  tlieir  action  the  stones  that 
form  its  floor  perfectly  round,  as  may  be  seen  at  low-water,  when  a 
considerable  part  of  it  is  left  dry.  The  floor  and  the  roof  are  com- 
posed of  bMSalL  When  the  sea  is  calm  there  is  a  good  echo  in  the 
cave.  The  erection  of  Dunluce  castle  is  said  to  have  been  the  work 
of  De  Courcy.earl  of  Ulster,  although  the  evidence  on  which  this  re- 
port rc6t3  is  not  entirely  satisfactory.  History,  however,  informs  us 
that  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the  English  during  the  fifteenth  century. 
Ill  the  following  century,  an<J  somewhere  about  the  year  1530,  the 
castlo  came  to  be  the  scene  of  an  incident  which  has  given  rise  to  nu- 
merous traditions.  Colonel  MacDonald,  the  founder  of  the  MacDon- 
nells of  Antrim,  camo  over  from  Scotland  to  render  assistance  to 
Tyrcounell  at  the  lime  when  he  was  hard  pressed  by  his  enemy,  the 
powerful  O'Neill.    MacDonnell  was  hospitably  entertained  by  ilac- 


Phelim;  and  liasteuecl,  "v^'itli  the  as- 
sistance of  the  experienced  officers 
whom  he  had  brought  ^\'ith  him,  to 
strengthen  Charlemont  fort,  and  to 
organize    a    disciplined    army.'"*      The 


1st  of  March,  lO-il ;  yet  it  appears  certain  that  this  deed 
was  done  without  his  orders.  The  journal  quoted  in  the 
last  note  tells  us  expressly  that  "he  hanged  and  be- 
headed six  persons  for  the  murder  of  Lord  Caulfield," 
and  that  "this  execution  was  done  at  Armagh.''  Sir 
Phelim's  attempt  to  inflict  punishment  for  the  murder 
of  this  English  nobleman  is  referred  to  in  one  of  the  de- 
positions in  Trinity  College,  quoted  in  Archdall's  Lodge, 
(vol.  iii.,  p.  141),  but  in  a  way  evidently  not  intended  to 
clear  the  character  of  the  Irish  leader.  As  to  the  strat- 
agem by  which  Sir  Phelim  got  possession  of  the  fort 
and  its  commander,  we  find  the  same  artifice  resorted 
to  by  Monroe  to  seize  Lord  Antrim  at  Dunluce  Castle* — 
namely,  by  inviting  himself  and  a  party  to  the  intended 
\-ictim's  table  to  dinner — and  yet  we  never  hear  of  any 
odium  thrown  on  the  Scottish  general  on  that  ac 
count. 


Quillan,  the  lord  of  Dunluce,  to  whom  he  rendered  material  aid  in 
bringinir  his  enemies  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  castle  to  terms.  On 
their  return  from  the  foray,  MacDonnell  was  invited  to  spend  the 
winter  in  the  castle,  and  he  accepted  the  invitation,  his  men  being  at 
the  same  time  quartered  on  the  v&ssels  of  MacQuillan.  During  the 
visit  MacDonnell  ingratiated  himself  into  the  affections  of  tlio  daughter 
of  his  host,  and  induced  her  to  contract  with  liim  a  private  mar- 
riage. The  discovery  of  his  marriage  incensed  the  Irish  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  they  resolved  to  put  the  Scottish  chief  and  the  whole  of  his 
followers  to  the  sword,  and  they  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  this  end. 
It  came,  however,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  daughter  of  MacQuillan, 
who  immediately  disclosed  it  to  her  husband,  and  MacDonnell  and  his 
wife  and  retainers,  or  clansmen,  made  their  escape  from  the  castle. 
At  a  subsequent  date,  however,  they  returned,  and  in  process  of  time 
they  came  into  the  possession  of  a  considerable  portion  of  county  An- 
trim. The  wars,  the  successes,  and  the  misfortunes  of  the  MacQuillana 
and  their  successors,  the  MacDonnell's,  form  the  subjectof  many  tr.i- 
ditions.  The  descendants  of  the  MacQuillan  family  have  fallen  from 
the  high  estate  which  their  ancestors  possessed,  and  are  now  unknown 
in  the  aristocracy  of  the  country.  The  lordship  of  Antrim  and  Dun- 
luce has  remained  in  the  family  of  the  wily  Scotchman  who  won  tbd 
love  of  MacQuillan's  daughter,  and  the  MacDonnells  are  lords  of  An- 
trim and  Dunluce.  In  the  succeeding  century,  and  in  the  year  1(>42, 
an  act  of  treachery  of  a  much  more  infamous  character  was  perpe- 
trated at  the  same  castle,  and  what  is  remarkable  enou^di.  also  by  a 
Scotehraan.  In  April  of  that  year  General  Munroe,  with  a  de- 
tachment of  troops,  paid  a  visit  to  the  earl  of  Antrim  at  Duithice 
Castle,  and  was  received  with  the  highest  demonstrations  of  hospitali 
ty  and  festivity  ;  the  earl  at  the  same  time  offering  him  a  contributimi 
of  men  and  money  to  reduce  the  country,  which  was  in  a  disturbed 
state,  to  tranquillity.  Monroe  repaid  this  friendship  on  the  part  of  the 
earl  by  seizing  his  person  and  imprisoning  him  in  tlie  castle  of  Car- 
rickfergus,  wlnle  at  the  same  lime  he  took  possession  of  all  his  oihir 
castles,  putting  them  into  the  hands  of  Argyle.  The  earl,  however, 
not  long  afterwards  effected  bis  escape  from  Carrickfergus,  and  took 
refuge  in  England. 


496 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  I. 


Scots  in  Ulster  were,  at  this  time,  a 
sort  of  independent  power,  equally 
opposed  to  the  king  and  to  the  Cath- 
olics. Left  to  their  own  resources  hj 
the  I'lnglish  parliament,  which  was 
now  too  much  occupied  with  its  own 
war  against  its  sovereign,  they  plun- 
dered both  parties,  and,  according  to 
Warner,  "  wasted  Down  and  Antrim 
more  than  the  rebels  had  done."  * 
Lord  Lieven  arrived  in  August  with 
fresh  supplies  fi'om  Scotland,  which 
raised  the  Scottish  army  in  Ulster  to 
10,000  men;  the  whole  force  of  Scots 
and  English  in  that  pi'ovince  amount- 
ing now  to  20,000  foot  and  1,000  horse. 
Lieven  crossed  the  Bann  at  the  head  of 
a  formidable  a;-ray,  but  retii'ed  without 
performing  any  service,  and  soon  after 
returned  to  Scotland,  leaving  to  Mon- 
roe the  sole  command.  Lieven  enter- 
tained a  high  opinion  of  Owen  Roe,  to 
whom  he  wrote  expressing  his  concern 
"  that  a  man  of  his  reputation  should 
be  ene:ao;ed  in  so  bad  a  cause ;"  but 
O'Neill  justly  replied  that  he  had  a 
better  ri^ht  to  come  to  the  relief  of  his 
country  than  bis  lordship  could  plead 
for  mar  chin  2:  into  England  asrainst  his 
king.  Lieven  warned  Monroe  that  he 
might  expect  a  total  overthrow  should 
Owen  O'Neill  once  collect  an  army. 

Colonel  Preston,  the  brother  of  Lord 
Gormanston,  and  ranking  next  to  Owen 
Roe  in  military  skill  and  rc2:)utation, 
landed  early  in  autumn  on  the  coast  of 
Wexford.     He  came  in  a  ship  of  war, 

*  Warner,  vol.  i.,  p.  237. 


attended  by  two  frigates,  and  some 
transports  bringing  a  few  siege-guns, 
field-pieces,  and  other  warlike  stores, 
together  with  500  officers  and  a  number 
of  engineers.  Shortly  after  other  ships 
arrived  with  further  supplies  of  artillery, 
arms,  and  ammunition,  and  a  consider- 
able number  of  experienced  L-ish  offi- 
cers and  veteran  soldiers,  discharged 
from  the  French  service  by  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  with  the  obvious  view  of 
their  coming  to  the  aid  of  their  coun- 
trymen  at  Lome.  These  important  ac- 
cessions of  strength,  if  well  applied, 
might  have  been  made  decisive  of  the 
war,  but  as  yet  the  Irish  leaders  acted 
without  unity  of  plan  or  purpose,  and 
the  whole  work  of  organization  was 
still  to  be  effected.  The  lords  justices 
were  all  this  time  cooped  up  in  Dublin, 
trembling  with  fear,  and  incapable  of 
making  any  efibrt  which  required  man- 
liness or  wisdom.  The  earl  of  Clan- 
rickard  co-operated  with  Lord  Rane- 
lagh,  president  of  Connaught,  against 
the  Catholics  of  that  province,  and 
drew  upon  himself  particular  odium  by 
countenancing  the  Puritan  garrison  of 
the  fort  of  Galway,  in  their  outrages 
against  the  people  of  the  town  and 
neighborhood  ;  while  in  the  south  Lord 
Inchiquin,  with  an  army  of  2,000  foot 
and  400  horse,  defeated  the  confeder- 
ates, under  General  Barry,  on  the  3d 
of  Septembei*,  near  Liscarroll  in  the 
county  of  Cork  ;  the  Irish  having  only 
just  before  succeeded  in  capturing  that 
strong  castle  after  a  siege  of  thirteen 
days. 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  THE   GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 


497 


The  24tli  of  October,  1642,  will  ever 
be  memorable  in  our  history  as  the  day 
ou  which  the  General  Assembly,  pro- 
jected by  the  national  synod  of  the 
10th  of  May,  commenced  its  sittings  in 
the  ancient  city  of  Kilkenny.  Eleven 
spiritual  and  fourteen  temporal  peers, 
with  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  com- 
moners, representing  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  Ireland,  of  both  races,  assem- 
bled on  this  occasion.  Patriotism  and 
loyalty,  religion  and  enlightened  lib- 
erality, were  the  principles  which 
drew  together  this  national  convention. 
Meeting  in  that  old  town  where  Clar- 
ence's parliament  passed  the  infamous 
anti-Irish  statute,  with  which  the  name 
of  Kilkenny  has  thus  been  connected, 
this  great  national  asserablj^,  a  true 
Irish  parliament  in  all  but  name,  must 
have  suggested  many  strange  associa- 
tions; while  its  own  existence,  almost 
realizing  in  its  form  and  its  object  the 
fond  dream  of  Irish  independence,  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  most  interestincf  facts 
of  our  history.*  The  assembly  is  said 
to  have  held  its  first  meeting  in  the 
house  of  Sir  Eichard  Shea,  in  the  mar- 
ket-place of  Kilkenny.  Peers  and  com- 
moners sat  in  the  one  hall,  the  forms  of 
parliament  being  in  this  respect  de- 
parted from ;  but  an  upper  or  2>i'ivate 
room  was  provided  for  the  consultations 
of  the  lords.  Those  of  the  clergy  who 
were  not  qualified  to  sit  as  prelates  or 


abbots  met  in  "  convocation,"  in  an  ad- 
joining house.  Mr.  Patrick  Darcy,  an 
eminent  lawyer,  who  had  been  perse- 
cuted by  Strafford,  sat  bareheaded, 
representing  the  clmncellor  and  the 
judges;  and  Mr.  Nicholas Plunket acted 
as  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, both  lords  and  commons  address- 
ing their  speeches  to  him.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  O'Quirke,  an  eloquent  and 
learned  Dominican  friar  of  Tralee,  was 
appointed  chaplain  to  both  houses. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  assembly 
■\vas  to  declare  that  they  did  not  intend 
their  body  as  a  parliament,  lest  thej'- 
might  infringe  on  the  prerogative  of 
the  crown ;  but  as  a  provincial  govern- 
ment "  to  consult  of  an  order  for  their 
own  aftairs,  till  his  majesty's  wisdom 
had  settled  the  present  troubles."  The 
preliminary  arrangements  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  oath  of  association  oc- 
cupied the  interval  to  the  1st  of  No- 
vember, when  a^  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  draw  up  a  form  of  the 
confederate  government,  and  on  the  4th 
the  acts  of  the  committee  were  formally 
sanctioned  by  the  two  houses.  "  Magna 
Charta  and  the  common  and  statute 
laws  of  England,  in  all  points  not  con- 
trary to  the  Eoman  Catholic  religion, 
or  inconsistent  with  the  liberty  of  Ire- 
laud,  were,"  says  Carte,  "  acknowledged 
as  the  basis  of  the  new  government ; 
and,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "  as  the 


*  For  a  vivid  and  detailed  account  of  tlie  first  meet-    tory,  we'  must    refer    the    reader    to  the  Eev.  C.  P. 
Ing  of  the  assembly,  and  of   its  subsequent  proceed-    Meehan's    Confcdirdticn     of  Kilkenny — by    far   the 
ings,  as  well  as  for  a  minute  and  accurate  elucida,tion    best  work  which    we  jjossess  on  the    history  of  the 
of  this  complicated  and  important  epoch  of  our  his-  I  period. 
03 


498 


REIGN   OF   CHAKLES  I. 


administrative  authority  Avas  to  be 
vested  in  tbe  supreme  council,  it  was 
decreed  that  at  the  end  of  every  gen- 
eral assembly  the  supreme  council 
should  be  confirmed  or  changed  as  the 
general  body  thought  fit."* 

The  supreme  council  was  then  chosen, 
and  having  elected  Lord  Mountgarret 
as  its  president,f  it  commenced  the  ex- 
ercise of  its  executive  functions  by  the 
appointment  of  generals  to  take  the 
command  of  the  army.  These  were — 
Owen  Roe  O'Neill  for  the  forces  of 
Ulster;  Thomas  Prestou  for  those  of 
Leinster;  Gerald  Barry  for  Munster; 
and  John  Burke  as  lieutenant-ireneral 
for  Connauo-ht,  the  chief  command  in 
that  province  being  reserved  for  the 
earl  of  Clanrickard,  in  the  ho23e  that  he 
might  at  some  time  be  induced  to  join 
the    confederation.     Lord    Castlehaven 


•  See  the  orders  of  tlio  assembly,  published  in  full  in 
the  appendix  to  Borlase. 

f  The  supreme  council  was  composed  of  the  following 
members,  there  being  six  from  each  province,  viz. :— For 
Leinster ;  the  archbishop  of  Dublin,  Viscount  Gormans- 
ton.  Viscount  Mountgarret,  Nicholas  Plunket,  Richard 
Belling,  and  James  Cusack.  '  For  Ulster  ;  the  archbishop 
of  Armagh,  the  bishop  of  Down,  Philip  O'Reilly,  Colo- 
nel MacMahon,  Heber  Magennis,  and  Turlough  O'Neill. 
For  Munster ;  Viscount  Roche,  Sir  Daniel  O'Brien,  Ed- 
mond  FitzMaurice,  Dr.  Fennell,  Robert  Lambert,  and 
George  Comyn.  For  Connaught;  the  archbishop  of 
Tuam,  Viscount  Mayo,  the  bishop  of  Clonfert,  Sir  Lucas 
Dillon,  Geoffrey  Brown,  and  Patrick  Darcy.  To  these 
twenty-four  tlio  earl  of  Castlehaven  was  added  as  a 
twenty-fifth  member,  not  representing  any  particu- 
lar province.  He  had  just  made  his  escape  from 
Dublin,  where  he  was  imprisoned  by  the  lords  jus- 
tice* on  suspicion  of  being  concerned  in  the  insur- 
rection ;  and  arriving  in  Kilkenny  during  the  sit- 
ting of  the  assembly,  he  joined  the  confederates  after 
a  little  hesitation,  and  took  the  oath  of  associa- 
tion. 

X  "  The  total  absence  of  embellishment  or  legend 


got  the  command  of  the  Leinster  horse, 
under  General  Preston.  A  great  seal 
was  ordered  to  be  made ;  a  j^ress  was 
set  up  to  print  the  acts  and  proclama- 
tions of  the  assemblj^, — for  every  thing 
was  done  openly  before  the  world ;  and 
a  mint  was  established,  in  which,  in  a 
very  short  time,  half-crown  pieces,  of 
full  sterling  value,  to  the  amount  of 
£4,000  were  coined,  besides  a  large 
quantity  of  copper  money.;}:  It  was 
ordained  that  corn  might  be  imported 
duty  free  until  the  j^resent  exigencies 
were  removed,  and  that  lead,  iron,  arms, 
and  ammunition  might  also  be  intro- 
duced free  ;  the  privileges  of  free  citi- 
zens were  granted  to  ship-builders  and 
mariners  from  other  countries,  and  vari- 
ous other  encouragements  to  commerce 
were  held  out.  One  of  the  first  acts 
passed  under  the  new  great  seal  was 


on  the  silver  coin,"  observes  Mr.  Meehan,  "  is  evidence 
of  the  haste  with  which  it  was  struck,  for  the  half- 
crown  piece  bears  no  mark  save  that  of  the  cross,  and 
the  figures  indicating  its  value.  The  copper  money 
subsequently  produced  and  circulated  is  far  more  elabo- 
rate, and  the  legend  '  Ecce  Gres,'  '  Floreat  Rex,'  to- 
gether with  the  beautiful  device,  must  be  convincing 
proofs  of  a  more  prosperous  moment  in  the  affairs  of 
the  confederates." — Confcd.  of  Kil.,  p.  45.  The  half- 
penny has  on  one  side  the  figure  of  a  king  kneeling  and 
playing  on  a  harp,  over  which  is  a  crown,  with  the  in- 
scription "  Floreat  Rex ;"  on  the  reverse  the  figure  of 
St.  Patrick,  with  a  crozier  in  his  right  hand  and  a 
shamrock  in  his  left,  extended  over  the  people  ;  on  his 
left  are  the  arms  of  Dublin,  with  tlie  inscription  "  Ecce 
Grex."  The  farthing  was  similar,  except  fhat  behind 
St.  Patrick,  in  the  reverse,  was  a  church,  and  a  parcel 
of  serpents  as  if  driven  from  it,  with  the  inscription 
"  Quiescat  Plebs. "  (See  Simon's  Emty  on  IHsh  Coins.) 
The  great  seal  of  the  confederation  had  in  its  centre  a 
long  cross,  resting  on  a  flaming  heart  ;  a  dove  with  out- 
spread ■nings  above,  a  harp  on  the  left  hand,  and  a 
crown  on  the  right ;  with  the  legend.  Pro  Deo,  Rege, 
et  Patria,  Hiberni  Unanimes. 


SUCCESSES  OF  THE  CONFEDERATES. 


499 


an  Older  to  raise  a  sum  of  £30,000 
in  Leiuster,  and  a  levy  of  31,700  men, 
who  were  to  be  drilled  with  all  possible 
expedition  by  the  officers  whom  Preston 
had  brought  from  the  continent.  A 
euard  of  500  foot  and  200  horse  was 
appointed  to  attend  upon  the  supreme 
council.  The  bishops  and  clergy  agreed 
to  pay  a  large  sum  out  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical revenues,  and  envoys  were  sent  to 
the  Catholic  courts  of  Europe  to  solicit 
aid.  The  learned  and  gifted  Father 
Luke  Wadding,  who  was  appointed 
their  agent  for  Rome,  applied  himself 
to  their  cause  with  all  his  heart  and 
soul.  He  sent  memorials  on  their  be- 
half to  all  the  Catholic  courts,  and  was 
soon  enabled  to  remit  to  Ireland  2,000 
muskets  and  a  sum  of  26,000  dollars. 
Father  James  Talbot,  their  agent  in 
Spain,  collected  in  a  short  time  20,000 
dollars  in  that  country,  and  procured 
in  France  another  large  sum,  together 
with  two  iron  cannons  carrying  twenty- 
four  pound  balls.  The  assembly  seem- 
ed at  that  time  to  appreciate  the  radical 
evil  of  Ireland,  and  prohibited,  under 
severe  penalties,  all  distinction  and 
comparison  between  "  old  Irish,  and 
old  and  new  English,  or  between  septs  or 
families,"  &c.  Finally,  a  remonstrance 
to  tlie  king  was  adopted,  as  a  declara- 
tion of  their  loyalty  and  an  exposition 
of  their  grievances ;  and  the  assembly 
broke  up  on  the  9th  of  January,  1643, 
fixing  the  20th  of  the  following  May 
for  their  next  meetinof. 

O 

A.  D.  1643. — At  the  close  of  the  last 
and  the  beginning  of  the  present  year 


there  Avas  fighting  in  every  direction, 
and  with  various  success  on  both  sides ; 
but  with  the  discipline  and  experience 
gained  in  the  war,  the  Irish  were  im- 
proving rapidly  as  soldiers,  and  it  was 
obvious  that  their  resources  in  all  that 
constitutes  the  sinews  of  war  were 
vastly  superior  to  those  of  the  enemy. 
The  strong  places  of  the  King's  county, 
as  Borris,  Birr,  Banagher,  and  others, 
fell  in  quick  succession  into  the  hands 
of  Pi-eston ;  some  after  a  siege,  and 
others  w'ithout  firing  a  shot.  From 
Birr  eight  hundred  English  prisoners 
were  escorted  in  safety  by  Lord  Castle- 
haven,  and  given  up  to  their  friends  at 
Athy.  On  the  other  hand.  Colonel 
Monck  (afterwards  duke  of  Albemarle) 
relieved  Balliuakil,  in  the  Queen's 
county,  besieged  by  Preston,  and  de- 
feated the  latter  when  he  attempted  to 
intercept  him  at  Timahoe,  in  the  same 
county.  At  this  time  circumstances 
enabled  Preston  to  distinguish  himself 
by  a  great  number  of  exploits  ;  but  as 
a  general  he  was  too  volatile  and  im- 
pulsive, and  was  therefore  often  unfor- 
tunate ;  while  Owen  O'Neill,  having 
the  powerful  army  of  Monroe  to  keep 
him  in  check,  had  enough  to  do  to  hold 
his  ground  in  the  north,  and  retired 
into  Leitrim  and  Longford  to  ti-ain  up 
soldiers  for  future  victories.  The  gen- 
eral assembly  committed  many  feults, 
and  assuredly  one  of  the  most  fatal  was 
the  division  of  the  military  command, 
resulting,  as  it  did,  in  want  of  union 
and  co-operation. 
The  very  power  of  the  confederates 


500 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


now  became  the  root  of  their  misfor- 
tunes. It  led  the  king  to  desire  to  come 
to  terms  with  them,  not  from  any  in- 
tention to  do  them  justice,  but  with  the 
hope  of  deriving  assistance  from  them 
in  his  difficulties ;  and  it  exposed  them 
to  all  those  assaults  of  diplomatic  craft, 
and  that  policy  of  fomenting  internal 
division,  which  ultimately  proved  their 
ruin.  For  some  time  Borlase  and  Par- 
sons, for  their  own  base  purposes,  con- 
trived to  counteract  the  kiu2:'s  desirous. 
Any  amicable  arrangement  with  the 
Irish  would  have  frustrated  all  their 
hopes  of  plunder  ;*  but  the  delays  thus 
caused  only  provoked  Charles,  who  is- 
sued a  commission  to  the  (now)  marquis 
of  Ormoiid,  the  earl  of  St.  Alban's  and 
Clanrickard,  the  earl  of  Roscommon, 
Lord  Moore,  Sir  Thomas  Lucas,  Sir 
Maurice  Eustace,  and  Thomas  Burke, 
Esq.,  to  receive  propositions  from  the 
confederates,  to  be  transmitted  for  his 
majesty's  consideration. 

Goodwin  and  Reynolds,  who  had 
been  sent  over  by  the  English  parlia- 
ment to  watch  the  progress  of  affiiirs  in 
Ireland,  took  alarm  at  this  jn'oceeding, 
and  returned  in  haste  to  England ;  and 
the  lords  justices,  as  a  further  expedient 
for  delay,  sent  the  marquis  of  Ormond 
on  an  expedition  against  the  confeder- 
ates in  Wexford.  Whatever  his  ajiolo- 
gists  may  say,  Ormond  was  never  either 


*  So  early  as  the  lltli  of  May,  1643,  consequent  on 
the  English  vote  for  the  confiscation  of  two  and  a-half 
millions  of  Irish  acres,  "  the  lords  justices  wrote  a  pri- 
vate letter  to  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons  in 
England,  without  the  rest  of  the  council,  beseeching  the 


slow  or  merciful  in  the  execution  of  his 
duties  against  the  Catholics.  On  the 
4th  of  March  he  took  Timolin  on  his 
way  to  the  south,  and  the  brave  garri- 
son, after  surrendering  on  promise  of 
quarter,  were  inhumanly  butchered. 
On  the  11th  he  laid  siege  to  Ross,  and 
having  made  a  breach  stormed  the 
place,  but  was  gallantly  repulsed  by 
the  inhabitants ;  and  Purcell,  coming 
uj)  with  a  strong  detachment  of  the 
confederates,  compelled  him  to  raise 
the  siege.  Chagrined  beyond  measure 
at  the  position  in  which  he  was  placed 
by  the  lords  justices,  and  at  their  failure 
to  send  him  succor  by  sea,  which  they 
had  promisee!,  Ormond  prepared  to  re- 
turn to  Dublin,  when  he  found  his 
march  intercepted  by  Preston  with  a 
numerous  army.  In  this  strait  Ormond 
owed  his  safety  to  the  bad  generalship 
of  his  antagonist.  Preston,  despising 
the  small  force  which  he  saw  arrayed 
against  him,  left  a  strong  position  which 
he  had  first  taken  up,  and  so  exposed 
his  raw  levies  to  the  concentrated  at- 
tack of  Ormond's  veterans,  as  to  cause 
a  total  defeat  and  the  loss  of  five  hun- 
dred of  his  men.  This  conduct  should 
have  been  fatal  to  Preston  as  a  general, 
but  he  was  only  reprimanded  by  the 
supreme  council. 

This  battle  of  Ross,  as  it  is  called, 
took  jilace  on  the  18th  of  March,  the 


commons  to  assist  them  with  a  grant  of  some  compe- 
tent proportion  of  the  rebels'  lands.  Here,"  says  War- 
ner, "  the  reader  will  find  a  key  that  unlocks  the  secret 
of  their  iniquitous  proceedings."  {Hlnlary  of  the  Irish 
Rebellion) 


SUCCESSES  OF  THE  CONFEDERATES. 


501 


very  day  on  wLicli  Ormond's  fellow- 
commissioners  lield  a  conference  with 
the  committee  of  the  confederation  at 
Trim.  Those  who  represented  the  con- 
federates on  this  occasion  were  Lord 
Gormanstou,  Sir  Lucas  Dillon,  8ir 
Eobert  Talbot,  and  John  AValsh,  Esq., 
and  the  remonstrance  of  grievances 
which  they  presented  in  the  name  of 
the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  was  duly  re- 
ceived and  ti-ansmitted  to  the  king.'" 
A  fresh  commission  was  next  issued  by 
Charles  to  Ormond  to  conclude  a  cessa- 
tion of  arms  for  a  year  with  the  con- 
federates ;  but  various  obstacles  were 
thi'own  in  the  way  of  this  arrangement, 
first  by  the  lords  justices,  who  tried 
every  means  which  baseness  and  craft 
could  suggest  to  j^revent  a  pacification ; 
next  by  Ormond,  who  was  most  re- 
luctant to  treat  with  the  Catholics, 
except  as  a  conquered  people ;  and 
thirdly,  by  the  Catholics  themselves, 
who  were  divided  into  two  parties — 
the  old  Irish,  who  were  utterly  opposed 
to  any  terms  short  of  perfect  religious 
liberty,  and  the  old  English  or  gentry 
of  the  Pale,  who  longed  for  peace  with 
more  moderate  views,  but  felt  them- 
selves repelled  by  the  insolence  em- 
ployed towards  them  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

Meantime  the  arms  of  the  confed- 
erates were  prosperous  in  several 
quarters.  Lord  Castlehaven  defeated 
Colonel    Lawrence    Crawford    at  Mo- 

*  Tliis  document,  wliicli  contains  a  clear  and  able 
statement  of  the  principal  grievances  under  ■whicli  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  labored,  and  of  the  causes  ■which 


nasterevan,  and  other  successes  were 
obtained  by  the  Catholics  in  Leinster. 
In  the  beginning  of  May,  Monroe  at- 
tempted to  surprise  Owen  Roe  at 
Charlemont,  and  so  stealthily  did  he 
approach  that  he  nearly  succeeded ; 
but  O'Neill,  who  was  out  hunting 
when  the  advance  guard  of  the  Scots 
came  upon  him,  repulsed  them  with 
slaughter  in  a  narrow  lane  near  the 
fort,  and  defeated  them  ao;ain  the  fol- 
lowing  day.  O'Neill  then  marched 
towards  Leitrim,  but  at  Clones,  on  the 
borders  of  Fermanaijh  and  Monao^han, 
he  was  defeated  by  Sir  Robert  Stewart. 
His  loss,  however,  was  not  very  serious, 
and  soon  after  he  gained  an  important 
victory  over  the  English  at  Portlester 
Mill,  about  five  miles  from  Trim,  when 
Lord  Moore,  the  English  commander, 
was  killed  by  a  cannon  ball.  In  the 
west,  the  parliamentary  general,  Wil- 
loughby,  after  a  long  and  obstinate  de- 
fence, surrendered  the  forts  of  Galway 
and  Oranmore  to  the  confederates  on 
the  20th  of  June;  and  in  the  south  an 
important  victory  was  gained  by  the 
Catholics,  near  Fermoy,  under  Lord 
Castlehaven,  General  Barry,  and  Lieu- 
teuaut-General  Purcell.  On  this  occa- 
sion Sir  Charles  Vavasour,  the  English 
commander,  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
about  600  of  his  men  slain,  besides  the 
loss  of  his  cannon,  colors,  &c.;  and  it 
appears  that  the  battle  was  decided  by 
the  impetuosity  of  a  troop  of  young 


led  to  the  outbreak  of  1641,  as  well  as  of  the  course 
which  events  had  since  taken,  wlU  be  found  in  full  in 
the  Appendix  to  Curry's  Reciew  of  the  Civil  Wars. 


f)02 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


Irish  boys  mounted  on  fleet  horses, 
Avho  bore  down  on  the  forlorn  hope  of 
the  English  with  a  velocity  that  was 
irresistible.*  At  such  a  moment,  with 
an  army  thus  training  up  to  victory, 
and  abundantly  supplied  with  money, 
arms,  and  provisions,  while  the  English 
army  was  in  want  of  every  thing — 
I'aggecl,  barefoot,  and  almost  starving 
in  the  few  garrisons  which  it  held — 
negotiations  for  peace  only  tended  to 
darnel  the  ardor  of  the  confederates. 
Peace  could  then  only  mean  the  ruin  of 
the  Irish  cause. 

In  return  for  the  envoys  sent  by  the 
supreme  council  to  the  Catholic  powers, 
the  king  of  France  sent,  in  the  fli'st  in- 
stance, M.  La  IMonarie,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  M.  Du  Moulin,  after  whom 
came  M.  Talon  ;  the  king  of  Spain  sent, 
first,  M.  Fuissot,  a  Burgundian,  and 
then  O'Sullivan,  count  of  Beerhaven, 
who  was  succeeded  by  Don  Diego  de 
los  Torres ;  but  the  most  important  of 
the  foreign  envoys  at  this  time  was 
Father  Peter  Francis  Scarampi,  a  priest 
of  the  oratory,  whom  Pope  Urban 
VIII.  sent  to  report  to  him  on  the  state 
of  Irish  affairs.  Scarampi  was  the 
bearer  of  a  bull  of  indulgences  to  the 
Irish  Catholics,  and  he  also  brought 
Avith  him  from  Father  Waddinof  a  sum 
of  30,000  dollars,  with  a  quantity  of 
arms  and  ammunition.  lie  found  the 
general  assembly  at  Kilkenny  engaged 
in  discussing  the  question  of  a  cessation 

*  The  very  day  before  this  battle,  Colonel  Vavasour 
having  taken  the  castle  of  Cloghleigh,  commanded  by 
one  Condon,  twenty  men,  eleven  women,  and  seven 


of  arms,  and  he  must  very  soon  have 
pei'ceived  to  which  side  he  should  ad- 
here. The  Catholics  of  the  Pale,  or 
Anglo-Irish,  showed  a  marked  distaste 
for  the  continuance  of  the  war;  while 
the  old  Irisli,  bent  on  establishing  their 
independence,  were  opposed  to  all  over- 
tures that  did  not  include  perfect  free- 
dom of  conscience.  With  these  latter 
the  bishops  and  clergy  agreed,  and  it 
was  only  natural  that  the  papal  envoy 
should  also  adopt  their  views.  But  the 
political  oi^inions  of  these  men  were  far 
in  advance  of  the  age. 

"Well  aware  of  these  divisions,  Or- 
mond  exerted  his  skill  to  foment  them. 
A  supersedeas  had  been  granted  by  the 
king  lono;  before  to  remove  Sir  William 
Parsons  from  the  post  of  lord  justice, 
but  it  had  not  been  acted  on.  Ormoixl 
thought  the  ojiportunity  a  favorable 
one  to  make  the  confederates  suppose 
that  a  concession  was  intended  to  them- 
selves, and  he  obtained  an  order  for 
the  arrest  of  Parsons,  Loftus,  Meredith, 
and  Sir  John  Temple,  on  a  charge  of 
contravening  the  royal  will  in  the  man- 
agement of  public  affairs.  Parsons  es- 
caped imprisonment  on  the  plea  of  ill 
health,  but  the  others  Avere  committed 
to  custody;  and  Sir  Henry  Tichburn, 
governor  of  Drogheda,  another  bigot, 
though  of  a  different  stamp,  was  given 
as  a  colleague  to  Sir  John  Borlase  in 
the  government. 

At  length-,  on  the  15th  of  Septem- 

cldldren  were  stripped  and  massacred  in  cold  blood  by 
the  brutal  troopers.  These  are  the  nvimbers  given  by 
Borlase. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  CESSATION. 


503 


ber,  1643,  after  Ormond  bad  been  per- 
emptorily required  by  the  king  to  bring 
the  matter  to  a  conclusion,  a  cessation 
of  arras  for  one  year  was  signed  in  Or- 
mond's  tent  at  Sigginstown,  near  ISTaas  ; 
the  commissioners  of  the  confederation 
being  Lord  Muskerry,  Sir  Lucas  Dillon, 
Nicholas  Plunket,  Sir  R.  Talbot,  Sir 
Richard  Barnwell,  Turlough  O'Neill, 
Geoffry  Browne,  Heber  Magennis,  and 
John  Walshe,  Esqrs.  The  confederates 
were  bareheaded,  and  Ormond,  as  the 
royal  commissioner,  alone  wore  his  hat 
and  plume.  On  the  following  day  the 
instrument,  by  which  the  confederates 
engaged  to  pay  the  king  £30,800,  as  a 
free  contribution,  in  certain  instalments, 
was  also  signed."* 

If  the  old  Irish  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  cessation,  they,  at  all  events,  ob- 
served it  honorably ;  but  not  so  the 
Puritan  party,  who  wholly  repudiated 
any  concession  to  the  Catholics,  and  re- 
garded the  cessation  as  a  monstrous 
iuiquity.f  In  the  beginning  of  Novem- 
ber, Owen  O'Connolly,  whose  name  is 


*  According  to  the  treaty  of  cessation,  the  quarters  of 
Hie  different  armies  in  the  several  jirovinces  were  to  be 
as  follows  : — In  Conna'igJit,  the  county  and  town  of  Gal- 
way,  the  counties  of  Mayo,  Koscommon,  Sligo,  and 
Leitrim,  to  remain  in  the  possession  of  the  Catholics  ;  in 
Lcimter,  the  county  and  city  of  Dublin,  the  city  of 
Drogheda,  and  the  county  of  Louth,  to  remain  in  pos- 
session of  the  Protestants ;  the  counties  of  Tipperary, 
Limerick,  Kerry,  Waterford,  and  Clare,  except  Knock- 
morne,  Ardmore,  Pilltown,  Cappoquin,  Balinatra,  Sfron- 
cally,  Lismore,  and  Lisfinuy,  to  remain  in  the  possession 
of  the  Catholics  ;  in  Ulster  each  party  was  to  remain  in 
the  possession  of  such  places  as  they  happened  to  hold 
at  the  time  the  treaty  was  signed. 

f  The  English  parliament  showed  its  appreciation  of 
the  truce  by  ordering,  on  the  24th  of  September,  eight 
days   after  the  cessation  had  been  signed,  "  that  no 


infamous  as  the  betrayer  of  Lord  Ma- 
guire  and  his  associates,^  came  over 
with  orders  from  the  English  parlia- 
ment to  the  Scotch  troops  in  Ulster,  to 
take  the  covenant,  as  the  parliament 
had  done  on  the  25th  of  SepteuTljer ; 
and  this  mandate  was  gladly  obeyed, 
and  with  due  solemnity,  at  Carrickfer- 
gus.  At  the  same  time  the  Scots  were 
enjoined  by  the  parliament  to  treat  as 
enemies  all  who  should  observe  the 
cessation. 

One  of  the  first  results  of  the  cessa- 
tion was  the  arrival  of  the  marquis  of 
Antrim  to  treat  with  the  supreme 
council  for  supplies  of  men,  to  proceed 
to  Scotland,  in  the  king's  service.  The 
valor  displayed  by  the  brave  Irishmen 
who  were  sent  o^  this  expedition,  under 
Alexander  MacDonnell,  surnamed  Col- 
kitto,  and  who  fought  under  IMoutrose 
at  St.  Johnston's  in  Athol,  at  Aberdeen, 
and  elsewhere,  was  such  as  to  call  forth 
the  admiration  of  English  and  Scotch 
historians.  In  their  first  battle,  althous;h 
without  a  single  horse,  even  their  gen- 


Irishman  or  Papist,  born  in  Ireland,  should  have  quarter 
in  England  "  {Cox,  vol.  ii.,  p.  137) ;  and  to  show  how  this 
brutal  order  was  understood,  it  is  recorded  by  Carte 
{Ormond,  vol.  iii.,  p.  480,  &c.)  that  Captain  Swanly,  the 
commander  of  one  of  the  parliamentarian  cruisers  in 
the  Channel,  having  taken  a  transport  conveying  troops, 
sent  by  the  marquis  of  Ormond  for  the  king's  use,  se- 
lected from  the  prisoners  seventy  men  and  two  women 
of  Irish  birth,  an*  threw  them  overboard.  And  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  these  men  had  faithfidly  served 
the  king,  their  only  "  crime"  being  that  they  were 
Irish.  See  the  incident  related  by  Lelaud,  vol.  iii., 
p.  237. 

i  Owen  O'ConnoUy  then  held  the  commission  of  a 
captain,  and  subsequently  served  as  a  colonel  under  the 
parliament.  He  was  rewarded  with  a  pension  of  £500 
a-year  for  the  discovery  of  Lord  Maguire's  plot. 


504 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


eral  beins:  obli2:ed  to  march  on  foot, 
and  the  numbers  being  three  or  four  to 
one  against  them,  they  routed  the 
enemy  with  such  slaughter  "that  men 
might  have  walked  upon  the  dead 
corjTses  to  the  town,  being  two  miles 
from  the  place  where  the  battle  was 
fought."* 

A.  D.  1644. — The  marquis  of  Ormpnd 
w«as  appointed  lord  lieutenant,  and  was 
sworn  into  office  on  the  21st  of  January 
this  year ;  but  although  such  men  as 
Borlase  and  his  colleaarues  no  longer 
had  the  government  in  their  own  hands, 
several  of  their  clique  continued  to  act 
as  members  of  the  council.  A  deputa- 
tion from  the  supreme  council  of  the 
confederates  waited  on  the  kins'  at  Ox- 
ford,  in  the  beginning^of  April,  to  pre- 
sent a  statement  of  their  grievances, 
and  to  pray  for  a  repeal  of  the  penal 
restrictions  under  which  they  labored ; 
but  they  obtained  nothing  more  than 
empty  assurances  of  his  majesty's  kind 
intentions,  the  utmost  extent  of  which 
was,  that  he  was  willing  to  remove 
from  them  any  incapacity  to  purchase 
lands  or  hold  offices,  and  to  allow  them 
to  have  their  own  seminaries  for  the 
education  of  their  youth.  Scarcely  had 
the  Catholic  commissioners  departed, 
when  Sir  Charles  Coote  and  others, 
deputed  by  the  Protestants  of  Ireland, 
arrived,  to  present  to  the  king  counter 
propositions.  They  demanded  that  his 
majesty  should  "encourage  and  enable 
Protestants  to  replant  the  kingdom,  and 

*  See    "  Intelligence    from    his  Majesty's    Army  in 
Scotland,"   &c.,  in  Carte's  Collection  of  Original  Let- 


cause  a  good  walled  town  to  be  built  in 
every  county  for  their  security,  no  Pa- 
pist being  allowed  to  dwell  therein  ;" 
and  they  further  praj-ed  his  majesty 
"  to  continue  the  penal  laws,  and  to  dis- 
solve, forthwith,  the  assumed  power  of 
the  confederates ;  to  banisli  all  Popish 
priests  out  of  Ireland,  and  that  no  Po- 
pish recusant  should  be  allowed  to  sit 
or  vote  in  parliament."  The  extrava- 
gance of  these  propositions  and  the 
peremptory  manner  in  which  they  were 
enforced  astounded  the  king,  but  he 
was  somewhat  relieved  by  the  arrival 
of  Archbishop  Ussher  and  other  com- 
missione-rs,  sent  by  the  council  in  Dub- 
lin, to  require  Coote  to  withdraw  his 
fanatical  proposals,  and  to  present  prop- 
ositions a  little  less  intolerant.  This 
new  scheme  submitted  to  his  majesty 
required,  however,  "  that  all  the  penal 
laws  should  be  enforced,  and  that  all 
Papists  should  be  disarmed." 

Complaints  were  made  on  both  sides 
of  infringement  of  the  cessation ;  but 
Monroe's  disregard  of  it  was  such  that 
it  became  necessary  to  take  immediate 
steps  against  his  aggressions.  For  this 
purpose  Owen  O'Neill  "was  summoned 
to  consult  with  the  supreme  council,  at 
Kilkenny,  He  complained  bitterly  of 
the  state  of  his  men,  left  as  they  were 
without  supi^lies ;  but  he  undertook  to 
raise  a  levy  of  4,000  foot  and  400  horse 
in  Ulster,  if  properly  seconded  by  the 
council,  who,  on  their  side,  promised  to 
send  6,000  foot  and  600  horse  against 


ters,   vol.   i.,  p.  73;   also  Carry's   Beniew,  Append., 
No.  viii. 


DESIRE  OF  THE  KING  FOR  PEACE. 


Mouroe.  However,  when  the  choice  of 
a  commander  came  to  be  considered, 
the  council,  on  which  the  gentry  of  the 
Pale  had  an  overwhelming  majority^ 
voted  the  chief  command  to  the  earl  of 
Castlehaven — a  man  who  was  wholly 
incompetent  for  such  a  duty,  and  was 
besides  utterly  opposed  to  the  views  of 
the  old  Irish  and  to  the  continuance  of 
the  war.  O'Neill  was  deeply  hurt  at 
this  unjust  preference,  but  his  generous 
nature  overcame  his  personal  feelings 
for  the  sake  of  their  common  cause,  and 
he  conarratulated  Castlehaven  on  the 
distinction  conferred  on  him.  That 
vainglorious  nobleman  marched  to 
Longford,  whither  Monroe  had  ad- 
vanced; but  he  avoided  a  collision 
with  the  Scots,  and  suffered  them  to 
carry  off  large  preys  of  cattle  to  Ulster. 

luchiquin  and  Lord  Broghil,  in  the 
south,  also  treated  the  cessation  with 
contempt;  and  in  August,  the  former 
expelled  all  the  Catholics  from  Cork, 
Youghal,  aud  Kiusale ;  Ormond,  in  the 
mean  time,  refusing  to  enforce  the  ob- 
servance of  the  cessation  by  Monroe  or 
Inchiquin,  although  bound  by  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  to  do  so.  In  Au- 
gust the  cessation  was  renewed  by  the 
general  assembly  to  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber, and  subsequently  for  a  longer  jdc- 
riod;  and  Inchiquin  made  a  truce  on 
his  own  part  with  General  Purcell, 
until  the  10th  of  April,  1645.  Thus 
the  remainder  of  the  year  was  wasted 
in  inaction. 

A.  D.  1645. — The  king  became  more 
impatient  for  a  definite  peace  with  his 

64 


Irish  subjects,  and  sent  express  orders 
for  that  purpose  to  Ormond.  Lord 
Muskerry  aud  Sir  Nicholas  Pluuket 
were  sent  by  the  supreme  council,  on 
the  6th  of  March,  1645,  to  confer  with 
Ormond  on  the  subject.  The  wily 
viceroy  concealed  from  the  confederates 
the  ample  powei'S  with  which  he  was 
vested  by  the  king  to  remove  their  re- 
ligious grievances,  aud  cajoled  them 
with  assurances  of  Charles's  determina- 
tion not  to  jpnt  the  penal  laws  in  force ; 
to  abolish  all  outlawries  and  attainders 
which  might  have  been  passed  against 
them ;  aud  to  confer  places  of  trust  and 
honor  on  Catholics  and  Protestants  in- 
discriminately. The  great  majority  of 
the  assembly  would  not  be  satisfied 
with  a  peace  which  did  not  include  a 
guarantee  for  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion,  aud  on  receiving  the  report  of 
their  commissioners,  rejected  Ormond's 
terms  w"ith  scorn.  The  clergy  were 
unanimous  in  taking  this  course,  being 
secretly  acquainted  with  the  intention 
of  the  king  to  grant  much  more  than 
Ormond  stipulated  for.  Thus  was  the 
agitation  of  the  question  protracted, 
and  the  animosity  which  was  growing 
up  between  the  old  Irish  and  the  lords 
of  the  Pale  every  day  strengthened. 

Inchiquin  having  set  out  in  the 
course  of  the  summer  to  destroy  the 
growing  crojDS,  the  supreme  council  sent 
Castlehaven,  with  an  army  of  5,000 
foot  and  1,000  horse  against  him,  and, 
having  reduced  several  castles  and 
compelled  Inchiquin  to  shut  himself  uji 
within  the  walls  of  Cork,  the  confed- 


506 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


erate  general  disbanded  his  troops  and 
returned  to  Kilkenny.  At  the  same 
time  Sir  Charles  Coote,  Sir  Robert 
Stewart,  and  Sir  Frederick  Hamilton, 
with  an  army  of  Scots  and  English, 
mercilessly  wasted  Connaught,  and 
took  possession  of  Sligo.  The  supreme 
council  directed  Sir  James  Dillon  and 
Malachy  O'Kealy  (or  Queely),  arch- 
Inshop  of  Tuam,  to  recover  tliat  im- 
portant town.  They  did  so,  but  the 
Irish  again  abandoned  the  place  on 
hearing  that  a  large  force  of  Scots  was 
approaching ;  and  on  this  occasion  the 
heroic  prelate — who  was  as  pious  and 
learned  as  he  was  brave — underrating 
the  strength  of  the  enemy,  suffered 
himself  incautiously  to  fall  into  their 
hands,  and  although  quarter  had  been 
given  him,  was,  together  with  two 
friars  who  accompanied  him,  brutally 
slaughtered,  his  body  being  cut  into 
small  fragments  by  the  soldiery* 

Desj^airing  of  being  able  to  induce 
the  unbending  Ormond  to  offer  such 
terms  to  the  Catholics  as  they  might 
with  consistency  accept,  and  feeling  his 
difficulties  in  England  daily  increase, 
the  king  now  resolved  to  try  another 
expedient  to  bring  about  a  peace  in 
Ireland.  This  he  hoped  to  do  by  em- 
ploying a  Catholic  envoy  to  treat  se- 
cretly Avith  the  confederates,  and  he 
sent  over  for  that  purpose  Lord 
Herbert,  whom  he  created  earl  of 
Glamorgan,  the  son  of  the  marquis  of 
Worcester.      This     young     nobleman, 

*  See  tlie  notices  of  liis  death  in  Hardiman's  History 
of  Galway,  Median's  Confederation  of  KUhenny,  and  the 


who  was  married  to  the  daughter  of 
the  earl  of  Thomond,  entertained  a 
chivalrous  devotion  for  the  king,  and 
had  already,  in  conjunction  with  his 
father,  advanced  £200,000  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  royal  cause.  On 
arrivins:  in  Dublin  he  had  a  conference 
with  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  to  whom, 
therefore,  the  natui*eof  his  mission  could 
not  have  been  a  secret;  and  he  then 
pi'oceeded  to  Kilkennj',  -where  he  fally 
explained  to  the  supreme  council  the 
powers  with  which  he  had  been  in- 
vested. The  terms  which  he  offered 
^^ere  unexceptionable,  and  a  treaty  was 
therefore  entered  into  between  him,  on 
the  part  of  the  king,  and  Lords  Mount- 
garret  and  MuskeiTy  on  the  part  of  the 
confederation,  by  which  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland 
should  enjoy  the  free  and  jDublic  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion ;  tliat  they 
should  hold  for  their  use  all  the 
churches  of  Ireland  not  then  in  the 
actual  possession  of  the  Protestants; 
that  they  should  be  exemj)t  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Protestant  clei'gy; 
that  neither  the  marquis  of  Ormond, 
nor  any  other  person,  should  have 
power  to  disturb  them  in  these  privi- 
leges ;  and  that,  while  the  earl  of  Gla- 
morgan engaged  his  majesty's  word  for 
the  performance  of  these  articles,  the 
confederate  Catholics  should  pledge 
the  faith  of  the  kin2:dom  to  him  for 
sending  10,000  men  armed,  one  half 
with  muskets  and  the  other  half  with 


notes  of  the  latter  author  to  his  translation  of  Lynehe 
Icon  Antistitis. 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  PAPAL  NinSTCIO. 


pikes,  to  serve  tlie  king  in  England, 
under  the  said  earl  of  Glamorgan. 
Tliere  was,  however,  another  condition 
which  the  king's  position  rendered  in- 
dispensable, namely,  that  these  conces- 
sions should  be  kept  secret  until  the 
forces  designed  for  his  majesty  should 
arrive  in  England ;  then  the  king  en- 
gaged j:)ublicly  to  avow  and  confirm 
the  treaty.  We  shall  presently  see 
how  it  was  prematurely  divulged  and 
rendered  nugatoiy;  but  in  the  mean 
time  other  important  events  were  pass- 
ing. 

Belling,  the  secretary  of  the  supreme 
council,  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Rome, 
where  he  arrived  about  the  end  of 
February,  1645,  and  was  presented  by 
Father  Luke  Waddinc:  to  the  then 
sovereign  pontiff,  Innocent  X.,  by 
Avhom  he  was  received  as  the  accred- 
ited envoy  of  the  confederate  Catholics. 
On  receiving  his  report  of  the  state  of 
Irish  affairs,  the  Pope  resolved  to  send 
an  envoy  to  Ireland  qualified  with  the 
powers  of  nuncio  extraordinary;  and 
chose  for  that  purpose  John  Baptist 
Rinuccini,  archbishop  of  Fermo.  This 
distinguished  prelate  set  out  on  his  ar- 
duous mission  early  in  1645,  and  ar- 
rived in  Paris,  where  he  was  detained 
about  three  months,  chiefly  by  negotia- 
tions with  the  English  queen,  then  at 
St.  Germains.  The  communications  be- 
tween them  were  exchanged  through 
the  medium  of  Sir  Dudley  Wyat  and 
the  queen's  chaplain,  as  they  had  no  in- 
terview ;  and  the  queen's  feelings  being 
emijittered  by  the  impression  that  the 


Irish  Catholics  only  desired  to  take  ad- 
vantao;e  of  the  difficulties  of  her  un- 
happy  consort  to  exact  concessions,  the 
nuncio  failed  to  obtain  for  them  any 
favorable  terms.  She  regarded  the 
nuncio's  mission  as  unfriendly,  and  her 
cause  being  espoused  by  the  French 
court,  it  is  natural  to  think  that  the 
same  view  of  the  subject  was  enter- 
tained there;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Cardinal  Mazarin  was  but  little 
inclined  to  expedite  the  joui-ney  of  the 
Papal  envoy,  although  he  gave  him 
20,000  livres  for  the  use  of  the  Irish, 
and  5,000  more  to  fit  out  a  ship  for  his 
expedition.  At  Rochelle  the  nuncio 
purchased  a  frigate  of  twenty-six  guns, 
called  the  San  Pietro,  in  which  he  em- 
barked at  St.  Martin,  in  the  Isle  of  Rhe, 
with  a  retinue  of  twenty-six  Italians, 
several  Irish  officers,  and  the  secretary, 
Bellins:.  He  took  with  him  a  large 
quantity  of  arms  and  warlike  stores, — 
among  the  rest,  2,000  muskets  and  car- 
touch  belts,  4,000  swords,  2,000  pike- 
heads,  400  brace  of  pistols,  and  20,000 
lbs.  of  powder.  In  addition  to  the 
money  furnished  by  the  Pope,  Father 
Wadding  had  given  a  sum  of  36,000 
dollars.  The  San  Pietro  was  chased 
by  some  parliamentary  cruisers  on  hei 
passage  ;  but  a  fire  having  broken  out 
providentially,  on  board  a  large  vessel 
which  was  foremost  in  pursuit,  and 
which  was  thus  obliged  to  slacken 
sail,  the  frigate  anchored  safely  in  the 
bay  of  Kenmare  on  the  21st  of  October, 
1645.  On  lauding,  the  nuncio  took  up 
his  abode  in  a  shepherd's  hut,  where 


508 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


he  celebrated  Mass,  suiToimded  by 
peasantry  from  tlie  neigliboring  moun- 
tains. The  arms  were  lauded  at  Ard- 
tully,  and  the  frigate  having  been  sent 
round  to  Duncaunon,  Avhich  the  confed- 
erates had  taken,  the  nuncio  journeyed 
by  Macroom  and  Kilmallock  to  Limer- 
ick. Here  he  celebrated  the  obsequies 
of  the  archbishop  of  Tuam,  the  news  of 
whose  death,  at  Sligo,  had  just  been 
received.  From  Limerick  he  proceeded 
to  Kilkenny,  where  he  was  received 
with  great  houor  by  many  thousands 
of  the  gentry  and  i:)eople.  He  entered 
the  city  riding  on  a  richly  caparisoned 
horse,  and  wearing  the  pontifical  hat 
and  cape  as  insignia  of  his  office,  while 
the  secular  and  regular  clergy  walked 
in  processional  order  before  him,  pre- 
ceded by  their  several  standard-bearers. 
At  the  entrance  to  the  old  cathedral  of 
St.  Cauice  he  was  received  by  the  ven- 
erable David  Rotbe,  bishop  of  Ossory, 
who  was  too  feeble  to  walk  in  the  pro- 
cession, and  then  advancing  to  the  altar 
he  intoned  the  Te  Deum,  after  the 
chanting  of  which  he  pronounced  a 
blessing  on  the  vast  congregation. 
After  the  religious  ceremony  he  was 
received  in  the  castle  by  the  general 
assembly,  the  archbishops  of  Dublin 
and  Cashel  meeting  him  at  the  foot  of 
the  grand  staircase,  and  Lord  Mount- 
garret,  president  of  the  assembly,  re- 
ceiving him  standing,  but  without  ad- 
vancing a  step  from  his  chair;  and  a 
seat,  richly  decorated  with  crimson 
damask,  was  fixed  for  him  at  the  presi- 
dent's right  hand,  yet  so  that  it  was 


difficult  to  say  which  of  the  seats  occu- 
pied the  centre.  The  nuncio  then  ad- 
dressed the  president  in  Latin,  declaring 
the  object  of  his  mission,  which  was : — 
"to  sustain  the  king,  then  so  jjerilously 
circumstanced ;  but  above  all,  to  rescue 
from  pains  and  j^enalties  the  peoj^le  of 
L-eland,  and  to  assist  them  in  securing 
the  free  and  public  exercise  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  churches  and  church  property,  of 
which  fraud  and  violence  had  so  long 
deprived  their  rightful  inheritors."* 
Heber  MacMahon,  bishop  of  Clogher, 
next  addressed  the  assembly,  and  the 
nuncio  then  retired  to  the  residence 
prepared  for  him,  attended  by  Preston, 
Lord  Muskeny,  and  the  troojDS. 

The  peace  discussions  were  now  con- 
tinued with  more  earnestness  than  ever : 
the  two  parties  in  the  assembly  began  to 
be  distiuojuished  as  Nuncionists  and  Or- 
mondists;  and  the  estrangement  be- 
tween them  grew  every  day  more 
marked  and  more  rancorous.  Two  sets 
of  neofotiations  were  carried  on :  those 
with  Ormoud  openly,  in  which  the  terms 
offered  were  humiliating  to  the  Catholics, 
in  the  position  in  which  they  then 
stood  ;  and  those  with  Gltynorgan  in  se- 
cret, in  which  the  terms,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  favorable,  but  had  no  other  guar- 
antee than  the  king's  promise.  Glamor- 
gan produced  his  credentials,  dated  Aj^ril 
30th,  1645,  in  which  the  king  promised 
to  ratify  whatever  terms  Glamorgan 
should  deem  fit  to  conclude  with  the 

*  Vide  Meehan's  Confederation  of  Kilkenny,  m  117111011 
these  details  are  given  at  Icngtii. 


i=!  OT 


DIVISION  AMONG  THE  CONFEDERATES. 


509 


Irish  Catholics ;  but  the  necessary  con- 
dition for  that  ratification  was  the 
lauding  of  Irish  troops  for  the  king's 
service  in  England.  Glamorgan  also 
presented  to  the  nuncio  another  letter, 
in  the  king's  hand,  addressed  to  Pope 
Innocent  X. ;.  and  when  further  pressed 
hj  the  nuncio,  who  had  his  misgivings 
as  to  the  sincerity  of  Charles,  he  under- 
took, that  in  case  the  king  refused  to 
ratify  the  treaty,  the  Irish  soldiers 
should  be  carried  back  to  their  own 
shores. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  question 
TS'hen  news  arrived  that  Glamorgan, 
who  had  gone  to  Dublin  to  treat  about 
the  levying  of  troops,  was  arrested,  on 
St.  Stephen's  day,  by  order  of  Ormond, 
on  a  charge  of  high  treason.  It  then 
transpired  that  a  copy  of  his  secret 
treaty  with  the  confederates  was  found 
on  the  person  of  the  archbishop  of 
Tuara,  when  killed  by  the  Scots  at 
Sligo,  and  that  it  was  sent  by  Coote  to 
the  English  parliament,  who  published 
it  as  a  ground  of  accusation  against  the 
king ;  hence  the  proceeding  of  Ormond, 
who  feisfned  the  utmost  amazement  at 
the  discovery.  The  exjilosion  produced 
general  consternation ;  and  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  confederates  were  told 
to  inform  their  assembly  that  "  the 
Protestants  of  England  would  fling  the 
king's  person  out  of  the  window  if  they 
believed  it  possible  that  he  had  lent 
himself  to  such  an  undertaking." 

A.  D.  1646. — The  general  assembly 
met  at  Kilkenny  early  in  January,  and 
sent  a  message  to  Ormond  to  say,  that 


if  Glamorgan  were  not  immediately 
liberated  all  negotiations  for  peace 
should  be  suspended.  The  confeder- 
ates took  the  arrest  as  an  insult  to  them- 
selves, and  some  projDOsed  that  without 
waiting  for  the  armistice  to  conclude  on 
the  17th  of  January,  they  should  march 
immediately  to  lay  siege  to  Dublin. 
Glamorgan,  however,  was  bailed  out, 
the  marquis  of  Clanrickard  and  the 
earl  of  Kildare  being  his  securities,  to 
the  amount  of  £40,000;  the  king  dis- 
avowed the  commission ;  and  it  became 
quite  clear  that  it  was  intended  to  both 
delude  the  Irish  Catholics  and  the  Eng- 
lish Protestants. 

The  ebullition  of  feeling  on  the  part 
of  the  confederation  being  over,  the 
discussions  on  the  peace  were  resumed 
in  the  assembly,  and  the  acrimony  with 
which  they  were  carried  on  daily  in- 
creased. Ormond  took  care  to  foment 
dissension  by  every  means  in  his  power, 
and  in  this  he  was  eminently  successful. 
A  small  party  of  the  clergy  were  op- 
posed to  the  nuncio ;  Dr.  Leyburn,  one 
of  the  queen's  chaplains,  and  Father 
Petei'  Walsh,  a  friar,  being  at  their 
head.  News  arrived  that  a  treaty,  on 
behalf  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  was 
about  to  be  concluded  between  the  pope 
and  the  queen  of  England,  acting  on 
the  part  of  Charles ;  but  this,  too, 
proved  to  be  illusory,  and  only  pro- 
tracted the  suspense.  At  length  the 
"  moderate"  party  in  the  assembly  pre- 
vailed, and  on  the  28  th  of  March  Or- 
mond's  treaty  was  signed  by  the  mar- 
quis on  the  king's  behalf,  and  by  Lord 


510 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


Muskerry,  Sir  Robei't  Talbot,  John 
Dillon,  Patrick  Darcy,  and  Geoffry 
Browne,  on  tlie  part  of  the  confeder- 
ates. The  treaty  contained  thirty  ar- 
ticles, the  only  one  of  which  bearing 
directly  on  the  question  of  religion  was 
the  first,  which  provided — "  that  the 
professors  of  the  lloman  Catholic  reli- 
gion, in  this  kingdom  of  Ireland,  be  not 
bound  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  ex- 
pressed in  tlie  2d  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 
An  act  of  oblivion  was  to  be  passed,  and 
the  Catholics  were  to  continue  in  their 
possessions  until  settlement  by  parlia- 
ment ;  the  impediment  to  their  sitting 
in  parliament  being  also  removed. 
The  nuncio  was  no  party  to  this  treaty. 
It  left  wholly  untouched  the  great  ob- 
jects on  which  he  had  fixed  his  mind 
— the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  church 
to  its  legitimate  position,  and  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  Irish  people  from  the  deg- 
radation to  which  he  saw  them  re- 
duced ;  and  he  had  before  this  induced 
nine  of  the  bishops  to  sign  a  protest 
against  any  arrangement  with  Ormond 
or  the  king  that  would  not  guarantee  the 
maintenance  of  the  Catholic   religion.* 


*  "  Rinuccini's  views,"  observes  Mr.  Meehan,  "  were 
those  of  an  uncompromising  prelate.  He  liad  learned 
to  appreciate  tlie  impulsiveness  of  the  trne  Irish  char- 
acter, and  determined  to  convince  the  confederates  that 
they  had  within  their  own  body  all  the  materials  which 
were  required  to  insure  success.  He  set  his  mind  on 
one  grand  object,  the  freedom  of  the  Church,  in  posses- 
sion of  all  her  rights  and  dignities,  and  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  Catholic  people  from  the  degradation  to 
which  English  imperialism  had  condemned  them.  Tlie 
churches,  which  the  piety  of  Catholic  lords  and  chief- 
tains had  erected,  he  determined  to  secure  to  the  right- 
ful inheritors.  His  mind  and  feelings  recoiled  from  the 
idea  of  worshipping  in  crypts  and  catacombs.    He  ol> 


The  country  was,  at  this  time,  in  a 
deplorable  state.  While  the  Catholics 
were  distracted  by  cabals  in  their  coun- 
cils, and  their  armies  paralyzed  by  the 
jealousies  of  their  generals,  Monroe 
plundered  Ulster  with  impunity,  and 
sent  detachments  of  his  Scots  to  Coote, 
the  parliamentary  lord  president  of 
Connaught,  whose  inroads  alarmed  the 
peaceful  Claurickard  so  much,  that  even 
he  consented  to  take  the  field  in  his 
own  defence;  and  in  the  south,  since 
the  defection  of  the  earl  of  Thomond, 
all  Munster  miglit  be  said  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  implacable  Inchiquin. 
Castlehaven  had  shown  himself  unfit 
to  command,  and  was  tired  of  the  war. 
As  to  Pi-eston,  the  nuncio  was  too  dis- 
criminating an  observer  not  to  perceive 
his  defects.  Preston  hated  Owen  Koo, 
who  despised  him  in  turn;  and  Sii 
Phelim  O'Neill  disliked  Owen,  as  a 
rival,  both  in  military  fame  and  in  his 
claim  to  the  chieftancy.f  Such  a  state 
of  things  would  have  disheartened  any 
otber,  but  Rinuccini  did  not  flinch,  from 
his  purpose.  He  was  resolved  to  give 
the  .Irish  a  lesson  in  self-reliance,  and 


horred  the  notion  of  a  priest  or  bishop  performing  a 
sacred  rite  as  though  it  were  a  felony ;  and,  spite  the 
wily  artifices  of  Ormond  and  his  faction,  he  resolved  to 
teach  the  people  of  Ireland  that  they  were  not  to  re- 
main mere  dependants  on  English  bounty,  when  a 
stern  resolve'might  win  for  them  the  privileges  of  free- 
men. His  estimate  of  the  Irish  character  was  correct 
and  exalted." — Confcd.  of  Kil.,  pp.  117,  118. 

f  Sir  Phelim's  second  wife  was  the  daughter  of 
Preston,  a  circumstance  which  must  have  added  to  his 
enmity  for  Owen  Roe,  Preston's  great  rival.  The  dowry 
which  Sir  Phelim  received  with  his  wife  was  arms 
for  500  horsemen,  SOO  muskets,  and  SSfiW.—  Vide 
O'Neill's  Journal. 


SIEGE  OF    BUNRATTT. 


511 


his  first  step  was  to  bring  about  a  re- 
conciliation between  Owen  Roe  and 
Sir  Phelim  O'Neill.  He  was  deter- 
mined to  strike  a  vigorous  blow  in  the 
north  against  the  Scots ;  and  assured 
the  asseuibly  that  Ulster  should  soon 
be  rid  of  its  invaders,  and  the  cathedral 
of  Armagh  restored  to  the  ancient 
worship.  In  the  mean  time,  Chester 
having  been  taken  by  the  parliamentary 
troops,  there  was  no  place  in  England 
where  the  Irish  forces  could  be  landed 
for  the  king,  and,  although  ready  to 
embark,  they  were  compelled  to  re- 
main in  Ireland.  The  unfortunate 
Charles  soon  after  committed  the  last 
of  his  fatal  mistakes,  by  placing  him- 
self in  the  hands  of  his  inveterate  ene- 
mies, the  Scots.*  Ormond  refused  to 
publish  the  peace,  although  the  con- 
federates had  done  all  in  their  power  to 
fulfil  their  share  of  the  conditions; 
and  he  declined  to  take  any  step  to  re- 
press the  aggressions  of  Monroe,  after 
receiving  from  the  assembly  a  sum  of 
j£3,O0O  to  aid  in  getting  up  an  expedi- 
tion for  that  jiurpose. 

The  Irish  troops  who  were  to  have 
accompanied  Glamorgan  to  England 
Avere  sent  to  besiege  Bunratty,  in  Clare, 
but  were  driven  off  by  the  parliament- 
ary garrison.  Rinucciui  caused  Glamor- 
gan to  be  superseded  by  Lord  Muskerry, 
and  accompanied  the  army  himself  in  a 


*  Charles  I.  left  Oxford  in  disguise  and  gave  liimself 
up  to  the  Scottish  amiy  on  the  oth  of  May,  1G46.  On 
the  30th  of  January,  1647,  the  Scots  concluded  their 
bargain  with  the  English  parliament,  and  delivered 
him  to  them  in  consideration  of  a  sum  of  £400,000  ; 
and  twelve  days  after  they  recrossed  the  Tweed  with 


second  attack  on  the  castle,  which,  after 
a  siege  of  twelve  days,  surrendered ; 
the  success  being  attributed  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  nuncio,  and  adding  im- 
mensely to  his  popularity.  Castlehaven 
was  again  sent  against  Inchiquin,  and 
Preston  acted  against  Coote,  in  Con- 
naught  ;  but  the  successes  which  the 
arms  of  the  confederates  could  boast  of 
elsewhere,  sink  into  insignificance  be- 
fore the  victory  which  now  awaited 
them  in  Ulster,  under  Owen  Eoe 
O'Neill. 

Having  collected  an  army  of  about 
5,000  foot  and  500  horse,  Owen  O'Neill 
marched,  about  the  1st  of  June,  from 
the  borders  of  Leinster  in  the  direction 
of  Armagh  to  attack  Monroe.  The 
Scottish  general  received  timely  notice 
of  this  movement,  and,  setting  out  with 
6,000  infantry,and  800  horse,  encamped 
about  ten  miles  from  Armagh.f  His 
army  was  thus  considerably  superior 
to  that  of  O'Neill's  in  point  of  num- 
bers, as  it  must  also  have  been  in  equip- 
ments ;  but  he  sent  word  to  his  brother. 
Colonel  George  Monroe,  to  hasten  from 
Coleraine  to  reinforce  him  with  his 
cavalry.  He  appointed  Glasslough,  in 
the  north  of  Monaghan,  as  their  ren- 
dezvous, but  the  march  of  the  Irish  was 
quicker  than  he  expected,  and  he 
learned  on  the  4th  of  June  that  O'Neill 
had  not   only  reached  that  point,  but 


the  money  for  which  they  had  thus  sold  their  king, 
■f  Monroe  had  on  this  occasion  ten  regiments  of  infan- 
try, fifteen  companies  of  horse,  and  six  field-pieces  of 
artillery,  and  was  followed  by  fifteen  hundred  wagons, 
containing  baggage  and  ammunition.  His  army  was 
provisioned  for  a  month. — Bin/iuxini. 


512 


REIGN"  OF  CHARLES  I. 


liacl  crossed  tl:e  Blackwater  into  Ty- 
rone, and  encamped  at  Benburb.* 
Here,  in  tlae  ancient  seat  of  bis  fore- 
fathers, in  view  of  scenes  which  the 
great  Hugb  bad  rendered  famous  by- 
former  victories,  O'Neill  was  resolved 
to  give  battle  to  the  enemies  of  his 
country  and  his  religion.  He  encamped 
between  two  small  hills,  protected  in 
the  rear  by  a  wood,  witb  the  river 
Blackwater  on  his  right  and  a  bog  on 
his  left,  and  occupied  some  brushwood 
in  front  with  musketeers,  so  that  his 
position  was  admirably  selected.  He 
was  well  informed  of  Monroe's  plans, 
and  dispatched  two  regiments  to  pre- 
vent the  junction  of  Colonel  George 
Monroe's  forces  with  those  of  his  bro- 
ther. This  important  service,  we  may 
observe,  was  satisfactorily  performed 
by  Colonels  Bernard  MacMahon  and 
Patrick  MacNeny,  to  whom  it  had  been 
committed.  Finding  that  the  Irish 
were  in  possession  of  the  ford  at  Ben- 
burb, Monroe  crossed  the  river  at  Kin- 
ard,  a  considerable  distance  in  O'Neill's 
rear,  and  then,  by  a  circuitous  march, 
approached  him  in  front  from  the  east 
and  south.  The  manner  in  whicli  the 
morning  of  the  5tli  of  June  was  passed 
in  the  Irish  camp  was  singularly  solemn. 
"  The  whole  army  having  confessed, 
and  the  general,  with  the  other  officers, 
having  received  the  Holy  Communion 
with  the  greatest  piety,  made  a  profes- 


*  "  Beann-J}or'b,i.  e.,  the  bold  ben  or  cliff,  or,  as  it  is 
translated  by  P.  O'Sallevan  Bea.TO,  Pinna  Superba  ;  now 
Benburb,  a  castle  standing  in  ruins  on  a  remarkable 
cliff  orer  tbe  Blackwater  river  on  tbe  borders  of  the 


sion  of  faith,  and  the  chaj)lain  deputed 
by  the  nuncio  for  the  spiritual  care  of 
the  army,  after  a  brief  exhortation, 
gave  them  his  blessiug."f  Owen  Roe 
then,  addressing  his  men,  said,  "  Be- 
hold the  army  of  the  enemies  of  God, 
the  enemies  of  your  lives.  Fight 
valiantly  against  them  to-daj^ ;  for  it  is 
they  who  have  deprived  you  of  your 
chiefs,  of  your  children,  of  you  subsist- 
ence, sj^iritual  and  temporal ;  who 
have  torn  from  you  your  lands,  and  made 
you  wandering  fugitives.''^  We  may 
conceive  the  enthusiasm  inspired  by 
such,  words  and  under  such  circum- 
stances. On  the  other  hand,  the  Scots 
were  inflamed  with  fierce  animosity 
against  their  foe  and  an  ardent  desire 
for  battle.  "  All  our  army,"  says  Mon- 
roe in  his  dispatch,  "  did  earnestly  cov- 
et fighting,  Avhich  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  gainstand  Avithout  reproach  of 
cowardice,  and  never  did  I  see  a  greater 
confidence  than  was  amongst  us." 

As  the  Scots  approached,  their  jjas- 
sage  was  disputed  in  a  narrow  defile  by 
the  regiment  of  Colonel  Richard  O'Far- 
rell,  but  this  resistance  was  soon  re- 
moved by  Monroe's  artillery,  and  the 
whole  Scottish  army  advanced  against 
O'Neill's  position.  The  Irish  general 
manojuvred  so  skilfully,  that  for  four 
hours  he  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
enemy  by  his  skirmishers,  and  by  light 
parties  of  musketeers  posted  in  thickets. 


counties  Tyrone  and  Armagh." — Dr.  O'Donovan's  note 
to  Four  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  p.  3257 

f  Rinuccini's  Relatione. 

X  Sir  Phelim  O'NeOl's  Journal. 


BATTLE  OF  BEXBURB. 


513 


He  wished  to  gaiu  time  uutil  the  suu, 
which  dazzled  his  men  by  the  glare  of 
light  in  front,  should  have  declined  to 
the  west,  and  until  the  detachment  he 
had  sent  to  intercept  Monroe's  expected 
reinforcement  should  return ;  and  this 
design  he  accomplished.  Some  troops 
were  seen  approaching  in  the  distance. 
Monroe  supposed  them  to  be  those  of 
his  brother  George ;  but  he  was  soon 
undeceived  when  he  saw  them  enter 
the  Irish  camp.  He  now  thought  it 
prudent  to  retire,  and  ordered  the  re- 
treat to  be  sounded;  but  this  resolve 
was  fatal.  O'Neill  saw  that  the  mo- 
ment was  decisive,  and  ordered  his 
gallant  army  to  charge,  commanding 
his  men  to  reserve  their  fire  until  with- 
in a  pike's  length  of  the  enemy's .  lines. 
Never  were  orders  more  bravely 
obeyed.  The  Irish  rushed  forward 
with  a  terrific  shout,  and  an  impetus 
that  was  irresistible.  Lord  Blaney's 
re2:iment  first  met  the  brunt  of  their 
onset,  and  after  a  stubborn  resistance 
was  cut  to  i^ieces.  The  Scottish  caval- 
ry twice  charged  to  break  the  advan- 
cing column  of  the  Irish,  but  were, 
themselves,  thrown  into  disorder  by 
the  impetuous  charge  of  the  Irish  horse. 
The  ranks  of  Monroe's  foot  and  horse 
were  now  broken,  and  the  Irish  con- 


*  The  Abbe  Mageogliegan,  Tvhom  -wo  liave  cMefly 
followed  above,  and  -whose  account  of  the  battle  has 
been  adopted  by  such  hostile  ivriters  as  Warner  and 
Leland,  takes  his  numbers,  as  Carte  also  did,  from  Ei- 
nuccini,  who  says  that  as  many  as  3,243  bodies  were 
reckoned  on  the  field  ;  but  adds  that  the  Irish  took  no 
prisoners  except  the  officers  mentioned  above.  The 
writer  of  Sir  Phelim  O'XeiU's  journal,  who,  no  doubt, 
ivas  present,  says  : — "  The  confederates  got  (on  the 
65' 


tinning  to  press  on  vigorously,  the  con- 
fusion was  soon  converted  into  a  total 
rout.  The  Scots  fled  to  the  river,  but 
O'Neill  held  possession  of  the  ford,  and 
the  flying  masses  were  driven  into  the 
deep  water,  where  such  numbers  per- 
ished that,  tradition  says,  one  might 
have  crossed  over  dry-shod  on  the 
bodies.  The  regiment  of  Sir  James 
Montgomery  was  the  only  one  that  re- 
treated in  tolerable  order,  the  rest  of 
the  army  flying  in  utter  confusion.  Col. 
Conway  had  two  horses  killed  under 
him,  but  escaped  on  a  third  to  Newry, 
accompanied  by  Captain  Burke,  and 
about  forty  horsemen.  Monroe  him- 
self fled  so  precijaitately  that  his  hat, 
sword,  and  cloak  were  found  among 
the  spoils,  and  he  halted  not  until  he 
reached  Lisburn.  Lord  Montgomery 
was  taken  prisoner,  with  twenty-one 
oflicers  and  about  150  soldiers;  and 
over  3,000  of  the  Scots  were  left  on 
the  field,  besides  those  killed  in  the 
pursuit,  which  was  resumed  next  morn- 
ing. All  the  Scottish  artillery,  tents, 
and  provisions,  with  a  vast  quantity  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  thirty-two 
colors,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Irish, 
who,  on  their  side,  had  only  TO  men 
killed  and  200  wounded.* 

This   brilliant  victory,  won,  not  by 


battle-field)  1,000  muskets,  a  large  quantity  of  pikes, 
drums,  seven  field-pieces,  and  thirty-sis  standards, 
which  were  sent  to  the  nimzio  in  charge  of  Bartholo- 
mew McEgan,  definitor  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis.  The 
nunzio  was  then  in  Limerick,  and  he  sent  his  dean 
along  -nith  Father  McEgan  to  congratulate  Owen  Roe. 
The  dean  gave  each  soldier  three  rialls  (about  one  shil- 
ling and  sixpence),  and  more  to  the  officers.  The  army 
then  dispersed  over  Monaghan,  Cavan,  Leitrim,  and 


514 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  I. 


dint  of  numbers,  but  ])y  slieer  good 
generalship  and  gallantry,  over  a  brave 
and  ruthless  foe,  numerically  superior, 
and  better  equipped,  showed  what 
Owen  O'Neill  might  have  done  had  he 
not  been  shackled  by  the  temporizing 
and  craven-hearted  party  with  whom 
circumstances  compelled  him  to  act, 
and  who  hated  him  and  his  brave 
northerns  as  much  as  they  did  the  Pu- 
ritan enemy.  The  covenanters  were 
filled  with  consternation ;  and  the  Or- 
mondists  in  the  general  assembly  re- 
garded O'Neill  with  more  fear  and 
jealousy  than  ever,  while,  in  the  same 
projiortion,  the  Irish  were  inspired 
with  higher  and  brighter  hopes;  but 
the  victory  had  no  other  result.  Mon- 
roe, in  the  panic  of  the  moment,  burned 
Dundrum,  abandoned  several  strong 
posts,  and  called  all  the  English  and 
Scots  of  Ulster  to  arms ;  but  the  Irish 
made  no  further  attempt  to  molest 
him,  and  he  awaited  at  Carrickfergus 
the  arrival  of  fresh  supplies  from  the 
parliament.  A  great  many  flocked  to 
O'Neill's  standard,  and  as  the-  arms 
and  other  stores  obtained  at  Benburb 
helped  him  to  equip  them,  his  effective 
force  was  soon  increased  to  10,000 
men.  These  he  designated  the  "  Cath- 
olic army ;"  but  the  appropriation  of 
this  title  to  his  own  particular  force, 
where  all  were  supposed  to  be  enlisted 
under    the   banner  of  Catholicity,  ex- 


Longford,  'till  tbe  crops  should  be  ripe.  The  woimded 
were  sent  to  Cbarlemont,  where  Sir  Phelim  had  sur- 
geons for  them."  The  account  of  the  battle,  printed  and 
posted  in  the  streets  of  London  immediately  after  the 


cited  fresh  jealousies  and  suspicions. 
It  identified  him  still  more  with  the 
nuncio,  and  increased  the  hatred  of 
Preston  and  the  Ormaudists ;  the  in- 
trigues of  which  faction  now  called 
away  his  attention  from  the  common 
enemy. 

The  standards  captured  at  Benburb 
Avere  sent  to  the  nuncio  at  Limerick, 
where  they  reached  on  the  13th  of 
June ;  and  the  following  day  they  were 
carried  in  procession  to  the  cathedral, 
and  a  solemn  Te  Deum  was  chanted 
for  the  victory.  The  discussion  on  the 
publication  of  the  political  articles  of 
March  2Sth  was  resumed  in  the  assem- 
bly with  animosity ;  but  in  the  midst 
of  it  their  commissioners  came  to  an- 
nounce that  the  king  had  counter- 
manded all  the  instructions  which  he 
had  given  to  Ormond  to  make  terms 
with  the  Irish.  This  order  had  been 
conveyed  to  Ormond  on  the  26  th  of 
June  through  the  Puritan  commission- 
ers in  Ulster,  and  it  was  clear  that 
Charles  had  issued  it  under  the  com- 
pulsion of  the  Scots,  whose  prisoner  he 
was ;  but  Ormoud  pretended  to  think 
that  it  should  be  obeyed,  although 
Lord  Digby,  who  was  acquainted  with 
the  king's  wishes,  assured  him  to  the 
contrary.  The  nuncio  wrote  to  Rome 
for  fresh  instructions.  The  pontifical 
treaty  with  the  queen  on  behalf  of  the 
Irish  Catholics  was  actually  prepared. 


news  was  received,  describes  it  as  "  the  bloody  fight  at 
Blackwatcr,  on  the  5th  of  June,  by  the  Irish  rebels 
against  Major-General  Monroe,  where  5,000  Protestants 
were  put  to  the  sword." 


ORMOND'S  TREATY  REJECTED. 


515 


but  was  never  signed ;  and  at  length, 
oil  the  29th  of  July,  Ormond's  treaty 
was  publicly  ratified,  and  solemnly  pro- 
claimed in  Dublin  on  the  first  of  the 
following  mouth.  This  treaty,  which 
left  for  the  future  decision  of  the  king 
the  grand  object  for  which  the  confed- 
erates had  taken  up  arms,  made  no 
provision  for  the  plundered  people  of 
Ulster,  and  gave  to  the  lord-lieutenant 
the  command  of  the  confederate  Catho- 
lics, until  settlement  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment was  everywhere  rejected  by  the 
old  Irish.  In  Waterford,  Clonmel,  and 
Limerick  the  herald  was  prevented  by 
the  people  from  proclaiming  it.  Gal- 
way  and  many  other  towns  refused  to 
receive  it ;  and  by  the  Irish  of  Ulster 
it  was  indignantly  repudiated.  Owen 
Roe  entered  Leiuster  with  his  formida- 
ble creaghts,*  and  the  nuncio  sum- 
moned a  national  synod,  whicli  met  at 
Waterford  on  the  6th  of  August,  and 
was  attended  by  three  archbishojDS,  ten 
bishops,  five  abbots,  two  vicars  apos- 
tolic, fourteen  representatives  of  reli- 
gious orders,  and  the  provincial  of  the 
Jesuits.  The  synod  was  unanimous  in 
condemning  the  treaty,  and  on  the  12th 
of  August  issued  a  decree  declaring 
"  that  all  and  every  one  of  the  confed- 
erate Catholics  that  will  adhere  to  such 
a  peace,  and  consent  to  the  furtherance 
thereof,  or  in  any  other  manner  or  way 

*  Tlie  creaghla  were,  originally,  tlie  drivers  in  cliarge 
of  a  prey  of  cattle ;  but  the  tenn  came  to  be  applied 
to  tbose  -who  led  a  nomadjc  life,  and  removed  tlieir 
cattle  from  one  pasturage  to  anotlier.  As  tliese  were 
numerous  in  Ulster,  the  ranks  of  O'Neill's  army  were 
supposed  to  be  cliiefly  filled  by  tbem,  and  their  char- 


will  embrace  the  same,  shall  be  abso- 
lutely as  j^erjurers  esteemed ;  chie-fly 
inasmuch  as  there  is  no  mention  made 
in  the  thirty  articles,  nor  promise  for 
the  Catholic  religion  or  safety  thereof, 
nor  any  respect  had  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  kingdom's  jjrivileges,  as 
were  promised  in  the  oath  of  associa- 
tion, but,  on  the  contrary,  all  remitted 
to  the  king's  will  and  pleasure."f 

As  opinion  became  developed,  the 
people  unanimously  rejected  the  dis- 
creditable peace ;  even  the  vacillating 
Preston  declared  for  the  nuncio  and 
the  clergy;  and  Mountgarret,  Musker- 
ry,  and  their  few  adherents,  finding 
themselves  deserted  by  the  clergy,  the 
army,  and  the  people,  invited  Ormond 
to  come  to  Kilkenny,  in  the  hope  that 
his  presence  might  overawe  their  oppo- 
■  nents.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
arrived  at  Kilkenny  on  the  31st  of 
August,  with  1,500  foot  and  500  horse. 
Thence  he  proceeded  to  Munster,  but 
he  found  the  people  everywhere  averse 
to  the  treaty.  Meantime  O'Neill,  who 
was  not  a  listless  observer,  advanced  to 
the  south,  encamping  at  Eoscrea  on  the 
9th  of  Se^Dtember,  and  Ormond,  alarmed 
at  this  movement,  returned  precipitate- 
ly towards  Dublin.  To  the  timely 
notice  which  he  received  from  Lord 
Castlehaven  he  owed,  in  fact,  his  escape 
from  the  hands  of  O'Neill  and  Preston, 

acter  having  been  purposely  misrepresented  by  their 
enemies,  they  were  rendered  objects  of  the  greatest 
terror  to  the  Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  of  Leinster  and 
Munster. 

f  Vide  Franche's    Unkind  Deserter,  and  Meehaa's 
Con  fed.  of  Kilkenny. 


516 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


who  were  concentratiug  tbeir  forces  on 
his  i-oute,  with  the  iuteutiou  of  making 
him  prisoner ;  but  he  arrived  in  safety 
in  Dublin  on  the  13th  of  September. 

Events   of    great    importance    were 
now  succeeding  each  other  with  start- 
ling rapidity.     On  the  18th  of  Septem- 
ber the  nuncio  entered  Kilkenny,  es- 
corted by  the  generals,  the  Spanish  en- 
voy, and  a  crowd  of  military  officers, 
Laving   previously   caused    O'Neill   to 
encamp  near  the  city  with  his  army, 
which  now  consisted  of  12,000  foot  and 
1,500  horse.     His  first  measure  was  to 
cause    the    members    of    the    supreme 
council  to  be  committed  as  j^i'isouers  to 
the  castle ;  Patrick  Ddrcy  and  Plunket 
being  alone  excepted.     On  the  20th  a 
new  council,  consisting  of  four  bishops 
and  eight  laymen,  was  appointed,  and 
Einuccini     himself    was     unanimously 
chosen    president.      Thus    the    tables 
were   turned  on  the  Ormandists,  and 
the  whole  power  was  thrown  into  the 
hands    of  the   clergy,    who    appointed 
Glamorcfan  to  the  command  of  the  con- 
federate  troops  of  Munster  instead  of 
Muskerry;    but   the    imjirisonment   of 
the    old    council   has    been    generally 
condemned    as    a    harsh    and    impru- 
dent proceeding.     Ormond  hastened  to 
strengthen  Dublin  against  the  confed- 
erates, from  whom  he  now  anticipated 
an  attack ;  and  it  w^as  well  known  that 
he  was  then  meditating  the  surrender 
of    the    city   to   the    parliamentarians, 
with  whom  he  was  prepared  to  co-op- 
erate against  the  Catholics.     Aware  of 
Ormond's  intrigues  with  the  king's  ene- 


mies, and  fearing  that  Dublin  might 
be  delivered  up  to  the  Puritans  before 
any  step  could  be  taken  to  save  it,  the 
supreme  council  directed  the  generals 
to  march  at  once  to  besiege  it.  Preston 
threw  obstacles  in  the  Avay.  He  de- 
sired that  they  should  first  communi- 
cate with  Ormond  ;  and  he  expressed 
a  fear  that  Owen  Roe  intended  to  at- 
tack himself  and  to  destory  the  Lein- 
ster  troojDS.  The  mutual  hatred  of  the 
generals  became  more  violent  than 
ever,  and  there  was  strong  reason  to 
doubt  Preston's  sincerity  in  the  cause. 

At  length,  at  the  end  of  October, 
both  armies  moved  towards  Dublin, 
and  by  mutual  agreement  Preston  fixed 
his  camp  at  Leixlip,  about  seven  miles 
from  the  city,  and  O'Neill  his  at  New- 
castle, a  few  miles  to  the  south  of 
Preston's  camp.  Alarmed  at  their  ap- 
proach, Ormond  caused  the  mills  to  be 
destroyed  and  the  country  laid  waste 
for  a  considerable  distance,  so  that  no 
provisions  could  be  obtained ;  and  the 
Avinter  having  set  in  with  intense  se- 
verity, the  troops  suffered  greatly,  so 
many  as  twenty  or  thirty  men  perishing 
every  night  at  their  posts.  The  de- 
fences were  in  so  bad  a  state  that  the 
besiegers  might  have  found  it  easy  to 
storm  the  city  at  many  points ;  but 
they  were  too  much  engaged  with 
their  own  dissensions  to  think  of  at- 
tacking the  enemy.  The  J;wo  confed- 
erate camps  were,  in  fact,  armed  against 
each  other,  and  the  nuncio  was  occu- 

• 

pied  in  passing  from  one  to  the  other, 
vainly   endeavoring    to    reconcile    the 


DISSENSIONS  IN  THE  IRISH  ASSEMBLY. 


517 


srenerals.  At  one  time  it  was  debated 
iu  council  whether  Preston  should  not 
he  seized  and  imprisoned  as  a  traitor 
to  the  cause.  He  was  openly  in  cor- 
resjiondence  with  Ormond,  through  the 
medium  of  Clanrickard,  and  it  subse- 
quently transpired  that  he  agreed  to  a 
plan  by  which  he  and  Clanrickard 
were  jointly  to  garrison  Dublin,  and  to 
compel  the  confederates  to  accept  the 
peace ;  but  at  the  persuasion  of  the  nun- 
cio Preston  relinquished  this  scheme, 
and  disappointed  Ormond.  Twelve 
days  were  thus  fruitlessly  spent  before 
Dublin,  when  an  alarm  was  suddenly 
given  in  the  council  of  the  confederates 
that  the  English  were  already  in  the 
city;  and  without  any  attempt  to  as- 
certain the  truth  of  the  report,  which 
happened  to  be  utterly  groundless,  the 
camps  were  hastily  broken  np,  and  the 
armies  retreated  to  the  south.  All  ap- 
peared to  be  thoroughly  ashamed  of 
this  disgraceful  proceeding;  and  the 
nuncio,  who  remained  at  Lucan  three 
days  after  the  retreat,  induced  the 
generals  on  arriving  at  Kilkenny  to 
sign  a  mutual  agreement,  pledging 
themselves  to  forget  their  dissensions, 
and  to  act  too-ether  in  the  common 
cause.  A  new  general  assembly  was 
called ;  the  members  of  the  old  council 
were  released  from  prison,  and  it  was 
even  proj)osed  that  the  armies  should 
return  to  besiege  Dublin,  where  Or- 
mond still  carried  on  his  negotiations 
with  the  parliamentary  commissioners. 
A.  D.  1647. — The  general  assembly 
met  on  the  10th  of  January.     All  the 


members  attended  Hiajh  Mass  in  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Canice,  David  Rothe, 
the  venerable  bishop  of  Ossory,  offici- 
ating as  high-priest.  The  nuncio  sat 
on  an  elevated  throne,  and  the  scene 
was  august  and  imposing  in  an  eminent 
degree.  From  the  cathedral  the  mem- 
bers repaired  to  the  castle,  where  the 
nuncio  opened  the  proceedings  with  an 
address,  in  which  he  dwelt  particularly 
on  the  glorious  victory  obtained  by 
OWeill  in  Ulster,  but  for  which,  as  he 
truly  observed,  the  confederation  would 
have  been  crushed  ere  then.  Au  angry 
discussion  was  then  raised  on  the  de- 
crees of  the  synod  of  "VVaterford,  and 
on  the  charge  of  perjury  which  they 
implied  against  the  commissioners  who 
subscribed  the  articles  of  Ormond's 
treaty.  In  the  course  of  the  debates 
Dr.  French,  bishop  of  Ferns,  moved 
that  Preston  be  impeached,  and  to 
such  a  pitch  of  violence  was  the  dis- 
cord carried,  that  at  one  time  some 
members  were  about  to  draw  their 
swords.  After  three  weeks  spent  in 
these  rancorous  discussions,  it  was  at 
length  resolved  that  the  treaty  with 
Ormond  was  invalid,  and  "  that  the  na- 
tion would  accept  of  no  peace  not  con- 
taining a  sufficient  security  for  the  re- 
ligion, lives,  and  estates  of  the  con- 
federate Catholics."  Out  of  three 
hundred  present,  only  twelve  voted 
against  this  resolution.  A  new  oath 
was  framed  and  administered  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  union  until  the 
following  rights  were  attained,  viz. : — 
the   free   and   public   exercise   of    the 


518 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


Roman  Cntbolic  religrou  as  it  was  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  or  any  former 
Catholic  king;  the  full  enjoyment  of 
their  jurisdiction  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic clerg}^,  as  in  the  reigns  of  the  afore- 
said Catholic  kings ;  the  rejieal  of  all 
laws  made  against  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics since  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. ; 
and  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  churches 
and  church  livings  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic clergy  in  all  places  then  in  posses- 
sion of  the  confederate  Catholics,  or 
which  might  be  recovered  by  them. 
Until  these  articles  were  fully  ratified 
the  confederates  were  now  bound  by 
their  oath  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  ; 
and  on  the  8th  of  March  a  proclama- 
tion was  published  by  the  assembly,  en- 
joining on  all  Catholics  to  contend  for 
these  rights,  and  denouncing  as  traitors 
to  God  and  to  their  country  all  those 
who  refused  to  take  the  oath  with 
these  conditions. 

An  attempt  to  renew  negotiations 
with  Ormond  on  the  basis  of  these 
propositions  was  treated  by  him  with 
scorn ;  and  all  hopes  of  peace  being 
thus  at  an  end,  the  confederates  began 
to  prepare  for  war.  Their  coffers  were 
empty  and  the  country  waste ;  but  ex- 
traordinary contributions  were  raised, 
and  the  church  plate  was  converted 
into  money.  Owen  Roe  got  the  com- 
mand of  the  troops  of  Ulster  and  Con- 
naught;  Preston,  distrusted  as  he  was, 
was  reappointed  to  the  command  in 
Leinster;  and  Glamorgan  was  made 
general  of  the  army  of  Munster. 
Dangers  threatened  them  on  all  sides. 


and  weakened  as  they  now  were  by 
their  own  divisions,  their  preparations 
against  the  coming  storm  were  feeble 
and  ill-arranged.  Negotiations  with 
Ormond  were  once  more  renewed 
through  Dr.  Leyburn,  who,  under  the 
assumed  name  of  Winter  Grant,  had 
arrived  with  dispatches  from  the  queen 
to  the  lord  lieutenant ;  but  nothing 
was  concluded.  The  nuncio  would 
yield  no  principle,  while  Ormond  on 
his  side  was  inflexible  in  resisting  the 
demands  of  the  Catholics,  and  was,  in 
fact,  too  deeply  involved  already  in  his 
negotiation  with  the  rebel  parliament. 
He  had  sent  his  son.  Sir  Richard 
Butler,  wdth  the  earl  of  Roscommon 
and  Sir  James  Ware,  to  London,  as 
hostages  for  the  performance  of  the 
articles  stij^ulated  between  them,  and 
had  admitted  into  the  garrisons  of 
Drogheda  and  Dublin  a  Puritan  force 
of  1,000  foot  and  400  horse  from 
Ulster,  and  an  English  regiment  under 
Colonel  Castle.  In  Munster,  Inchiquin 
was  again  abroad,  like  an  unchained 
demon,  spreading  desolation  around 
him;  and  to  add  to  the  difficulties  of 
the  confederates,  the  army  of  the  South 
mutinied  against  Glamorgan,  and  in- 
sisted on  having  their  old  general, 
Muskerry,  restored  to  the  command. 
Muskerry  was  accordingly  reinstated, 
and  by  him  the  command  was  trans- 
ferred to  Lord  Taaffe,  a  creature  of 
Ormond's,  and  a  vain,  hasty,  and  weak- 
minded  man,  destitute  of  every  quality 
which  could  fit  him  for  the  post.  Thus 
was  the  country  sacrificed.    The  nuncio 


DISASTER  OF  DUJ^GAIST  HILL. 


519 


repaired  to  Connauglit  to  consult  witli 
Owen  Roe — the  only  man  whom  he 
saw  worthy  of  his  confidence,  or  who 
Avas  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the 
gi'eat  cause  which  they  had  under- 
taken. 

The  English  parliament  was  more 
ui'gent  and  imj^erious  than  Ormond 
had  anticipated.  He  was  consoled,  in- 
deed, with  a  reward  of  £5,000  in  hand 
for  his  treachery,  and  a  promise  of 
£2,000  a-year ;  but  he  was  ordered  out 
of  Dublin  castle  more  unceremoniously 
than  he  expected ;  and  had  to  sur- 
i-euder  the  regalia  to  the  parliamentary 
commissioners  on  the  28th  of  July, 
when  he  sailed  for  England,  whence  he 
soon  found  it  necessary  to  remove  to 
France.  Colonel  Jones  took  possession 
of  the  castle  for  the  English  rebels. 

The  news  of  Ormond's  perfidy  filled 
the  country  with  indignation,  and 
brought  home  to  the  confederates  the 
alarming  nature  of  their  position.  In 
the  south  Lord  Taaffe  was  powerless 
and  inactive,  while  Inchiquin  devas- 
tated the  laud  without  resistance ; 
O'Neill  found  himself  destitute  of  re- 
sources in  Connaught,  and  might  well 
have  been  sullen  and  dispirited ;  while 
Preston,  a  man  quite  unfit  for  the  task, 
marched  towards  Trim  to  manoeuvre 
against  the  parliamentary  forces.  In 
the  mean  time,  Jones  marched  from 
Dublin,  by  Swords,  Hollywood,  Naul, 
and  Garristown,  to  Skreene,  which  he 
reached  on  the  4th  of  Au2:ust,  his 
army,  with  additions  from  Ulster,  that 
had  joined  him  on  the  way,  amounting 


by  that  time  to*  12,000  foot  and  TOO 
horse,  Avith  two  pieces  of  artillery. 
Here  he  learned  that  Preston  was  the 
same  day  at  Portlester,  five  miles  west 
of  Trim,  with  an  army  of  7,000  foot, 
1,000  horse,  and  four  cannons.  Jones 
then  advanced  to  Tara,  where  he  re- 
viewed his  troops,  and  nest  day 
marched  to  Scurlogstown,  about  a  mile 
from  Trim,  where  he  encamped.  The 
following  day  he  marched  to  Trimble- 
ston,  where  a  small  garrison  that  had 
been  left  by  Preston  surrendered  to 
him ;  but  receiving  information  that 
the  confederate  general  had  suddenly 
marched  in  the  direction  of  Kilcock, 
with  a  view  of  getting  between  him 
and  Dublin,  he  set  out  in  haste  to 
frustrate  that  design,  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  8th  reached  Lynche's  Knock, 
near  Summerhill,  about  a  mile  from 
which,  on  an  eminence  called  Dungan 
Hill,  Preston  was  encamped. 

Jones  advanced  in  full  force  to  at- 
tack the  confederates,  who  were  strongly 
intrenched,  and  might  have  held  their 
ground  even  against  the  superior  num- 
bers of  the  enemy;  but  Preston  was 
too  volatile  and  imprudent  to  act  on 
the  defensive.  He  charged  down  the 
hill  to  break  the  columns  of  the  parlia- 
mentarians, but  was  encountered  with 
a  firmness  which  threw  his  men  into 
confusion.  His  artillery  were  so  placed 
as  to  be  useless,  and  his  cavalry  were 
drawn  up  in  marshy  ground,  where 
they  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy. 
Sir  Alexander  IMacDonnell,  or  Col- 
kitto,  made  desperate  efforts  to  retrieve 


520 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


the  fortune  of  the  day  ;*  but  bravery 
was  insufficient  where  such  fatal  errors 
had  been  committed.  The  Irish  army 
was  driven  into  an  adjacent  bog,  where, 
surrounded  by  the  parliamentary  foi'ces, 
they  were  shot  down  without  mercy. 
Resistance  had  ceased,  but  no  quarter 
was  given;  and  such  as  attempted  to 
escape  from  the  bog  were  slaughtered 
by  Jones's  dragoons.  The  confederates 
lost  on  that  fatal  day  5,470  of  their  men, 
of  whom  400  were  MacDonnell's  brave 
Redshanks ;  and  Preston  fled  in  dis- 
may, followed  by  500  infantry,  the  sole 
wreck  of  his  army  that  could  be  mus- 
tered after  the  battle.  The  loss  of  the 
English  is  said  to  have  been  only 
twenty  men. 

Terrified  at  this  disaster,  even  the 
Ormondists  now  looked  to  O'Neill  as  a 
protector;  and  at  the  desire  of  the 
council,  On^en  marched  to  the  very 
neighborhood  which  had  been  the  scene 
of  Preston's  misfortune.  He  had  an 
army  of  12,000  men,  and  so  harassed 
Jones  by  his  rapid  movements  and  by 
those  inscrutable  tactics  which  have  ob- 
tained for  him  the  title  of  the  Irish  Fa- 
bius,  that  the  jparliamentary  general 
was  scared  from  the  open  country,  and 
sought  shelter  behind  the  walls  of  Dub- 
lin. O'Neill  followed  him  as  far  as 
Castlekuock,  and  the  alarmed  citizens 
could  count  that  night  from  a  steeple 
200  Irish  watch-fires. 


*  The  celebrated  Sir  Alexander  MacDonnell,  so  fre- 
quently mentioned  hy  Anglo-Irish  and  Anglo-Scottish 
■writers,  as  Colkitto  (CoUa-Ciotach),  was  son  of  the  real 
Colkitto,  who  was  not  famous  as  a  warrior,  and  proba- 


The  ferocious  Inchiquin  entered  Tip- 
perary  on  the  3d  of  September,  and 
after  taking  several  small  castles,  crossed 
the  Suir  and  attacked  the  fortress  of  Ca- 
hir,  which  he  took  in  one  day,  although 
it  was  counted  the  strongest  castle  in 
Munster,  and  had  held  out  for  two 
months  against  the  army  of  Essex  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  The  principal 
strongholds  were  left  in  so  weak  a  state 
by  the  imbecile  Taaffe,  that  some  collu- 
sion was  supposed  to  have  existed  be- 
tween him  and  Inchiquin,  who  was  al- 
lowed to  butcher  the  inhabitants  and 
destroy  the  crops  of  the  country  with 
impunity.  The  other  exploits  of  this 
sanguinary  monster  were  but  of  trivial 
consequence,  however,  when  compared 
to  the  sack  of  Cashel.  It  was  about 
the  end  of  September  that  Inchiquin 
sat  down  before  the  royal  city,  in  which 
Taaft'e  had  left  only  a  paltry  garrison, 
he  himself  flying,  as  usual,  at  the  ap- 
proach of  Murrough  O'Brien.  The 
city  was  summoned  to  pay  £3,000  un- 
der the  threat  of  being  taken  by  storm, 
and,  unfortunately,  the  municipal  au- 
thorities had  too  much  spirit  to  yield 
to  these  terms.  The  attack  was,  there- 
fore, commenced ;  the  walls  were  bat- 
tered down ;  and  at  the  first  rush  of 
luchiquin's  soldiers  the  feeble  garrison 
flung  down  their  arms,  and  were  slaugh- 
tered without  resistance.  A  gallant 
action  will  excite  admiration,  whether 


bly  never  left  Antrim.  The  pedigree  of  Sir  Alexander 
has  been  ascertained  beyond  any  doubt  by  Professor 
Curry,  and  the  application  to  him  of  the  surname  Col- 
kitto, was  unquestionably  a  popular  error. 


d 


9    ^ 


Q 
d 


BATTLE  OF  KNOCKNANOS. 


521 


performed  by  friend  or  foe;  but  the 
bloody  scene  which  was  now  enacted 
disj^layed  not  human  bravery  but 
fiendish  ferocity.  A  general  carnage 
of  the  unarmed  townspeople  com- 
menced. In  the  streets  and  the  houses 
they  were  butchered  without  mercy, 
and  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex. 
Multitudes  of  panic-stricken  people  fled 
to  the  cathedral  on  the  rock,  and  shut 
themselves  up  within  the  sacred  walls. 
But  these  aflbrded  them  no  asylum. 
Inchiquin  poured  in  volleys  of  musket 
balls  through,  the  doors  and  windows, 
unmoved  by  the  piercing  shrieks  of  the 
crowded  victims  within  ;  and  then  sent 
in  his  troopers  to  finish  with  pike  and 
sabre  the  work  whicb  the  bullets  had 
left  incomplete.  The  floor  was  encum- 
bered with  piles  of  mangled  bodies ;  and 
twenty  priests  who  had  sought  shelter 
under  the  altars  were  dragged  forth 
and  slaughtered  with  a  fury  whicb  the 
mere  extinction  of  life  could  not  half  ap- 
pease. In  fine,  the  victims  of  that  day's 
massacre  in  Cashel  amounted  to  3,000  !* 
The  town  of  Fethard  opened  its  gates 
to  Inchiquin  as  soon  as  summoned  to 
do  so ;  nor  need  we  wonder,  for  the  fate 
of  Cashel  spread  terror  throughout 
Munster.  But  when  the  sanguinary 
Murrough  appeared  before  Cloumel  he 
was  met  with  a  stern  defiance.  The 
gallant  Sir  Alexander  MacDonnell,  with 
sucl»  of  his  brave  northerns  as  could  be 
collected  after  the  slaughter  of  Dungan 


*  Vide  Meehan's  Confederation  of  EUTcenny,  p.  200. 

f  "  Cnoc-na-n-os,  i.   e.,   the  Hill  of   the   Fawns." — 

(OBonomn's  Note  to  the  Four  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  p. 


Hill,  had  taken  his  stand  here,  and  his 
name  was  a  host  in  itself.  So  Murrough 
slunk  away,  leaving  the  walls  of  Clou- 
mel unhaniied,  and  retired  to  Cahir, 
where  the  thanks  of  the  rebel  j^arlia- 
meut  were  conveyed  to  him  for  his 
achievements,  together  with  supplies  of 
men  and  money. 

In  the  beginning  of  November,  In. 
chiquin  again  took  the  field,  and  was 
encamped  at  Mallow,  on  the  12th  of 
that  month,  witk  an  army  of  about 
6,000  foot  and  1,200  horse  ;  while  Lord 
Taaffe,  with  over  7,000  foot  and  nearly 
1,200  horse,  lay  at  Kanturk,  some  ten 
miles  distant.  The  confederate  general 
had  been  urged  by  the  supreme  council 
to  fight  Inchiquin  if  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity was  presented,  and  such  he 
deemed  the  present  one  to  be.  Ad- 
vancing, accordingly,  a  few  miles,  to  a 
hill  called  Knocknanos,f  he  there  drew 
up  his  army  in  order  of  battle.  To 
Sir  Alexander  MacDonnell,  whom  lie 
made  his  lieutenant-general,  he  com- 
mitted the  right  wing,  whicli  was  sup- 
ported by  Colonel  Purcell,  witli  two 
regiments  of  liorse ;  and  he  himself 
took  the  command  of  the  left  winar,  on 
the  slope  of  the  hill,  wbere  he  j)osted  the 
Munster  troops,  numbering  4,000  foot, 
supported  by  two  regiments  of  horse. 
The  front  was  defended  by  a  morass,  and 
a  small  rivulet  which  nearly  encom- 
passed the  base  of  the  hill.  His  posi- 
tion was  therefore  good :  and  Inchiquin, 

# 

1897) ;  or  it  might  be  Cnoc-na-n-dos,  dos  Bignifying  a 
"  thicket/'  or  a  "dense  body  of  men." — See  O'Brien's  Ir. 
Bict. 


522 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 


having  advanced  from  Mallow,  com- 
menced tlie  attack  at  considerable  dis- 
advantaere.  MacDonnell's  northerns, 
following  the  Highland  custom,  flung 
down  their  muskets  after  the  first  vol- 
ley, and  charged  the  enemy  with  their 
broadswords.  They  broke  Inchiquin's 
left  wing,  took  his  artillery,  and  pur- 
sued his  flying  men  for  two  miles,  killing 
a  great  number.  But  a  dififerent  result 
attended  the  combat  in  another  j^art  of 
the  field.  Availing  himself  of  a  fatal 
oversight  on  the  part  of  Taaffe,  Inchi- 
quin  detached  a  squadron  of  horse  so 
as  to  gain  the  summit  of  the  hill ;  and 
these,  charging  from  the  rear,  caused  a 
panic  in  the  left  wing  of  the  Irish. 
This  decided  the  battle.  The  Mun- 
ster  troops  fled  in  dismay,  and  were 
slaughtered  with  little  resistance  ;  while 
the  northerns,  returning  from  the  pur- 
suit of  those  whom  they  had  so  gal- 
lantly routed,  and  secure  in  the  thought 
that  the  day  was  their  own,  were  sur- 
prised by  the  victorious  English,  and 
cut  to  pieces.  Their  heroic  leader  gave 
up  his  sword  to  Colonel  Purdon ;  but 
Inchiquin  having  ordered  that  no  quar- 


*  The  death  of  Sir  Alexander  (Alastram)  MaoDonnell 
lias  added  not  a  little  to  the  tragic  interest  of  Kuocknanos. 
That  brave  soldier,  who  is  famous  in  Scottish  history  as 
Sir  Alaster  M'DonneU  and  Colkitto  (Colla-Ciotach,  or 
CoUa  the  left-handed),  having,  as  we  have  seen,  been 
sent  by  Randal,  marquis  of  Antrim,  to  Scotland,  in  com- 
mand of  Irish  troops,  had  a  chief  part  in  tho  victories 
gained  by  Montrose  for  tho  king  in  1644.  His  name  is 
preserved  in  the  traditions  of  the  Irish  peasantry  in 
connection  with  a  weU-known  piece  of  popular  music, 
called  fi'om  him  Marshdil  Alastraim,  or  "  Alexander's 
March  ;"  but,  observes  Professor  Curry,  "whether  the 
march  is  older  than  the  name  I  am  not  able  to  say,  but 
I  think  it  is."     The  remains  of  Sir  Alastram  were  de- 


ter should  be  given,  the  chivalrous 
MacDonnell  was,  together  with  many 
of  his  brave  men,  put  to  the  sword  in 
cold  blood.*  Four  thousand  of  the 
confederates,  according  to  the  English 
accounts,  perished  in  the  field ;  their 
arms,  colors,  and  baggage  were  lost ; 
and  the  general's  tent,  with  all  his  pa- 
pers, were  among  the  spoils.  This 
battle,  so  disastrous  to  the  confederates, 
was  fought  on  the  13th  of  November. 
On  receiving  the  news  the  parliament 
voted  £10,000  for  Inchiquin's  army, 
and  ^,000  as  a  present  to  himself; 
but  only  a  small  portion  of  the  money 
was  sent,  and  Murrough,  feeling  that  he 
was  badly  treated,  began  to  think  of 
changing  sides  again.f 

A.D.  1648. — The  prospects  of  the  con- 
federates were  now  gloomy  in  the  ex- 
treme. Their  generals,  Preston  and 
Taaffe,  had  each  lost  an  army ;  O'Neill, 
indeed,  could  still  keep  their  enemies 
in  check,  but  he  was  feared  and  hated 
by  the  Ormond  faction  even  more  than 
Inchiquin  himself;  the  complete  tri- 
umph of  the  fanatics  in  England  gave 
cause  for  the  darkest  forebodings ;  the 


posited  in  the  Dominican  abbey  at  Kilmallock,  but  the 
spot  is  vmknown.     Vide  Croker's  Researches  in  H.  S.  of 

f  Personal  considerations  had  induced  him  to  desert 
the  king's  cause  in  1G43,  when  he  was  refused  the  presi- 
dency of  Munster,  which  he  expected  to  obtain  after  the 
death  of  his  father-in-law.  Sir  William  St.  Leger.  The 
earl  of  Portland  was  made  lord  president,  and  Ln(*iquin 
turned  over  to  the  parUament.  It  is  remarkable  that 
both  Inchiquin  and  Ormond,  two  of  the  most  inveterate 
enemies  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  that  time,  were  the 
sons  of  Catholic  parents,  but  had  been  educated  under 
the  infamous  Court  of  Wards,  the  great  proselytizing 
engine  of  that  day 


TRUCE  WITH  iisrcHiQinisr. 


523 


resoui-ces  of  the  country  M'ere  exhaust- 
ed ;  and  the  general  assembly  was  now 
engaged  in  discussing  the  question  of  a 
foreiga  protectorate.  After  long  and 
anxious  deliberation,  it  was  resolved  to 
send  agents  to  Rome  and  France,  both 
to  solicit  aid  in  money  and  to  ascertain 
what  might  be  the  most  prudent  course 
for  placing  the  country  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  foreign  power.  Dr.  French 
and  Plunket  were  deputed  to  Rome ; 
Muskerry  and  Brown  to  France ; 
and  the  marquis  of  Antrim  also  pro- 
ceeded in  the  name  of  the  assembly 
to  the  latter  country.  Ormond  had 
already  arrived  at  St.  Germains,  and 
prepared  the  queen  for  the  recep- 
tion to  be  given  to  the  Irish  envoys. 
Besides  the  instructions  which  they 
had  received  from  the  general  assem- 
bly, Muskerry  and  Browne  were  the 
bearers  of  a  private  message  from 
Preston  and  Taaflfe,  and  to  this  alone 
was  any  serious  consideration  given  in 
the  conference  -with  the  queen.  Her 
majesty's  answer  to  the  public  message 
was  a  mere  deception ;  and  henceforth 
the  confederation  was  nothing  more 
than  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
Ormond. 

The  supreme  council  and  Inchiquin 
had  for  some  time  been  treating  in  an 
underhand  way  about  a  truce,  but  their 
negotiations  now  became  more  direct. 
Inchiquin  demanded  from  them  4,000 
dollars  a  month,  to  support  his  merce- 
nary army,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
continued  to  press  his  demands  on  the 
English  parliament,  to  conceal  his  de- 


signs.    A  meeting  of  the  general  as- 
sembly was  called,  and  Rinucciui,  who 
was  at  Waterford,  was  very  pressingly 
invited  by  the  supreme  council  to  give 
it  the   sanction  of  his    presence.     At 
length  he    complied,    and   the   session 
was  opened  on  the  20th  of  April,  when 
the  discussion  of  the-  treaty  with  Inchi- 
quin  commenced.      Inchiquin   had  al- 
ready incurred  the  suspicions  of  parlia- 
ment,   and   some   of    his    officers   had 
revolted  against  him.     His  power  was 
therefore  greatly  diminished,  and  the 
nuncio  protested  against  any  accommo- 
dation with  the  man  whose  hands  were 
still  red  with  the  blood  of  the  priests 
whom  he  had  massacred  on  the  rock  of 
Cashel.     The  nuncio's  enei'getic  remon- 
strance   prevailed   with    the    bishops, 
fourteen  of  whom   subscribed   a   con- 
demnation of  the   truce.     But  it  was 
too   late.     The    truce   was    signed   at 
Dungarvan  on  the  20th  of  May.      It 
provided  that  Catholics  should  not  be 
molested  in  the  practice  of  their  re- 
ligion,   except    in    the    garrisons    or 
quarters  of  Lord  Inchiquin,  where  it 
would  not  be  tolerated.     Preston  and 
Inchiquin  now  united  their  forces,  and 
prepared  to  march  against  O'Neill ;  to 
crush  whom  was  the  object  uppermost 
in  the  minds  of  both.    The  nuncio  had, 
however,    a    dreadful   weapon    yet  in 
store.     On  the  morning  of  the  27  th  of 
May,   a  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  all  abettors  of  the  truce,  and 
an  interdict  against  all   cities,  towns, 
and  villages  in  which  it  would  be  re- 
ceived or  observed,  were  published'on 


524 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  I. 


the  gates  of  the  cathedral  at  Kilkenny, 
and  the  nimcio  himself  privately  witlp 
drew  from  that  city  and  repaired  to 
the  camp  of  Owen  Eoe  at  Marybor- 
ough. This  was  a  fearful  expedient, 
involving  as  it  did  the  innocent  and 
the  guilty  in  one  punishment.  It  was, 
perhaps,  inexcusable;  but  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  the  nuncio  was 
aware  the  life  of  O'Neill  was  aimed  at, 
and  that  he  saw  the  cause  of  the  Church 
and  the  people  of  Ireland  sacrificed  by 
the  perverse  conduct  of  the  Orraondists, 
ujiou  Avhom  no  ordinary  argument 
could  make  any  ftnpression.  It  was 
with  him  a  last  and  a  desperate  re- 
source. 

The  Ulster  chieftain  had  but  700  of 
his  followers  now  about  him,  and  in  a 
few  days  news  Avas  brought  that 
Preston  was  within  four  miles  with  an 
army  of  10,000  men  to  attack  him. 
Preston,  however,  was  ignorant  of 
O'Neill's  Aveakness,  and  did  not  ad- 
vance ;  and  2,000  of  his  men,  smarting 
under  the  excommunication,  deserted 
to  Owen's  camp.  O'Neill  was  galled 
to  the  heart  at  these  proceedings.  He 
fell  back  towards  Athlone,  where  he 
had  a  garrison,  but  before  he  could 
come  to  its  relief  it  had  been  compelled 
to  yield  to  Preston  and  Clanrickard, 
the  latter  being  also  in  the  field  against 
him.  Owen  Roe  made  a  truce  with 
the  Scots,  and  on  the  11th  of  June  pro- 
claimed war  against  the  supreme  coun- 
cil, and  the  nuncio  took  his  final  leave 
of  him  and  retired  to  Galway,  where 
he  was   hemmed   in   by  Claurickard's 


people.  An  angry  correspondence 
passed  between  the  nuncio  and  the 
now  degenerate  confederation,  .  and 
when  he  endeavored  to  convoke  a  na- 
tional synod,  Claurickard  prevented 
the  prelates  from  assembling.  These 
were,  indeed,  sad  events  for  Ireland ; 
and  it  is  melancholy  to  see  how  utterly 
dissipated  were  the  hopes  which  but 
a  little  while  before  were  so  full  of 
promise. 

The  discord  of  the  confederates  freed 
the  parliamentarians  from  restraint  in 
Dublin,  and  Monroe  and  his  Presbyte- 
rians not  desiring  the  abolition  of  mon- 
archy, nor  approving  of  the  course 
which  afiairs  had  taken  in  England, 
Monck  got  the  command  in  Ulster  in 
his  stead,  and  marching  suddenly  into 
that  province,  surprised  Carrickfei'gus 
and  seized  Monroe,  whom  he  sent  j^ris- 
ouer  to  England.  Jones,  the  parlia- 
mentary governor  of  Dublin,  glad  to 
promote  the  war  between  O'Neill  and 
the  confederation,  allowed  the  former 
to  pass  unmolested  through  Leinster  to 
attack  Kilkenny.  Finding,  however, 
that  the  combined  forces  of  Preston 
and  luchiquin  were  too  numerous, 
O'Neill  would  not  hazard  an  engage- 
ment, and  withdrew  to  Ulster,  having 
foiled  by  his  skilful  manoeuvres  an  at- 
tempt which  those  generals,  in  con- 
junction with  Clanrickard,  made  to  sur- 
round his  small  army.  The  marquis 
of  Antrim,  on  returning  from  France, 
took  the  nuncio's  side ;  raised  an  army 
in  the  north,  and  was  supported  by  the 
O'Byrues,  Kavanaghs,  and  other  Lein- 


ORMOm)  RETURNS  TO  IRELAND. 


525 


ster  septs ;  but  lie  was  defeated  by 
Incliiquin  and  the  confederates.  Or- 
mond  next  reappeared  on  the  stage,  in 
compliance  with  the  reiterated  invita- 
tions of  luchiquin  and  the  supreme 
council.  On  the  29th  of  September  he 
landed  at  Cork,  whither  luchiquin  went 
to  receive  him.  He  invited  commis- 
sioners from  the  confederation  to  meet 
him  at  Carrick;  but  after  much  delay, 
caused  by  the  discussion  of  terms  and 
other  obstacles,  the  marquis  came  at  the 
invitation  of  the  general  assembly  to 
Kilkenny,  where  he  was  received  in 
great  state  by  that  body,  and  installed 
in  his  own  castle.  The  peace  negotia- 
tions were  again  interrupted  by  a  mu- 
tiny in  luchiquin's  army,  when  it  was 
found  Ormond  had  brought  no  money; 
but  at  length,  on  the  17th  of  January, 
1649,  the  treaty  of  peace  between  Or- 
mond and  the  confederation  was  finally 
ratified  and  published  amidst  great  re- 
joicings. 

A.  D.  1649. — That  the  war,  which  was 
thus  brought  to  a  close  after  seven 
years'  continuance,  had  been  under- 
taken on  religious  grounds,  is  evident 
from  the  leading  conditions  of  this 
treaty,  as  well  as  from  all  the  negotia- 
tions that  had  taken  place  between  the 
parties  during  that  period.  The  first 
article  provided  that  in  the  nest  parlia- 
ment to  be  held  in  Ireland  the  jienal 
statutes  against  Catholics  should  be  re- 
pealed ;  that  a  simple  oath  of  allegiance 

*  The  commissioners  of  trust  were :  Lord  Dillon,  of 
Costello,  Lord  Muskerry,  Lord  Athemy,  Alexander  Mac- 
Dounell,  Esq.,  Sir  Lucas  Dillon,  Sir  Nicholas  Plunket, 


should  be  substituted  for  the  oath  of 
supremacy ;  and  that  Catholics  should 
not  be  molested  in  the  possession  of  the 
churches  and  church  livings  which  they 
then  held,  or  their  clergy  in  the  exercise 
of  their  respective  jurisdictions,  until 
such  time  as  their  claims  could  be  fully 
considered  in  a  free  parliament.  By 
another  article  the  native  Irish  Catho- 
lics were  to  be  relieved  from  all  civil 
disabilities,  and  were  to  be  allowed  to 
erect  one  or  more  inns  of  court  in  or 
near  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  to  establish 
free  schools  for  the  education  of  their 
youth.  They  mi^t  hold  the  command 
of  garrisoned  towns  and  forts;  the  Cath- 
olics ejected  from  Cork,  Youghal,  and 
Duugarvan  by  Inchiquin,  were  to  be  re- 
instated in  theii-  possessions ;  the  Catho- 
lic regular  clergy  were  to  be  allowed  to 
hold  the  ancient  abbeys  and  monasteries 
of  which  they  were  then  in  possession, 
and  to  retain  any  pensions  which  they 
then  enjoyed ;  and  finally,  twelve  of  the 
confederates  were  to  act  as  commission- 
ers of  trust  with  the  marquis  of  Ormond 
to  see  the  articles  of  the  treaty  fully  car- 
ried out,  and  to  participate  in  certain 
of  the  functions  which  belonged  to  him 
as  lord-lieutenant.*  In  fact,  the  treaty 
granted  concessions  to  the  Catholics  but 
little  inferior  to  those  proposed  by  Gla- 
morgan ;  and  if  Ormond  had  only  yield- 
ed so  much  a  few  years  earlier  he  would 
have  prevented  innumerable  calamities, 
and  most  probably  have  preserved  the 


Sir  Richard  Barnwell,  Qeoffi-y  Browne,  Donagh  O'CaUa- 
ghan,  Turlough  O'Neill,  Miles  O'Reilly,  and  Gerald 
Fennell,  Esqrs. 


526 


REIGN"   OF   CHARLES   I. 


life  of  the  kins?.  Oq  the  30th  of  the 
same  month  tlie  unfortunate  Charles  I. 
closed  his  wretched  career  on  a  scaflbld 
at  Whitehall.  On  the  10th  of  Febru- 
ary Prince  Kupert  entered  the  harbor 
of  Kinsale  with  sixteen  frigates,  and  the 
news  of  the  king's  death  having  been 
received  about  the  same  time,  Ormond 
proclaimed  the  prince  of  Wales  king, 
by  the  title  of  Charles  II.,  at  Cork  and 
Youghal,  the  same  ceremony  being  per- 
formed by  Prince  Eupert  at  Kinsale. 

On  the  23d  of  February,  Kinuccini 
embarked  at  Galway  in  his  own  frigate 
to  return  to  Rome.  His  mission  was 
unsuccessful,  but  its  failure  is  to  be  at- 
tributed to  the  recreant  and  temporiz- 
ing party  who,  from  the  very  day  when 


they  found  themselves  involved  in  the 
war,  were  prepared  to  sacrifice  the 
principles  for  whicli  the  country  had 
taken  up  arms.  Riuuccini  desired  to 
raise  the  Catholic  Church  in  Ireland  to 
the  dignity  to  which  it  was  entitled, 
and  the  native  race  of  Ireland  to  the  so- 
cial state  for  which  he  saw  them  fitted. 
These  were  the  j^rinciples  for  which  he 
contended.  The  only  fault  with  which 
even  his  enemies  could  charge  him  was, 
that  he  was  uncompromising.  And  for 
the  rest,  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  on 
his  side  was  all  that  the  confederation 
could  boast  of  as  chivalrous,  high-mind- 
ed, and  national ;  while  on  that  of  the 
Ormandists  we  find  intrigue,  incapacity, 
and  cowardice. 


CONFUSION  OF    PARTIES. 


527 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


CEOMWELL. 


State  of  parties  after  the  death  of  Charles  I. — O'Neill's  services  sought  by  Ormond  and  by  the  Parliamen- 
tarians.— Ormond  and  IncMquin  take  the  field. — Drogheda  and  other  towns  surrender  to  the  latter. — Siege  of 
Dublin  by  Ormond. — Great  defeat  of  the  royalists  at  Rathmines. — Arrival  of  Cromwell. — Siege  of  Drogheda — 
Horrible  massacre. — Wexford  betrayed  to  Cromwell — Frightful  massacre  of  the  inhabitants. — -Death  of  Owen 
O'Neill.^^Ross  surrendered. — Siege  of  Waterford — Courageous  conduct  of  the  citizens — The  siege  raised. — 
The  Southern  garrisons  revolt  to  CromweU. — Wretched  position  of  Ormond. — Meeting  of  the  bishops  at 
Clonmacnoise — Their  declaration. — Kilkenny  surrendered  to  CromweU. — Siege  of  Clonmel — Heroic  self- 
devotion  of  the  bishop  of  Ross. — Surrender  of  Clonmel. — CromweU  embarks  for  England. — Death  of  Heber 
MacMahon. — Meeting  of  the  bishops  at  Jamestown — Ormond  excommunicated. — The  king  subscribes  to  the 
covenant. — New  general  assembly. — Ormond  retires  to  France,  and  the  marquis  of  Clanrickard  becomes  lord 
deputy.— Negotiations  with  the  duke  of  Lorraine.— Limerick  besieged  by  Ireton.— Valor  of  Henry  O'NeiU 
—Limerick  betrayed  to  the  besiegers. — Barbarous  executions. — Death  of  Ireton. — Surrender  of  Galway. 
— Clanrickard  accepts  terms  and  leaves  the  kingdom. — Wholesale  confiscations  and  plunder. — Horrible  at^ 
tempts  to  exterminate  the  people. — Banishment  to  Connaught  and  the  West  Indies. — Execution  of  Sir  Phelim 
O'NeiU — Atrocious  cruelties. — Oliver  proclaimed  Lord  Protector. — Henry  CromweU  in  Ireland. — Death  of 
Oliver. — Proceedings  of  the  Royalists. — The  Restoration. 

(PEOM  A.  D.  1649  TO  A.  D.  IfiCO.) 


\  GENERAL  subversion  of  priii- 
-^^-*-  ciples  and  confusion  of  parties 
characterize  the  period  -which  follo-vred 
the  death  of  Charles  I.  The  Scots  in 
Ulster  had,  as  we  have  seen,  become 
royalists,  and  Ormond  and  Inchiquin 
were  at  the  head  of  the  confederates. 
The  old  Irish  still  flocked  round  the 
standard  of  Owen  O'Neill  as  their 
leader,  and  his  chivalrous  character, 
military  skill,  and  influence  commanded 
the  respect  of  his  enemies ;  but  the 
high  and  sacred  principles  for  which 
he  contended  had  been  lono^  since 
abandoned  by  his  old  colleagues  of  the 
confederation;  a  barrier  of  personal 
enmity  was,  moreover,  placed  between 


him  and  them  :  and  provided  he  could 
keep  an  army  on  his  hands,  and  watch 
the  moves  on  the  political  chess-board 
for  some  one  favorable  to  his  country, 
it  was  to  him  of  little  consequence  to 
which  of  the  contending  parties  he  lent 
his  temporary  aid.  Ormond  made 
overtures  to  him,  and  some  accommoda- 
tion would  probably  have  taken  place 
between  them,  had  not  the  animosity  of 
the  commissioners  of  trust,  old  mem- 
bers of  the  supreme  council,  interfered 
to  prevent  it;  whereui^on  O'Neill  in 
disgust  listened  to  the  suggestions  of 
the  parliamentary  party,  and  arranged 
with  Monck,  who  held  the  command  of 
Dundalk,  to  intercept  the  communica- 


528 


CROMWELL. 


tioQ  between  the  Scottisli  royalists  iu 
the  north  and  Ormond  in  the  interior. 
This  arrangement,  which  was  made  on 
the  8th  of  May,  1649,  was  to  secure  to 
O'Neill  and  his  followers  perfect  reli- 
gious freedom  and  the  restoration  of 
their  estates  ;'"■  but  Owen  did  not  reckon 
with  any  confidence  on  it,  and  tlie  cessa- 
tion or  treaty  was  only  signed  for  three 
months.  The  young  king  was  now  at 
the  Hague,  uncertain  what  course  to 
take.  He  had  been  long  promising  to 
come  to  Ireland,  and  his  baggage  had, 
it  is  said,  been  embarked  for  this  coun- 
try ;  but  want  of  money  in  the  first 
instance,  and  then  other  impediments, 
prevented  him  from  coming.  It  is 
thought  that  Ormond,  for  some  sinister 
motives,  discouraged  his  visit  to  Ire- 
land ;  but  Charles  placed  the  fullest 
confidence  in  the  crafty  marquis  as  his 
lord  lieutenant,  and  confirmed  the 
treaty  which,  he  had  made  with  the  con- 
federates. 

Ormond  and  Inchiquin  having  mus- 
tered a  considerable  army  in  the  south, 
at  length  took  the  field.  In  their 
march  through  Leinster,  several  small 
places,  in  which  either  Owen  O'Neill  or 
the  parliamentarians  had  j^jlaced  garri- 
sons, surrendered  to  them :  and  they 
advanced,  Ormond  to  invest  Dublin, 
and  Inchiquin  to  besiege  Drogheda.f 
The  latter  town  held  out  for  seven  days, 
and  on  the  30th  of  June  surrendered 
on  honorable  terms,  the  parliamentarian 


*  PMlop.  Iren.,  i.,  p.  121 ;  also  Hist,  of  Independenee, 
p.  237. 

t  At  this  period  Drogheda  was  called  Tredagli  or 


garrison,  consisting  of  600  men,  being 
permitted  to  march  to  Dublin.  Incbi- 
quin's  next  exploit  was  to  intercept  a 
quantity  of  ammunition  which  Monck 
was  sending  from  Dundalk  to  Owen 
O'Neill ;  and  soon  after  Dundalk,  New- 
ry,  and  several  places  in  Ulster,  together 
with  the  castle  of  Trim,  surrendered  to 
him;  and  he  marched  back  to  rejoin 
Ormond,  vv^ho  had  encamped  at  Finglas, 
two  miles  north  of  Dublin,  on  the  18th 
of  June,  but  removed  to  Kathmines,  in 
the  southern  suburbs  of  that  city,  on 
the  25th  of  July.  Ormond  found  his 
army  too  small  either  to  besiege  or 
storm  so  large  a  place  as  Dublin,  and 
his  only  hope  now  being  to  reduce  the 
city  by  famine,  he  left  Lord  Dillon,  of 
Costello,  with  2,000  men  on  the  north 
side,  while  with  the  remainder  of  his 
army  he  proposed  to  cut  off  sujoplies 
coming  from  any  other  quarter.  So 
great  was  his  confidence  in  the  loyalty 
of  his  men,  that  he  wrote  to  the  king 
to  say  "he  could  persuade  half  his 
army  to  starve  outright  for  his  ma- 
jesty." 

On  the  same  day  that  Ormond  moved 
from  Finglas  to  Rathmines,  large  rein- 
forcements arrived  to  the  garrison  from 
England  under  Colonels  Reynolds  and 
Venables ;  and  it  became  a  matter  of 
great  importance  to  the  besiegers  to 
command  the  mouth  of  the  river,  to 
pi'eveut  the  lauding  of  further  supplies 
from  beyond  the  Channel.     With  that 

Treda,  by  Englisli  writers  ;  this  corruption  of  tlie  name 
being  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  pronmiciation  of  the 
Irish  word  Draichet-atha. 


BATTLE  OF  RATHMINES. 


529 


view,  and  to  deprive  the  besieged  of 
pasturage  for  tlieir  horses  on  the  south 
side,  Major-General  Purcell  was  sent,  on 
the  night  of  the  1st  of  August,  with  a 
detachment  of  1,500  foot  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  ruined  castle  of  Bagotrath, 
about  a  mile  from  the  camp.  This  place 
they  lioped  to  fortify  suificieutly  in  one 
night,  and  from  it  they  might  advance 
their  works  to  the  river;  but  they  only 
arrived  at  the  castle  an  hour  before  day- 
break, and  found  that  it  was  not  so 
important  as  was  supposed.  Ormond, 
as  well  as  the  bulk  of  his  army,  had 
watched  during  the  night,  expecting  an 
attack  from  the  garrison,  and  he  now 
retired  to  his  tent  to  take  some  repose  ; 
but  at  the  same  moment  Colonel  Michael 
Jones  was  preparing  to  sally  forth  from 
the  city  with  4,000  foot  and  1,200  horse, 
to  dislodge  the  j^arty  Avhich  had  got 
possession  of  Bagotrath.  It  is  intimated 
by  those  who  seek  by  all  means  to  free 
Ormond's  character  from  dissfrace,  that 
Preston  and  the  men  under  his  com- 
mand were  not  at  their  posts  at  this 
important  juncture;  but  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  marquis  showed  bad 
generalship  on  the  occasion ;  and  he  was 
now  roused  from  his  slumbers  by  vol- 
leys of  musketry,  only  to  find  his  whole 
left  wing  in  disorder,  and  the  detach- 
meut  from  Bagotrath  retreating,  with 
the  enemy  at  their  heels.  The  confu- 
sion soon  extended  to  Ormond's  left 
wing;  the  infantry  were  deserted  by 
the  cavalry  and  sought  refuge  in  flight ; 
and  what  Jones  only  intended  as  a  sortie 
resulted  in  a  total  rout  of  the  royalists. 


with  the  loss,  as  some  accounts  say,  of 
4,000  killed  and  2,500  taken  prisoners, 
together  with  their  artillery,  baggage, 
money,  and  jsrovisions.  The  Ormond- 
ists,  however,  state  that  the  number  of 
slain  was  only  600,  and  the  prisoners 
300  ofScers  and  1,500  private  soldiers; 
and  they  add,  what  is  very  probable, 
that  a  great  many  were  killed  after 
quarter  had  been  proclaimed,  and  some 
even  after  they  had  been  brought  inside 
the  walls  of  the  city.  Some  of  the  roy- 
alists retreated  to  Drogheda,  and  others 
to  Trim,  and  a  great  many  of  Inchi- 
quin's  soldiers  went  over  to  the  enemy ; 
but  Ormond  himself  repaired,  to  Kil- 
kenny, where  he  endeavored  to  collect 
the  shattered  remains  of  his  army ;  and 
his  power  was  so  broken  by  this  over- 
throw, that  he  never  after  ventured  to 
meet  the  parliamentarians  in  the  field. 

After  this  battle  Jones  marched  to 
recover  possession  of  Drogheda,  but  he 
found  that  town  ably  defended  by  Lord 
Moore,  and  learning  that  Ormond  was 
coming  to  its  relief,  he  raised  the  siege 
and  returned  to  Dublin.  Notwith- 
standing their  success  at  Rathmines,  the 
parliamentarians  were,  at  this  time,  in 
very  straitened  circumstances.  The  only 
place  which  they  retained  in  Ulster  was 
Londonderry,  where  Sir  Charles  Coote 
was  so  hard  pressed  by  Lord  Mont- 
gomery of  Ards,  that  he  would  inevita- 
bly have  been  compelled  to  surrender 
had  not  Owen  O'Neill  consented  to 
come  to  his  relief.  Coote  stipulated  to 
give  O'Neill  £2,000  for  the  payment  of 
his  troops,  a  quantity  of  ammunition, 


67 


530 


CROMWELL. 


and  2,000  cows,  and  the  aid  was  cheap- 
ly purchased ;  for  as  soon  as  Owen  Roe 
apjieared  on  the  8  th  of  August,  the 
Lord  of  Ards  and  his  Scots  raised  the 
siege.  The  English  parliament  feigned 
great  indignation  at  the  treaties  made 
by  its  officers  with  the  Irish  Popish 
general,  and  shortly  after  O'Neill  broke 
off  all  alliance  with  that  party. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  the  extraordinary 
man  who  was  then  beginning  to  sway 
the  destinies  of  England,  had,  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  the  parliament,  been 
made  lieutenant-general  of  the  forces  in 
Ireland,  so  far  back  as  the  28th  of 
March,  this  year ;  but  the  troubles  with 
the  levellers,  and  other  causes,  had  re- 
tarded the  setting  out  of  his  expedition 
for  this  country.  At  length  he  sailed 
from  Milford  Haven  on  the  13th  of 
August,  and  landed  at  Dublin  on  the 
14th,  having  altered  his  original  plan, 
which  was  to  land  in  Munster.  He 
brought  with  him  9,000  foot,  4,000 
horse,  several  pieces  of  artillery,  an 
abundant  supply  of  all  kinds  of  mili- 
tary stores,  and  £20,000  in  money.  His 
son-in-law,  Commissary-General  Ireton, 
followed,  as  second  in  command.  The 
l^arliamentary  force  in  Dublin  now  ex- 
ceeded 16,000  men ;  and  on  the  30th  of 
August,  Cromwell  took  the  field  with  a 
well-provisioned  army  of  10,000  picked 
men,  and  marched  to  lay  siege  to  Drog- 
heda,  then  deemed  next  in  importance 
to  Dublin  as  a  military  post.  Having 
been  invested  by  parliament  with  the 
title  of  lord-lieutenant,  he  published 
after  his  arrival  two  proclamations,  one 


against  intemperance,  and  the  other  pro- 
hibiting his  soldiers,  undei'  the  severest 
penalties,  to  plunder  the  country-people. 
His, admirers  plead  this  prohibition  as 
a  proof  that  he  did  not  intend  to  exer- 
cise cruelty  in  his  Irish  campaign ;  but 
his  only  design  was  to  encourage  the 
peasantry  to.  bring  provisions  for  sale 
to  the  army  on  its  march,  and  in  this 
object  he  was  successful.  He  appoint- 
ed Sir  Theoj^hilus  Jones  governor  of 
Dublin. 

Ormond  had  garrisoned  Drogheda 
wdth  about  3,000  of  his  choicest  troops, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Arthur  As- 
ton, an  Englishman,  but  a  Catholic,  and 
a  soldier  of  experience  and  reputation  ; 
and  a  portion  of  the  garrison  also  con- 
sisted of  English  royalists  or  cavaliers. 
Ormond  himself  withdrew  with  a  few 
troops  to  Trim,  and  rejoiced  that  at  so 
late  a  season  Cromwell  was  about  to  be- 
siege a  place  of  so  much  strength,  and 
before  which  he  was  likely  to  be  so  long 
detai^ied,  as  Drogheda.  The  bold  and 
enei'getic  tactics  on  which  so  much  of 
Cromwell's  military  success  depended, 
disconcerted,  however,  plans  founded 
on  old-fashioned  notions.  The  parlia- 
mentary general  encamped  at  the  south 
side  of  Drogheda,  on  Monday,  Septem- 
ber 2d ;  and  some  days  having  been 
consumed  in  getting  his  siege-guns  from 
the  ships  that  conveyed  them  from 
Dublin,  and  in  other  preparations,  he 
was  ready  to  commence  battering  the 
town  on  that  day  week.  He  began  by 
beating  down  a  tower  and  the  steeple 
of  St.  Mary's  church,  where  a  gun  had 


SIEGE  OF  DPtOGHEDA. 


531 


been  placed  that  annoyed  liim.  On 
tlie  following  morning  (Tuesday,  the 
10th)  his  batteries  played  incessantly, 
and  early  in  the  afternoon  two  jiracti- 
cable  breaches  were  made  ;  one  towards 
the  east,  in  the  church-yard  wall  of 
St.  Mary's,  which  although  the  strong- 
est part  of  the  fortifications,  Cromwell 
had  selected  for  attack,  as  it  would 
afford  a  safe  entrance  for  his  horse,  and 
shelter  for  them  on  the  inside  under 
the  church  walls.  The  other  breach 
was  in  the  south  wall  of  the  town. 
About  five  o'clock  he  sent  forward  his 
storming  parties.  Seven  hundred  men 
entered  the  breaches,  but  earth-works 
had  been  thrown  up  inside,  and  the 
garrison  defended  them  with  such  des- 
perate bravery,  that  the  fierce  assailants 
were  driven  back  through  the  breaches 
with  considerable  loss.  Some  accounts 
mention  three  several  assaults  ;  but  in 
his  dispatch  to  the  parliament  Crom- 
well says  the  inti'enchments  were 
carried  at  the  second  assault.  Cannon 
were  planted  so  as  to  shoot  down  some 
of  the  Irish  horse  which  were  posted  be- 
hind the  works  to  encourage  the  foot ; 
and  Colonel  Wall,  w^hose  regiment 
was  defending  the  breaches,  having 
been  killed,  his  men  became  discouraged 
and  wavered.  It  was  probably  at  this 
moment  that  Cromwell's  officers  and 
men  promised  quarter  to  the  Irish,  but 
the  precise  time  at  which  this  was  done 
is  involved  in  obscurity.  That  quarter, 
however,  was  offered  is  unquestionable. 
Various  contemporaries,  as  Clarendon 
and  Carte,  assure  us  of  the   fact;  and 


they  add  that  the  promise  was  kept  as 
long  as  the  garrison  resisted;  "but," 
says  the  latter  historian,  "  when  they 
found  all  in  their  power,  and  feared  no 
hurt  that  could  be  done  to  them,  Crom- 
well being  told  by  Jones  that  he  had 
now  all  the  flower  of  the  Irish  army  in 
his  hands,  gave  orders  that  no  quarter 
should  be  given."  The  besiegers  had 
before  this  gained  a  tower  in  which 
there  was  a  sally-port,  but  the  passage 
was  so  blocked  uj)  with  the  bodies  of 
the  dead  that  it  was  useless  to  them. 
However,  beins;  now  masters  of  the  two 
breaches,  they  introduced  their  cavalry 
through  that  at  St.  Mary's  church,  and 
by  the  other  gained  access  to  the  great 
Tuatha  de  Danann  tumulus  called  the 
mill-mount,  the  sides  of  which  were 
strongly  defended  with  palisades,  be- 
hind which  the  besieged  disputed  the 
ground  for  some  time,  though  they 
yielded  on  the  promise  of  quarter.  The 
brave  governor,  Sir  Arthur  Aston,  with 
the  officers  of  his  staff.  Sir  Edward 
Veruey,  and  Colonels  Warren,  Fleming, 
and  Byrne,  retreated  into  the  old  mill 
on  the  top  of  the  mound,  Avhere  they 
were  disai'med  and  slain  in  cold  blood. 
As  this  position  commanded  the  town, 
all  further  resistance  must  have  been 
useless ;  and  the  besiegers  pouring  in 
throu2:h  the  two  breaches,  crossed  the 
bridge  pell-mell  with  the  flying  garrison, 
and  were  thus  in  possession  of  the 
north  side  of  the  town.  Drogheda 
was  gained,  but  the  work  of  slaughter 
had  only  commenced.  The  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  garrison  were  the  first 


532 


CROMWELL 


to  be  extermiQated.  Out  of  tlie  3,000 
choice  troops  only  about  30  men  were 
saved,  and  these  were  reserved  by 
Cromwell  for  deportation  to  Barbadoes. 
He  himself  says,  "  Our  men  were  or- 
dered by  me  to  put  them  all  to  the 
sword."  The  fury  of  the  fanatical  con- 
querors was  then  let  loose  against  the 
unarmed  townspeople ;  and  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  of  Irish  extraction 
that  could  be  found  Avithin  the  devoted 
city,  was  most  brutally  murdered !  This 
savage  butchery  occupied  five  whole 
days.  It  was  on  the  morning  of  the 
11th  that  Cromwell's  troopers  came  to 
the  great  church  of  St.  Peter's,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  city.  To  this  sacred 
edifice  upwards  of  a  thousand  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  had  fled  for  pro- 
tection ;  but  every  one  of  them  was 
put  to  the  sword ;  and  as  a  palliation  of 
the  massacre  of  these  innocent  people, 
Cromwell  tells  the  parliament  that 
"  they  had  the  insolence,  on  the  last 
Lord's  day,  to  thrust  out  the  Protest- 
ants (from  that  church),  and  to  have  the 
Mass  said  there."  All  the  ecclesiastics 
were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  put  to  death  ; 
or,  as  Leland  insolently  expresses  it, 
Cromwell  "  ordered  his  soldiers  to 
plunge  their  weapons  into  the  helpless 
wretches !"  A  number  of  people  had 
sought  refuge  in  the  church  steeple, 
which  was  constructed  of  timber,  and 
Cromwell  tells  us  that  he  ordered  fire 
to  be  applied.  Some  were  burned,  and 
the  rest  were  slaughtered  as  they  at- 
tempted to  escape.  A  multitude  of 
respectable  women,  comprising  all  the 


principal  ladies  of  the  city,  concealed 
themselves  in  the  cripts  under  the  choir 
of  the  church,  but  when  the  carnage 
was  finished  above,  the  bloodhounds 
traced  them  to  these  dark  recesses,  and 
not  even  to  one  of  these  poor  fugitives 
was  mercy  shown.  One  of  Cromwell's 
ofiicers,  who  was  engaged  in  this  horri- 
ble work — Thomas  Wood,  brother  of 
Anthouy  a  "Wood,  the  Oxford  historian 
— relates  that  he  found  in  these  vaults 
"  the  flower  and  choicest  of  the  women 
and  ladies  belonging  to  the  town, 
amongst  whom  a  most  handsome  vir- 
gin, arrayed  in  costly  and  gorgeous  ap- 
parel, kneeled  down  to  him  with  tears 
and  prayers  to  save  her  life."  He  was 
moved  to  compassion,  and  took  her  out 
of  the  church  "  with  the  intention  to  put 
her  over  the  works  to  shift  for  herself;" 
but  while  she  was  even  thus  protected 
a  soldier  plunged  his  sword  in  her  body, 
and  Mr.  Wood,  "seeing  her  gasping, 
took  away  her  money,  jewels,  &c.,  and 
fluns:  her  over  the  works."  Wood  also 
relates  how  "  when  they  were  to  make 
their  way  up  to  the  lofts  and  galleries 
of  the  church,  and  up  to  the  tower 
where  the  enemy  had  fled,  each  of  the 
assailants  would  take  up  a  child  and 
use  it  as  a  buckler  of  defence,  when 
they  ascended  the  steps,  to  keep  them- 
selves from  being  shot  or  brained." 
This  picture,  described  as  it  is  by  one 
of  the  actors  in  the  bloody  scene,  is  full 
of  horror.  According  to  a  local  tradi- 
tion, Cromwell's  attention  was  attracted 
by  an  infant  endeavoring  to  draw  nour- 
ishment from  the   breast   of  its   dead 


MASSACRE   AT  DROGHEDA. 


533 


mother,  whose  murdered  body  lay  in 
the  street,  and  his  callous  heart  being 
moved  by  the  affecting  incident,  he 
gave  orders  to  stop  the  massacre  of  all 
who  were  not  found  in  arms.  But  tra- 
dition appears  to  be  wrong  in  this  case ; 
for  it  is  certain  that  a  promiscuous 
slaughter  was  carried  on  until  the  de- 
I^arture  of  the  army  on  the  15th;  that 
is,  during  five  whole  days,  in  which,  as 
we  are  told  by  a  contemporary  writer, 
four  thousand  Catholic  men,  besides  a 
vast  multitude  of  ecclesiastics,  and  of 
women,  youths,  and  children,  were  un- 
mercifully slain.*  Cromwell  has  his 
worshippers,  and  the  philosophical  dis- 
quisitions of  Carlyle  and  Guizot  may 
excite  an  interest  in  his  character.  The 
question  whether  he  was  a  canting 
hypocrite  or  a  fanatical  enthusiast  is 
frequently  discussed ;  but  let  this  point 
be  decided  as  it  may,  and  his  panegyr- 
ists write  as  they  will,  the  massacre  at 
Drogheda  stamps  him  with  eternal  infa- 
my as  a  monster  with  a  demon's  heart. 
Cromwell,  who  estimated  his  own 
loss  at  less  than  a  hundred  men,  wrote 
to  the  parliament  to  announce  his  suc- 
cess and  the  massacre  which  had  been 
perpetrated,  which  he  impiously  attrib- 
uted to  "the  Spirit  of  God,"  desiring 
that  "  God  alone  should  have  all  the 


*  Bruodin,  Propug.  Cath.  Verit.,  lib.  ir.,  c.  14,  p.  678. 
For  original  authorities  on  the  siege  and  massacre  of 
Drogheda  the  reader  may  consult  Cromwell's  dispatches, 
as  given  by  Carlyle,  or  as  published  with  notes  in  the 
Dublin  Penny  Journal  for  1832  ;  Clarendon's  History 
of  the  Civil  Tt^ars  in  Ireland,  pp.  130  and  131  ;  Ludlow's 
Memoirs,  vol.  i.,  pp.  300,  303  ;  Carte's  Ormond,  vol.  ii., 
p.  84 ;  Borlase,  Hist,  of  Irish  Beb. ;  Bruodin,  iM  supra  ; 
Life  of  Anthony  d  Wood  (quoted  by  Liugard) ;  Cam-  \ 


glory ;"  and  the  house,  on  the  receipt  of 
his  dispatch  on  the  2d  of  October,  ap- 
pointed a  "thanksgiving  day,"  and  voted 
a  letter  of  thanks  to  the  lord-lieutenant 
of  Ireland  and  the  army,  "  in  which 
notice  was  to  be  taken  that  the  house 
did  approve  of  the  execution  done  at 
Drogheda,  as  an  act  both  of  justice  to 
them  (the  victims),  and  mercy  to  others 
who  may  be  warned  by  it."f  Trim, 
Duudalk,  Carlingford,  Newry,  and 
other  places  in  the  north  were  aban- 
doned by  the  royalists,  or  surrendered 
to  Cromwell's  officers  after  little  or  no 
resistance.  Coleraine  was  betrayed  to 
Sir  Charles  Coote,  who  put  the  garrison 
to  the  sword ;  Sir  George  Monroe  was 
driven  from  Down  and  Antrim ;  and 
the  Scots  were  dispossessed  wherever 
they  had  settled.  Carrickfergus  was 
the  only  important  fortress  in  Ulster 
which  the  royalists  now  held. 

Cromwell,  who  had  returned  to  Dub- 
lin on  the  16th  of  September,  left  again 
on  the  2Yth;  and  marching  through 
Wicklow,  took  possession  of  Arklow 
and  several  small  places  on  his  route, 
and  appeared  before  Wexford  on  Mon- 
day, the  1st  of  October.  This  town, 
though  small,  was  wealthy  and  of  great 
commercial  importance.  It  was  well 
fortified,  being  surrounded  by  an  earth- 

brensis  Eversus,  Epist.  Dedie. ;  and  also  cap.  xxxi.,  &c., 
See  also  the  accounts  given  by  Leland  and  Dr.  Lingard, 
and  in  O'Connell's  Memoir  of  Ireland.  Ormond,  in 
his  letter  to  Lord  Byron,  secretary  to  Charles  II.,  as 
given  by  Carte,  says,  that  "  on  this  occasion  Cromwell 
exceeded  himself,  and  any  thing  he  had  overheard  of  in 
breach  of  faith  and  bloody  inhumanity." 

t  Parliamentary  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p. 
1334. 


:)ii~ 


CROMWELL. 


en  I'anij^firt  of  considerable  thickness 
within  the  wall,  while  at  a  distance  of 
three  or  four  hundred  paces  outside  the 
works,  towards  the  southeast,  stood  a 
strong:  castle.  The  inhahitants  had 
until  the  last  moment  refused  to  ac- 
cept a  garrison  of  royalists  from  Or- 
mond ;  but  at  this  time  they  appear 
to  have  been  fully  prepared  for  the 
defence ;  the  troops  in  the  town  being 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  David 
Siimott,  a  brave  and  determined  of- 
ficer; and  the  castle  just  mentioned 
under  that  of  Captain  James  Stafford. 
On  the  3d  of  October  Cromwell  sum- 
moned the  town  to  surrender,  and  from 
that  day  to  the  5th  various  notes  were 
exchang^ed  between  him  and  Colonel 
Sinnott,  the  latter  requiring  time  to  con- 
sult the  mayor  and  corporation  on  the 
terms  upon  which  they  would  consent 
to  surrender  the  place.  On  the  latter 
day  Lord  Castlehaven  threw  into  the 
town,  at  the  north  side,  1,500  Ulster 
troops  which  had  been  sent  by  the 
marquis  of  Ormond  from  Ross ;  and 
Sinnott  now  required  further  time  to 
submit  the  pi'opositions  for  surrender  to 
Lord  Castlehaven,  who  was  his  superior 
officer,  as  lord  general  of  the  horse. 
During  this  time  there  had  been  no 
cessation  of  hostilities  agreed  upon,  al- 
though the  civil  authorities  of  the  town 
exhibited  their  courtesy  by  sending 
presents  of  "  sacke  and  strong  waters" 


*  Clarendon  says  a  reinforcement,  under  Sir  Edmond 
Butler,  entered  the  town  only  two  hours  before  Crom- 
well's soldiers  got  in ;  but  this  cannot  be  correct,  as 
Castlehaven  speaks  of  Sir  Edmond  as  being  in  Wexford, 


for  the  use  of  the  parliamentarian  gen- 
eral. A  detachment  of  the  besiesrins: 
army  had  seized  the  castle  of  Rosslare, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  the  garrison 
abandoning  it  and  taking  refuge  in  a 
frigate,  which  was  afterwards  surren- 
dered at  discretion  to  the  enemy.  The 
entrance  to  the  harbor  being  thus  free, 
Cromwell  landed  the  batterin;:!:  train 
from  his  shipping,  and  lost  no  time  in 
preparing  for  the  attack.  In  reply  to 
Sinnott's  last  note  of  the  5th,  he  wrote 
the  following  day  to  revoke  the  safe 
conduct  which  he  had  given  for  the 
agents  who  were  to  bring  the  proposi- 
tions from  the  town ;  but  added,  "When 
you  shall  see  cause  to  treat,  you  may 
send  for  another."  With  the  relief  last 
sent,  the  garrison  amounted  to  about 
3,000  men ;  and  Castlehaven,  having 
retired  from  the  town,  Sinnott  made  up 
his  mind  to  defend  his  charge.*  Crom- 
well having  selected  the  part  near  the 
castle  for  his  attack,  finished  his  bat- 
teries on  Wednesday,  the  10th,  and 
began  the  cannonade  on  the  following 
morning.  By  twelve  o'clock  some 
breaches  were  made  in  the  castle  de- 
fences; and  Sinnott,  having  caused  a 
parley  to  be  beaten,  sent  to  demand  a 
safe  conduct  for  four  persons  to  treat  on 
honorable  terms.  This  Avas  granted ; 
and  the  four  agents  sent  from  the  town 
were,  Majors  Theobald  .Dillon  and 
James  Byrne,  Alderman  Nicholas  Chee- 


wlien  he  went  there,  and  calls  him  the  governor.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  Sinnott  had  the  command  of  the 
garrison. 


PERFroY  OF  CROMWELL. 


535 


vers,  and  Captaia  James  Stafford,  the 
last,  it  will  be  recollected,  being  the 
governor  of  the  castle.  The  proposed 
conditions  were  only  what  might  be 
expected  from  men  of  honor  with  arms 
in  their  hands.  The  inhabitants  asked 
full  religious  liberty  for  themselves,  and 
the  garrison  demanded  that  they  should 
march  out  with  colors  flying,  and  with 
their  arms,  baggage,  &c.,  and  that  such 
of  the  townsjDeople  as  chose  might  be 
at  liberty  to  accomjjany  them  in  safety 
to  Ross.  Cromwell  calls  these  propo- 
sitions "  abominable,"  and  the  men  who 
dared  to  send  them  "impudent;"  but 
while  he  was  preparing  "  to  return  a 
suitablg  answer,"  he  found  means  to 
make  terms  of  another  kind.  He  cor- 
rupted Captain  Stafford  with  a  bribe, 
or  by  some  other  means.  Cromwell 
says  he  was  "  fairly  treated ;"  and  the 
castle  being  thrown  open  to  his  troops, 
the  flag  of  the  parliament  was  displayed 
from  its  summit,  and  the  guns  turned 
against  the  town.  Seeing  this  strong- 
hold in  the  hands  of  the  eneiny,  who, 
consequently,  had  the  fortifications  of 
the  city  on  that  side  at  their  mercy,  the 
besieged  were  seized  with  dismay.  The 
besiegers  planted  their  scaling  laddei's 
and  crossed  the  walls  without  the  least 
opposition,  and  then  opened  the  gates 
to  their  own  cavalry.  The  panic  which 
ensued  may  easily  be  conceived.  The 
gai'rison  retreated  to  the  market-place, 
where  numbers  of  the  townspeople  had 
also  congregated,  and  here,  for  fully  an 
hour,  they  offered  what  Cromwell  calls 
"  a  stiff'  resistance,"  and  the  street  being 


in  many  places  barricaded  with  cables, 
the  enemy's  horse  could  for  some  time  do 
little  execution.  The  assailants,  how- 
ever, poured  in  by  thousand^,  and  the 
horrible  massacre  of  Drogheda  was  re- 
enacted,  neither  man,  Avoman,  nor  child, 
who  came  in  their  way,  having  found 
any  mercy.  Now,  all  this  time  Crom- 
well held  in  his  hands  the  conditions 
for  surrender  proposed  by  the  governor 
and  citizens,  and  his  own  answer  Avrit- 
ten,  but  never  sent;  for  the  agents  from 
the  city  were  still  in  his  camp  when  the 
massacre  commenced.  By  the  answer 
which  he  had  prepared  he  granted  life 
and  liberty  to  the  soldiers;  life,  but  not 
liberty,  to  the  officers,  and  freedom  from 
pillage  to  the  inhabitants ;  but  while 
this  answer  was  ready,  though  not  de- 
livered, and  Sinnott  and  the  authorities 
still  in  ignorance  of  his  decision,  he  suc- 
ceeded, as  we  have  seen,  by  the  basest 
means  in  gaining  possession  of  the  castle, 
and  then  would  have  us  believe  that  he 
did  not  order  the  massacre.  He  intend- 
ed, forsooth,  to  preserve  the  place,  but 
saw  "  God  would  not  have  it  so,"  and 
he  "  thought  it  not  good  nor  just  to  re- 
strain off  the  soldiers  from  their  right 
of  pillage,  nor  from  doing  of  execution 
on  the  enemy."  And  he  concludes  his 
disjDatch  by  telling  the  parliament  "  that 
it  had  pleased  God  to  give  into  your 
hands  this  other  mercy"  (Drogheda  was 
the  first  "  mercy"  and  Wexford  the  sec- 
ond !)  "for  which,  as  for  all,  we  pray 
God  may  have  all  the  glory."*     About 

*  See  Cromwell's  Letters,  published  by  Cailyle,  and 
Gary's  Memorials,  ii.  p.  180. 


536 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   I. 


300  of  the  panic-stricken  inhabitants 
attempted  to  make  their  escape  to  the 
opposite  side  of  the  harbor,  but  the 
over-crowded  boats  were  submerged, 
and  all  were  drowned.  Sir  Edmond 
Butler  was  shot  when  endeavoring  to 
save  his  life  by  swimming.  Cromwell 
estimates  the  number  who  were  put  to 
the  sword  in  this  massacre  at  2,000, 
while  he,  "  from  first  to  last  of  the  siege, 
lost  not  altogether  twenty  men ;"  and 
in  recommending  the  parliament  to 
send  over  English  Protestants  to  dwell 
in  the  town,  he  assures  them  that  "  of 
the  former  inhabitants  not  one  in 
twenty  could  be  found  to  challenge 
any  property  in  their  own  houses."'"* 

If  the  Ormondists,  as  a  party,  were 
thoroughly  humbled  by  the  defeat  at 

*  Mageoghegan  mentions,  as  an  incident  of  the  siege 
of  Wexford,  that  two  hundred  women  were  massacred 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross  in  the  public  square,  and  the  cir- 
cumstance has  been  repeated  after  him  by  many  writers ; 
but  no  contemporary  authority  for  it  has  been  quoted, 
and  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the  statement  only  re- 
fers to  the  general  massacre  which  was  perpetrated  in 
the  market-place,  where  a  multitude  of  the  townspeople 
— old  men,  women,  and  children^iad  flocked  together, 
hoping  to  find  protection  behind  the  ranks  of  the  garri- 
son. Dr.  Nicholas  French,  the  illustrious  and  patriotic 
bishop  of  Ferns,  who  was  then  lying  iU  of  fever  in  a 
neighboring  village,  has  left  us  an  important  reference 
to  the  Wexford  massacre,  in  a  letter  dated  at  Antwerp, 
in  1C73,  and  addressed  to  the  papal  nuncio,  relative  to 
affairs  affecting  the  venerable  prelate  personally.  In 
this  letter,  the  Latin  original  of  which,  with  a  transla- 
tion, was  first  published  in  the  Dublin  Nation  of  Octo- 
ber 8th,  1859,  Dr.  French  writes  :  "  On  that  most  calam- 
itous day  the  city  of  Wexford,  abounding  in  wealth, 
ships  and  merchandize,  was  carried  at  the  point  of  the 
sword,  and  given  up  to  the  infuriated  soldiery  by  Crom- 
well, that  pest  of  the  English  government.  There,  be- 
fore God's  altar,  fell  many  sacred  victims,  priests  of  the 
Lord ;  some,  who  were  seized  outside  the  precincts  of 
the  church,  were  scourged  with  whips ;  some  were  ar- 
losted  and  bound  with  chains ;  some  were  hanged,  and 
others  were  cruelly  put  to  death  by  divers  sorts  of  tor- 


Rathmines,  subsequent  events  brought 
home  to  the  Irish  Catholics  in  general 
the  horrible  conviction  that  they  were 
all  involved  in  a  common  ruin.  Owen 
O'Neill  had  made  up  his  mind  to  sup- 
port Ormond ;  and  the  latter,  who,  says 
Clarendon,  "  had  a  great  esteem  of  his 
conduct,  and  knew  the  army  under  his 
command  to  be  better  disciplined  than 
any  other  of  the  Irisb,f  offered  Owen 
any  terms  which  he  chose  to  demand. 
The  negotiations  between  them  werp 
carried  on  through  Daniel  O'Neill,  a 
nephew  of  Owen's;  and  the  reinforce- 
ments, escorted  by  Lord  Castlehaven 
to  Wexford,  were  composed  of  men 
whom  O'Neill  had  already  supplied  to 
the  lord  lieutenant.^  Owen  Eoe  un- 
dertook to  furnish  Ormond  with  6,000 

ture.  The  best  blood  of  the  citizens  was  shed,  till  the 
very  streets  were  red  with  it,  and  there  was  scarcely  a 
house  that  was  not  polluted  with  carnage  and  full  of 
wailing.  In  my  own  palace,  a  youth,  hardly  sixteen 
years  of  age — an  amiable  boy — my  gardener  and  sacris- 
tan were  cruelly  butchered ;  and  they  left  the  chaplain, 
whom  I  caused  to  remain  behind  me  at  home,  trans- 
pierced with  sis  mortal  wounds,  and  weltering  in  his 
gore.  And  these  abominations  were  perpetrated  in  open 
day,  by  impious  cut-throats.  From  that  moment  I  have 
never  seen  my  city,  flock,  country,  or  kindi'ed."  The 
bishop  then  proceeds  to  relate  his  own  sufferings  for  five 
months  after,  wliile  hunted  in  the  woods,  and  obliged 
to  sleep  in  the  open  air,  without  bed  or  covering,  often 
with  scarcely  any  food,  and  with  never  any  but  of  the 
coarsest  kind.  From  the  same  source  to  which  we  are 
indebted  for  Dr.  French's  letter,  we  learn  the  names  of 
the  following  religious  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  who 
were  among  the  victims  of  the  Wexford  carnage,  viz. : 
Fathers  Richard  Synnott,  S.  T.  L.,  John  Esmond,  Pauli- 
nus  Synnott,  Raymond  Stafford,  and  Peter  Stafford,  and 
the  brothers  Didacus  Cheevers  and  James  Rochford. 

f  Vindication  of  Ormond,  p.  136,  ed.  1756. 

X  This  appears  from  Castlehaven's  own  statement 
(Memoirs,^.  115);  but  the  agreement  between  Owen 
Roe  and  Ormond  was  not  finally  signed  till  the  13th  of 
October,  when  Owen  was  on  his  deathbed.  Vide  Carte's 
Ormond,  ii. 


DEATH   OF   OWEN   ROE   O'NEILL. 


537 


iLen,  aud  this  promise  was  faithfully 
fulfilled,  although  he  did  not  live  to 
perform  it  in  person.  While  encamped 
before  Derry,  where  he  remained  about 
ten  days  after  raising  the  siege  on  the 
8th  of  August,  he  was  seized  with  ill- 
ness, and  conveyed  in  a  horse-litter  to 
Ballyhaise,  in  the  county  of  Cavau, 
where  he  ordered  his  nephew,  Lieuten- 
ant-General  Hugh  Duv  O'Neill,  to  lead 
the  promised  reinforcements  to  Ormond. 
He  was  then  carried  to  Cloghoughter, 
a  strong  castle  of  the  O'Reillys  in 
Lough  Oughter,  in  Cavan,  where  he 
died,  on  the  6th  of  November.*  To 
the  Irish  the  death  of  Owen  Roe  was 
an  irreparable  loss.  He  was  not  alone 
a  consummate  general,  and  the  most 
eminent  on  the  Irish  side  that  the  war 
had  produced,  but  merited  the  entire 
confidence  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  na- 
tive population.  Had  he,  in  addition  to 
his  high  qualities  as  a  soldier,  had  that 


*  The  death  of  Owen  Eos  was  commonly  ascribed  to 
a  poisoned  pair  of  russet  boots  sent  to  him  as  a  present 
by  one  Plunket  of  Louth,  and  which  he  wore  at  a  ball 
given  in  Derry  by  Sir  Charles  Coote.  Plunket,  it  is 
said,  afterwards  boasted  of  the  service  which  he  had 
rendered  to  England  by  dispatching  O'Neill.  {Vide 
Colonel  O'Neill's  journal  in  the  Desiderata  Curiosa  Hi- 
bernica.)  His  remains  were  interred  in  the  old  Francis- 
can monastery  of  Cavau,  of  which  no  vestige  now  re- 
mains. (See  Carte,  ii.,  83  ;  and  Archdall'sifo«a«f.  Sib.) 
In  the  progress  of  the  war  the  pope's  blessing  was  con- 
veyed to  Owen  Roe,  and  at  the  same  time  the  sword  of 
his  illustrious  uncle,  Hugh  O'Neill,  which  was  sent  to 
him  from  Rome  by  Father  Luke  Wadding.  References 
to  the  castle  of  Cloghoughter  {Clock  Loclia  Uachtair, 
i.  e.,  the  rock  or  stone  fortress  of  Lough  Oughter)  wUl 
be  found  in  the  Four  Masters  under  the  dates  of  1327, 
1369,  and  1370.  In  tlus  castle  Bishop  Bedell  was  for 
Bome  time  confined  in  1643. 

f  "Owen  Roe,"  says  Mageoghegan,  "was  experi- 
enced in  the  art  of  war ;  he  had  greatly  distinguished 


boldness  or  audacity  which  would  have 
broken  the  trammels  that  fettered  him, 
and  pushed  aside  the  recreant  and  in- 
triguing partisans  who  sacrificed  the 
country  to  their  own  interests  and  ani- 
mosities, he  would  have  served  Ireland 
more  eftectively.f 

The  traditionary  horror  with  which 
the  memory  of  Cromwell  is  still,  after 
200  years,  regarded  by  the  Irish  peas- 
antry, shows  how  deeply  his  inhuman 
policy  of  conquering  by  the  f;ime  of  his 
cruelties  must  have  impressed  the  mind 
of  the  people.  Towns  fifty  miles  dis- 
tant were,  it  is  said,  thus  influenced  to 
surrender;  but  this  was  not  the  case 
generally.  After  the  caj^ture  of  Wex- 
ford, Cromwell  sent  Ireton  to  besiege 
Duncannon,  while  he  himself  marched 
against  New  Ross,  where  Ormond  had 
placed  Major-General  Luke  Taaft'e  in 
command,  with  a  garrison  of  1,500 
men.     Taaffe  had  only  undertaken  the 


himself  in  the  Spanish  service,  and  principally  by  his 
brave  defence  of  Arras,  where  he  commanded  in  1640, 
when  that  place  was  besieged  by  the  French  army  un- 
der the  three  Marshals,  de  Chattillon,  de  Chaulnes,  and 
de  la  Meilleraye.  His  ideas  were  clear,  his  perception 
accurate,  his  judgment  very  sound.  He  was  dexterous 
in  profiting  of  the  advantages  which  were  furnished  by 
the  enemy  ;  he  left  nothing  to  chance,  and  his  plans 
were  always  well  formed ;  he  was  sober,  jjrudent,  and 
reserved ;  when  occasion  required  he  could  disguise 
his  sentiments ;  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  in- 
trigues of  courts ;  and,  in  a  word,  he  possessed  all  the 
qualities  necessary  for  a  great  general."  {Hist,  of  Ir.) 
Warner  and  Leland  describe  his  character  almost  in  the 
same  words.  Carte  speaks  of  his  "  honor,  constancy, 
and  good  sense,  as  of  his  military  skill ;"  and  Marshal 
Schomberg's  secretary,  Dr.  Gorge,  says,  "Owen  Roo 
Oneale  was  the  best  generall  that  ever  the  Irish 
had."  (MS.  in  the  S.  P.  0.,  London,  quoted  by 
Mr.  O'CaUaghan  in  notes  to  the  MacaricB  Excidium, 
p.  181.) 


538 


CROMWELL. 


charge  on  the  condition  that  he  should 
be  at  liberty  to  surrender  the  place 
when  he  deemed  it  iintenable ;  and  he 
availed  himself  of  this  discretionary 
power  by  capitulating  as  soon  as  Crom- 
well's artillery  began  to  thunder  on 
the  east  bank  of  the  Barrow.  He  first 
demanded  liberty  of  conscience  for  the 
townspeople,  but  Cromwell  replied  that 
"  if  he  meant  liberty  to  exercise  the 
Mass,  he  judged  it  best  to  use  plain 
dealing,  and  to  let  him  know  that 
where  the  parliament  of  England  had 
jDower  that  would  not  be  allowed." 
The  town  was  surrendered  on  the  18th 
of  October  without  this  condition,  the 
garrison  being  allowed  to  depart  with 
arms  and  baggage,  and  600  men  re- 
maining to  enter  the  service  of  the 
parliament,  while  Taaffe  marched  with 
the  rest  to  join  Ormoud  at  Kilkenny. 
Ii'eton  was  not  so  successful  at  Duncan- 
non  fort,  which  was  defended  with  such 
gallantry  by  Colonel  Wogan  that  the 
siege  was  raised  in  a  few  days.  Crom- 
well's forces  were  greatly  reduced  in 
numbei-s  by  leaving  garrisons  in  the 
captured  towns,  and  by  a  dysentery 
which  was  carrying  off  many  of  his 
men.  Inchiquin  attempted  to  intercept 
reinforcements  coming  to  him  from 
Dublin,  and  had  a  slight  encounter  with 
tbem  on  the  strand  near  Wexford,  but 
the  parliamentarians  were  successful. 
Cromwell  constructed  over  the  river  at 
Ross  a  bridge  of  boats,  the  first  seen 
in  Ireland ;  and  while  he  himself  lay 
sick,  sent  detachments  of  his  troops, 
which  took  luistio^e  and   Carrick.     To 


the  latter  town  he  removed  Avith  the 
remainder  of  his  forces  on  the  21st  and 
2 2d  of  November. 

A  little  before  this  date  the  garrisons 
which  had  been  left  by  Inchiquin  in 
Coi'k,  Youghal,  Kinsale,  Bandon  Bridge, 
and  some  other  southern  towns,  revolt- 
ed to  Cromwell,  chiefly  through  the 
management  of  Lord  Broghill,  son  of 
the  earl  of  Cork,  who  soon  became  one 
of  Cromwell's  most  active  generals  in 
Ireland.  This  revolt  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  parliamentary  gen- 
eral, who  would  otherwise,  at  that  in- 
clement season,  have  been  placed  in 
great  difiiculties  for  winter-quarters  for 
his  men. 

On  the  24th  of  November  Cromwell 
appeared  before  Waterford.  Lord 
Castlehaven  had  been  appointed  gov- 
ernor of  this  town  by  Ormoud,  who 
sent  1,000  men  to  its  relief,  but  the 
citizens  had  no  confidence  in  the  wily 
marquis,  and  positively  refused  to  ad- 
mit his  troops.  The  defection  of  Inchi- 
quin's  men  fully  justified  their  distrust; 
but  they  at  length  consented  to  receive 
500  of  the  Ulster  Catholics,  command- 
ed by  Farrell,  one  of  Owen  Roe's  f^ivor- 
ite  officers.  The  strong  fort  of  Passage 
surrendered  without  firing  a  shot,  so 
that  the  citizens  of  Waterford  found 
themselves  in  a  most  disheartening  po- 
sition ;  but  the  determination  which 
they  exhibited,  backed  by  the  appear- 
ance of  Ormond's  force,  which  lay  en- 
camped opposite  the  city,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Suir,  was  such  that  Crom- 
well, who  ajij^roached  from  the  south. 


ORMOND   DISTRUSTED   BY  THE   CATHOLICS. 


539 


raised  the  siege  after  a  few  days,  and 
marched  to  Duugarvan.  Here  he  ar- 
rived ou  the  4th  of  December,  and  the 
town  having  surrendered  at  discretion, 
he  proceeded  to  Youghal.  Fresh  sup- 
plies reached  him  here  by  sea  from 
Eua'laud,  and  ou  the  I7th  he  marched 
with  Lord  Broghill  to  Cork  where  he 
was  joined  by  Ii'eton. 

Ormond's  baleful  influence  had  been 
everywhere  productive  of  misfortune, 
and  the  Catholics  were  persuaded  that 
he  aud  Inchiquiu  were  leagued  together 
for  no  good  purpose.  The  citizens  of 
Waterford  would  not  allow  any  of  Or- 
mond's  men  inside  their  walls,  even  for 
the  purpose  of  passing  through  the  city 
to  attemjDt  the  recovery  of  the  fort  of 
Passasre.  None  of  the  southern  towns 
except  Clonmel  and  Kilkenny  would 
aflFord  wiuter-quarters  to  his  troops, 
who  w^ere,  therefore,  allowed  to  dis- 
perse aud  shift  for  themselves;  and 
thus  perplexed  he  wrote  to  the  king  to 
ask  permission  to  remove  himself  and 
the  royal  authority  from  the  kingdom. 
He  had  sent  Daniel  O'Neill  wit|^2,000 
men  to  succor  the  lord  of  Ards  Sd  Sir 
George  Monroe,  but  the  help  came  too 
late.  On  the  13th  of  December  Coote 
took  possession  of  Carrickfergus  for  the 
parliament. 

A.  D.  1650. — Impatient  of  a  few  daj-s 
inactivity,  even  in  mid-winter,  Crom- 
well set  out  from  Youghal  on  the  29th 
of  January,  and  crossing  the  Blackwater 
at  Mallow  he  ajiproached  the  confines 
of  Limerick  ;  and  then  entering  Tippe- 
rary,  south  of  the  Galtees,  marched  by 


Clogheen  and  Rochestown  to  Fethard, 
taking  sundry  castles  and  strong  places 
on  his  route.  He  ai'rived  before  the 
last-named  town  at  midnight,  in  the 
midst  of  a  terrific  tempest,  and  a  Crom- 
wellian  writer  of  the  period  has  left  an 
amusing  account  of  the  ludicrous  efi:ect 
produced  on  the  municipal  authorities 
by  his  summons  at  such  an  unseasona- 
ble hour  and  in  such  a  night.  He  had 
only  a  few  troops  with  him,  and  no  ma- 
terials for  a  siege ;  and  as  he  could  find 
no  shelter  outside  the  town  but  the 
ruins  of  an  old  abbey,  and  a  few  cabins, 
he  was  glad,  even  at  the  cost  of  grant- 
ing honorable  terms,  to  get  a  roof  over 
him  in  the  morning.  The  governor, 
who  boasted  that  his  town  was  not  lost 
without  a  storm,  wished  to  treat  Oliver 
to  some  refreshment,  which  the  latter, 
it  appears,  had  not  the  urbanity  to 
accept*  The  authorities  of  Cashel 
brought  the  keys  of  their  town  to  him; 
and  from  Fethard  lie  marched  to  Cal- 
lan,  in  the  county  of  Kilkenny,  where 
he  was  joined  by  Reynolds,  and  where 
two  castles,  having  offered  a  brave  re- 
sistance, were  taken,  and  their  gan-isons 
put  to  the  sword.  Cromwell  was  now 
marching  to  Kilkenny,  where  an  officer 
named  Tickel  had  secretly  promised  to 
open  one  of  the  gates  to  him ;  but  the 
treason  having  been  discovered  and 
Tickel  executed,  Cromwell  left  a  gar- 
rison at  Callan,  and  returned  to  Feth- 
ard and  Cashel.  As  spring  approached 
supplies  of  men,  money,  and  military 

*  See  the  Irish  Mercury,  news  pamplilct  of  the  time. 


540 


CROMWELL. 


stores  were  sent  to  bim  in  abundance 
by  the  parliament ;  and  on  the  other 
side  Ormond  gave  up  the  command  of 
the  few  troops  he  retained  in  Leiuster 
to  Castlehaven,  and  withdrew  to  Clare 
and  Conuau2;ht. 

After  the  reconciliation  of  O'Neill 
with  Ormond,  Heber  MacMahon,  bishop 
of  Clogher,  who  was  so  devotedly  at- 
tached to  the  northern  chief,  became 
Ormond's  firm  supporter.  At  a  con- 
gi-egation  of  twenty  bishops,  and  the 
proxies  of  five  other  prelates,  who  as- 
sembled at  Clonmacnoise  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1649,  to  consider  the  deplor- 
able state  to  which  the  country  had 
been  reduced  by  war  and  pestilence,  it 
is  asserted  that  the  influence  of  the  he- 
roic bishop  of  Clogher  was  very  strenu- 
ously exerted  in  favor  of  the  marquis 
and  the  royal  cause.  On  this  occasion 
the  prelates  published  a  declaration  en- 
joining in  the  most  earnest  manner 
union  and  amity  among  both  clergy 
and  people,  "letting  the  people  know 
how  vain  it  was  for  them  to  expect 
from  the  common  enemy  commanded 
by  Cromwell,  by  authority  from  the 
rebels  of  England,  any  assurance  of 
their  religion,  lives,  or  fortunes ;"  and 
finally  beseeching  "  the  gentry  and  in- 
liabitants,  for  God's  glory  and  their 
own  safety,  to  the  uttermost  of  their 
power  to  contribute,  witli  patience,  to 


*  Borlase,  pp.  23G-238. 

I  For  some  years  about  this  time  the  plague  and  other 
epidemic  diseases  raged  almost  incessantly  in  various 
parts  of  tliis  country.  So  many  as  17,000  persons  are 
said  to  have  been  carried  off  by  the  pestilence  in  Dublin 
alone  during  1630-51 ;  and  we  have  details  of  its  ravages 


the  support  of  the  war  against  that 
enemy."*  The  people,  however,  were 
weary  of  the  war,  and  the  disafi"ection 
towards  Ormond  continued.  A  meet- 
ing of  county  representatives  was  held 
at  Kilkenny  to  promote  union,  but  the 
approach  of  Cromwell  obliged  them  to 
fly,  and  they  resumed  their  fruitless  de- 
liberations at  Ennis.  Discord  and  dis- 
trust prevailed  in  the  ranks  of  the 
royalists.  At  Gowran,  in  the  county 
Kilkenny,  the  soldiers  mutinied  and  de- 
livered up  their  officers  to  Cromwell, 
who  ordered  Colonel  Hammond  and 
the  other  principal  officers  to  be  shot, 
and  hanged  a  priest  who  was  found  in 
the  town. 

Imagination  can  hardly  jDicture  any 
thing  more  dismal  than  the  condition  of 
the  citizens  of  Kilkenny  when  Crom- 
well and  his  army  appeared  before 
their  walls  on  the  22d  of  March,  1650. 
Within  raged  a  frightful  pestilence, 
which  had  reduced  the  garrison  from 
1,200  men  to  about  400 ;  without  stood 
a  foe  as  inhuman  as  he  was  apparently 
invincible.  Heaven  and  earth  seemed 
leagued  against  them ;  so  that  some 
troops  ordered  by  Castlehaven  to  their 
relief  refused  to  march;  saying  that 
they  were  ready  to  fight  against  men, 
but  not  against  God :  alluding  to  the 
plague,  which  threatened  certain  death 
within    the    devoted    city.f      Yet   the 

about  the  same  tiaie  in  Kilkenny,  Limerick,  Cork,  Gal- 
waj',  and  other  towns.  These  pestilential  visitations 
were  creceded  by  famine  ;  and,  resulting  from  long  sieges 
and  such  incidents  of  war,  have  been  classed  as  leaguer 
sicknesses  by  medical  writers.  They  were  followed,  a 
few  years  later,  by  the  true  bubonic  or  oriental  i^lague. 


Ta 

^ 

u 

t-^\ 

\^. 

9 

SIEGE   OF   CARRIGADROHID. 


541 


summons  of  Cromwell  to  surrender  was 
answered  by  a  stern  defiance.  The  at- 
tack was  then  commenced  by  can- 
nonading the  castle,  which  was  defend- 
ed by  Major  James  Walsh,  Sir  Walter 
Butler  being  governor  of  the  town.  The 
defence  was  as  brave  as  it  must  have 
been  hojDeless ;  but  the  place  was  at 
length  yielded  on  the  28th,  and  Crom- 
^vell  hastened  to  lay  siege  to  Clonmel, 
where  the  garrison  was  commanded  by 
Hugh  Duv  O'Neill,  and  where  Oliver 
was  destined  to  encounter  the  most 
vigorous  resistance  that  he  met  Avith 
during  the  whole  of  his  Irish  campaign. 
News    was    brouarht    to     Cromwell 

O 

while  before  Clonmel  that  the  bishop 
of  Ross  had  collected  a  large  army  in 
the  south,  and  was  approaching  to  raise 
the  siege.  Lord  Broghill,  who  was  in 
Cork,  received  reinforcements  from 
Cromwell,  and  with  an  efficient  army, 
composed  ehiefly  of  cavalry,  hastened 
with  extraordinary  expedition  to  inter- 
cept the  march  of  the  Irish.  A  battle 
was  foucrht  near  Macroom,  in  which  the 
Irish  were  routed,  and  the  bishop  of 
Ross  being  made  prisoner,  was  offered 
his  life  and  libertj^  if  he  prevailed  on 
the  garrison  of  Carrigadrohid,  a  strong 
castle  on  the  river  Lee,  three  miles 
from  Macroom,  to  surrender.  Lie  was 
brought  before  the  castle  for  the  pur- 
jjose,  but  the  heroic  bishop  exhorted 

See  the  authorities  on  the  subject  collected  by  Dr.  "Wilde 
in  his  report  of  Tables  of  Deaths,  Census  of  1851. 

*  Carrigadrohid  was  soon  alter  obtained  by  a  very 
sUly  stratagem,  the  besiegers  causing  a  few  team  of  oxen 
to  draw  weighty  logs  of  timber,  which  the  garrison  sup- 


the  garrison  to  defend  their  post  to  the 
last,  and  was  himself  immediately 
hanged  in  their  sight  by  Lord  Brog- 
hill's  order.*  These  events  produced 
great  joy  in  the  camp  before  Clonmel, 
and  preparations  were  made  for  a  final 
attack  on  the  beleaguered  town  on  the 
9th  of  May.  If,  after  he  had  offered 
terms,  a  garrison  held  out  for  some 
time  ere  it  surrendered,  it  was  Crom- 
well's practice  to  shoot  the  officers,  as 
he  had  done  at  Gowran ;  but  if  he  con- 
sidered the  resistance  to  have  been  too 
obstinate,  he  usually  put  the  whole  gar- 
rison to  the  sword,  as  at  Drogheda, 
Wexford,  Callan,  and  elsewhere.  The 
desperation  with  which  he  was  resisted 
at  Clonmel  made  him  pay  dearly  for 
this  sanguinary  policy.  His  storming 
parties  were  twice  hurled  back  from 
the  breach  with  terrific  slaughter.  The 
shattered  houses  inside  the  breach  were 
filled  with  O'Neill's  gallant  northerns, 
who  fought  with  the  energy  of  despair, 
and  were  resolved  to  hold  their  ground 
to  the  last  man.  But  at  length  night 
put  aq  end  to  the  fierce  struggle,  and 
the  garrison  having  exhausted  their 
ammunition,  and  all  having  agreed 
that  the  place  was  no  longer  tenable, 
O'Neill  marched  off  his  men  under 
cover  of  the  darkness,  and  withdrew 
to  Waterford,  while  the  townspeople 
made  favorable  terms  for   themselves. 


posed  to  be  cannon,  and  terms  of  capitulation  were  at 
once  agreed  to.  See  Cos  ;  and  Smith's  History  of  Cork. 
The  date  of  the  battle  of  Macroom  is  variously  given  at 
the  10th  of  April  and  the  10th  of  May.  The  former  ap- 
pears to  be  the  correct  one. 


542 


CROMWELL. 


and  in  tlie  morning  opened  their  gates 
to  Cromwell,  who  only  then  discovered 
that  the  garrison  had  departed.  He 
lost  2,500  of  his  men  befoi'e  Clonmel, 
and  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  "  had 
like  to  Lring  his  noble  to  a  ninepence." 
He  had  already  received  pressing  dis- 
patches from  the  parliament,  urging 
him  to  return  as  speedily  as  possible  to 
England,  where  a  storm  was  threaten- 
ing from  the  north ;  and  having  com- 
mitted the  command  of  the  army  to 
Ireton,  who  had  been  made  lord- 
president  of  Muustei-,  he  sailed  from 
Yonghal  on  the  29th  of  May. 

In  the  north  Heber  MacMahon  strug- 
srled  for  some  time,  with  occasional  sue- 
cess,  against  numerous  foes ;  but  his 
army  received  a  total  overthrow,  on  the 
21st  of  June,  at  the  pass  of  Scarrifhol- 
lis,  on  the  river  Swilly,  near  Letter- 
keuny,  from  the  forces  of  Sir  Charles 
Coote  and  Colonel  Venables.  The 
battle  was  lost  through  the  indiscretion 
of  MacMahon,  who  unfortunately  led 
his  army  where  it  was  exposed  to  the 
enemy   on   both    sides,  and   was    com- 


*  If  ever  there  were  circumstances  wliicli  could  render 
military  strife  compatible  with  the  clerical  character, 
they  were  those  presented  by  the  state  of  Ireland  at  the 
troubled  period  under  our  notice.  Catholics  and  their 
religion  were  threatened  with  extermination.  Their 
struggle  was  not  aggressive ;  it  was  for  their  faith  and 
their  lives  ;  and  forbearance,  which  entailed  evils  not 
alone  on  themselves  but  on  countless  generations  after 
them,  would  have  been  a  crime.  Among  the  Irish  ec- 
clesiastics who  were  thus  forced  to  become  the  leaders 
of  their  people  in  the  battle-field,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished was  Heber  MacMahon,  bishop  of  Clogher.  Ho 
is  first,  strangely  enough,  introduced  to  us  while  a 
simple  priest,  during  the  government  of  Lord  Strafford, 
giving  private  information  to  Sir  George  Radcliffe  of  the 


pelled  to  hazard  a  bivttle,  although  the 
English  cavalry  were  more  than  twice 
as  numerous  as  his.  The  northern 
army  was  comj^letely  annihilated  on 
this  occasion ;  and  two  days  after  Heber 
MacMahon  himself  was  made  prisoner 
near  Omagh,  by  Major  King,  and  al- 
though promised  quarter,  was  shame- 
fully hanged  by  order  of  Coote,  not- 
withstanding the  service  which,  in 
concert  with  Owen  Roe,  he  had  ren- 
dered to  him  at  Londonderry  less  than 
a  year  before.* 

The  detached  Irish  garrisons  through 
Leinster  and  Muuster  were  easily  re- 
duced by  Hewson,  Broghill,  and  other 
parliamentarian  officers ;  and  under 
color  of  hunting  down  the  unhappy 
outlaws,  who  Avere  driven  to  lead  in  the 
woods  the  wild  life  of  fi-eebootei's,  and 
were  called  "  tories,"  many  acts  of  fe- 
rocity were  committed,  in  which  the 
harmless  country-people  were  the  vic- 
tims. The  Cromvvellian  colonel,  Zan- 
chy,  distinguished  himself  in  these  ser- 
vices. Preston,  who  had  assumed  the 
government  of  Waterford,  surrendered 


movements  among  the  Irish  refugees  abroad  ;  and  his 
object  then,  no  doubt,  was  to  avert  the  anarchy  of  civil 
war ;  but  a  further  knowledge  of  the  dangers  of  his 
country  induced  him  to  become  one  of  the  first  associates 
of  Sir  Phclim  O'Neill  and  Lord  Maguire  in  the  con 
epiracy  of  1641,  and  he  ever  after  continued  a  firm  and 
consistent  upholder  in  the  council  and  the  field  of 
the  thorough  Irish  and  Catholic  party,  headed  by 
his  friend  Owen  Roe  O'Neill.  He  was  lamented  by 
the  Ormondists,  whose  cause  he  took  up  warmly 
when  O'Neill's  junction  with  them,  and  the  barbar- 
ities of  CromwcU,  had  tended  to  identify  them  ■n-ith 
the  Catholic  party.  See  the  notice  of  him  in  Claren- 
don's History  of  the  Civil  Wars  in  Ireland,  p.  186,  &e., 
ed.  1756. 


THE  BISHOPS'   INTERVENTION  SOLICITED. 


543 


tliat  city  to  Ireton  on  the  lOth  of 
August.  The  fort  of  Duncannon  fol- 
lowed.  The  city  of  Limerick,  the  castle 
of  Athlone,  and  the  whole  of  Connaught 
and  Clare  still,  however,  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  Catholics. 

Ormond  finding  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Limerick  refused  to  receive  from  him 
a  gari'ison,  solicited  the  intervention  of 
the  Catholic  bishops,  who  accordingly 
met  in  that  city  on  the  8th  of  March. 
Their  suggestions  were  not  very  pala- 
table to  the  marquis,  who  withdrew  to 
Loughrea,  where  the  bishops  held  an 
adjourned  meeting,  and  on  the  28th  of 
March  published  a  declaration,  express- 
ing their  conviction  that  the  national 
loyalty  was  unshaken,  although  the 
people  had  ground  enough  for  distrust 
and  jealousy,  and  urging  that  some  set- 
tled coui'se  should  be  taken  to  giv« 
them  confidence.  There  was  surely 
nothing  in  the  antecedents  of  Ormond 
or  Inchiquiu  which  could  induce  the 
Irish  Catholics  to  place  reliance  on 
them ;  and  it  was  said  that  at  this  very 
time  they  were  treating  with  the  Crom- 
wellian  authorities  for  the  admission 
of  the  Protestant  party  among  the 
royalists  to  protection.  Hugh  O'Xeill, 
the  gallant  defender  of  Clonmel,  was 
now  governor  of  Limerick,  and  it  was 
probably  at  his  suggestion  that  the 
magistrates  invited  Ormond  to  come 
and  settle  the  garrison ;  but  as  soon  as 
the  marquis  appeared  at  the  gate  a 
popular  tumult  arose,  and  he  was  pre- 
vented from  enterinof.  He  then  re- 
turned  to  Connaught,  where  he  found 


that  Galway  had  followed  the  example 
of  Limerick.  On  the  6th  of  August,  a 
congregation  of  the  bishops  and  clergy 
met  at  Jamestown,  in  the  county  of 
Leitrim,  and  on  the  12th,  deputed  the 
bishop  of  Dromore  and  Dr.  Charles 
Kelly  with  a  message  to  Ormond,  rec- 
ommending him,  as  the  "  only  remedy 
for  the  preservation  of  the  nation  and 
of  his  majesty's  interest  therein,"  to 
withdraw  from  the  kingdom  and  to 
delegate  the  royal  authority  to  some 
person  in  whom  the  people  might 
have  confidence.  This  was  a  deadly 
wound  to  the  pride  of  the  haughty 
Ormond.  He  replied,  that  he  would 
not  retire  from  the  countr}^  until  neces- 
sity compelled  him;  and  the  bishops 
published  a  declaration  denouncing 
"the  continuance  of  his  majesty's  au- 
thoiity  in  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  for 
the  misgovernment  of  the  subjects,  the 
ill-conduct  of  the  army,  and  the  viola- 
tion of  the  peace."  In  fine,  they 
threatened  to  present  articles  of  im- 
peachment against  him  to  the  king, 
and  published  an  excommunication 
against  all  who  would  adhere  to  him, 
or  yield  him  subsidy  or  obedience,  or 
who  would  support  Cromwell's  govern- 
ment. 

That  the  bishops  were  not  mistaken 
in  the  course  which  they  had  pureued 
was  soon  made  evident  by  the  news 
from  Scotland,  where  Charles  II.  had 
landed  on  the  28th  of  June,  and  had 
not  only  subscribed  the  national  and 
solemn  covenants,  but,  to  gratify  the 
fierce  bigotry  of  the  Scots,  had,  on  the 


544 


CROMWELL. 


16tli  of  August,  signed  a  declaration 
pronouncing  the  peace  with  the  Irisli 
to  he  null  and  void,  adding,  ''  that  lie 
was  convinced  in  his  conscience  of  the 
sinfulness  and  unlawfulness  of  it,  and 
of  allowing  them  (the  Catholics)  the 
liberty  of  the  Popish  religion ;  for 
which  he  did,  from  his  heart,  desirfi  to 
be  deeply  humbled  before  the  Lord." 
The  news  of  this  infamous  act  of  du- 
plicity reached  Ireland  before  the 
Jamestown  excommunication  was  pub- 
lished, and  afforded  the  amplest  justifi- 
cation of  the  strong  measures  adoj)ted 
by  the  clergy.  Ormond,  who  was  con- 
founded by  such  a  premature  disclosure 
of  his  master's  principles,  protested 
that  the  peace  should  be  iipheld,  and 
cast  the  blame  of  the  royal  declaration 
on  Scottish  fanaticism.  But  the  sequel 
will  show  that  Charles  was  capable  of 
still  greater  perfidy  to  his  friends.  The 
Catholic  noblemen  and  gentry  felt  their 
position  embarrassing;  but  the  bishops, 
who,  alone,  seemed  to  understand  the 
dangers  to  be  apprehended,  and  the 
characters  of  the  men  they  had  to  deal 
wijh,  remained  firm.  Ormond  sum- 
moned a  general  assembly,  which  met 
at  Loughrea  on  the  15th  of  November, 
while  he  stopped  at  Kilcolgan,  about 
ten  miles  distant;  but  the  time  was 
wasted  in   recriminatory  messages  be- 


*  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Incliiquin  subseqently  be- 
came a  Catholic  ;  and  Borlase  refers  to  his  change  of  re- 
ligion as  the  only  cause  of  his  being  refused  the  presi- 
dency of  Minister  after  the  restoration,  a  similar  change 
preventing  the  appointment  of  Viscount  Dillon,  of  Cos- 
tello,  as  president  of  Connaught.  (Hid.  of  (he  It.  Rtb. 
p.  2T8.)  Incliiquin  was  created  earl  by  Charles  II.,  at 
Cologne,  in  1654  ;  he  obtained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-^ 


tween  him  and  the  meetins::  and,  at 
length,  having  left  power  to  the  mar- 
quis of  Clanrickard  to  assume  the  du- 
ties of  lord-deputy,  provided  the  assem- 
bly engaged  to  obey  him,  he  embarked 
at  Galway,  about  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber, accompanied  by  Lord  Lichiquin,* 
Colonels  Vaughan,  Wogan,  and  Daniel 
O'Neill,  and  about  twenty  other  per- 
sons of  distinction,  and  after  a  tempest- 
uous voyage,  in  which  a  vessel  contain- 
ing his  baggage,  servants,  and  some  pas- 
sengers was  lost,  arrived  the  following 
month  at  St.  Malo,  in  Brittany.  To 
Castlehaven,  who  reluctantly  remained 
behind,  he  intrusted  the  command  of 
the  army,  with  an  injunction  to  keep 
up  a  bustle,  as  that  frivolous  noble- 
man expresses  it,  to  divert  a  part  of 
the  enemy's  attention  to  this  country, 
while  King  Charles  was  preparing  to 
cross  the  Tweed  into  England.  Com- 
missioners were  soon  after  deputed  by 
the  parliament  to  treat  with  the  assem- 
bly for  a  final  submission  of  the  nation, 
on  favorable  terms ;  but  the  extreme 
loyalists  scouted  such  an  arrangement, 
although  the  Irish  decidedly  sacrificed 
their  interests  in  rejecting  it. 

A.  D.  1651. — The  new  year  found  the 
assembly  deeply  engaged  in  the  discus- 
sion of  a  project  for  mortgaging  the 
town  of  Galway  and  some  other  places 

general  in  the  French  service ;  was  made  French  gov- 
ernor of  Catalonia ;  and  was  captured  by  an  Algerine 
corsair  when  engaged  on  an  expedition  against  Spain. 
He  died  in  1673,  and  by  his  will  left  £20  to  the  Francis- 
can friars  of  Ennis,  and  also  a  sum  "  for  the  performance 
of  the  usual  duties  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  and 
for  other  pious  uses."     See  Lodge. 


REDUCTION   OF   LIMERICK. 


545 


to  the  duke  of  Lorraine  for  a  sum  of 
money  to  be  advanced  for  supporting 
the  royal  cause  in  Ireland.  The  abbot 
of  St.  Catherine  arrived  in  Galway 
about  the  end  of  Febniarj^,  as  an  envoy 
from  the  duke;  but  Claurickard  thought 
his  demands  exorbitant,  and  Sir  Nich- 
olas Plunkett  and  Geoffrey  Brown  were 
sent  to  Flanders  to  treat  with  the  duke 
himself  The  bishop  of  Ferns  went  on 
the  same  errand,  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy,  and  Lord  Taafte,  who  had  left 
L'eland  before  Ormond,  had  received 
instructions  for  the  like  purpose.,  long 
before  this,  from  the  duke  of  York — 
the  king  being  in  Scotland.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  p)atriotic  bishoj:)  of  Ferns 
prevailed,  it  is  said,  Avith  the  lay  agents, 
who,  disregarding  the  instructions  of 
Clanrickard,  signed,  iu  the  name  of  the 
people  and  kingdom  of  L'eland,  an 
aefreement  with  the  duke  of  Lorraine, 
who  was  to  be  invested  with  royal 
powers,  under  the  title  of  Protector  of 
Ireland,  he,  on  his  part,  undertaking  to 
prosecute  the  king's  enemies,  and  to 
restore  the  kingdom,  and  the  Catholic 
religion,  to  their  pristine  state.  For 
the  outlay  which  all  this  Avould  require 
he  was  to  be  hereafter  reimbursed; 
and,  as  a  guarantee,  was  to  be  placed 
in  jiossession  of  Galway,  Limerick, 
Athenry,  and  Athlone ;  and  also  of 
Waterford  and  Duncannon  when  they 
could  be  recovered  from  the  enemy. 
This  agreement,  which  was  signed  on 
the  22d  of  July,  1651,  was  repudiated 
by  Clanrickard,  and  became  a  dead 
letter,  although   the  duke   of  Lorraine 


had  already  advanced  £20,000  on  the 
strength  of  the  negotiations.  The  af- 
fairs of  Charles  II.  were  reduced  to  a 
hopeless  state  after  the  battle  of  "Wor- 
cester (September  3d,  1651).  The 
Irish  towns  mentioned  as  security  soon 
fell  under  the  power  of  parliament,  and 
thg  duke  of  Lorraine  left  Ireland  to  its 
sad  destiny. 

The  reduction  of  Limerick  was  the 
next  object  of  importance  to  Ireton, 
who  began  his  operations  against  that 
city  early  in  1651.  The  parliamenta- 
rians had  as  yet  no  footing  on  the 
Clare  side  of  the  Shannon,  and  until 
that  was  obtained  Limerick  could  not 
be  effectually  invested.  Coote  made  a 
feint  to  attack  Sligo,  and  having  thus 
drawn  Clanrickard  and  his  forces  to 
that  quarter,  made  a  forced  march  across 
the  Curlieu  mountains  and  attacked 
Athlone  on  the  Connaught  side,  taking 
that  important  fortress  before  any  re- 
lief could  be  rendered  to  it.  The  road 
into  Connaught  being  thus  open,  and 
Galway  threatened,  Claurickard  called 
Castlehavea  to  consult  with  him.  In 
the  absence  of  that  general,  who 
guarded  the  Clare  side  of  the  Shannon, 
Ireton  forced  the  passage  of  the  river 
at  O'Brien's  bridge,  and  Colonel  Fen- 
nel), who  commanded  at  Killaloe,  aban- 
doned his  post,  through  cowardice  or 
treachery,  so  that  Castlehaven's  ti'oops 
M'ere  dispersed,  and  Ireton  enabled  to 
invest  Limerick  on  both  sides.  Lord 
Muskerry  raised  a  considerable  body 
of  men  in  the  south  to  come  to  its  re- 
lief; but   Lord  Broghill  hastened,  by 


546 


CROMWELL. 


Iretou's  orders,  to  intercept  tliem  ;  and, 
ou  the  26tli  of  July,  coming  up  with  the 
advance  guard  of  the  Irish  near  Castle- 
ishen,  iu  the  county  of  Cork,  drove 
them  back  ujion  their  main  body.  A 
hard  contested  fight  ensued  at  Knock- 
uaclashy,  where  the  hastily  collected 
masses  of  the  Irish  were  routed  with 
great  slaughter.  Most  of  the  Irish 
officers  were  slain,  and  Colonel  Magilla- 
cuddy  was  taken  prisoner.  In  the 
mean  time  the  siege  was  carried  on  with 
great  energy.  The  castle  at  the  sal- 
mon-weir having  been  attacked,  its 
garrison  retreated  in  boats,  and  some 
of  them  who  surrendered  on  quarter 
were  butchered  iu  cold  blood ;  so  that 
even  Ireton,  fearing  the  Irish  Avould  be 
driven  to  desperation,  discouraged  this 
brutality  on  the  part  of  his  officers. 
The  besiegers  lost  120  men  in  the  first 
attempt  to  laud  on  the  King's  Island, 
and  300  more  were  cut  ofl:'  in  a  sally 
of  the  besieged ;  soon  after,  however,  a 
bridge  was  constructed  to  the  island, 
and  6,000  troops  marched  over,  and 
erected  a  strong  fort  there.  The  plague 
raged  within  the  city,  and  many  per- 
sons having  attemjjted  to  escape,  some 
of  them  were  taken  by  order  of  the 
merciless  Ireton  to  be  executed,  and 
others  were  whijiped  back  to  the  town. 
The  authority  of  the  governor,  Hugh 
O'Xeill,  was  rendered  nugatory  by  the 
corporation  and  magistrates ;  aud  some 

*  Dr.  Burli.e'siribernica  Doniinicana,  p.  5G8.  Tlio  bishop 
was  ignomiuiously  banged  and  beheaded,  and  his  head 
spiked  on  a  tower  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  on  the  eve  of 
of  All-Sainta  (October  31st),  and  Ireton  was  a  corpse  on 


discontented  persons  within  the  city 
commenced  negotiations  with  the  enemy 
for  a  capitulation.  At  length,  on  the 
27th  of  October,  Colonel  Fennell,  who 
betrayed  the  pass  of  Killaloe,  combined 
with  some  other  officers,  and  seizing  St. 
John's  gate  and  tower,  turned  the  can- 
non against  the  city,  and  received  200 
of  Iretou's  men  into  the  gate  that  night. 
The  acceptance  of  Iretou's  hard  terms 
was  thus  made  compulsory ;  and  2,500 
Irish  soldiers  having  laid  down  their 
arms  on  the  29th  in  St.  Mary's  church, 
and  marched  out  of  the  city,  some  of 
them  dropping  dead  of  the  plague  on 
the  way.  Limerick  was  delivered  into 
the  hands  of  Ireton,  and  Sir  Hardress 
Waller  appointed  governor.  By  the 
articles  of  capitulation  twenty-four  jier- 
sons  were  excepted  from  quarter.  Of 
these,  Terence  O'Brien,  bishop  of  Emly, 
General  Purcell,  and  Father  Wolfe,  a 
Fransciscan,  were  found  concealed  in 
the  pest-house,  and  were  among  the 
first  dragged  to  the  scaffold.  Purcell 
showed  a  faint  S25irit,  and  was  held  up 
by  two  soldiers  at  the  place  of  execu- 
tion. The  bishop,  ou  the  contrary,  ex- 
hibited heroic  fortitude.  All  along  he 
had  strenuously  exhorted  the  Irish  to 
hold  out  against  Cromwell's  forces,  and 
now  addressing  Ireton  in  a  solemn  tone, 
he  summoned  him  to  appear  iu  a  few 
days  to  answer  for  his  cruelties  and  in- 
justice   before   the    tribunal   of  God.* 


the  35th  of  November.  This  dark-minded  general  was 
at  the  bottom  of  all  Cromwell's  counsels,  and  is  held  ac- 
countable for  some  of  his  cruelties.  He  was  cold,  reserved, 
absolute,  and  inexorable.    During  the  siege  of  Limerick, 


LUDLOW  MADE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


547 


The  words  seemed  prophetic,  for  eight 
days  after  Iretou  caught  the  plague, 
aud  in  less  than  a  month  he  died 
"  raging  and  raving  of  this  unfortunate 
prelate,  whose  unjust  condemnation, 
he  imagined,  hurried  on  his  death." 
Sir  Geoffrey  Gahvey,  Alderman  Thomas 
Stritch,  Alderman  Fanning,  aud  Geoff- 
rey Barron,  the  latter  having  only  just 
returned  from  Brussels,  were  executed ; 
as  was  also  the  traitor  Fennell,  although 
sentenced  for  other  causes.  O'Dwyer, 
bishop  of  Limerick,  escaped  to  Brussels, 
where  he  died.  The  governor,  Hugh 
O'Neill,  had,  by  his  former  defence  of 
Clonmel,  and  his  recent  stand  in  Lim- 
erick, provoked  Ireton  too  much  to  ex- 
pect mercy.  He  was  tried,  and,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  gloomy  republican, 
sentenced  to  death ;  but  as  he  had  al- 
ways shown  himself  a  brave  soldier 
and  an  honorable  foe,  some  of  the  offi- 
cers expostulated,  and  L'eton  reluctantly 
consented  to  a  second  trial,  Avhen  the 
life  of  the  gallant  Hugh  was  saved  by 
a  single  vote.* 

A.  D.  1652. — On  the  death  of  L-eton, 
Lieutenaut-General  Edmond  Ludlow 
Avas  made  commander-in-chief  until  the 
orders  of  parliament  could  be  received. 
He  marched  to  the  aid  of  Sir  Charles 
Coote,  who  was  besieging  Galway, 
which  town  was  surrendered  on  the 
12th  of  May;  General  Preston,  its  gov- 
ernor, having  some  time  before  made 
his  escape  by  sea.     The  few  detached 

some  of  tlie  Fathers  of  the  Mission  sent  by  their  founder, 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  were  in  the  city,  and  their  preach- 
ing produced  extraordinary  spiritual  fruita. 


garrisons  which  the  Irish  still  held 
were  reduced  in  succession,  and  the 
isolated  leaders  who  continued  under 
arms  made  terms  for  themselves  and 
their  followers  without  any  common 
concert.  Colonel  Fitzpatrick  was  the 
first  to  lay  down  his  arms  in  this 
way ;  Colonels  O'Dwyer  and  Turlough 
O'Xeill,  the  earl  of  Westmeath,  and 
Lord  Enniskillen,  acted  in  a  similar 
manner.  The  terms  generally  were  for 
permission  to  reside  under  the  com- 
monwealth, or  to  enter  the  service  of  a 
foreign  prince  in  amity  with  England ; 
but  this  mercy  was  not  extended  to 
those  who  took  up  arms  in  the  first 
year  of  the  war,  or  belonged  to  the 
first  general  assembly,  or  who  had  com- 
mitted murder,  or  taken  orders  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  ^  Lord  Muskerry  sur- 
rendered the  strong  castle  of  Ross,  near 
Killarney,  to  Ludlow,  on  the  2'7th  of 
June.  One  of  the  last  chieftains  of 
note  who  capitulated  was  Colonel 
Richard  Grace,  Avith  whom  1,250  men 
laid  down  their  arms.  Clanrickard 
sent  CastlehaA^en  to  Charles  IL  for  his 
last  instructions.  That  lord  did  not  re- 
turn, but  sent  the  king's  answer  to  the 
message,  which  was  to  make  the  best 
conditions  he  could  for  himself;  and  on 
the  11th  of  October,  being  then  sur- 
rounded by  the  enemy  at  Carrick,  Clan- 
rickard accepted  a  pass  from  the  parlia- 
mentarian authorities,  Avith  liberty  to 
transport  himself  f  and  3,000  of  his  fol- 


*  Ludlow's  Memoirs,  vol.  i.,  p.  379. 
■j-  Clanrickard  did  not  go  to  the  continent,  but  retired 
to  an  estate  which  he  had  at   Sunimerhill,  in  Kent, 


54S 


CROMWELL. 


lowers  to  a  foreign  country  within  three 
months.  Thus  was  the  last  vestige  of 
royal  authority  withdrawn  from  Ire- 
land. 

The  ruin  that  now  overspread  the 
face  of  Ireland  must  have  been  dark 
and  sorrowful  enough,  but  the  measure 
of  her  woes  was  yet  to  be  filled  up. 
War,  and  famine,  and  pestilence  had 
done  their  share,  but  the  rapine  and 
vengeance  which  assumed  the  name  of 
law  had  yet  to  complete  the  work  of 
desolation.  "  The  sword  of  extermina- 
tion," says  an  Irish  historian,  "had 
passed  over  the  land,  and  the  soldier 
sat  down  to  banquet  on  the  hereditary 
j3ossessions  of  the  natives."*  Cromwell 
and  his  council  had  indeed  seriously 
contemplated  the  utter  extirpation  of 
the  Irish  race ;  but  that  fiendish  project 
appeared  still  too  difiicult,  and  even  to 
them  too  revolting,f  and.  accordingly, 
by  the  act  for  the  settlement  of  Ireland, 
passed  by  the  English  parliament,  Au- 
gust 12,  1652,  it  was  decreed  that  full 
pardon  should  be  granted  to  "  all  hus- 
bandmen and  others  of  the  infeiior  sort 
not  possessed  of  lands  or  goods  exceed- 
ing the  value  of  £10 ;"  while  persons 
of  property  were  to  be  otherwise  dis- 
posed of  according  to  a  certain  classifi- 
cation. Those  comprehended  under  the 
first  six  heads  set  forth  in  the  act — and 
they  comprised,    all   the   great  landed 


■wliere  lie  died  in  1657.  (ArchdnlVs  Lodge,  i.,  136.) 
He  ^vas  courteous  and  liumano,  but  not  a  man  of 
shining  abilities.  His  sj-mpatliies  were  -wholly  Eng. 
lish ;  he  was  a  Catholic,  but  his  religion  was  merged 
in  his  loyalty;  yet  in  the  early  years  of  the  confed- 
eration he  often   expostulated   with   Ormond  on  his 


proprietors  and  all  the  Catholic  clergy 
— were  excepted  from  pardon  of  life  or 
estate ;  others,  who  merely  held  com- 
missions as  oSicers  in  the  royalist  army, 
were  to  be  banished,  and.  forfeit  their 
estates,  except  the  equivalent  to  one- 
third,  which  would  be  assigned  for  the 
support  of  their  wives  and  children ; 
those  who,  although  opposed  to  the 
parliament,  might  be  found  worthy  of 
mercy,  and  who  were  not  included 
under  any  of  the  j^receding  heads,  also 
forfeited  two  thirds  of  their  estates,  but 
were  to  receive  an  equivalent  to  the  re- 
maining third,  wherever  the  parliament 
might  choose  to  allot  it  to  them ;  and, 
finally,  all  who  were  perfectly  innocent, 
that  is,  who  had  no  share  whatever  in 
the  war,  but  yet  were  not  in  the  actual 
service  of  the  parliament,  or  had  not 
manifested  their  "  constant,  good  affec- 
tion to  it,"  forfeited  one-third  of  their 
estates,  and  were  to  receive  an  equiva- 
lent to  the  remainder  elsewhere.^  Thus 
all  the  Catholic  gentiy  of  Ireland  wei-e 
indiscriminately  dej^rived.  of  their  he- 
reditary estates ;  and  such  as  might  be 
declared  by  Cromwell's  commissioners 
innocent  of  the  rebellion,  and  were  to 
receive  back  any  portion  of  their  prop- 
erty, should  transplant  themselves  and 
their  families  beyond  the  Shannon, 
where  allotments  of  the  wasted  tracts 
of  Conuaught  and  Clare  would  be  given 


unyielding  and  hostile  disposition  towards  the  Catholic 
party. 

*  Curry's  Review  of  the  C'icil  Wars  of  Ireland. 

\'  Clarendon's  Life,  vol.  ii.,  p.  110. 

X  See  the  Act,  published  from  the  original,  in  Lingard, 
vol.  viii.,  Append.  V  V  V'. 


BANISHMENT   OF  IRISH   SOLDIERS. 


549' 


to  them.  The  other  three  provinces 
were  reserved  for  Protestants ;  and  any 
of  the  transplanted  Catholics  who 
might  be  found  in  them  after  the  1st  of 
May,  1654,  without  a  passport,  might, 
whether  man,  woman,  or  child,  be 
killed,  Avithout  trial  or  order  of  magis- 
trate, by  any  one  who  saw  or  met  them. 
Moreover,  those  who  by  this  "  act  of 
grace"  received  allotments  in  Clare  or 
Counauirht  were  obliged  to  give  re- 
leases  of  their  titles  to  their  former  es- 
tates in  consideration  of  what  was  now 
a'ssigned  to  them,  to  bar  themselves  and 
their  heirs  from  laying  claim  to  their 
old  inheritances ;  and  they  were  sent 
into  wild  and  uncultivated  districts, 
without  cattle  to  stock  the  land,  or  ag- 
ricultural implements  to  till  it,  or 
houses  to  shelter  them ;  so  that  many 
Iiish  gentlemen  and  their  families 
actually  perished  of  cold  and  hun- 
ger. They  were  not  suffered  to  re- 
side within  two  miles  of  the  Shan- 
non, or  four    miles   of  the  sea,  or   of 


*  See  P..Walslie's  Reply  to  a  Person  of  Quality,  pp. 
33,  147,  &c  ;  also  the  government  proclamations  ;  tracts 
on  tlie  Irish  Transplantation,  published  in  1654  ;  Thur- 
loe's  Papers,  &c.  Slaiiy  of  the  transplanted  Irish  having 
erected  cabins  and  creaghts,  as  the  hurdle  houses  were 
then  called,  near  Atlilone,  the  military  authorities  were 
ordered  to  banish  "_all  the  Irish  and  other  Popish  per- 
sons" from  that  neighborhood,  so  that  no  such  gathering 
of  them  should  be  allowed  within  tivo  English  miles  of 
Athlone. — MS.  Orders  of  CouncU,  Dublin  Castle. 

j  Morrice's  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Orrery,  vol.  i.,  p.  39. 
Lord  Antrim's  estate  of  107,611  acres  was  allotted  to  Sir 
John  Clotworthy,  afterwards  Lord  Massareeue,  and  a 
few  others  whose  adventures  and  pay  did  not  exceed 
£7,000  (Carte's  Ormond,  vol.  ii.,  p.  278).  From  Sir 
Vf'Mia.va.'Petiy's  Political  Anatomy  of  Ireland,  an.^  the 
official  sources  consulted  by  Mr.  Bichenoup,  we  glean 
the  following  data  relating  to  the  Cromwellian  Confisca- 
tion : — The  surface  of  Ireland  was  estimated  at  10,500,000 


Galway,  or  in  any  garrison  or  market 
town.* 

In  the  mean  time  the  whole  kingdom 
was  surveyed  and  mapped  out  by  Dr. 
Petty,  and  the  forfeited  estates  dis- 
tributed amous;  the  adventurers  Avho 
had  advanced  money  for  carrying  on 
the  war  under  the  confiscatincr  acts  of 
February  and  March,  1642,  and  in 
liquidation  of  the  arrears  of  pay  due  to 
Cromwell's  soldiery.  According  to  the 
stipulations  on  w^hich  the  money  was 
bori'owed,  the  adventurers  were  to  re- 
ceive for  £200  a  thousand  acres  of  good 
land  in  Ulster,  £300  a  thousand  acres  in 
Conuaught,  for  £450  a  thousand  acres  in 
Munster,  and  for  £600  a  thousand  acres 
in  Leinster ;  the  bogs,  woods,  and  moun- 
tains being  thrown  in  gratis  as  waste 
or  unprofitable  land ;  but  we  are  told 
by  a  contemporary  writer  that  the 
highest  value  set  on  the  land  at  the 
time  of  the  distribution  was  four  shil- 
lings per  acre,  some  being  only  valued 
at  one  penny .f 


plantation  acres,  of  which  3,000,000  were  occupied  by 
water,  bogs,  and  coarse  or  unprofitable  land.  Of  the 
remaining  7.500,000  acres,  5,200,000  belonged  to  Catho- 
lics and  sequestered  Protestants  before  1641,  300,000  to 
the  Church,  and  2,000,000  to  Protestants  planted  by 
Elizabeth  and  James  I.  The  Cromwellian  government 
confiscated  5,000,000  acres,  which  they  disposed  of  as 
follows : — to  officers  and  soldiers  who  served  before 
Cromwell's  arrival  in  1649,  400,000  acres,  in  Wicklow, 
Longford,  Leitrim,  and  Donegal ;  to  soldiers  who  served 
since  1049,  1,410,000  acres  ;  to  the  adventurers  who  ad- 
vanced money  under  the  acts  of  1612,  about  800,000 
acres ;  to  certain  individuals  who  were  favorites  of 
Cromwell,  100,000  acres  ;  retained  by  government,  but 
let  on  profitable  leases  to  Protestants  in  the  counties  of 
Dublin,  Louth,  Cavan,  and  Kildare,  about  800,000  acres, 
besides  the  house  property  in  walled  towns  and  cities  ; 
to  the  transplanted  Irish  in  Counaught  and  Clare, 
700,000  acres ;  to  which  Petty  adds  (writing,  however, 


550 


CROMWELL. 


The  Iiisli  soldiers  who  accepted  bau- 
ishment,  on  laj-ing  down  their  arms, 
uumbered  about  34,000,  who  left  the 
country  under  different  leaders,  and 
entered  the  service  of  Fi'auce,  Spain, 
Austria,  or  Venice ;  and  their  faithful 
attachment  to  the  fortunes  of  Charles 
II.  obtained  for  that  unhappy  prince, 
when  abandoned  l)y  almost  all  besides, 
honor  and  support  in  foreign  courts.* 
But  as  the  wives  and  families  of  these 
exiles  were,  for  the  most  part,  left  be- 
hind, and  were,  besides  a  great  many 
others,  reduced  to  a  state  of  destitution, 
the  government  adopted  the  heartless 
expedient  of  shipping  them  off  in  great 
numbers  to  the  pestilential  settlements 
of  the  West  Indies.f  Sir  William 
Petty  states  that  6,000  boys  and  girls 
were  thus  transported.  But  the  total 
number  of  Irish  sent  to  perish  in  the 
tobacco  islands,  as  they  were  called, 
was  estimated  in  some  Irish  accounts  at 
100,000.     Force  was  necessary  to  col- 


in  1673,  long  after  the  Restoration)  "innocent  Papists, 
1,300,000  acres.  This  was  called  the  Down  Survey,  or 
Down  Admeasurement  of  Ireland  ;  and,  as  an  example 
of  the  complete  desolation  of  the  country  at  the  time  it 
was  made,  we  are  told  that  no  one  was  left  of  the  old 
inliabitantsin  Tipperary  who  could  point  out  the  bounds 
of  the  estates,  so  that  an  order  from  government  was 
necessary  to  bring  back  from  Connaught  five  or  six 
families  to  accompany  the  surveyors  and  show  them  the 
brjundaries. — Privy  Council  Book,  A  5. 

*"The  importance,"  says  Mr.  O'Callaghan,  "then 
attached  by  the  French  government  to  the  Irish  regi- 
ments in  its  service  was  so  great,  that,  even  after  Car- 
dinal Mazarin's  treaty  of  alliance  with  Cromwell 
against  Spain,  by  which  the  Stuart  family  were  to  quit 
the  French  dominions,  various  efforts  were  made  by  the 
cardinal  and  Marshal  Turenne  to  induce  the  duke  of 
York  (afterwards  James  II.)  not  to  leave  the  French  for 
the  Spanish  service.  Nay,  Cromwell's  permission  was 
asked  and  obtained  for  the  duke  to  remain  in  the  ser\'ice 


lect  them,  but  the  government  in  Eng- 
land was,  nevertheless,  assured  by  their 
Irish  agents  that  they  could  have  any 
number  of  Irish  boys  or  young  women 
that  thejr  required. ^i 

For  the  jjunishment  of  "  rebels  and 
malignauts,"  the  regicide  government 
established  a  new  tribunal,  which  they 
called  a  high  court  of  justice,  in  which 
the  ordinary  forms  of  law  were  laid 
aside,  and  every  thing  contrived  to 
confound  and  awe  the  accused  person, 
and  bring  home  the  guilt  laid  to  his 
charge.  "  From  the  iniquitous  and 
bloody  sentences  frequently  pronounced 
in  these  courts,"  says  Dr.  Curry,  "  they 
Avere  commonly  called  Cromwell's 
slaughter-houses."  The  first  was  held 
in  Kilkenny,  'on  the  4th  of  October, 
1652,  the  president  being  one  Justice 
Donnellan,  with  whom  were  joined 
Cook,  who  had  acted  as  solicitor  to  the 
regicides  on  the  trial  of  the  late  king, 
and  the  commissarj^-general,  Reynolds. 


of  France,  on  account  of  the  loss  it  would  be  to  the  com- 
bined forces  of  England  and  France,  and  the  gain  to 
Spain,  that  the  Irish  regiments  should  join  the  latter, 
as  it  was  known  they  would,  when  the  duke  and 
his  royal  brother  (Charles  II.)  shoidd  be  both  under 
the  protection  of  that  power." — Macarice  Excidium, 
p.  185. 

t  Bruodin,  Propvg.  See  Lingard,  vol.  viii.,  p.  17.5, 
note  3. 

X  Henry  Cromwell,  writing  from  Ireland  to  Secretary 
Thurloe,  s-iys  : — "  I  think  it  might  be  of  like  advantage 
to  your  affairs  there,  and  ours  here,  if  you  should  think 
fit  to  send  1,500,  or  3,000  young  boys,  of  13  or  14  years 
of  age,  to  the  place  afore-mentioned.  We  could  spare 
them,  and  they  would  be  of  use  to  you ;  and  who  knows 
but  it  may  be  the  means  to  make  them  Englishmen — I 
mean  rather  Christians'?"  Thurloe  answers  :—"  The 
committee  of  the  conncU  have  voted  1,000  girls  and  as 
many  youths,  to  be  taken  up  for  that  purpose."— T/iW?'- 
loe,  iv.,  pp.  40,  73. 


FORGED  AND   CORRUPT  EVIDENCE. 


551 


These  judges  made  the  circuit  of  Water- 
ford,  Cork,  and  otlier  towns;  and  in 
February,  1653,  the  first  court,  presided 
over  by  Lord  Lowther,  was  held  in 
Dublin  for  the  special  purpose  of  try- 
iua:  "  all  massacres  and  murders  done 
or  committed  since  the  1st  day  of 
October,  1641."  The  confederate  Cath- 
olics had,  in  their  declarations  at  Trim 
and  Oxford,  and  on  other  occasions, 
prayed  that  an  inquiry  might  be  made 
into  the  murders  alleged  to  have  been 
perpetrated  on  both  sides  during  the 
troubles,  and  that  justice  might  be  vin- 
dicated without  respect  to  creed  or 
party ;  but  these  courts  confined  their 
inquiries  to  the  accused  Catholics,  and 
the  result  of  their  labors  afi^ords  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  the  falsehood  of  the 
statements  made  asjainst  the  Irish  Cath- 
olics  at  that  pei'iod.  Some  of  the  lying- 
historians  of  the  time  had  asserted  that 
a  hundred  thousand  Protestants  had 
been  murdered  in  cold  blood ;  yet  with 
ail  the  forged  and  corrupt  evidence 
that  could  be  procured,  and  the  cry  of 
blood  that  was  raised,  Cromwell's  high 
courts  of  justice  were  only  able  to  con- 
vict about  two  hundred  persons  in  all 
Ireland    for    those    alleged    murders ; 


*  Vide  s\ipra,x>-  479, note.  Also  Carte's  Orm.,  vol.  ii., 
p.  181.  Carte  relates  the  fact  of  Colonel  Hewson  having, 
in  the  name  of  Ludlow,  made  this  offer  to  Sir  Phelim 
on  the  ladder,  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Sheridan,  after- 
wards Protestant  bishop  of  Kilmore,  who  was  present ; 
and  dean  Ker  is  also  quoted  by  Nalson  (Histor.  Collet^, 
as  an  eye-witness.  In  the  opinion  of  some,  the  heroic 
sense  of  honor  displayed  by  Sir  Phelim,  and  liis  whole 
conduct  at  the  melancholy  close  of  his  career,  redeemed 
many  of  his  past  faults.  Among  the  other  persons  exe- 
cuted were  Viscount  Mayo,  and  Colonels  O'Toole  and 


while  out  of  the  whole  province  of 
Ulster,  where  the  pretended  massacres 
were  said  chiefly  to  have  taken  place, 
only  one  person  was  convicted,  namely, 
Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  who  nevertheless 
was  repeatedly,  while  in  prison,  and 
before  the  passing  of  his  sentence,  and 
finally  on  the  steps  of  the  scaflibld, 
oflered  his  life  and  liberty  on  the  sole 
condition  of  admittins:  that  the  counter- 
feit  document  which  he  produced  in 
October,  1641,  was  a  genuine  commis- 
sion from  the  unfortunate  Charles  I.* 

The  parliamentary  commissioners  in 
Dublin  published  a  proclamation,  put- 
ting in  force  in  Ireland  the  27  th  of 
Elizabeth  ;  and  by  this  and  subsequent 
edicts  any  Catholic  priest  found  in  Ire- 
land, after  twenty  days,  was  guilty  of 
high  treason,  and  liable  to  be  hanged, 
drawn,  and  quartered ;  any  person  har- 
boring such  clergymen  was  liable  to  the 
penalty  of  death  and  loss  of  goods  and 
chattels ;  and  anj'  jierson  knowing  the 
place  of  concealment  of  a  priest,  and 
not  disclosing  it  to  the  authorities, 
might  be  publicly  whipped,  and  further 
punished  with  amputation  of  the  ears. 
Any  person  absent  from  the  parish 
church  on  a  Sunday  was  liable  to  a  fine 


Bagnal.  The  mother  of  Colonel  Fitzpatrick  was  burnt. 
Lords  Muskerry  and  Clanmaliere,  and  MacCarthy  Eeagh, 
were  acquitted,  probably  through  the  interest  of  friends. 
Looking  to  the  number  of  persons  convicted  under  all 
the  circumstances  by  the  high  court  of  justice,  O'Cou- 
nell  has  said  : — "  To  a  thinking  mind  there  is  no  quan- 
tity of  ^Titten  or  verbal  authority  that  would  so  coerce 
a  conviction  of  the  innocence  of  the  Irish  Catholic 
party  as  the  result  of  the  investigation  of  this  san- 
guinary and   energetic    court." — Memoir  of  Ireland, 


532 


CROMWELL. 


of  thirty  pence ;  magistrates  might  take 
awaj'  the  children  of  Catholics,  and 
send  them  to  England  for  education ; 
and  might  tender  the  oath  of  abjuration 
to  all  persons  of  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  who,  on  refusal,  were  liable  to 
imprisonment  during  pleasni'e,  and  the 
forfeiture  of  two-thirds  of  their  real  and 
personal  estates.*  The  same  price  of 
five  pounds  was  set  on  the  head  of  a 
priest  and  on  that  of  a  wolf,  and  the 
production  of  either  head  was  a  suffi- 
cient claim  for  tlie  reward.  The  mili- 
tary being  distributed  in  small  parties 
over  the  country,  and  their  vigilance 
kept  alive  by  sectarian  rancor  and  the 
promise  of  reward,  it  must  have  been 
diflicult  for  a  priest  to  escajje  detection  ; 
but  many  of  them,  nevertheless,  braved 
the  danger  for  their  poor  scattered 
flocks ;  and  residing  in  caverns  in  the 
mountains,  or  in  lonely  hovels  in  the 
bogs,  "  they  issued  forth  at  night  to 
cany  the  consolations  of  religion  to  the 
huts  of  their  oppressed  and  sufiering 
couutrymeu."f     Well    might   an    Irish 

*  Vide  LiDgard,  vol.  vHi.,  p.  178,  and  tlio  authorities 
there  quoted.  At  the  same  time  the  nuns  were  ordered 
to  marry  or  to  leave  Ireland. 

t  liiJ.  Dr.  Lingard  refers  to  MS.  letters  in  his  posses- 
sion, and  to  Bruodin,  GOG.  In  Morison's  Thrcnodia  we 
are  told  bow  the  Rev.  Bernard  Fitzpatrick,  of  the  illus- 
trious house  of  Ossory,  was  dragged  from  one  of  those 
caves  and  beheaded :  and  Ludlow  relates  in  his  Memoirs 
(vol.  i.,  p.  423,  ed.  Vevay,  1G98)  how,  when  marching 
from  Dundalk  to  Castleblaney,  probably  near  the  close 
of  1653,  he  discovered  a  few  of  the  Irish  in  a  cave,  and 
how  his  party  spent  two  days  in  endeavoring  to  smother 
them  by  smoke.  It  appears  that  the  poor  fugitives  pre- 
served themselves  from  suffocation,  during  this  opera- 
tion, by  holding  their  faces  close  to  the  surface  of  some 
running  water  in  the  cavern,  and  that  one  of  their  party 
was  armed  with  a  pistol,  with  which  he  shot  the  fore- 
most of  the  troopers  who  were  entering  the  mouth  of  the 


writer  who  witnessed  these  thinirs  ex- 
claim :  "  Neither  the  Israelites  were 
more  cruelly  persecuted  by  Pharaoh, 
nor  the  innocent  infants  by  Herod,  nor 
the  Christians  by  Nero,  or  auy  of  the 
other  pagan  tyrants,  than  Avere  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland  at  that 
fiital  juncture  by  those  savage  commis- 
sioners.";]; 

Some  may  say  that  it  Avould  be  more 
patriotic  to  bury  the  woes  and  persecu- 
tions of  that  dark  period  in  oblivion ; 
but  besides  the  wrong  which  any  such 
omission  would  cause  to  the  integrity 
of  histoiy,  we  must  answer  Avith  Dr. 
Curry,  "that  British  chronicles  have 
rendered  silence  impossible."  That 
was  precisely  the  period  AA'hen  England 
displayed  her  utmost  malice  in  heaping 
calumnies  on  her  down-trodden  victim. 
Like  an  ungenerous  enemy,  not  satisfied 
Avith  success,  she  added  "insult  to  her 
guilt,  meanness  to  her  cruelty."  "Every 
thing  that  malice  and  bigotry  could 
conceive,  that  craft  or  falsehood  could 
invent,  or  that  ignorance  and  national 


cave  after  the  first  day's  smoking.  Ludlow  caused  the 
trial  to  be  repeated,  and  the  crevices  through  which  the 
smoke  escaped  having  been  closed,  "  another  smother 
was  made."  The  next  time  the  soldiers  entered  with 
helmets  and  breast-plates,  but  they  foimd  the  only  armed 
man  dead,  inside  the  entrance,  where  he  was  suffocated 
at  his  post ;  while  the  other  fugitives  still  preserved  life 
at  the  little  brook.  Fifteen  were  put  to  the  sword  within 
the  cave,  and  four  dragged  out  alive,  but  Ludlow  does 
not  mention  whether  he  hanged  these  then  or  not ;  but 
one,  at  least,  of  the  original  number  was  a  Catholic  priest, 
for  the  soldiers  found  a  crucifix,  chalice,  and  priest's 
robes  in  the  cavern. 

%  Morrmoni  Threnodia  Hiberno-Catholica,  p.  14.  "All 
these  things,"  says  O'Connell,  "appear  like  a  hjdeous 
dream.  They  would  be  utterly  incredible  only  that  they 
are  quite  certain."  (Memoir  of  Ireland,  ^.  Z\5.)  See 
also  Hib.  Dom.,  p.  706;  Clarendon's  IiebeUion,\ii.  434. 


FLEETWOOD  MADE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


553 


antipathy  could  iDelieve,  was  attributed 
to  the  Irish  name  and  nation,  and  re- 
peated in  the  drunkenness  of  success, 
and  with  all  the  cov/ardice  of  security."* 
And  as  the  most  illustrious  of  Irish 
statesmen  has  observed,  these  iniquitous 
calumnies  acjainst  the  Irish  were  calcu- 
lated  to  gain  other  advantages  for  the 
English,  namely  : — to  make  the  massa- 
cres and  other  crimes  committed  by  the 
latter  appear  in  the  light  of  retaliation  ; 
to  serve  as  an  excuse  for  seizing  the  es- 
tates  of  the  Iiish  by  the  Cromwellian 
party ;  and  as  a  further  excuse  for  the 
restored  Stuarts  to  leave  these  estates 
in  the  hands  of  the  usurpers.f 

As  to  the  succession  of  events  con- 
nected with  government,  while  Ireland 
lay  in  this  state  of  galling  bondage,  they 
aifected  but  little  the  interests  of  this 
country.  We  may  therefore  dispose  of 
them  briefly.  After  the  death  of  Ire- 
ton,  Lambert  was  appointed  lord  depu- 
ty, but  through  the  intrigue  of  Crom- 
well's daughter,  the  widow  of  Ireton, 
who  had  married  Colonel  Charles  Fleet- 
wood, the  apjDointment  was  set  aside 
before  Lambert  came  to  Ireland,  Crom- 
well having  for  that  purpose  suffered 
his  own  commission  of  lord-lieutenant  to 
expire,  which  involved  the  retirement 
of  his  deputy.  Fleetwood  was  then 
made  commander-in-chief  in  Ireland, 
joined  in  the  civil  administration  with 
four  commissioners — Ludlow,  Corbett, 
Jones  and  Weaver.      These  governed 

*  Carry's  Review  of  the  Civil  Wars  in,  Ireland.    Dedi- 
cation. 

f  See  O'Connell's  Memoir  of  Ireland,  pp.  303  and  304. 
70 


the  country  according  to  certain  in- 
structions, one  of  which  was,  "to  en- 
deavor the  promulgation  of  the  gospel 
and  the  power  of  true  religion  and  holi- 
ness ;"  and  another,  to  allow  no  Papist 
or  delinquent  to  hold  any  place  of  trust, 
to  practice  as  barrister  or  solicitor,  or  to 
keep  school  for  the  education  of  youth.  J 
The  act  proclaiming  the  "  rebellion"  in 
Ireland  to  be  at  an  end  was  passed  on 
the  26th  of  September,  1653.  On  the 
16th  of  December,  that  year,  Cromwell 
assumed  the  supreme  authority  under 
the  title  of  lord  protector,  and  his 
usurpation  was  supported  in  Ireland  by 
Fleetwood  and  the  arm)',  although  the 
stern  re2:)ublican,  Ludlow,  threw  up  his 
commissionership  in  disgiist.  Henry 
Cromwell,  the  usurper's  second  son,  who 
was  appointed  to  the  government  of  Ire- 
land in  1655,  was  naturally  mild  and 
just,  and  his  administration  would  have 
materially  altered  the  state  of  this  coun- 
try had  he  been  suffered  to  follow  the 
dictates  of  his  own  humane  disposition. 
He  is  believed  to  have  averted  the  in- 
fliction of  fresh  grievances ;  but  he  ad- 
ministered most  of  the  cruel  laws  as  he 
found  them;  and  the  practice  of  kid- 
napping the  Irish  youth  for  transporta- 
tion to  the  West  Indies  was  in  full 
vigor  under  him ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  his  father  was  inviting  in  vain  the 
settlers  of  New  Entrland  and  the  Vau- 
dois  of  Piedmont  to  replace  the  extir- 
pated pojjulation   of  Ireland.  §     After 


X  Parliamentary  journals. 

§  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts,  190.    Tliur- 
loe,  ii,  459. 


554 


REIGN   OF    CHARLES  I. 


the  death  of  Oliver  (September  3, 
1658),  the  weak  shoulders  of  his  son, 
Richard,  did  not  long  sustain  the  bur- 
den of  the  usurped  power  bequeathed 
to  him ;  and  on  his  retirement  to  his 
ancestral  obscurity  the  -cabals  of  the 
long  parliament  prepared  an  easy  way 
for  the  restoration  of  royalty.  Not  a 
little  of  this  drama  was  enacted  in  Ire- 
laud,  where  Broghill,  lord  president  of 
Munster,  and  Coote,  lord  president  of 
Connaught,  both  observing  the  turn  in 
the  tide,  vied  with  each  other  in  offer- 
ing their  support  to  Charles  II.  Both 
were  renegades,  both  distinguished  for 
their  savage  cruelties  against  the  Irish ; 
but  in  duplicity  and  utter  want  of  prin- 
ciple the  balance  was  on  the  side  of 
Broghill,  the  son  of  the  unprincipled 
earl  of  Cork.     The  race  between  them 


on  this  occasion,  and  their  subsequent 
attempts  to  depreciate  each  other  with 
the  king,  were  ludicrous ;  but  Broghill 
triumphed  in  the  end,  as  he  produced  a 
letter  of  Coote's  in  which  the  latter  ad- 
mitted that  the  suggestion  for  support- 
ing the  king  firet  came  from  him.  It 
was  the  farce  after  the  tragedy;  and 
both  these  inveterate  enemies  were  by 
the  worthless  Charles  Stuart  richly  re- 
warded, Broghill  being  created  earl  of 
Orrery  and  Coote  earl  of  Mountrath : 
at  the  same  time  "the  estates  of  the 
Irish  who  had  fought  for  the  king  and 
followed  his  fortunes  in  exile,  wei'e 
confirmed  to  drummers  and  sergeants 
who  had  conducted  his  father  to  the 
scaffold."! 

f  Higgons,  Bcmarks  on  Burnet,  p.  103. 


I 


ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES  II. 


555 


CHAPTER  XL. 


EEIGN   OF   CHAKLES   U. 


Hopes  of  the  Irish  Catholics  at  the  Restoration — Their  grievous  disappointment. — An  Irish  parliament  convoked 
after  twenty  years. — Discussions  on  the  Act  of  Settlement  in  Ireland  and  England — The  Act  passed. — Establish- 
ment of  the  Court  of  Claims. — Partial  success  of  the  Irish  Catholics— Consequent  indignation  and  alarm  of  the 
Protestants. — Rumored  conspiracies. — Blood's  plot. — The  Act  of  explanation — Provisions  of  the  Act  grossly 
unjust  to  Catholics — The  Irish  parliament  desire  to  make  them  more  so. — The  Irish  remonstrance. — Synod 
of  the  clergy  in  Dublin.— English  prohibitory  laws  against  the  importation  of  Irish  cattle. — General  dis- 
affection.— Alarming  rumors. — Oppression  of  the  Catholics. — Recall  of  Ormond. — Lord  Berkley's  adminis- 
tration— Catholic  Petition  of  Grievances. — Colonel  Richard  Talbot. — Commission  of  Inquiry — Great  alarm 
produced  by  it  among  the  Protestants  and  New  Interest. — Recall  of  Lord  Berkley  and  appointment  of  Lord 
Esses. — Violent  address  of  the  English  parliament— Increased  oppression  of  the  Catholics. — Restoration  of 
Ormond. — The  Popish  Plot. — Arrest  of  Archbishop  Talbot. — Proclamations  against  the  Catholics. — Puritan 
attempts  to  raise  a  rebellion  in  IreLand. — Arrest  of  Archbishop  Plunkett. — Frightful  demoralization  and 
peijury— Memoir  of  Dr.  Plunket  (note). — His  martjTdom.— Turn  in  the  tide  of  persecution— Irish  writers  of 
the  seventeenth  century. — State  of  the  Irish.- Death  of  Charles  II. 

(FEOM  A.  D.  1660  TO  A.  D.  1685.) 


'T^HAT  the  Irish  should  have  regarded 
-^  the  overthrow  of  the  regicide  gov- 
ernment and  the  restoration  of  the  king 
as  an  assurance  of  their  own  restoration 
to  their  homes  and  estates  was  only 
natural.  It  was  a  consequence  which 
every  principle  of  justice  demanded ; 
and  although  serious  obstacles  were  to 
be  overcome,  they  had  a  right  to  ex- 
pect that  the  king,  for  whom  they  had 
bled  and  sacrificed  so  much,  would  have 
taken  some  trouble  in  their  behalf. 
Many  of  these  plundered  and  expatri- 
ated people,  inspired  by  this  confidence, 
returned  and  claimed  their  own  with- 
out waiting  for  the' tedious  process  of  an 
uufrierdly  law  to  reinstate  them  ;*  but 


*  In  England  the  old  proprietors  generally  expelled 
the  Cromwellian  intruders  without  much  ceremony; 
but  an-  !tttempts  at  a  like  mode  of  proceeding  in  Ire- 


ne Ver  were  the  hopes  of  their  injured 
race  doomed  to  be  more  cruelly  blasted. 
Acting  on  the  mean  and  ungenerous 
policy  of  his  family,  Charles  immolated 
his  devoted  friends  to  his  own  and  his 
father's  enemies ;  and  the  whole  history 
of  his  reign,  as  far  as  Ireland  is  con- 
cerned, is  made  up  of  instances  of  the 
most  scandalous  injustice  inflicted  on 
the  Irish  Catholics,  of  persecutions 
against  their  religion,  and  of  triumphs 
yielded  to  their  unprincipled  and  invet- 
erate foes. 

Coote,  now  earl  of  Mountrath,  and 
Broghill,  now  earl  of  Orrery — men  who 
had  slauojhtered  more  Irish  in  cold 
blood  during  the  war  than  any  others, 


land  were  immediately  put  down  by  a  royal  proclama/- 
tion. — See  Carte's  Onn.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  398. 


556 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  II. 


if  we  except  Cromwell's  massacres  at 
Drogheda  and  Wexford — were  ap- 
pointed lords  justices  after  tlie  restora- 
tion, and  to  none  but  the  determined 
enemies  of  the  Catholics  was  any  power 
intrusted.  The  first  Irish  parliament 
held  for  twenty  years  met  on  the  8th 
of  May,  1661.  The  house  of  commons 
comprised  two  hundred  and  sixty  mem- 
bers, who,  with  the  exception  of  sixty- 
four,  were  all  burgesses,  and  must, 
therefore,  have  been  of  the  favored 
i-ace,  the  towns  having  been  filled  with 
Cromwellians.  In  the  upper  house 
there  were  twenty-one  Catholic  and 
seventy-two  Protestant  peers ;  but  such 
was  the  jealousy,  in  both  houses,  of  the 
admission  of  any  Catholics,  that  the 
commons,  who  had  chosen  Sir  Audley 
Merviri  as  their  speakei',  tried  to  ex- 
clude them  by  requiring  the  oath  of 
supremacy  from  all  the  members  ;  while 
Bramhall,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  who 
was  elected  speaker  of  the  lords,  pro- 
posed with  a  like  object  that  all  the 
peers  should  receive  the  sacrament  at 
his  hands.  This  parliament  voted  the 
large  sum  of  £30,000  to  the  now  duke 
of  Ormond,*  who  was  a^^pointed  lord- 
lieutenant  in  October  this  year,  but 
did  not  come  to  Ireland  until  the  fol- 


*  Ormond  gained  enormously  by  tlie  war.  Dr.  Frencli 
says  the  duke's  estates  were  so  encumbered  as  not  to 
have  produced  more  than  .-£7,000  a  year  before  the  war, 
although  worth  £40,000,  but  that  a  few  years  after  the 
restoration  they  produced  him  £80,000  a-year.  (Un- 
Jiind  Deserter,  chap,  xii.)  The  earl  of  Essex,  says  Or- 
mond, received  over  £300,000  in  this  kingdom,  besides 
all  his  great  places  and  employments.  {State  Lett., 
213—214.) 


lowing  July ;  and  the  session  was  taken 
up  with  discussions  on  the  Bill  of  Settle- 
ment, which  was  warmly  opposed  by 
the  Irish  Catholics  through  their 
counsel,  but  was  passed  by  the  Irish 
pai'liament  on  the  15th  of  September, 
and  transmitted  to  England,  where  it 
underwent  a  second  discussion  before 
the  king  and  council.  Here,  again,  its 
injustice  was  ably  argued  by  Irish 
agents,  but  all  opposition  to  it  was 
overruled ;  the  claims  of  the  dispos- 
sessed Irish  royalists  were  treated  as 
unreasonable ;  their  counsel  was  con- 
sidered imprudent  and  extravagant  in 
pressing  their  demands.  The  effemi- 
nate monarch  becoming  weary  of  the 
debates.  Sir  Nicholas  Plunkett,  the 
agent  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  was  at 
length  excluded  from  his  majesty's  pres- 
ence by  an  order  of  council,  and  this 
monstrous  act  of  I'obbery — confirming 
as  it  did  the  most  enormous  of  all  the 
spoliations  inflicted  on  Ireland  by  its 
English  masters — was  finally  passed 
into  law.f  A  court  of  claims  was  es- 
tablished under  the  act  to  try  the  quali- 
fications of  "nocent"  and  "innocent;" 
and  notwithstanding  all  the  hostility 
of  the  law  and  of  government,  several 
Catholics   succeeded  in    making   good 


f  In  his  speech  to  the  parliament  after  his  restoration 
Cliarles  told  them  "  that  he  expected  (in  relation  to  the 
Irish)  they  would  have  a  care  of  Ins  honor,  and  of  the 
promise  he  had  made  them  ;"  this  promise  had  been  ex- 
plicitly renewed  by  Ormond  for  the  king  before  ho  left 
Breda ;  but  it  was  thus  the  royal  engagements  to  the 
Irish  were  generally  kept.  It  ia  unnecessary  to  say  that 
the  articles  of  1048  (as  they  were  called,  though  signed 
by  Ormond  in  1G49,  new  style)  were  wholly  set  aside. 


CONSPIRACIES. 


557 


tlieif  titles  to  a  restitution  of  their 
property.*  This  gave  rise  to  violent 
indignation  and  alarm  among  the  Pro- 
testants. That  any  door  should  have 
been  left  open  to  the  Catholics  for  the 
recovery  of  their  estates  was  a  thing 
not  to  be  tolerated,  and  the  duke  of 
Ormond  consequently  refused  to  extend 
the  time  for  investigating  the  claims, 
although  comparatively  a  few  only  of 
them  had  been  disposed  of.  Neither 
did  the  admission  of  a  claim  always 
imply  the  restoration  of  an  estate,  for 
the  Cj'omwelliau  or  new  interest  was 
not  always  disturbed,  and  the  recovery 
of  a  right  often  amounted  to  no  more 
than  what  might  be  deemed  an  equiva- 
lent, which  depended  on  the  amount  of 
"  reprisals,"  as  they  were  called,  that 
government  might  have  in  hands  to 
allot  for  the  purpose.  The  regicide 
judges,  and  others  who  had  imbued 
their  hands  in  the  late  king's  blood, 
were  deprived  of  their  estates  by  the 
Act  of  Settlement ;  but  these  lands, 
which  were  chiefly  situated  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Tipperary,  were  given  to  the  duke 
of  York,  and  w^ere  therefore  not  avail- 
able for  reprisals. 

A  great  outcry  was  now  raised 
aQ:ainst  the  Irish  Catholics.  The  vile 
calumnies  about  1641  were  revived  and 
maliciously  circulated,  and  every  report 

*  It  is  stated  in  Cox's  Sibernia  Anglicana  that  of  the 
claims  tried  in  the  first  three  months  168  were  adjudged 
innocent  and  only  19  nocent ;  and  that  in  the  subsequent 
sittings  of  the  court  630  additional  claims  were  de- 
cided, we  are  not  told  in  what  proportion  of  innocent 
and  uocent,  but  only  "  to  the  great  loss  and  dissatisfac- 
tion of  the  Protestants."  (See  Letter  in  Cox,  continuing 
the  history  from  1653  to  1689.)     Some  three  thousand 


against  the  Irish  was  received  with  avid- 
ity in  England.  The  device  of  Popish 
plots  and  conspiracies  was  resorted  to, 
and  the  public  mind  kept  in  a  state 
of  ferment  by  the  most  unfounded 
rumors  of  intended  Popish  risings  and 
French  invasions.  It  so  happened  that 
the  only  real  plot  was  a  Presbyterian 
one,  got  up  by  some  Puritan  ministers, 
a  few  militaiy  officers,  and  some  mem- 
bers of  the  house  of  commons.  One 
Thomas  Blood,  a  person  who  subse- 
quently became  notorious  for  his  ex- 
ploits in  England,  conspired  with  some 
others  to  seize  the  castle  of  Dublin  on 
the  21st  of  May,  16G3;  but  the  mad 
project  was  discovered  before  the  at- 
tempt was  made,  and  four  of  the  con- 
spirators were  executed.  The  atrocious 
system  of  falsehood  against  the  Catho- 
lics was,  nevertheless,  successful,  and  a 
motion  for  excluding  Catholics  from 
the  general  pardon  and  indemnity  was 
passed  in  the  English  parliament.  Or- 
mond, moreover,  who  had  repaired  to 
England  for  the  purpose,  procured  the 
passing  of  an  Act  of  Explanation  to  sat- 
isfy the  Protestants,  and  on  his  return 
prepared  to  organize  a  Protestant  mi- 
litia. 

In  all  the  discussions  on  the  Bills  of 
Settlement  and  Explanation  the  Catho- 
lics, although  the  most  aggrieved,  were 

claims  were  left  unheard  for  want  of  time,  and  Ormond, 
as  stated  above,  refused  to  extend  the  sittings  of  the 
court  for  that  purpose.  Those  Catholics  who  were  named 
in  the  Bill  of  Settlement  as  objects  of  the  royal  favor 
(about  500  in  number)  were  called  "  nominees ;"  those 
who  served  abroad  under  the  king's  standard  were  distin- 
guished as  "ensign-men  ;"  and  the  adventurers  and  Crom- 
welUan  soldiers  styled  themselves  "  the  new  interest." 


558 


REIGX   OF  CHARLES  II. 


the  most  moderate  iu  their  demands; 
and  a  suggestion  having  been  made  on 
their  part  that  they  would  be  content 
if  the  soldiers  and  adventurers  resigned 
one-third  of  the  lands  which  they  en- 
joyed immediately  before  the  restora- 
tion, the  proposal  was  accepted,  and 
made  the  ground-work  of  the  Act  of 
Explanation.  By  this  act,  however,  it 
was  provided  that  the  Protestants  were 
iu  the  first  place,  and  especially,  to  be 
settled ;  that  any  ambiguity  which 
arose  should  be  explained  in  their  fa- 
vor; and  "that  no  Pai^ist,  who,  by  the 
qualifications  of  the  former  act,  had  not 
been  adjudged  innocent,  should  at  any 
future  time  be  reputed  innocent,  or  en- 
titled to  claim  any  lands  or  settlements. 
Thus,"  continues  Leland,  whose  words 
we  quote,  "every  remaining  hope  of 
those  numerous  claimants  whose  causes 


*  Leland,  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.,  p.  440.  More 
than  3,000  Catholic  claimants  were  thus  condemned  to 
the  forfeiture  of  their  estates,  without  any  hearing  at 
all;  or,  as  Leland  expresses  it,  "without  the  justice 
granted  to  the  vik-st  criminals— that  of  a  fair  and  equal 
trial."  See  Carte's  Orm.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  304,  314.  Chief- 
justice  Nugent,  afterwards  Lord  Riverston,  in  a  letter 
dated  Dublin,  June  23,  1680,  and  preserved  in  the  state 
paper  office,  London,  says :  "  There  are  5,000  in  tliis 
kingdome  who  were  never  outlawed,  and  out  of  theyre 
estates,  yet  cannot  now  by  law  be  restored."  See  Macarm 
Excidiwa,  notes  and  illustrations,  p.  103.  The  Act  of 
Explanation  gave  the  duke  of  Ormond  liberty  to  name 
twenty  Catholics  for  the  restoration  of  their  estates,  and 
we  may  be  sure  that  those  who  wore  too  national  in  their 
sentiments  were  not  included  in  hLs  grace's  list.  The 
duke  had  given  the  strongest  opposition  to  the  claims 
of  the  earl  of  Antrim,  whom  he  hated  perhaps  more  than 
any  other  man  in  Ireland;  but  the  earl  was  warmly 
backed  by  the  king,  and  by  other  powerful  friends 
and  after  repeated  petitions  and  investigations,  was  ulti- 
mately restored  to  his  estates  by  the  Act  of  Explana- 
tion. Carte,  Orm.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  377,  and  Irish  Council 
Books. 

f  One  of  the  motives  for  the  clamors  raised  by  the 


had  not  been  heard,  was  entirely  cut 
off"."*  Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  act,  un- 
just as  it  was  to  the  Catholics,  did  not 
go  far  enough  to  satisfy  the  Irish  house 
of  commons,  which  was  composed  chief- 
ly of  adventurers  and  soldiers,  and 
whose  speaker,  Mervin,  had  all  along 
distinguished  himself  by  his  furious 
hostility  to  the  Catholic  interest.  Or- 
mond found  it  necessary  to  exercise 
some  rigor  towards  the  refractory  mem- 
bers. Seven  of  them  were  expelled  for 
complicity  in  Blood's  plot,  and  others 
were  known  to  deserve  the  same  pun- 
ishment. They  were  also  threatened 
obscurely  with  a  dissolution,  and  the 
act  was  at  length  passed  on  the  15th 
of  December,  1665.f 

Hojjing  to  remove  the  pretences  foi- 
persecution  against  them,  some  of  the 
Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  had  signed 

Protestants  in  the  discussion  referred  to  above  was  the 
constant  discovery  of  abuses  in  the  Cromwellian  distri- 
bution of  the  lands.  Sii  William  Domville,  the  attorney- 
general,  in  overhauling  the  details  of  this  distribution, 
discovered,  among  many  other  irregularities,  that  there 
were  "  great  abuses  iu  the  manner  of  setting  out  the  ad- 
venturers' satisfaction,  in  which  the  proceedings  were 
very  clandestine  and  confused.  For  they  had  whole 
baronies  set  to  them  in  gross,  and  then  they  employed 
surveyors  of  their  own  to  make  their  admeasurements. 
Thus  they  admeasured  what  proportions  iliey  thought 
fit  to  mete  out  to  themselves ;  and  what  lands  they  were 
pleased  to  call  unprofitable,  they  had  returned  as  such, 
let  them  be  never  so  good  and  profitable.  In  the  coimty 
of  Tipperary  alone  he  had  found  by  books  in  the  sur- 
veyor's office  above  00,000  acres  retm-ned  as  unprofita- 
ble, and  in  the  moiety  of  the  ten  counties,  wherein  their 
satisfaction  was  set  out,  he  had  found  245,307  acres  so 
returned  by  the  adventurers  as  unprofitable."  Carte's 
Orm.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  301.  Moreover,  Domville  found  that 
the  soldiers  had  returned  065,670  acres  as  unprofitable, 
and  it  was  not  without  reason  they  now  feared  to  have 
the  accuracy  of  their  returns  inquired  into.  These  sol- 
diers, says  Carte,  "  were  for  the  most  part  Anabaptists, 
Independents,  and  Levellers."     Orm.,  vol.  ii. 


DECLARATION  OF  LOYALTY. 


559 


a  declaration  of  loyalty  for  presentation 
to  the  kino;.  Several  noblemen  as- 
sembled  for  the  purpose  at  the  house 
of  the  marquis  of  Clanrickard  in  Dub- 
lin ;  among  others,  Lords  Castlehaven, 
Clancarthy,  Carlingford,  Fingal,  and 
luchiquiu,  and  there  was  no  doubt  with 
such  names  at  the  the  head  of  the  list 
a  great  many  subscribers  to  the  address 
might  be  obtained  throughout  Ireland. 
This  address  or  declaration  is  celebrated 
as  the  Irish  Remonstrance.  It  was  pre- 
pared by  Peter  Walsh,  a  Franciscan 
friar,  who  had  Iseen  a  most  zealous  par- 
tisan of  Ormond  in  the  confederation, 
and  enjoyed  the  private  friendship  and 
confidence  of  that  determined  enemy 
of  the  Catholics.  He  was  a  restless 
and  factious  man,  impatient  of  spiritual 
authority,  and  it  was  well  known  that 
any  document  from  his  hands  could 
hardly  be  unexceptionable.  The  re- 
monstrance contained,  in  fact,  along 
M'ith  the  strongest  protestations  of  loy- 
alty, expressions  derogatory  to  the  au- 
thority of  the  pope,  and  therefore 
offensive  to  true  Catholic  feeling ;  but 
it  suited  Ormond's  purpose  precisely 
on  that  account;  and  on  the  pretence 
that  it  was  yet  only  a  private  address, 
possessing  no  official  character,  Ormond 
desired  that  it  might  be  signed  by  all 


*  Before  the  primate's  rettim  at  this  time  there  were 
but  three  Catholic  prelates  in  Ireland,  two  of  whom, 
namely,  Dr.  John  Burke,  archbishop  of  Tuam,  and  Dr. 
Owen  M'Sweeny,  bishop  of  Kilmore,  were  too  aged  and 
infirm  to  perform  any  of  their  public  functions.  The 
third  was  Dr.  Patrick  Plunket,  bishop  of  Ardagli. 
It  appears  from  Dr.  French's  Eleiuhus  Episcoporum, 
quoted  in  the  IMemia  Dominicana,  that  of  thetwenty- 


the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  kingdom. 
A  national  congregation  of  the  Irish 
bishops  and  clergy  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  matter  was  held  in  Dub- 
lin on  the  11th  of  June,  1666.  The 
meeting  took  place  by  the  connivance 
of  Ormond,  who  had  privately  obtained 
the  sanction  of  the  king ;  and  the  pri- 
mate, Edmond  O'Reilly,  who  had  been 
in  exile  since  1657,  when  he  was  ar- 
rested in  London  at  the  instance  of  the 
aforesaid  Peter  Walsh,  and  sent  out 
of  the  kingdom,  received  permission  to 
come  to  Ireland,  and  presided  at  the 
meeting.*  Promises  were  held  out  by 
Ormond  that  whoever  signed  the  re- 
monstrance would  be  more  favorably 
considered  in  their  claims,  and  enjoy 
other  privileges.  The  discussions  on 
the  subject  were  carried  on  with  great 
caution ;  but,  to  the  eternal  honor  of 
the  Irish  clergy,  the  insulting  instru- 
ment was  rejected,  and  another  remon- 
strance adopted,  to  which  no  objection 
whatever  could  be  raised,  if  only  an 
expression  of  the  most  devoted  loyalty 
were  required.  On  the  16  th  of  June 
this  Catholic  remonstrance  was  de- 
livered by  two  of  the  bishops  to  Or- 
mond, with  a  prayer  that  it  might  be 
presented  to  his  majesty;  but  the  duke 
rejected     petition    and    remonstrance. 


six  Irish  prelates  who  were  resident  in  their  respective 
sees  in  1649,  nine  had  died  at  home,  ten  had  died  in 
exile,  three  had  suffered  martyrdom,  and  four  were 
stUl  living  in  1667;  Dr.  Nicholas  Frencli  himself, 
bishop  of  Ferns,  and  Dr.  Andrew  Lynch,  bishop  of 
Kilfenora,  stUl  in  banishment ;  and  Dr  Burke  of  Tuam, 
and  Dr.  Patrick  Plunket,  just  mentioned.  Dr.  O'ReUly, 
the  primate,  had  only  been  consecrated  in  1657. 


560 


REIGN   OF  CHARLES  II. 


sent  Peter  Walsh  to  order  the  synod 
to  dissolve  immediately,  and  subjected 
the  Catholic  bishops  and  clergy  to  a 
more  rigid  persecution  than  before. 
The  primate  was  seized  on  the  27th  of 
September,  and  carried  prisoner  to  Lon- 
don, whence  he  was  sent  into  banish- 
ment until  his  death,  which  took  place 
at  Lou  vain  in  1669.* 

The  propensity  of  English  statesmen 
to  treat  Ireland  as  an  alien  country,  and 
to  legislate  in  a  spirit  hostile  to  her  in- 
terests, was  such  that  even  the  Crom- 
wellian  settlers  had  scarcely  fixed  them- 
selves in  this  country  when  they  felt 
the  galling  pressure  of  this  national 
injustice.  Prohibitory  laws  relating  to 
Irish  commerce  had  long  been  usual  in 
England.  The  Irish-wool  trade  had 
been  restricted  within  the  narrowest 
limits ;  but  at  this  time  the  prohibition 
against  the  importation  of  Irish  cattle 
into  England  was  the  grievance  that 
pressed  most  heavily  on  Irish  commer- 
cial interests.  A  law  on  this  subject 
was  passed  for  a  limited  period  in  1663, 
but  the  question  was  agitated  from  year 
to  year;  and  when  in   October,  1G66, 


*  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Ormond's  object  in  en- 
couraging the  synod  of  1CG6  was  to  sow  diR^ord  among 
the  Catholic  clergy.  Peter  Talbot,  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  shows  in  his  castigation  of  Walsh  (The  Friar 
Disciplined,  p.  92)  that  he  was  well  awaro  such  was  the 
case.  In  fact  the  duke  himself  frankly  acknowledged, 
some  years  later, "  that  his  aim  in  permitting  that  meet 
ing  was  to  work  a  division  among  the  Romish  clergy" 
(Carte's  Ormond,  ii.,  Append.) ;  and  soon  after  the  synod 
was  dispersed,  Lord  Orrery,  writing  to  Ormond,  says  : 
"  I  humbly  offer  to  your  grace  whether  this  may  not  be 
a  fit  season  to  make  that  schism,  which  you  have  been 
sowing  among  the  Popish  clergy,  publicly  break  out,  so 


the  lord-lieutenant,  seconded  by  the 
Irish  gentry,  proposed  to  send  over 
15,000  bullocks  as  a  contribution  for 
the  sufferers  by  the  great  fire  of  Lon- 
don, their  kindness  was  maliciously 
interjjreted ;  and  the  English  commons, 
displaying  what  Leland  calls  "  a  violent 
and  almost  unaccountable  rage  of  op- 
pression," voted  a  bill  making  the  pro- 
hibition permanent.  In  the  preamble 
to  the  bill  the  importation  of  Irish 
cattle  was  termed  a  "nuissance,"  which 
description  the  lords  modified  by  sub- 
stituting the  words  "  detriment  and 
mischief"  Lord  Ashley,  a  member  of 
the  cabal  ministry,-]-  proposed  that  it 
should  be  declared  a  felony  and  prae- 
raunii'e.  The  measure  gave  rise  to 
violent  debates  in  both  houses.  The 
duke  of  Buckingham  asserted  that 
"  none  could  oppose  the  bill  but  such 
as  had  Irish  estates  or  Irish  under- 
standings ;"  and  Lord  Ossory,  son  of 
the  duke  of  Oi'mond,  resented  this 
insult  by  a  challenge,  which  Bucking- 
ham declined  to  accept;  and  Ossory 
was  sent  to  the  Tower.  At  another 
part  of  the   debate,  when  Ashley  in- 


as  to  set  them  at  open  diflFerence,  as  we  may  reap  some 
practicable  advantage  thereby."  (Orm.  State  Letters, 
vol.  ii.)  But  Ormond's  arts  did  not  succeed,  for  we  are 
told  by  'Walsh  himself  that  although  there  were  then 
in  Ireland  1,100  secular  priests  and  750  regulars,  yet 
that  of  these  1,850  clergy  only  G9  signed  his  remon- 
strance, these  being  chiefly  friars  of  his  own  order,  over 
whom  he  had  great  influence. 

f  The  name  of  "  cabal"  was  given  to  the  ministry  of 
Charles  II. — ClifiTord,  Ashley,  Buckingham,  Arlington, 
and  Lauderdale — the  initials  of  their  names  composing 
that  word. 


I — 


ANONYMOUS  ACCUSATIONS. 


561 


veiwhed  asraiast  the  Irisli  contribution 
for  the  sufferers,  Ossory  protested  that 
"  such  virulence  became  none  but  one 
of  Cromweirs  counsellors,"  and  several 
noble  lords  on  both  sides  were  on  the 
point  of  drawing  their  swords ;  but  the 
commons  insistins:  on  their  favorite  ex- 
pression  being  retained,  Charles  re- 
quested the  lords  to  yield  the  point, 
and  the  bill  received  the  royal  assent 
with  the  w^ord  "  nuissance"  restored  in 
the  preamble. 

At  home  disaffection  prevailed  among 
all  parties.  The  landed  interest  was 
ruined  by  the  prohibitory  laws  just  re- 
ferred to.  The  army  complained  that 
their  pay  was  in  arrears ;  and  some  sol- 
diers having  mutinied  and  seized  Car- 
rickfergus  castle,  a  considei'able  military 
force  was  required  to  reduce  them ;  ten 
of  their  number  being  executed.  The 
Irish  Puritans  carried  on  a  secret  cor- 
respondence with  their  friends  in  Eng- 
land, so  that  government  was  perpetu- 
ally alarmed  with  rumors  of  new  plots. 
The  Irish  Catholics,  infinitely  more 
aggrieved  than  any  other  party,  were 
objects  of  suspicion  to  all;  and  although 
they  had  engaged  in  no  conspiracy, 
anonymous  accusations  were  daily  made 
against  them.     They  were  charged  with 

*  The  moderation  of  Lord  Berkley  inspired  the  Irish 
Catholics  Trith  the  deepest  gratitude,  and  a  convocation 
of  the  clergy  Tvas  held  in  Dublin  in  1670  to  give  expres- 
sion to  their  feelings  in  an  address  to  Ms  excellency.  On 
this  occasion  the  two  most  illustrious  men  in  the 
Irish  church  of  that  day  were  present,  namely,  Oliver 
Plunkett,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  Peter  Talbot,  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  both  of  whom  had  been  elevated  to 
the  archiepiscopal  dignity  in  1669.  These  two  eminent 
men  differed  considerably  in  their  disposition.  Dr. 
Plunkett,  more  calm  and  forgiving,  objected  to  the  se- 
71 


inviting  the  French  to  invade  Ireland  ; 
and  Ormond,  'Who  affected  to  believe 
these  malicious  rumors,  made  them  an 
excuse  for  ruling  the  unhappy  Catholics 
with  a  rod  of  iron.  He  could  not  for- 
give the  Irish  clergy  for  refusing  to  sign 
the  remonstrance,  and  was  resolved,  as 
he  said,  to  kefep  them  up  to  the  letter 
of  that  document,  "  or  to  a  sense  equiv- 
alent." He  distributed  20,000  stand  of 
arms  to  his  Protestant  militia,  and  in 
July,  166Y,  reviewed  the  Leinster  corps 
in  the  Curragh  of  Kildare.  The  ap- 
pearance of  an  English  squadron  about 
the  same  time  off  Kinsale  threw  the 
country  into  a  high  state  of  excitement, 
as  it  was  supposed  to  be  the  expected 
French  fleet;  but  the_king,  provoked 
by  these  repeated  alarms,  and  by  the 
many  complaints  which  reached  him, 
removed  Ormond,  who  had  gone  to 
England  in  1668,  and  the  following 
year  appointed  Lord  Eobarts,  of  Truro, 
as  lord-lieutenant.  This  man  remained 
but  a  few  months,  and  was  succeeded  in 
May,  1670,  by  John  Lord  Berkley,  a 
nobleman  of  moderate  principles  and 
upright  intentions.* 

Colonel  Kichard  Talbot,  w^ho  pos- 
sessed great  influence  at  court,  and  was 
subsequently  created  duke  of  Tirconnell 


verity  exercised  by  Dr.  Talbot  against  the  remonstrant 
clergy,  or  those  who  had  signed  Walsh's  remonstrance ; 
and  at  the  same  time  entertained  so  strict  a  sense  of  his 
own  duty  to  sustain  the  rights  of  his  high  position  as 
primate,  that  he  refused  to  sign  the  address  unless  his 
name  were  placed  first,  whUe  Dr.  Talbot  insisted  on 
the  claim  long  before  set  up  to  the  primatial  dignity 
for  his  diocese.  The  dispute  forms  an  interesting 
topic  in  Irish  chutrch  history,  and  gave  occasion  to  very 
learned  treatises  on  the  subject  from  both  these  pre- 
lates. 


562 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES   II. 


by  James  II.,  went  to  Eugland  in  1671 
to  lay  before  the  king  and  council  a  pe- 
tition from  the  Irish  Catholic  gentry 
■who  had  been  plundered  of  their  es- 
tates.''^  Colonel  Talbot  had  for  several 
years  past  acted  as  the  advocate  of  his 
injured  fello\Y-countrymen  Avith  the 
kins',  and  on  this  occasion  he  was  so 
successful  as  to  induce  his  majesty  to 
appoint  a  committee  of  inquiry,  not- 
withstanding the  opi^osition  given  to 
the  petition  by  Ormond.  The  report 
of  the  committee  Avas  unfavorable ;  but 
a  commission  was  issued,  which  was  su- 
perseded in  January,  1673,  by  one  of  a 
more  comprehensive  character,  to  in- 
quire concerning  the  acts  of  settlement 
and  explanation,  the  manner  in  which 
these  acts  were  executeu,  the  disposal 
of  the  forfeited  estates,  the  state  of  his 
majesty's  revenue  in  Ireland,  «fec.  The 
appointment  of  this  commission  gave 
occasion  to  a  violent  outcry  among  the 
Puritans  and  the  new  interest  in  Ire- 
land. Any  thing  that  threatened  to 
disturb  the  Act  of  Settlement,  and  to 
drag  before  the  public  view  all  the 
atrocious  injustice  and  secret  dishonesty 
connected  with  that  most  aj)palliug 
s2)oliation,  was  a  sufficient  cause  of  dis- 
may.     The  toleration  and  justice  ex- 


*  Among  the  plundered  Ii-isli  gentry  of  that  time  we 
find  our  great  antiquary,  Roderick  O'Flaherty,  who  was 
most  assuredly  innocent,  thus  mildly  complaining  in  his 
0(jy'jia :—"  The  Lord  hath  wonderfully  recalled  the  royal 
heir  to  his  kingdom,  with  the  applause  of  all  good  men, 
and  without  dust  and  blood  ;  but  he  hath  not  found  me 
worthy  to  be  restored  to  the  kingdom  of  my  cottage 
(sed  me  non  dignum  invenit,  cui  tugurii  mei  rcgnum 
restituat).  Against  thee  alone,  O  Lord,  I  have  siimcd ; 
may  the  name  of  the  Lord  be  blessed  forever."    Ogygia, 


tended  by  Lord  Berkley  to  the'  Cath- 
olics also  excited  alarm.f  The  cry  of 
"  Popery"  was  raised.  The  "  mj^stery 
of  iniquity,"  it  was  said,  had  begun  to 
appear.  Yielding  to  this  storm,  the 
king   recalled   Lord   Berkley  in   May, 

1672,  and  appointed  in  his  stead  Lord 
Essex,  with  instructions  to  take  a  dif- 
ferent course.     On  the  9th  of  Mai'ch, 

1673,  the  English  house  of  commons 
presented  a  most  violent  address  to  his 
majesty,  calling  upon  him  to  expel  by 
proclamation  all  who  exercised  spiritual 
jurisdiction  under  the  pope  in  Ireland  ; 
to  prohibit  Irish  Papists  from  inhabit- 
ing any  j^art  of  that  kingdom,  unless 
duly  licensed ;  and  to  encourage  by  all 
means  the  English  planters,  and  the 
Protestant  interest  there.  The  result 
was  that  the  weak  king  hastened  to  re- 
call his  commission  of  inquiry,  and  did 
all  he  could  to  appease  the  awakened 
zeal  of  his  Protestant  subjects. 

Ormond  was  restored  to  favor,  and 
Essex  having  been  recalled,  the  duke 
was  sent  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant 
in  August,  1677.  The  following  year 
the  diabolical  fabrication  known  as  the 
Popish  Plot  made  its  appearance.  Eng- 
land was  at  that  time  drunk  with  fanat- 
icism.    The  outcry  against  Popery  had 


p.  180.  And  elsewhere  he  says  : — "  I  live  a  banished  man 
within  the  bounds  of  my  native  soil ;  a  spectator  of  others 
enriched  by  my  birthright ;  an  object  of  condoling  to  my 
relations  and  friends,  and  a  condoler  of  their  miseries." 
Ogygia  Vind.,  p.  1.53. 

f  It  was  charged  against  Lord  Berkley  that  Popery 
was  tolerated,  and  that  Archbishop  Talbot  celebrated 
Higli  Mass  publicly  in  Dublin  during  his  administrar 
tion  ;  and  also  that  he  allowed  some  Papists  to  hold  the 
commission  of  the  peace. 


IMPRISONMENT   OF  TALBOT. 


563 


driven  tile  people  mad,  and  the  contri- 
vance of  the  infamous  Titus  Oates  and 
hi:^  flao'itious'  associates  was  a  fittina' 
cliranx  to  the  national  frenzy.  The 
duke  of  Ormond  was  at  Kilkenny  when 
he  received  the  first  notice  of  the  plot, 
October  3,  16T8;  but  although  he- 
treated  the  matter  in  his  official  capa- 
city as  one  of  awful  magnitude,  and 
adopted  all  the  cruel  measures  towards 
the  Catholics  that'  might  satisf\'  the 
fanatics,  still  his  private  correspondence 
proves  that  he  placed  no  faith  in  the 
plot,  but  regarded  it  on  the  contrary 
with  contempt;  observing  that  no  such 
thing  existed  in  Ireland,  where  the 
Catholics  were  so  much  more  numerous 
than  in  England.*  On  the  7th  of  Oc- 
tober he  received  a  further  communica- 
tion from  the  secretary  of  state,  an- 
nouncing that  the  plot  did  extend  to 
Ireland,  -and  that  Peter  Talbot  was 
concerned  in  it;  although  it  was  known 
that  that  prelate  was  then  in  a  dying 
state,  having  only  a  few  mouths  before 
obtained  private  permission  to  return 
to  Ireland  that  he  might  breathe  his 
last  in  his  own  country.  Ormond,  how- 
ever, on  the  8th  of  October  issued  a 
warrant  for  his  apprehension,  and  the 
venera1)le  archbishoji  was  taken  from 
his  sick-bed,  at  Cartown,  near  May- 
nooth,  the  house  of  his  brothei'.  Colonel 
Ilichard  Talbot,  and  carried  in  a  chair 
to  Dublin,  where  he  was  kept  a  close 
prisoner  in  the  castle,  until  death  re- 
moved him  from  his  lingering  martyr- 
dom two  years  after. 

f  See  Ixis  correspondence  in  the  second  volume  of  Carte. 


Proclamations  against  the  unoffend- 
ing Catholics  now  appeared  in  quick 
succession-  One  on  the  16th  of  Octo- 
ber commanded  "  all  titular  archbish- 
ops, bishops,  vicars-general,  and  other 
dignitaries  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
also  all  Jesuits,  and  other  regular  priests, 
to  depart  by  the  20th  of  November; 
and  that  all  Popish  societies,  convents, 
seminaries,  and  Popish  schools,  should 
dissolve."  The  masters  of  outward- 
bound  ships  were  required  to-  take  on 
board  all  the  Popish  clergy  who  should 
pi'esent  themselves  for  transportation. 
A  proclamation  of  the  20th  of  Novem- 
ber forbade  Papists  to  come  into  the 
castle  of  Dublin  or  any  other  fort  or 
citadel ;  and  ordered  that  the  markets 
of  Drogheda,  Wexford,  Cork,  Limerick, 
Waterford,  Youghal,  and  Galway  should 
be  held  without  the  walls,  to  prevent 
the  recourse  of  Papists  to  the  interior 
of  the  towns.  The  same  day  a  reward 
was  oflfered  of  .£10  for  every  commis- 
sioned officer,  £5  for.eyery  trooper,  and 
4s.  for  every  foot-soldier  who  could  be 
•discovered  to  have  gone  to  Mass  since 
he  took  the  oath  of  supremacy  and 
alleo^iance.  On  the  2d  of  December 
orders  were  issued  for  a  strict  search 
after  the  titular  bishops  and  regular 
clergy  who  had  not  transported  them- 
selves. To  increase  the  alarm  and 
quicken  the  vigilance  of  government, 
anonymous  letters  about  Popish  conspi- 
racies were  dropped  in  the  streets.  The 
Protestant  militia  was  revived  and  dis- 
ciplined. In  March,  1680,  a  proclama- 
tion issued,  ordering  that  the  nearest 


564 


REIGN  OF  CHARLES  II. 


relations  of  tories  should  be  seized  and 
imprisoned  until  sucli  tories  were  killed 
or  taken;*  and  that  parish  priests  should 
be  ajjprehended  and  transported,  upon 
any  robbery  or  murder  being  commit- 
ted in  their  respective  parishes,  unless 
the  criminals  were  killed,  taken,  or  dis- 
covered within  fourteen  days.  A  re- 
ward of  i6lO  was  promised  at  the  same 
time  for  taking  a  Jesuit  or  titular  bish- 
op ;  and  soon  after  the  lord-lieutenant 
and  council  ordered  the  removal  of  the 
Popish  inhabitants  from  Galway,  Lim- 
erick, Waterford,  Clonmel,  Kilkenny, 
and  Drogheda,  "  except  some  few  trad- 
ing merchants,  artificers,  and  others 
necessary  for  the  said  towns."f  Thus 
did  the  rulers  of  Ireland  vainly  hope 
to  extirpate  the  Catholic  religion  from 
the  land  of  Patrick,  Bridget,  and  Co- 


*  Dr.  O'Conor  {Bib.  Stotoensis,  ii.  4G0)  derives  tlie 
name  "  tory"  from  the  Irish  word  toirigldm,  to  pursue 
for  prey.  Many  of  these  robber  outlaws  were  by  birth 
Irish  gentlemen,  who  had  been  unjustly  stripped  of 
their  estates,  and  who  levied  contributions  in  their 
owh  wild  way  on  the  Cromwellian  settlers  who  occupied 
theu'  ancient  patrimonies.  The  most  celebrated  of  them 
was  Redmond  O'Hanlon,  the  hero  of  many  a  traditional 
tale.  About  this  time  the  name  of  tory  came  into  use 
in  England,  where  it  was  applied  to  the  court  party  by 
the  Puritans,  or  popular  party,  who  ivere  designated 
whigs. 

f  See  in  Cox  the  continuation  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  where  the  substance  of  all  these  proclamations  will 
be  found ;  also  Carte,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  480,  &c.  To  what  the 
exclusion  of  Catholics  from  the  principal  towns  would 
then  amount,  we  may  gather  from  the  statement  of  Lord 
Orrery,  who  in  a  letter  to  the  duke  of  Ormond,  of  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1C62,  says  "  it  was  high  time  to  purge  the 
town  of  the  Papists,  when  in  most  of  them  there  were 
three  Papists  to  one  Protestant."  About  the  same  time 
the  Catholics  in  the  rural  districts  were  to  the  Protest- 
ants in  the  ratio  of  fifteen  to  one.  Sir  WUliam  Petty, 
writing  in  1673,  estimates  the  total  pojiulation  of  Ire- 
land at  1,100,000,  of^whoni  800.000  were  Irish,  200,000 
English,  and  100,000  Scotch.    All  the  Irish,  he  says. 


lumbkille ;  and  designing  impostors 
try  to  uige  the  Irish  to  resistance,  and 
afford  an  excuse  for  another  confisca- 
tiou.-f- 

Colonel  Talbot  was  arrested,  as  well 
as  his  brother,  the  archbishop,  but  was 
suffered  to  go  into  exile ;  and  an  order 
also  came  over  to  seize  Lord  Mountgar- 
ret,  then  an  octogenarian,  and  in  his 
dotage  ;  but  all  this  time  no  testimony 
came  from  Ireland  to  support  the  plot, 
to  the  great  disappointment  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury  and  the  other  patrons  of 
Oates.§  This  was  not  to  be  endured, 
and  accordingly  all  possible  methods 
were  resorted  to,  says  Carte,  "  to  pro- 
voke and  exasperate  the  peojDle  of  that 
kingdom."  New  measures  of  coercion 
were  devised  ;  "  it  was  proposed  to  in- 
troduce the  test  act  and  all  the  Ensrlish 

o 

were  Papists ;  all  the  Scotch,  Presbyterians ;  and  of  the 
English,  one-half  Protestant,  and  the  other  half  Inde- 
pendents, Anabaptists,  Quakers,  and  other  dissenters. 
There  were  thus,  according  to  him,  eight  Papists  to  one 
Church  of  England  Protestant ;  but  it  is  quite  clear 
that  owing  to  the  remoteness  of  the  districts  in  which 
many  of  the  Irish  dwelt,  he  had  no  means  of  learning 
their  actual  numbers,  which  were  unquestionably  much 
greater  than  he  states.  See  Petty's  Political  Anatomy 
of  Ireland,  p.  8,  ed.  1719. 

f  '■  There  were,"  says  Carte  (vol.  ii.,  p.  483),  "  too 
many  Protestants  in  Ireland  who  wanted  another  rebel- 
lion, that  they  might  increase  their  estates  by  new 
forfeitures." 

§  "  It  was  a  terrible  slur,"  says  Carte,  "  upon  the 
credit  of  the  Popish  plot  in  England,  that  after  it  had 
made  such  a  horrible  noise  and  frightened  people  out 
of  their  senses  in  a  nation  where  there  was  scarce  one 
Papist  to  an  hundred  Protestants,  there  should  not,  for 
above  a  year  together,  appear  so  much  as  one  witness 
from  Ireland  to  give  information  of  anj'  conspiracy  of 
the  like  nature  in  that  kingdom,  where  there  were  fif- 
teen Papists  to  one  Protestant,  as  that  charged  upon  the 
Papists  of  England,  whose  weakness  would  naturally 
make  them  apply  for  assistance  from  their  more  power- 
ful brethi'en  in  Ireland."    Vol.  ii.,  p.  400. 


ARREST  OF  ARCHBISHOP   PLUXKETT. 


565 


penal  laws  into  Ireland  ;  and  that  a 
proclamation  should  be  forthwith  issued 
for  encouraging  all  persons  that  could 
make  any  farther  discoveries  of  the  hor- 
rid Popish  plot  to  come  in  and  declare 
the  same."*  For  more  than  a  year 
after  the  proclamation  banishing  the 
Catholic  prelates  out  of  Ireland,  Arch- 
bishop Plunkett  continued  to  reside  in 
his  diocese.  He  was  so  good  a  man, 
and  so  useful  as  a  promoter  of  peace  and 
order,  that  Ormond  was  most  unwilling 
to  have  him  apprehended  ;  but  he  was 
at  length  seized  io  his  humble  retreat,  a 
few  miles  from  Drogheda,  on  the  6th  of 
December,  1679,  and  committed  to 
prison,  solely  for  his  religion  and  for 
exercisinsr  the  functions  of  a  Catholic 
prelate.f  The  arrest  of  the  primate 
gave  a  new  turn  to  things  in  Ireland. 
Hetheriugton,  Shaftesbury's  agent,  came 
over  to  concoct  evidence  of  a  plot,  and 
a  number  of  the  most  abandoned  charac- 
ters— cow-stealers,  I'apparees,  and  jail- 
breakers — wei*e  soon  found  ready  for 
the  purpose.  These  vile  miscreants 
vied  with  each  other  in  swearing  away 


*  Carte,  vol.  ii.,  p.  404. 

f  See  on  this  point  the  admirable  life  of  Dr.  Plunkett, 
published  in  Duffy's  Catlwlic  Magazine,  vol.  ii.,  p.  144. 

X  Dr.  Oliver  Plunkett  belonged  to  a  branch  of  the 
ancient  family  of  the  carls  of  Fingal,  and  was  born  at 
Loughcrew,  in  Meath.  He  went  to  Rome  when  a  young 
man,  in  February.  1647,  with  Father  Scarampi,  and 
studied  in  the  Irish  college  founded  by  Cardinal  Ludo- 
visius,  and  which  was  then  administered  by  Jesuits. 
About  eight  years  after  he  became  professor  of  divinity 
in  the  Propaganda,  and  so  continued  for  twelve  years  ; 
and  on  the  death  of  Edmond  O'ReUly,  archbishop  of 
Armagh,  in  16G9,  he  was  nominated  to  the  primacy  of 
Ireland  by  Pope  Clement_IX.  It  was  then  a  perilous  as 
well  as  an  exalted  dignity ;  but  in  August  ho  hastened 
to  his  afflicted  country,  where  he  arrived  about  the  end 


the  lives  of  innocent  men  ;  and  several 
of  them  came  forward  to  make  the  most 
outrageous  charges  of  treason  against 
the  venerable  archbishop.  ,  Foremost 
among  these  infamous  witnesses  were 
two  degraded  priests  and  as  many  apos- 
tate friars.  lu  those  turbulent  times, 
when  there  was  so  much  to  disorganize 
society  and  encourage  vice,  it  is  not  ex- 
traordinary that  men  should  have  been 
found  cajtable  of  any  degradation ;  and 
these  wretched  ecclesiastics  were  per- 
sons who,  after  fruitless  eiforts  to 
reform  them,  had  been  subjected  to 
canonical  censures ;  the  two  seculars 
having  been  excommunicated  by  the 
primate,  and  the  friars  declared  apos- 
tates by  their  superior.  As  the  evi- 
dence of  these  men  would  obtain  no 
credit  in  Ireland,  the  primate  was  taken 
to  London,  where  the  incredible,  incon- 
sistent, and  indeed  impossible  state- 
ments of  the  false  witnesses  were  re- 
ceived as  gospel  truth  by  the  judges, 
jury,  and  people  of  England,  and  Dr. 
Plunkett  was  immolated  at  the  shrine 
of  English  fanaticism.;]; 

of  October  the  same  year,  and  an  immediate  but  fruit- 
less search  was  made  for  him  by  order  of  the  govern- 
ment. Lord  Robarts,  who  was  soon  after  recalled,  was 
then  lord-lieutenant ;  but  during  the  administrations  of 
Lords  Berkley  and  Esses,  Dr.  Plunkett  continued  to  ex- 
ercise his  functions  without  molestation.  He  was  in- 
defatigable in  his  apostolic  labors,  holding  numerous 
ordinations,  and  exerting  himself  with  prudence  and 
assiduity  to  correct  abuses  among  clergy  and  laity.  He 
was  an  ardent  lover  of  liis  country  and  of  her  venerable 
antiquities,  and  composed  an  Irish  poem  about  Tara, 
which  is  mentioned  by  O'Reilly,  in  his  Iiiah  WHters. 
In  the  persecution  which  followed  the  outbreak  of  the 
pretended  Popish  plot,  he  removed  from  his  usual  resi- 
dence at  Ballybarrack,  near  Dundalk,  to  a  small  house 
at  a  place  called  Ca.?tIetownbellew,  a  few  miles  from 


566 


REIGN   OF   CHARLES  II. 


It   has   been   truly   siiid   liy  a  great 
Protestant  state.-iman  that  "  the  Popish 

Drogheda,  wliere  he  was  arrested.  At  liis  trial  he 
stated  that  he  had  lived  "  in  a  little  thatched  house, 
•wherein  waS'only  a  little  room  for  a  library,  which  was 
not  seven  feet  high  ;  that  he  had  never  more  than  one 
servant,  and  that  he  was  scarcsly  ever  able  to  support 
even  one."  As'to  his  income,  it  never  exceeded  "  three 
score  pounds  per  annum."  It  was  sis  months  after  his 
confmement  in  Newgate  that  the  charge  of  treason  was 
trumped  up  against  him,  and  when  it  was  then  investi- 
gated before  the  Irish  council  it  was  scouted  as  utterly 
alisurd.  A  reward  of  £500  was,  it  is  said,  offered  for 
Hetherington,  the  infamous  concocter  of  the  perjuries, 
Ijut  he  had  fled  to  his  employer,  Shaftesbury  ;  and  when 
the  primate  came  to  be  arraigned  at  the  Dundalk  as- 
sizes, although  every  man,  both  on  the  grand  and  petty 
jury,  was  a  Protestant,  not  one  of  tlic  miscreants  who 
had  made  depositions  against  him  would  come  forward. 
No  one  was  more  active,  says  Carte,  in  procuring  those 
witnesses  than  Jone.'s,  the  Protestant  bishop  of  Meath, 
"  who  had  been  scout-master-general  to  Oliver  Crom- 
well's army"  (Orm.,  ii.  498) ;  and  it  was  at  his  sugges- 
tion that  Shafte.sbury  got  the  primate's  trial  removed 
from  Dundalk,  where  he  would,  assuredly,  have  been 
acquitted,  to  London,  where  any  thing  sworn  against  a 
Popish  bishop  could  not  be  too  monstrous  for  the  popu- 
lar credulity.  The  Wsh  government  was  required  to 
assist  Lu8  wimEEses  for  the  plot,  of  one  of  whom,  James 
Geoghan,  who  was  sent  to  beat  up  the  country  for 
swearers,  Ormond  writes  that  "  at  length,  his  violences, 
excesses,  debaucheries,  and,  in  effect,  his  plain  rob- 
beries, committed  on' Irish  and  English,  Protestants  and 
Papists,  were  so  manifest,  as  raised  a  great  disturbance 
in  all  places,"  and  it  became  necessary  to  put  him  in. 
jail  (see  letter  in  Carte,  ii.  514) ;  yet  such  was  the  gen- 
eral character  of  the  degraded  men  produced  as  wit- 
nesses against  the  holy  archbishop — profligates  and 
apostates,  to  whom  a  free  pardon  was  offered  as  an  in- 
ducement to  add  perjury  and  murder  to  their  other 
crimes.  Dr.  Pluukett  was  removed  to  London  about 
the  close  of  October,  1G80,  and  was  st>  rigorously  con- 
fined in  Newgate,  that  no  friend  could  liave  access  to 
liim.  Here  he  spent  his  time  in  almost  continual 
prayer,  and  his  keepers  were  surprised  to  see  liim  always 
looli  so  cheerful  and  resigned.  When  brought  up  for 
trial,  he  obtained  five  weeks  to  procure  evidence  from 
Ireland ;  but  in  those  days  of  slow  travelling,  when 
weeks  were  sometimes  lost  in  waiting  for  a  passage  from 
Holyhead  to  Dublin,  the  time  was  insufficient;  and 
when  the  trial  at  length  came  on,  on  the  8th  of  June, 
1G81,  the  primate's  witnesses  had  not  arrived,  and  cer- 
tain records  which  he  desired  to  obtain  from  Ireland  to 
show  the  character  of  the  witnesses  brought  against 


jilot  must  always  be  eonsirlered  an  in- 
delible disgrace  upon  the  English  na- 

him,  would  not  be  given  to  his  agents  without  an  order 
from  the  court ;  but  a  single  day  longer  would  not  bo 
granted  to  him.  He  was  browbeaten  by  a  bench  of  par- 
tisan judges  ;  six  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in  Eng- 
land wore  arrayed  against  him ;  and  he  stood  alone, 
without  one  to  speak  a  word  in  his  defence,  or  procure 
for  him  fair  play  ;  for  as  the  law  then  stood,  he  was  not 
allowed  the  benefit  of  counsel.  A  host  of  abandoned 
wretches,  who,  says  the  great  Charles  Fox,  would  have 
been  unworthy  of  credit  even  in  the  most  trivial  matter, 
made  charges  against  him  that  were  not  onlj'  incredible 
but  absolutely  impossible  (Fox's  Historical  Works,  p. 
40).  In  vain  did  he  pray  for  time,  and  declare  : — "  If  I 
had  been  in  Ireland,  I  would  have  put  myself  on  my 
trial  to-morrow,  without  any  witnesses,  before  any 
Protestant  jury  that  knew  them  and  mo."  He,  who 
was  so  poor  and  meek,  and  had  such  a  horror  of  mixing 
himself  up  in  any  temporal  concern,  was  convicted  of 
plotting  to  raise  an  army  of  70,000  men  ;  of  collecting 
some  enormous  fund  for  that  purpose  among  the  clergy  ; 
of  practising  to  bring  over  40,000  French  troops ;  and  of 
inspecting  the  harbors  roimd  the  coast  of  Ireland,  and  se- 
lecting Carlingford  as  the  place  for  the  debarkation  of  tlie 
invading  army  !  On  the  15th,  when  brought  up  to  receive 
sentence,  the  brutal  chief-justice,  addressing  him,  said  : 
"  Look  you,  Mr.  Plunkett,  you  have  been  indicted  of  a 
very  great  and  heinous  crime.  .  .  .  The  bottom  of  your 
treason  was  j'our  setting  up  your  false  religion  ....  a 
religion  that  is  ten  times  worse  than  all  the  heathenish 
•^juperstitions."  The  earl  of  Essex  went  to  the  king  to 
apply  for  a  pardon,  and  told  his  majesty  "  the  witnesses 
must  needs  be  perjured,  as  what  they  swore  could  not 
possibly  be  true ;"  but  his  majesty  answered  in  a  pas- 
sion:—"Why  did  you  not  declare  this,  then,  at  the 
trial?  I  dare  pardon  nobod}'.  .  .  .  His  blood  be  upon 
your  head  and  not  upon  mine"  {Contin.  of  Baker's 
Chronicle,  p.  710,  and  Echard's  Hist,  of  Eiig.,  iii.  631). 
The  address  which  the  holy  primate  read  at  Tybm'n 
was  an  able  and  beautiful  vindication.  On  the  1st  of 
i  uly  he  was  hanged  and  quartered ;  his  heart  and 
bowels  were  thrown  into  the  fire,  but  his  body  was  ob- 
tained from  the  king  and  interred  in  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Qiles-in-the-Fields,  except  the  head,  and  the  arms  to 
the  elbows,  which  were  inclosed  in  two  tin  cases.  In 
1683,  when  the  quarters  of  his  body  were  exhumed  Ijy 
his  friend.  Father  Corker,  they  were  found  entire,  and 
all  his  relics  were  translated  to  Lambspring,  in  Ger- 
many ;  but  Hugh  MacMahon,  one  of  his  successors  in 
tho  primacy,  having  obtained  tlie  head  from  cardinal 
Howard,  brought  it  to  Ireland,^and  subsequently  depos- 
ited it  in  the  convent  which  he  founded,  in  1732,  for 
Dominican  nuns,  at  Drogheda,  in  which  the  first  prioress 


DEATH   OF  CHARLES   H. 


567 


tion  ;""■  and  if  the  lessous  whicli  histoi-y 
teaches  are  to  have  any  effect,  such  a 
blot  ought  assuredly  to  humble  na- 
tional j)ride.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
tliat  Dr.  Plunkett  was  not  only  the  last 
victim  of  tliat  atrocious  imposture,  but 
that  the  tide  of  persecution  ebbed  im- 
mediately upon  his  death.  He  was 
executed  at  Tyburn  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1G81,  and  the  very  next  day  Shaftes- 
bury-, the  patron  of  the  gang  of  per- 
jurers and  the  chief  promoter  of  the 
plot,  was  himself  dragged  to  the  tower 
for  high  treason  ;  nor  was  it  long  after 
when  some  retiibution  overtook  the 
infamous  Titus  Oates,  who  was  whipped 
by  the  common  hangman  and  pilloried 
for  his  perjuries.f  The  severity  of  the 
penal  laws  was  relaxed  in  Ireland. 
Ormond,  whose  growing  moderation 
had  drawn  upon  him  the  violent  attacks 

was  Catlierine  Plunkett,  a  relative,  it  is  presumed,  of 
tlie  holy  primate  ;  and  in  this  house,  known  as  the  Si- 
enna convent,  the  precious  relic  is  enshrined  in  a  small 
ebony  temple  decorated  with  silver.  An  authentic  por- 
trait of  the  illustrious  martyr,  taken  after  his  con- 
demnation, has  been  engraved,  and  published  by  Mr. 
Duffy.  (See  the  excellent  and  learned  memoir  of  Oliver 
Plunkett  by  Rev.  Dr.  Crolly  ;  also  the  notices  of  him  in 
the  Theologia  Tripartita  of  his  contemporary  and  friend, 
Arsdekin  ;  the  Hib.  Bominicana  ;  Harris's  Additions  to 
Ware's  Irish  Writers;  the  Thorpe  Collection  of 
Pamphlets ;  the  State  Trials ;  Mr.  Thomas  Darcy 
il'Gee's  Irish  Writers,  &c.)  All  subsequent  Protestant 
writers  have  admitted  that  he  was  unjustly  executed. 
Bishop  Burnet,  who  was  certainly  no  friend  to  Catholics, 
writes  ; — "  Lord  Essex  told  me  that  this  Plunkett  was 
a  wise  and  sober  man,  who  was  always  in  a  different 
interest  from  the  two  Talbots ;"  and  he  adds,  that  the 
foreman  of  the  grand  jury  who  had  investigated  his 
case  in  Ireland,  and  "  who  was  a  zealous  Protestant," 
told  him  the  witnesses  "  contradicted  one  another  so  evi- 
dently, that  they  would  not  iind  the  bill"  (Burnet's 
Hist,  of  his  Mon  Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  503-3).  "  Of  his  inno- 
cence," says  Fox,  "  no  doubt  could  be  entertained"  {Hist. 


of  Shaftesbury  and  the  Whigs,  now 
more  openly  befriended  the  Irish 
Catholics.  Whether  influenced  by  some 
remorse  for  the  past,  or  revolution  in 
his  own  sentiments,  or  change  which  he 
observed  in  the  feelings  of  the  king,  it 
is  certain  that  he  became  liberal  at  the 
close  of  his  long  career.  Charles  II., 
who  was  received  into  the  Catholic 
church  a  few  hours  before  his  death, 
expired  on  the  6th  of  February,  1685, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
James,  duke  of  York,  who  had  for 
several  years  past  openly  professed  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  suffered  for  it  many 
persecutions  and  even  banishment  from 
England.  Thus  did  a  new  vista  of 
hope  dawn  upon  the  Irish. 

The  seventeenth  century,  towards 
the  close  of  which  we  now  apjjroach, 
though  brimful  of  calamity  to  Ireland, 

Works,  p.  40).  "  He  was,"  says  Dr.  CroDy,  "  the  last 
victim  of  the  Popish  plot,  and  the  last  martyr  who  was 
directly  put  to  death  for  the  Catholic  religion  in  these 
countries."  It  will  interest  Irish  antiquaries  to  know 
that  Florence  MacMoyer,  one  of  the  witnesses  against 
Dr.  Plunkett,  was  the  hereditary  keeper  of  the  cele- 
brated Book  of  Armagh,  and  that  being  reduced  to  beg- 
gary at  the  close  of  his  life,  he  pawned,  for  £5,  that  cele- 
brated relic  of  antiquity,  which  thus  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  an  ancestor  of  Lord  Brownlow.  It  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  Trinity  CoUege,  and  is  about  to  be  pub- 
Bshed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beeves,  to  whom  Primate  Bercs- 
ford  has  most  liberally  given  £600  to  aid  in  the  publi- 
cation. 

*  Charles  J.  Fox's  Historical  Works,  p.  3.3. 

f  "  Titus  Oates,"  says  Grainger,  "  was  restrained  by 
no  principle,  human  or  divine,  and,  like  Judas,  would 
have  done  any  thing  for  thirty  shillings.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  viUains  that  we  read  of  in 
history."  (Biographical  Hist,  of  Eng.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  201.) 
Oates  obtained  for  his  perjuries  a  pension  of  £1,200  a- 
year,  of  which  he  was  deprived  by  King  James,  but 
William  IH.  granted  a  pardon  to  the  miscreant,  and 
conferred  on  him  a  pension  of  £400  a-year. 


568 


IRISHMEN  DISTINGUISHED   IN  LITERATURE. 


was  illumiuated  by  innumerable  lights 
of  Irish  history  and  literature.  Its  first 
quarter  witnessed  the  labors  of  Philip 
O'Sullevaa  Beare,  Stephen  White, 
Peter  Lombard,  and  Thomas  Messing- 
ham  ;  the  Four  Masters  (Michael,  Con- 
ary,  and  Cucogiy  O'Clery,  and  Ferfeasa 
O'Mulconry)  were  compiling  their  cele- 
brated Annals  of  Ireland  from  1632  to 
1636  ;  Geoffrey  Keating,  who  has  been 
called  the  Irish  Herodotus,  died  about 
the  middle  of  the  century ;  Archbishop 
Ussher,  that  wonderful  compound  of 
great  learning  and  intolerant  bigotry, 
and  the  honest  and  learned  Sir  James 
Ware,  flourished  at  the  same  time ;  the 
eminent  Irish  scholar  and  antiquary, 
Duald  MacFirbis,  was  Ware's  Irish 
amanuensis;  Father  John  Colgan,  the 
greatest  of  our  hagiographers,  published 
his  invaluable  Acta  Sanctorum,  Hiher- 
nice,  at  Louvain,  in  1645 ;  and  during 
the  same  century  flourished  Patrick 
Fleming,    Hugh   Ward,   David    Koth, 


Luke  Wadding,  Dominic  O'Daly,  Tho- 
mas Carve,  Anthony  Bruodin,  Nicholas 
French,  Oliver  Plunkett,  Richard  Ars- 
dekin.  Archdeacon  Lynch  (Gratianus 
Lucius),  and  the  learned  author  of  the 
Ogygia,  Roderick  O'Flaherty.  The 
list  might  be  much  extended,  and  to 
the  preceding,  who,  with  two  or  three 
exceptions,  were  ecclesiastics  residing 
abroad,  might  be  added  a  long  ar- 
ray of  other  Irishmen  who  confined 
their  labors  in  the  foreign  monasteries 
and  colleges  exclusively  to  sacred  sub- 
jects. 

At  the  same  time  the  Irish  at  home 
preserved  their  traditions  and  some  of 
their  ancient  records  in  their  woods  and 
mountains,  where  their  priests  found 
hiding-places  from  persecution,  and 
wliere  Ave  can  fancy  that  the  wild 
strains  of  the  native  music,  devoted  to 
the  utterance  of  so  much  sorrow,  be- 
came more  exquisitely  plaintive  in  their 
character. 


ACCESSION   OF  JAMES  II. 


5G9 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


REIGN"   OF   JA3IES   n. 


Temper  of  parties  in  Ireland  at  the  Accession  of  James  II. — Hopes  of  the  Catholica  and  alarm  of  the  Protestants. 
— Clarendon  lord-lieutenant — Refusal  to  repeal  the  Acts  of  Settlement. — Colonel  Richard  Talbot  created  earl 
of  TirconneU,  and  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army  in  Ireland — Succeeds  Clarendon  as  lord-lieutenant. 
Numerous  Catholic  appointments. — Alarming  rumors — Increased  disaffection  of  the  Protestants. — Birth  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales. — William  Prince  of  Orange  in%-ited  to  England — The  League  of  Augsburg — William's 
dissimulation — His  arrival  at  Torbay. — James  deserted  by  his  English  subjects  and  obliged  to  fly  to  France. — 
Disloyal  Association  of  the  Protestants  of  Ulster — The  Protestants  in  general  refuse  to  give  up  their  arms. — 
The  Rapparees. — Irish  troops  sent  to  England,  and  the  consequence. — Closing  the  gates  of  Derry. — The  Irish 
alone  faithful  to  King  James — He  lands  at  Kinsale  and  marches  to  Dublin. — Siege  of  Derry — The  town  re- 
lieved and  the  siege  raised — Conduct  of  the  EnniskOleners. — James's  parliament  in  Dublin — Act  of  Attainder. 
— Large  levies  of  the  Irish. — Landing  of  Schomberg — He  encamps  at  Dundalb  and  declines  battle  with  James. 
— Battle  of  Cavan. — ^William  lauds  at  Carrickfergus — Marches  to  the  Boyne. — Disposition  of  the  hostile  forces. 
— The  Battle  of  the  Boyne — Orderly  retreat  of  the  Irish. — Flight  of  King  James — He  escapes  to  France. — 
William  marches  to  Dublin. — Waterford  and  Duncannon  reduced. — GaUtint  defence  of  Athlone  by  the  Irish. 
— Retreat  of  the  Williamite  army  imder  Douglass. — WiUiam  besieges  Limerick — Noble  defence  of  the  gar- 
rison— The  English  ammunition  and  artillery  blown  up  by  Sarsfield — The  city  stormed — Memorable  heroism 
of  the  besieged — William  raises  the  siege  and  rettims  to  England. — Arrival  of  St.  Ruth. — Loss  of  Athlone. — 
Battle  of  Aughrim  and  death  of  St.  Ruth. — Siege  and  surrender  of  Gal  way. — Second  siege  of  Limerick — Honor- 
oble  capitulation. — The  Irish  army  embark  for  France. 

(from  a.  d.  1685  TO  A.  D.  1691.) 


UNBOUNDED  was  the  joy  of  the 
Irish  Catholics  ou  the  accession  of 
James  II.,  and  ia  a  like  proportion  was 
the  depression  produced  among  the  Pro- 
testants by  that  event.  For  the  feelings 
of  both  jjarties,  at  a  time  "when  so  many 
elements  of  discord  "were  rife,  due  al- 
lowance should  now  be  made.  On  the 
one  side  we  see  men  who  had  so  long 
groaned  under  oppression  and  ruin  sud- 
denly raised  to  the  hope  of  restored 
fortunes  and  religious  liberty;  on  the 
other,  a  dominant  party  enriched  "with 
the  spoils  of  their  antagonists,  but  now 
dreading  the  loss  of  power  and  of  es- 
tates so  dubiously  acquired,  and  what 


was  Avorse  than  all,  th^extension  of 
favor  towards  a  «reed  to  which  they 
entertained  a  fanatical  aversion.  The 
old  English  had  become  almost  identi- 
fied  in  sympathies  and  interest  with  the 
Irish,  and  between  both  and  the  new 
interest,  as  the  Cromwellian  planters 
were  styled,  there  existed  all  the 
jealou.sy  and  antipathy  which  could 
sj)ring  from  antagonism  in  religion  and 
race.  From  the  beginning  James's  acts 
relating  to  L-eland  tended  to  strengthen 
the  corresponding  hopes  and  fears  of 
the  two  parties.  Colonel  Richard  Tal- 
bot, whose  imprudent  zeal  and  rash 
and  impetuous  disposition  were  often 


5Y0 


REIGN   OF    JAMES  II. 


injurious  to  the  cause  wliicli  he  wished 
to  serve,  was  raised  to  the  peerage  with 
the  title  of  earl  of  Tirconnell,  and  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  of  the  forces 
in  Ireland,  with  an  authority  independ- 
ent of  that  of  the  lord-lieutenant.  He 
proceeded  to  reorganize  the  array  by 
the  introduction  of  Catholic  officers,  and 
hastened  with  unconciliating  abruptness 
to  disarm  the  Protestant  militia.  The 
appointment  early  in  1686  of  the  earl 
of  Clarendon  as  lord  lieutenant,  and  Sir 
Charles  Porter  as  lord-chancellor,  might 
have  reassured  the  Protestants  had 
not  their  disaffection  been  too  deeply 
rooted,  and  their  fears  too  keenly 
alarmed.  Tirconnell  endeavored  to 
procure  a  repeal  of  the  Acts  of  Settle- 
ment and  Explanation,  but  his  proposal 
was  scouted  by  the  English  council, 
who  declared  that  the  king  would  not 
sacrifice  his  English  Catholic  subjects 
to  the  interests  of  the  Irish ;  and  Claren- 
don, in  his  ^eech  on  assuming  the 
sword  of  office,  tried  to  remove  all 
doubts  on  this  subject  by  stating  that 
"he  had  the  king's  commands  to  de- 
clare on  all  occasions  that  his  majesty 
had  no  intention  of  altering  those  acts." 
In  February,  1687,  Tirconnell  was 
sworn  lord-lieutenant,  and  contributed 


*  Mr.  Lesley  thus  puts  tho  argument  on  this  sub- 
ject : — "  Suppose,  say  they,  it  were  true,  which  Dr. 
King  asserts,  as  it  is  most  false,  that  King  James,  while 
ho  was  in  Ireland,  did  endeavor  totally  to  overthrow 
the  Church  established  by  law  there,  and  set  up  that 
which  was  most  agreeable  to  the  inclinations  of  the 
major  number  of  the  people  in  that  kingdom,  who  are 
Roman  Catholics,  the  Jacobites  ask,  if  tliis  were  so, 
whether  it  be  not  fully  vindicated  in  the  fourth  instruc- 
tion of  those  which  King  William  sent  to  his  commis 


materially  by  his  administration  of 
affairs  to  increase  the  discontent  and 
alarm  of  the  Protestants.  In  each  court 
two  Catholic  judges  were  appointed, 
the  third  being  a  Protestant ;  Catholics 
were  made  high  sheriffs  and  privy  coun- 
cillors ;  commissions  of  the  peace  were 
granted  to  a  number  of  Catholic  magis- 
trates ;  a  great  many  Catholic  officers 
obtained  commissions  in  the  army ;  and 
quo-warrantos  were  issued  to  all  the 
corporations,  which  had  become  nests 
of  Puritan  exclusiveness  and  corruption, 
fresh  charters  being  granted  which 
admitted  Catholics  into  the  corporate 
bodies.  These  measures  might  have 
been  taken  by  another  with  less  offence 
to  Protestant  prejudice ;  but  there  was 
still  nothing  in  them  that  was  not  con- 
sistent with  a  fair  balance  of  religious 
toleration.  Catholicity  might  with  jus- 
tice have  been  made  the  state  church 
in  Ireland,  as  Presbyterianism  was  in 
Scotland ;  but  the  acts  of  James's  govern- 
ment in  Ireland  did  not  go  to  that  extent, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
disbelieve  his  own  assurance  that  he 
never  intended  to  overturn  the  Protest- 
ant establishment  in  these  countries.* 

Bickerings  and  mutual  provocations 
betweeji    the    parties    were    incessant. 


sioners  in  Scotland,  dated  at  Copt  Hall,  May  31,  1689, 
in  these  words  : — '  You  are  to  pass  an  act  establishing 
that  church  government  which  is  most  agreeable  to  the 
inclinations  of  the  people.'  By  which  rule,  they  say 
that  it  was  as  just  to  set  up  Popery  in  Ireland  as  Pres- 
bytery in  Scotland."  (Preface  to  his  Answer  to  Areli^ 
Mshop  King)  Many  of  the  Catholic  appointments  men. 
tioned  above  were  made  by  Clarendon,  and  before  Tir- 
connell became  lord-lieutenant. 


DISAFFECTION  OF  PROTESTANTS. 


571 


The  Protestants  complained  that  the 
Catholics  sued  them  for  old  debts,  and 
that  they  instituted  prosecutions  for 
fictitious  treasons ;  but  the  most  fertile 
source  of  irritation  arose  from  the  con- 
stant rumors  on  both  sides  of  appre- 
hended massacres.  In  some  places  the 
Catholic  peasantry  deserted  their  dwell- 
ings for  several  nights  successively, 
through  fear  of  an  attack  by  the  Pro- 
testants ;  and  on  the  other  hand  a  panic 
seized  the  Protestants  in  Dublin  and 
elsewhere;  congregations  armed  them- 
selves against  imaginary  "  Popish  mas- 
sacres," and  placed  sentinels  outside  the 
church  gates  during  service ;  and  many 
of  the  Protestant  merchants  and  tra- 
ders deserted  the  country  for  England 
and  Scotland  * 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  James 
could,  by  any  amount  of  moderation, 
and  the  most  cautious  policy,  have 
averted  the  revolution  which  deprived 
him  of  his  kingdom.     The  temper  of 


*  The  work  of  Dr.  William  King,  afterwards  succes- 
sor of  Dr.  Marsh  as  archhisliop  of  Dublin — "  The  State 
of  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  under  the  late  King  James's 
Ouvernment" — is  the  great  text-book  of  Protestant  wri- 
ters on  this  period  of  our  history ;  but  it  was  ably  re- 
futed by  Charles  Lesley,  a  contemporary  Protestant 
divine  ;  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  there  be  any 
other  authority  on  Irish  history  less  reliable  for  facts  or 
more  envenomed  by  prejudice,  if  we  except  Sir  John 
Temple's  History  of  the  Irish  Rebellion.  Nevertheless, 
taking  aU  Dr.  Bong's  enumeration  of  Protestant  griev- 
ances for  granted,  they  form  a  marked  contrast  to  the 
smallest  portion  of  those  inflicted  on  the  Catholics  in 
the  preceding  reigns.  "In  all  the  time  the  Protestants 
of  Dublin  were  in  King  James's  power,"  observes  Mr. 
Lesley,  "  he  did  not  hang  one  of  them,  though  some  of 
them  deserved  it  by  the  law  then,  as  Dr.  King  could 
witness." 

f  James's  two  daughters  by  his  first  wife,  the 
daughter  of  Chancellor  Hide,  were  educated  Protestants, 


England  was  such  that  a  Catholic 
sovereign  would  not  have  been  en- 
duredj^  had  he  even  confined  his  reli- 
gion to  his  closet  and  enforced  the 
penal  laws  of  his  pi'edecessors.  James 
is  accused  of  great  indiscretion  in  exer- 
cising so  freely  the  power  of  dispensing 
from  religious  tests,  in  having  Mass 
celebrated  openly  in  the  palace,  and  in 
the  favor  shown  to  Catholics  by  his 
Irish  government;  but  the  arguments 
drawn  from  those  acts  only  prove  a 
foregone  conclusion.  The  event  which, 
more  than  any  other,  expedited  the  im- 
pending blow,  was  the  birth  of  the 
prince  of  Wales  in  June,  1688. f  Up 
to  that  time  the  only  imj)ediment  in  the 
line  of  a  Protestant  succession  was  the 
king's  own  life,  and  as  he  was  in  the 
fifty-second  year  of  his  age  at  his  acces- 
sion, it  was  possible  that  his  removal, 
in  the  natural  ordQi"  of  things,  might 
have  been  waited  for ;  but  the  birth  of 
a  Catholic  heir  to  the  crown  determined 


and  their  uncle,  Charles  II.,  took  care  to  provide  for 
them  Protestant  husbands ;  Jlary,  the  elder,  being 
married  to  her  first  cousin,  William,  prince  of  Orange 
and  Nassau,  and  stadtholder  of  the  united  provinces  of 
Holland ;  and  Anne,  the  younger,  to  George,  prince  of 
Denmark.  His  first  wife  having  died  in  1G71,  Jamea 
married  in  1673  Mary  Beatrice,  the  daughter  of  the 
duke  of  Modena.  She  was  then  but  fifteen  years  of 
age,  and  was  as  remarkable  for  her  piety  and  virtue  as 
for  her  singular  beauty.  Their  four  first  children  died 
in  infancy,  and  as  an  interval  of  some  years  then 
elapsed,  and  James  was  growing  old,  those  who  ex- 
pected that  he  would  not  leave  any  male  issue,  were 
grievously  disappointed  at  the  birth  of  the  young 
prince.  The  most  unfounded  statements  were  then 
put  forth,  to  the  effect  that  the  child  was  supposititious, 
although  there  were  forty-two  witnesses  of  the  birth, 
most  of  them  belonging  to  the  Protestant  nobility.  The 
prince  was  baptized  James  Francis  Edward,  and  in 
after  years  was  called  the  "  Pretender." 


5Y2 


REIGN    OF  JAMES  II. 


his  enemies  to  take  a  different  course, 
wLicb,  however,  had  long  before  been 
contemplated,  namely,  an  immediate 
invitation  from  England  to  William 
Prince  of  Orange. 

Of  the  circumstances  vphich  promo- 
ted "William's  designs  on  the  crown  of 
England,  not  the  least  important  was 
the  confederation  of  European  princes, 
known  as  the  League  of  Augsburg. 
In  this  league  were  united  the  emperor 
and  all  the  Germanic  princes,  the  king 
of  Spain,  and  even  the  pope.  The 
object  which  they  professed  in  common 
was  to  resist  and  limit  the  enormous 
power  of  Louis  XIV.,  but  the  Protest- 
ant members  of  the  league  were  still 
more  strongly  actuated  by  a  desire  to 
avenge  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes.  The  prince  of  Orange  organ- 
ized the  league,  and  he  soon  turned  it 
adroitly  to  his  own  private  account, 
employing  for  that  purpose  an  amount 
of  meanness  and  deception  quite  un- 
worthy of  his  position.  It  was  known 
that  the  king  of  England  was  little 
better  than  the  vassal  of  Louis ;  such, 
at  all  events,  the  late  king,  Charles  II., 
had  eftectually  made  himself;  and  Wil- 
liam, iu  preparing  an  expedition  for 
England,  pretended  that  his  only  ob- 
jects were  to  reconcile  James  with  his 
disaffected  subjects,  and  then  to  induce 
him  to  join  the  league  against  France. 
The  prince's  letter  to  the  emperor  on 
the  subject  displays  a  most  reckless  dis- 
regard for  truth,  and  the  money  received 

*  Balrymple's  Memoirs,  append,  to  vol  ii. ;  Memoir 
of  King  James  II.,  vol.  ii. ;  Jesse's  Memoirs  of  the  Court 


from  the  pope  for  the  purposes  of  the 
league  was  unscrupulously  converted 
by  William  to  the  dethronement  of  the 
Catholic  kiua;  of  Eno;land  and  the 
establishment  of  a  Protestant  succes- 
sion. Of  a  piece  with  these  artifices  to 
overreach  the  Catliolic  powers  was  the 
pretence  which  William  held  forth  to 
the  peoj)le  of  England,  that  he  was 
coming  to  investigate  the  birth  of  the 
prince,  which  he  affected  to  consider 
surreptitious,  but  about  which  no  ques- 
tion was  afterwards  raised.* 

The  prince  of  Orange  arrived  in 
Torbay,  in  Devonshire,  on  the  5th  of 
November,  1688,  with  a  Dutch  fleet  of 
52  men-of-war,  25  frigates,  25  fire-ships, 
and  about  400  transports,  which  con- 
veyed a  land  army  of  nearly  15,000 
men.  James  had  an  army  amply  suf- 
ficient to  opjjose  him  had  his  oflicers 
been  faithful,  but  the  great  bulk  of 
these  were  known  to  be  disaffected, 
and  numbers  of  them  went  over  at 
once  to  William.  In  a  little  while  the 
king  had  no  force  upon  which  he  could 
rely  to  bring  into  the  field ;  and  having 
sent  the  queen  and  infant  prince  pri- 
vately to  France,  in  the  beginning  of 
December,  and  escaped  himself  from 
the  Dutch  guards,  by  whom  he  was 
held  a  prisoner  at  Rochester,  he  em- 
barked along  with  his  illegitimate  son, 
the  duke  of  Berwick,  in  a  small  vessel, 
on  the  23d  of  December,  and  landing 
at  Ambleteuse,  on  the  French  coast, 
early  on  Christmas  morning,  old  style, 

of  England  from  the  Revolution  to  the  Death  of  Oeorge 
II.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  40,  '17. 


WILLIAM  INVITED  TO  THE  THRONE. 


573 


claimed  the  protection  and  hospitality 
of  Louis  XIV. 

Ireland  -was  at  this  time  in  a  most 
disorofanized    state.      Government   was 
not  strong  enough  to  suppress  popular 
manifestations  on  either  side.    The  Pro- 
testants of  the  north  had  formed  them- 
selves into  an  armed  association  with 
clearly  disloyal  views,  and  organized  a 
system  of  local  authority  of  their  own. 
In  other  parts  of  the  country,  the  Pro- 
testants had  refused  to  give  up  their 
arms;  several  of  them  collecting  into 
strong  ba^Yns  and  castles  which  they 
garrisoned,    and   others   proceeding   in 
armed  bands  to  join  their  brethren  in 
Ulster.     On  the  other  hand,  many  of 
the  Catholics  armed  themselves  in  an 
irregular   manner,   and  they  were  un- 
justly held  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  the  bands  of  marauders,  called  rap- 
parees,*   who    traversed    the    countiy, 
plundering   villages,    and    carrying   off 
whole  herds  of  cattle.     Tirconnell  had 
sent  the  king  a  reinforcement  of  3,000 
troops,  but  the  appearance  of  Irish  sol- 
diers in  England  was  made  an  excuse 
for   the   most   absurd   alarm ;    and    al- 
though   they   were    immediately    dis- 
armed,  the   monstrous    falsehood   was 


cii-culated  that  they  designed  to  massa- 
cre   the   people   of  England,   and  the 
most    extravagant    consternation    was 
thereby  produced   in    London.f     Nor 
was   the  sending  of  these  troops    the 
only  blunder  which  Tirconnell  commit- 
ted in  the  matter.     He  had  Avithdrawn 
the  garrison  from  Londonderry  to  make 
up  the  complement  of  men  ;  and  when 
the  earl  of  Antrim's  regiment  was  sent, 
in  a  few  weeks,  to  repair  this  mistake, 
the   young  men   of   Deny   resolutely 
closed   their   gates   against    the    royal 
troops.     This  was  done  on  the  Tth  of 
December,  1688,  before  affairs  in  Eng- 
land had  taken  a  decided  turn  aofsdnst 
the  king;  and  the  Protestants  of  Ulster 
having  already  assumed  a  position  hos- 
tile to  James,  are  admitted  to  have  been 
the  first  of  his  subjects  who  rose  in  arms 
against  him.     No  portion  of  Irish  his. 
tory  is  more  fiimiliar  to  the  public  than 
that  at  which  we  have  now  arrived,  and 
it  will  suffice  to  state  briefly  the  order 
of  events. 

In  England  the  flight  of  James  was 
pronounced  to  have  been  an  abdication, 
and  William  was  thereupon  invited  to 
fill  the  throne.;];  Scotland  followed  the 
example  of  England,  and  Ireland  alone 


*  The  rappareea  are  said  to  have  been  so  called  from 
the  raparj  or  half  pike,  which  was  their  principal 
weapon,  besides  the  sgian  or  long  knife.  Many  of  the 
peasantry  who  were  guiltless  of  any  social  crime  were, 
in  the  sequel,  mercilessly  slaughtered  as  rapparees  by 
the  Williamites. 

f  These  troops  were  sent  to  Hungary  to  fight  for 
William's  ally,  the  emperor,  but  never  returned  to 
Ireland. 

%  If  James  had  abdicated,  which  he  certainly  did  not 
do,  still  his  son,  the  prince  of  Wales,  would  have  been 
the  legitimate  heir  to  the  crown.     If  he  had  no  son,  his 


eldest  daughter  Mary  would  have  inherited  ;  and  it  was 
the  intention  of  the  majority  in  the  convention  assem- 
bled to  dispose  of  the  matter,  that  she  should  be  pro- 
claimed queen,  with  her  husband  WiUiam  as  regent,  but 
the  latter  declared  that  he  would  never  consent  to  be 
the  subject  of  his  Tiife,  and  the  convention,  therefore, 
decided  that  William  and  Mary  should  reign  as  king 
and  queen,  but  that  WiUiam  should  govern  in  the  name 
of  both.  The  mother  of  the  prince  of  Orange  was 
Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Charles  I.,  and  sister  of 
James  II.,  who  was,  therefore,  the  uncle  as  well  as  the 
father-in-law    of   William.     James's  other  daugliter. 


574 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  II. 


remained  faithful  to  the  king  :  the  Irish 
considering  themselves  quite  as  well 
entitled,  on  every  ground,  to  retain 
James  for  their  sovereign  as  the  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch  were  to  call  a  foreigner 
to  the  throne. 

Tirconnell  issued  commissions  to  sev- 
eral of  the  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry 
to  raise  troops  for  the  king's  service; 
and  the  people  responding  readily  to 
the  call,  above  fifty  regiments  of  foot 
and  several  troops  of  horse  and  dra- 
goons were  soon  raised  ;  but  in  propor- 
tion to  the  abundance  of  men  was  the 
scarcity  of  means  to  equip  and  maiu- 
taift  them.  The  country  had  been  im- 
poverished, and  the  Catholics  reduced 
to  ruin  by  the  recent  wars  and  confis- 
cations ;  there  was  a  miserable  supply 
of  arms  and  ammunition  ;  few  of  the 
officers  were  skilled  in  military  affairs ; 
and  there  was  not  sufficient  time  to 
train  and  discipline  new  levies.f  The 
Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
well  supplied  witk  arms ;  and  all  that 
was  most  valuable  of  their  movable 
property  had  been  transferred  by  them 
to  England  or  Scotland,  or  to  the  quar- 
ters of  their  friends  in  Ulster.  Ennis- 
killen,  as  well  as  Deny,  had  refused  to 
admit  a  garrison  of  James's  forces  ;  and 
although  the  latter  town  vras  induced 
by  Lord  Mountjoy,  a  Protestant  who 
still  adhered  to  King  James,  to  receive 


Anne,  deserted  him  and  joined  her  husband,  George, 
jirince  of  Denmark,  in  William's  camp. 

*  Abbe  Mageogbegan'8  Mst.  of  Ireland.  Tirconnell 
found  in  the  government  stores  only  20,000  arms  to  dis- 
tribute among  the  new  levies  ;  but  most  of  them  were 


six  companies  of  his  regiment,  half 
Protestants  and  half  Catholics,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Lundy,the  Catholics 
were  soon  sent  about  their  business, 
and  on  the  20th  February,  1689,  the 
prince  of  Orange  was  proclaimed  king 
within  the  walls  of  Deny.  The  whole 
of  Ulster,  except  Charlemont  and  Car- 
rickfergus,  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
Williamites.  Tirconnell  sent  Lieutenant- 
general  Richard  Hamilton,  with  about 
2,500  men,  against  them,  and  for  this 
step  he  is  blamed  by  Protestant  -writers 
as  having  precipitated  hostilities  and 
caused  the  first  shedding  of  blood ;  but 
the  truth  is,  the  Ulster  Protestants  had 
already  declared  war  against  their  le- 
gitimate sovereign.  Lieutenant-general 
Hamilton  came  uj)  with  some  of  the 
Williamite  forces  at  Dromore,  on  the 
14th  March,  and  having  routed  them, 
marched  against  Coleraine,  where  thv 
Protestants  mustered  so  numerously, 
and  were  so  strongly  intrenched,  that 
he  durst  not  venture  an  attack. 

Hoping  to  encourage  his  friends  by 
his  presence  among  them,  and  resolved 
to  strike  a  blow  for  the  recovery  of  his 
throne,  James  landed  at  Kinsale  on  the 
12th  of  March,  1689,  bringing  with 
him  some  Irish  troops  from  France,  and 
about  a  hundred  French  officers,  with  a 
supply  of  money.  Praceediug  to  Cork, 
he  was  there  met  by  the  viceroy,  Tir- 


Bo  old  and  unserviceable,  that  not  above  one  thousand 
fire-arms  were  found  to  be  of  any  use.  Neither  had 
they  artillery  or  ammunition,  and  there  was  no  money. 
— King  James's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii.,  p.  337. 


JAMES'S   ARRIVAL   IN   IRELAND 


575 


counell,  Avhom  he  then  created  duke, 
and  from  whom  he  received  an  account 
of  affairs  that  must  have  "been  discour- 
acrine  enouo:h.  The  Protestants  of 
Bandon  had  shortly  before  imitated  the 
example  of  their  brethren  in  Derry, 
but  they  were  soon  compelled  to  sub- 
mit, and  a  deputation  from  them  now 
sued  for  pardon  at  the  king's  feet,  and 
were  fortunate  enough  to  escape  any 
other  punishment  than  a  fine  of  £1,000. 
James  hastened  to  Dublin,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  24th,  and  was  received 
^-  with  great  demonstrations  of  joy.  He 
ordered  a  parliament  to  be  summoned, 
and  issued  proclamations  commanding 
all  those  who  had  abandoned  the  coun- 
try and  gone  to  England  or  Scotland 
to  return  under  the  penalty  of  being 
treated  as  traitors,  and  calling  upon 
all  to  aid  him  against  the  usurper  of 
'his  throne  ;  also  for  the  suppression  of 
robbery;  and  ordering  Catholics  who' 
were  not  in  the  army  not  to  carry  arms 
outside  their  houses ;  and  for  the  raising 
of  money,  &c. 

Believing  that  his  presence  before 
Derry  would  bring  back  that  town  to 
its  allegiance,  James  proceeded  thither 
contrary  to  the  advice  of  Tirconnell ; 


*  The  dnke  of  Berwick,  who  was  present,  states  in 
his  memoirs  that  the  besiegers  had  only  six  gmis  ;  and 
a  contemporary  Irish  authority  says  there  were  "  eight 
pieces  of  cannon  in  all,  of  which  two  were  eighteen- 
poimders,  and  the  rest  petty  guns."  The  authority  to 
which  we  here  refer  is  that  known  as  the  PlunkettMS., 
a  contemporary  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  in  Ireland, 
preserved  in  the  library  of  the  earl  of  Fingal,  at  Kjleeu 
castle,  and  recently  brought  under  public  notice  by  Dr. 
Wilde,  who  communicated  an  analysis  of  its  contents, 
with  copious  extracts,  to  the  Boyal  Irish  Academy. 
The  title  of  the  work  is,  "  A  light  to  the  blind,  whereby 


and  appeared  with  his  army  before  the 
town  on  the  9th  of  April,  attended  by 
the  duke  of  Berwick  and  General  De 
Rosen,  a  French  officer  who  came  with 
James  to  act  as  second  in  command  to 
Tirconnell.  The  actual  presence  of 
James  was  not  believed  until  a  depu- 
tation from  the  town  authorities  came 
to  the  camp,  and  negotiations  for  a 
surrender  were  then  set  on  foot;  but 
the  military  ardor  of  the  townspeople 
beinsr  aroused,  and  De  Bosen  bavins' 
marched  his  troops  nearer  to  the  walls 
than  the  preliminaries  of  the  treaty 
stipulated,  the  royal  army  was  received 
with  a  shower  of  cannon  and  musket 
balls,  and  an  officer  standing  near  the 
king  was  killed.  Thus  the  negotia- 
tions were  broken  off,  and  James,  having 
ordered  Lieutenant-general  Hamilton 
to  besiege  the  town,  returned  with  De 
Rosen  to  Dublin. 

The  investment  which  ensued  par- 
took more  of  the  nature  of  a  blockade 
than  a  siege.  The  beleaguering  army 
was  imperfectly  supj^lied  with  cannon, 
and  had  but  two  mortars,  one  of  which 
was  large,  but  became  unserviceable 
in  the  j)i'ogi'6ss  of  the  siege.*  The 
men  were  wretchedly  equipped,  and  it 


they  may  see  the  dethronement  of  James  II.,  long  of 
England ;  with  a  brief  Narrative  of  the  Wars  in  Ireland 
and  of  the  Wars  of  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  France 
for  the  crown  of  Spain ;  anno  1711."  It  is  in  two  vols. 
4to.,  and  its  author,  who,  according  to  the  tradition  in 
Lord  Fingal's  family,  was  one  Nicholas  Plunkett,  was 
an  ardent  Jacobite.  It  was  borrowed  by  Si  r  James  Mack- 
intosh, who  made  extracts,  which  were  also  employed  by 
the  late  Lord  Macaulay.who  quotes  it  as  "Light  to  the 
Blind,"  in  his  History  of  England;  and  we  are  indebted 
to  the  analysis  and  extracts  made  by  Dr.  Wilde  for  much 
valuable  information  used  in  the  following  pages. 


576 


REIGN"  OF  JAMES  II. 


Tvas  on  the  whole  absurd  to  attempt, 
with   such   inadequate  means,  the   re- 
duction  of  a   town   strongly  fortified, 
well  supplied  with  artillery  and  ammu- 
nition,   and    defended    by   a   garrison 
amply  numerous   and  animated  by  the 
most  determined    resolution.     The  be- 
siegers having  no  heavy  guns  to  breach 
the  walls,  directed   their   few   cannon 
against  the  houses  which  were  exposed 
to  their  range ;  but  it  was  obvious  from 
the    beginning    that   they   could   only 
hope  to  reduce  the  place  by  starvation, 
and  such  being  the  case.  General  Ham- 
ilton sacrificed  his  duty  to  his  humanity 
by    allowing   a   large   number   of    the 
useless  population  to  depart,  and  thus 
enabling  the  besieged  to  protract  the 
defence.     A  Major  Baker  was  chosen 
governor  of  the  town,  Lundy,  who  had 
urged   the    garrison   to    capitulate    to 
King  James,  having  been  obliged  to 
make  his  escape  in  disguise  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  siege ;  and  the  Rev- 
erend   George    Walker,    a   Protestant 
clergyman,  who  had  raised  a  regiment 
of  his  own,  and  who,  alternately  in  the 
i:)ulpit  and  on  the  ramparts,  fired  their 
energy   by   his    addresses,    was    made 
assistant    governor,    but    obtained    the 
chief  command  on  the  death  of  Baker. 
The  garrison,  which  amounted  in  the 
beginning  to  nearl}'  7,500  men,  includ- 
ing ofllcers,  was   organized   into  eight 
regiments,  to  each  of  which  was  con- 
fided a  bastion ;  according  to  Walker's 
account  they  had  twenty-two  cannons, 
of  which  two  were  planted  on  the  flat 
roof  of  the  church,  and  the  others  on 


the  walls  and  bastions;  and  many  of 
the  townspeople  soon  proved  expert 
gunners.  At  the  same  time  a  numer- 
ous, resolute,  and  merciless  force  of  the 
Enniskilleners  was  in  the  field  in  an- 
other quarter,  and  gave  such  occupation 
to  the  royal  arms  as  to  prevent  the 
sending  of  reinforcements  to  the  be- 
siegers; and,  taking  all  the  circum- 
stances into  consideration,  the  successful 
defence  of  Londonderry  does  not  seem 
to  be  a  matter  for  much  surprise.  In 
some  encounters  which  took  place  before 
the  walls  extraordinary  bravery  was 
displayed  on  both  sides.  A  sortie  was 
made  by  the  garrison  with  5,000  men 
on  the  24th  of  April,  and  another  in 
the  beginning  of  May,  in  both  of  which 
the  Ii'ish  sufi^ered  considerable  loss;  the 
French  lieutenant-generals,  Pusignan 
and  Momont,  Major-General  Taaffe,  son 
of  the  earl  of  Carlingford,  and  Captain 
Maurice  Fitzarerald  being  amona:  the 
slain.  Two  vi2:orous  attacks  were 
made  by  the  besiegers  on  the  strong 
intrenchments  with  which  the  garrison 
had  enclosed  their  outpost  on  Windmill 
hill ;  but  the  reckless  valor  displayed 
by  the  assailants,  who  rushed  to  the 
enemy's  breastwork,  only  resulted  in  a 
useless  sacrifice  of  life  on  their  own 
side,  for  the  besieged  sufiered  few  casu- 
alties behind  their  works. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  hostili- 
ties Culmore  fort,  at  the  narrow  en- 
trance to  the  river  Foyle,  capitulated 
to  the  Irish,  who  constructed  two  other 
small  forts  on  the  banks,  and  drew  a 
boom  across  the  river,  thus  preventing 


SIEGE  OF  DERRY. 


577 


the  passage  of  shipping  to  convey  pro- 
visions to  the  town.  On  the  13th  of 
June,  a  fleet  of  thirty  ships  from  Eng- 
land arrived  in  Lough  Foyle  with  sup- 
plies of  men  and  provisions ;  but 
Major-general  Kirke,  the  officer  in 
command,  failing  in  his  first  attempt  to 
enter  the  river,  anchored  in  the  lough, 
and  contented  himself  by  sending  mes- 
sages to  the  town  with  the  assurance 
that  relief  was  at  hand ;  while  in  the 
mean  time  famine  and  disease  had 
begun  their  ravages  among  the  besieged. 
Uneasy  at  Hamilton's  want  of  success 
before  Derry,  King  James  sent  De 
Rosen,  marshal-general  of  Ireland,  with 
some  reinforcements,  to  take  the  man- 
agement of  the  siege  into  his  hands. 
De  Rosen  complained,  in  his  letters  to 
the  king,  of  the  utter  want  of  all  the 
necessaries  of  war  in  which  he  found 
the  army,  and  of  the  total  neglect  of 
his  majesty's  commands  which  he  wit- 
nessed. Above  all,  there  was  a  fatal 
deficiency  of  heavy  artillery,  and  he 
saw  that  the  only  resource  still  was  to 
starve  the  garrison  into  submission. 
To  hasten  this  result  he  resorted  to  the 
cruel  expedient  of  collecting  all  the 
Protestants  whom  he  could  find  in  the 
neighboring  country,  to  the  number  of 
three  or  four  hundred,  and  driving 
them  to  the  gates  of  the  town.  He 
calculated  that  the  garrison  would 
surrender  rather  than  see  their  relatives 


*  Neither  King  James  nor  tlie  Irisli  ■were  responsible 

for  De  Rosen's  cruel  proceeding  (Plunkett  MS.  ;  also 

heaiey's  A7i»wer  to  King;  and  Graham's  Dernana,'p. 

169) ;  nor  does  it  follow  that  that  general  would  have 

73 


and  friends  perish  under  the  Avails, 
while,  if  they  admitted  them  into  the 
town,  their  provisions  would  be  the 
more  speedily  consumed,  and  the  same 
result  rendered  inevitable.  These  poor 
people,  who  were  chiefly  those  whom 
General  Hamilton  had  allowed  to  es- 
cape from  the  town,  lay  all  night  before 
the  gates ;  but  the  next  day  the  be- 
sieged erected  a  gallows  on  the  ram- 
parts and  sent  notice  to  De  Rosen  that 
they  would  forthwith  hang  their  pris- 
oners, some  of  whom  were  men  of  rank, 
unless  the  people  before  the  gates  were 
allowed  to  return  immediately  into  the 
country.  The  threat  had  the  desired 
effect,  and  De  Rosen's  barbarous  plan, 
which  disgusted  the  Irish,  and  was 
strongly  disapproved  of  by  James,  only 
served  to  exasperate  the  besieged  still 
more,  and  to  enable  them  to  send  off 
with  the  others  a  great  many  feeble  per- 
sons who  were  a  burden  on  their  re- 
sources in  the  town.* 

While  Kirke's  squadron  lay  at  an- 
chor in  Lough  Foyle,  it  is  presumed  that 
the  effect  of  English  gold  was  tried 
successfully  on  the  officers  commanding 
the  river  forts ;  for,  on  the  30th  of  July, 
three  ships  laden  with  provisions  passed 
the  forts  and  boom  nearly  unscathed, 
although  some  shots  were  fired  at  them ; 
and  when  the  garrison  was  reduced  to 
the  last  straits  by  famine,  and  should 
inevitably  have  capitulated  within  forty- 


can-ied  out  his  barbarous  menace  ;  and  Plowden  very 
justly  reminds  those  writers  who  dwell  upon  it,  of  the 
bloody  and  treacherous  massacre  of  Glencoe,  the  warrant 
for  which  bore  King  William's  ovm  sign-manual. 


5Y8 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


eiglit  hours,  the  town  was  relieved.  The 
abortive  siege,  the  failure  of  which  se- 
cured Ireland  to  William  of  Orange, 
was  now  raised,  and  the  royal  army 
finally  decamped  on  the  5th  of  August.* 
We  now  return  to  James,  who,  as 
already  stated,  hastened  back  to  Dublin 
on  giving  orders  for  the  investment  of 
Derry.  On  the  '7th  of  May  he  opened 
his  parliament  in  person,  wearing  on 
the  occasion  a  crown  newly  manufac- 
tured for  him  in  Dublin.f  This  Irish 
parliament  declared  itself  independent 
of  the  parliament  of  England,  and 
passed  the  first  act  made  in  these  realms 
for  liberty  of  conscience.  To  the  Cath- 
olic clergy  it  granted  the  right  to  re- 
ceive the  tithes  payable  by  the  mem- 
bers of  their  own  communion  ;  and  after 
a  violent  opposition  from  the  Protestant 
members,  it  repealed  the  Act  of  Settle- 
ment, and  passed  an  Act  of  Attainder 
against  those  who  had  taken  up  arms 

*  The  Reverend  Colonel  Walker,  in  his  diary,  admits 
that  the  garrison  was  diminished  bj  3,000  men  during 
the  siege,  and  that  7,000  persons  in  all  died  of  disease  in 
the  town  in  that  time.  The  Reverend  John  Mackenzie, 
a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  was  present,  and  has  also 
left  an  account  of  the  siege,  shows  that  no  reliance  can 
be  placed  on  Walker's  facts  or  figures,  and  states  that 
"it  was  thought  10,000  had  died  during  the  siege,  be- 
sides those  that  died  soon  after ;  and  the  report  of  a 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1705  makes  the 
number  of  those  who  perished  on  the  Protestant  side  by 
sword  or  famine  in  that  siege,  13,000.  Walker  gives  a 
tariff  of  the  prices  paid  during  the  latter  days  of  the  siege 
for  horses'  flesh  and  other  carrion.  The  Irish  admitted 
a  loss  on  their  own  side  of  2,000  (Plunkett  MS.),  but 
Walker's  estimate  of  8,000  is  a  gross  exaggeration.  The 
duke  of  Berwick  says  the  Irish  blockading  force  before 
Derry  did  not  exceed  5,000  or  0,000  men ;  and  according 
to  Mageoghegan  it  amounted  at  no  time  to  more  than 
10,000.  The  regimented  force  within  the  city  was, 
by  Walker's  account,  between  7,300  and  7,400  ;  but  the 
entire  armed  force  within  the  walls,  including  the  non- 


against  King  James,  or  who,  having 
gone  to  England  or  Scotland,  or  to  the 
Protestant  quarters  in  Ulster,  had  re- 
fused to  comply  with  the  king's  procla- 
mation calling  on  them  to  return  to 
their  homes  and  their  alleiriance.  To 
form  a  just  appreciation  of  these  latter 
measures  a  slight  retrospect  is  necessary. 
Had  the  Irish,  in  the  war  of  1649, 
succeeded  in  vanquishing  their  regicide 
enemy,  their  triumph  would  have  been 
universally  celebrated,  and  no  one 
would  have  questioned  the  justness  of 
their  cause;  but  being  unfortunate  in 
the  contest,  they  were  subjected  to  a 
frightful  and  merciless  spoliation,  which 
the  annals  of  no  other  country  can 
parallel,  and  which  no  law  could  justify. 
We  have  seen  how,  by  the  sole  right  of 
the  strong  hand,  the  Irish  Catholic  no- 
bility and  gentry  were  depi-ived  of  their 
estates;  how  their  wide  ancestral  do- 
mains were  divided  among  rude  soldiers 


regimented  men,  was  over  10,000.  (See  the  authorities 
collected  by  Mr.  O'Callaghan  in  his  invaluable  notes  and 
illustrations  to  the  Macarke  Excidium,  or  Destruction  of 
Cypress,  pp.  318-333,  a  work  of  profound  and  elaborate 
research,  and  which  must  be  the  indispensable  text-book 
of  future  liistorians  of  the  Williamite  wars  in  Ireland.) 
Governor  Walker  had  advised  a  capitulation,  and  the 
negotiations  for  the  purpose  had  been  on  foot  some  days 
before  the  relief  arrived.  The  discrepancies  in  the  dates 
of  these  events  are  singular.  Thus  various  accounts  give 
the  28th,  30th,  and  31  st  as  the  date  of  the  relief  of  Derry, 
and  the  1st  or  5th  of  August  as  that  of  the  siege  being 
raised. 

f  Plimkett  MS.  This  parliament,  which  sat  in  the 
King's  Inns,  was  attended  by  46  peers  and  228  common- 
ers. Among  the  former  were  the  Protestant  bishops  of 
Meath,  Ossory,  Limerick,  and  Cork  and  Ross,  two  others 
(the  primate  and  bishop  of  Waterford)  acting  by  jiroxy  ; 
but  no  Catholic  prelates  were  simimoned.  The  parlia- 
ment was  prorogued  on  the  18th  of  July,  having  sat 
about  ten  weeks. 


EXPEDIENTS   FOR  RAISING   MONEY. 


579 


and  unprincipled  adventurers ;  bow 
the  very  fact  of  being  Irish  in  race  and 
Catholic  in  religion  was  a  crime  involv- 
ing expulsion  from  home  and  countrj^ ; 
how  the  English  parliament  of  Charles 
II.,  and  an  Irish  parliament,  composed 
chieflj^  of  the  Cromwellian  plunderers 
themselves,  ratified  the  atrocious  sjiolia- 
tion ;  and,  finally,  how  the  sittings  of 
the  Court  of  Claims  were  suspended 
Avhen  it  was  found,  after  a  few  cases 
had  been  heard,  that  a  door  was  opened 
to  the  Catholic  Irish  to  obtain  even  a 
modicum  of  justice,  although  more  than 
3,000  claims  Still  remained  to  be  inves- 
tigated. Twenty-six  years  elapsed,  and 
King  James's  Irish  parliament,  repre- 
senting the  true  feelings  of  the  nation, 
seized  the  very  first  opportunity  which 
presented  to  repeal  the  infamous  act  of 
robbery.  As  to  the  Act  of  Attainder, 
passed  on  the  same  occasion,  its  results, 
so  far  as  the  question  of  property  was 
concerned,  would  have  been  nearly 
identical  with  those  of  the  Act  of  Set- 
tlement, the  persons  who  would  be 
affected  by  both  being  nearly  the  same ; 
but  as  neither  of  these  acts  came  into 
operation,  their  grievances  are  specu- 
lative. The  reader  will  balance  the 
original  injustice  against  the  projected 
measure  of  I'eprisal;  and  when  he  finds 
English  historians  lavishing  their  elo- 
quent vituperations  on  the  latter,  while 

*  On  this  particular  subject  no  writer  lias  been  more 
unjust  than  the  late  Lord  Macaulay  ;  nor  has  any  Eng- 
lish historian  ever  treated  this  country  more  unfairly  or 
ungenerously  than  that  eloquent  ■writer  has  generally 
done  in  his  historical  works.  He  revived  the  exploded 
calumnies  and  fanatical  bigotry  of  a  past  age,  and  not 


they  either  ignore  the  former  or  dispose 
of  it  with  a  word  of  contemptuous  pity, 
his  reliance  on  the  statements  of  men 
so  shamefully  blinded  by  prejudice  may 
well  be  shaken.* 

James  was  utterly  averse  to  these 
measures  of  the  Irish  parliament.  He 
considered  that  the  commons  were  ac- 
celerating his  destruction.  Their  legis- 
lation, it  is  true,  was  precipitate  and 
reckless,  and  it  would  have  been  better 
had  they  waited  till  they  held  a  surer 
footing.  The  Act  of  Attainder  even 
curtailed  the  royal  prerogative,  by  de- 
priving the  king  of  the  power  to  pardon 
the  persons  attainted;  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  James  would  have  given 
his  consent  to  that,  or  to  the  repeal  of 
the  Act  of  Settlement,  but  for  the  influ- 
ence of  the  French  ambassador,  Avaux. 
James's  great  want  was  money.  The 
sum  which  he  had  brought  from  France 
went  but  a  short  way;  and  his  difii- 
culties  compelled  him  to  resort  to  the 
most  desperate  and  arbitrary  expedi- 
ents. Old  guns  and  bells  were  melted 
down  and  converted  into  coin,  which 
was  made  current  by  proclamations  im- 
posing the  severest  penalties  on  those 
who  Avould  refuse  to  accept  it  in  ex- 
change for  commodities.  Some  of  this 
coin  was  subsequently  called  in  and 
restamped  for  a  higher  value.  At 
length  even  pewter  was  employed  for 

only  did  he  seize  every  opportunity  to  sully  the  character 
of  the  Irish,  and  to  insult  their  religious  and  national 
feelings,  but  in  innumerable  instances  he  went  out  ot 
his  way  to  do  so.  Unfortunately,  the  talents  of  the 
writer  only  aggravate  the  error  or  dishonesty  of  the 
historian. 


580 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  II. 


the  coinage,  and  money  degenerated 
into  mere  tokens  representing  a  ficti- 
tious value,  which,  however,  James's 
government  pledged  itself  to  make 
good  at  a  future  day.  In  the  end,  the 
loss  by  this  base  coinage  fell  almost 
exclusively  on  the  Catholics ;  but  that 
Protestants  should  have  been  at  any 
time  compelled  to  receive  it  has  been 
a  subject  of  unmeasured  declamation 
aojainst  James.* 

The  same  day  that  LondondeiTy  was 
relieved,  an  Irish  army,  under  Lieuten- 
ant-general Justin  MacCarthy,  Lord 
Mountcashel,  was  defeated  by  the  En- 
uiskilleners  at  Newtown-Butler.  This 
overthrow,  it  is  said,  was  mainly  caused 
by  an  unlucky  mistake  of  the  word  of 
command.  At  the  onset  the  Irish  dra- 
goons, who  were  already  dispirited  by 
a  repulse  which  they  had  received  that 
morning  near  Lisnaskea,  were  easily 
thrown  into  confusion  by  a  supposed 
order  to  retreat,  and  the  ill-disciplined 
foot  seeing  themselves,  as  they  believed, 
deserted  by  their  cavalry,  were  panic- 
stricken.  The  Enniskilleners  were  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Wolseley,  an  Eng- 

*  The  use  of  a  base  coinage  for  Ireland  was  a  favorite 
resource  with  many  of  James's  predecessors  on  the 
English  throne.  Henry  VIII.  made  a  severe  law  to  pre- 
vent the  introduction  into  England  of  any  of  the  base 
money  which  he  coined  for  Ireland ;  and  Elizabeth's 
Irish  coin,  at  the  close  of  her  reign,  was  so  bad  that  the 
shilling  was  only  valued  at  two  pence  by  the  goldsmiths. 
{Nicholson's. Irish  llist.  Library,  p.  79,  fol.)  The  mixed 
metal  used  by  James  II.  in  his  Irish  mint  was  valued  by 
the  workmen  at  no  more  than  four  pence  per  pound,  so 
that  the  actual  value  of  the  metal  which  was  coined  into 
more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  this  base  money,  was 
only  about  £G,500  sterling.  Still,  the  scheme  of  James 
was  not  worse,  at  least  in  its  design,  than  that  of  the 
assignats  or  paper  currency  of  more  modern  provisional 


lish  officer ;  they  were  well  armed,  were 
experienced    marksmen,    and    already 
inured  to  war.     Their  watchword  was 
"  No  Popery ;"  they  determined  to  give 
no  quarter;  and    during   the   evening, 
and  the  whole  night,  and  a  great  part 
of  the  next  day  they  continued  with 
the   most  inveterate  fury  to  slaughter 
the    unarmed    fugitives     whom    they 
hunted  down  in  the  bogs  and  woods 
with  a  savage  ferocity  that  has  made 
even  the  Williamite  historians   blush. 
Five  hundred  of  the  flying  Jacobites 
plunged  into  Lough  Erne,  to  escape  the 
carnage,  and  perished  all  but  one  man. 
Lord   Mountcashel,  who  sought  death 
in  vain,  was  carried  prisoner  to  Eanis- 
killen,  whence  he  made  his  escape  on 
the  I7th  of  December,  before  he  had 
recovered  from  his  numerous  wounds; 
and  such  was  the  consternation  which 
the  disaster   produced,  that   Brigadier 
Sarsfield,    who    commanded   a   detach- 
ment at  Sligo,  was  obliged  to  retire  to 
Athlone,  and  leave  tlie  northern  frontier 
of  Conuaught  open  to  the  Enniskillen- 
ers.f 

These  reverses  were  followed  by  the 


governments.  In  the  proclamation  of  3d  William  and 
Mary,  dated  Feb.  34,  1690-01,  declaring  James's  mixed- 
metal  coin  to  be  no  longer  current,  it  is  expressly  stated 
that  the  Irish  then  had  in  their  possession  "  the  whole 
or  the  far  greater  part  of  the  said  coin."  (See  Simon's 
Essay  on  Irish  Coins,  pp.  50-64,  and  Append.,  p.  111.) 

f  The  author  of  the  Plunkett  MS.  asserts  that  the 
rout  at  Newtown-Butler  arose,  as  stated  above,  from  a 
mistake  in  the  command.  Lord  Mountcashel  fearing 
that  his  right  flank  would  be  turned  by  the  enemy,  gave 
the  order  "  right  face"  to  the  dragoons ;  but  this  was 
unfortunately  repeated  by  the  subordinate  ofilcers  as 
"  right  about  face,"  which  made  the  other  troops  sup- 
pose that  these  were  retreating,  and  a  general  panic 
ensued.     The  Williamite  historian.  Story,  relates  the 


DESTITUTION   OF  THE   KING'S   ARMY. 


581 


arrival  of  the  duke  of  Schomberg,  who 
lauded  at  Bangor,  ia  Down,  on  the 
13th  of  August,  1689,  with  au  army 
composed  of  Dutch,  French  Plugueuots, 
and  new  English  levies.  On  the  17th 
he  marched  to  Belfast,  and  on  the  27th, 
after  a  siege  of  eight  days,  Carrickfer- 
gus  was  surrendered  to  him  on  honora- 
ble terms  by  its  Jacobite  governor. 
Colonel  Charles  MacCarthy  More, 
whose  garrison  consisted  only  of  his 
own  regiment  and  of  nine  companies 
of  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Corniac 
O'Neill,  and  who  was  reduced  to  his 
last  barrel  of  powder  before  he  yielded. 
On  the  7th  of  September  Schomberg 
marched  to  Dundalk,  near  Avhich  he 
strongly  intrenched  himself;  but  the 
situation  was  most  unhealthy,  and  his 
army  soon  began  to  suffer  so  fearfully 
from  dysentery,  and  the  effects  of  a  wet 
season,  that  he  dai-ed  not  give  battle  to 
King  James,  who  had  arrived  from 
Dublin,  and  who  in  vain  challenged  the 
"Williamite  general  from  his  lines,  two 
or  three  miles  distant.  The  Enniskil- 
leners  and  Dutch  in  Schomberg's  army 
suffered  comparatively  little,  but  the 
English  were  reduced  to  a  fourth  of 
their  original  number,  and  it  has  been 
estimated  that  10,000  men  or  fully  one- 
half  of  the  entire  Williamite  force  per- 
ished of  sickness,  scarcity,  and  the  bad- 

circumstance  in  tlie  same  way ;  and  Colonel  Anthony 
Hamilton  and  Captain  Lavallin  having  been  subsequent- 
ly tried  by  a  court-martial  for  the  blunder  in  Dublin, 
the  latter  officer  was  shot.  Colonel  Hamilton  was  a 
brother  of  the  general  who  commanded  before  Derry, 
and  in  later  yea.rs  became  famous  in  the  French  court 
as  a  brilliant  poet,  novelist,  and  ivit.     The  father  of  these 


ness  of  the  season  in  that  fatal  encamp- 
ment. James  has  been  censured  for 
neglecting  to  attack  Schomberg's  camp 
at  such  a  juncture,  and  for  abandoning 
his  position  too  soon  ;  for  he  retired  to 
winter-quarters  in  November,  and  thus 
permitted  the  enemy  to  remove  from  a 
camp  where  the  mortality  whi-ch  pre- 
vailed must  soon  have  destroyed  them 
even  without  fighting.  Neither  energy 
nor  wisdom  was,  however,  to  be  ex- 
pected from  that  ill-fated  king,  who 
unfortunately  retained  in  his  own  hands 
the  chief  command  of  his  army,  and 
whose  natural  vacillation  was  increased 
by  the  conflicting  counsels  of  his  gen- 
erals. Thus  terminated  the  campaign 
of  1689. 

Stimulated  by  his  recent  losses,  and 
by  complaints  of  his  inaction,  and  Avell 
supplied  by  sea  from  England  with 
every  necessary,  Schomberg  was  able 
to  take  the  field  early  in  the  eventful 
year  1690:  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
James's  army  was  in  want  of  eveiy 
thing,  and  could  not  be  mustered  or  put 
in  marching  order  till  the  season  was 
far  advanced.  James's  orders  weie 
neglected ;  he  had  scarcely  any  maga- 
zines along  his  frontier;  and  so  desti- 
tute was  his  army  of  fodder,  that  they 
should  wait  till  the  grass  grew  to  enable 
their  horses  to  render  any  service  even 


Hamiltons  was  son  of  the  earl  of  Abercorn,  and  their 
mother  a  sister  of  the  first  duke  of  Ormond,  who  used 
to  say  that  all  his  relatives  were  Roman  Catholics. 
Lord  Mountcashel  was  tried  by  a  court  of  honor  in 
France,  and  acquitted  of  any  breach  of  parole  in  his  es- 
cape from  Enniskillen. 


582 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   II. 


for  draught.  He  was  strongly  urged 
bj'  the  French  officers  to  withdraw  into 
Connau^ht  and  act  on  the  defensive, 
with  the  Shannon  for  his  frontier,  until 
he  could  receive  succor  from  France; 
but  to  this  course  he  was  resolutely 
opposed,  and  he  was  supported  in  his 
views  by  Tii-connell.  His  hopes  of  aid 
from  France  must  have  been  very  slen- 
der. His  friend  and  ally,  Louis  XIV., 
required  all  his  resources  to  employ 
ao-ainst  his  own  numerous  enemies. 
Louvois,  the  French  minister  of  war, 
was  bitterly  opposed  to  James,  and 
always  argued  that  it  was  more  the 
interest  of  France  to  attack  William  on 
the  Flemish  frontier  than  in  Ireland; 
and  although  Seiguelay,  the  minister  of 
marine,  was  James's  friend,  the  service 
which  he  could  render  was  not  suffi- 
cient. The  French  officers  did  not  rel- 
ish their  duties  under  James,  and  were 
constantly  sending  to  their  court  de- 
sponding accounts,  often  but  too  true, 
and  which  supported  the  views  of  Lou- 

*  On  tliese  matters,  as  well  as  on  the  events  related 
in  this  chapter  generally,  we  may  refer  the  reader  to 
the  authorities  collected  by  Mr.  O'Callaghan  in  his 
elaborate  annotations  to  the  Macarim  Exeidium,  and  to 
the  researches  of  the  same  laborious  investigator  in  the 
second  edition  of  his  Green  Book. 

\  The  battle  of  Cavan,  which  has  been  but  ulightly 
noticed  by  other  historians,  is  minutely  described  in  the 
Plunkett  MS.  After  relating  how  Marshal  Schomberg 
had  sent  Brigadier  Wolseley  with  a  detachment  of  En- 
niskilleners  and  English  to  Cavan,  to  extend  his  quar- 
ters in  that  direction,  and  how  King  James,  being 
informed  of  this  movement,  dispatched  Brigadier  Nu- 
gent with  800  men  from  Westmeath  and  Longford,  and 
the  duke  of  Berwick  with  a  like  quota  from  the  county 
of  Dublin,  the  author  continues :  "  Both  the  royal  corps 
for  the  most  part  arrived  at  the  open  town  of  Cavan  on 
the  10th  of  February.  They  were  all  foot  except  a 
troop  or  two  cf  horse.     Brigadier  Wolseley  came  to 


vois.  Neither  Avaux'nor  the  energetic 
and  aspii-ing  De  Rosen,  who  was  a  Li- 
vonian  by  birth,  would  show  the  fallen 
monarch  even  common  respect,  and 
both  of  them  were,  at  James's  desire, 
recalled  to  France.  In  March  this  year 
six  battalions,  or  6,000  men,  arrived 
from  France  under  the  command  of 
Count  de  Lauzun,  who  was  also  to  act 
in  the  capacity  of  ambassador;  but 
these  French  troops  wei-e  rather  an  ex- 
change than  a  reinforcement,  for  James 
sent  by  the  same  conveyance  to  France 
as  many  of  his  best-equipped  and  best- 
trained  soldiers,  forming  the  division  of 
Lord  Mountcashel,  M^iom  Tirconnell 
disliked,  and  therefore  caused  to  be. re- 
moved. The  French  brought  twelve 
field-pieces  and  some  arms  and  clothing 
for  the  Irish,  but  Louvois  took  care  that 
the  clothing  and  arms  should  be  of  the 
worst  description.* 

In  February,  1690,  the  Jacobites  suf- 
fered some  loss  in  an  affiiir  at  Cavan  ;'|' 
and  soon  after  the  fort  of  Charlemont 


the  place  on  the  11th,  in  the  morning,  with  700  foot 
and  300  horse  and  dragoons.  The  duke  of  Berwick 
being  alarmed  and  not  well  prepared,  di'ew  his  men  out 
of  the  town  to  an  open  ground,  by  which  he  gave  an 
advantage  to  the  enemy,  who,  seeing  their  position, 
placed  their  foot  between  the  hedges  of  the  avenues  of 
the  town,  and  took  the  defensive.  The  king's  forces 
being  divided  into  two  wings,  assaulted  the  rebels 
within  tlicir  fences.  The  charge  being  given  and 
maintained  smartly,  a  party  of  the  Irish  horse  broke 
another  of  the  enemy's ;  but  the  left  wing  of  the  roy- 
alists being  so  overcome  with  fighting  that  they  were 
forced  to  retire  into  a  fort  that  v.-as  near  them,  the 
right,  fighting  at  the  like  disadvantage,  retreated  also 
thither,  by  which  the  rebels  gained  the  field.  Of  the 
royal  party  there  were  about  200  killed,  amongst  whom 
was  Brigadier  Nugent,  much  regretted  for  his  bravery. 
So  were  Adjutant  Geoghegan  and  Captain  Stritch,  and 
a  few  other  officers.     There  were  ten  officers  made 


WILLIAM   ARRIVES   IN   IRELAND. 


583 


was  invested  by  a  strong  detachment 
of  Schomberg's  army.  Teige  O'Regan, 
the  veteran  governor  of  Charlemont, 
defended  the  place  with  obstinate 
bravery,  and  only  thought  of  capitulat- 
ing when  reduced  to  the  last  extremity 
by  starvation.  At  length,  on  the  14th 
of  May,  the  fort  was  surrendered  on 
honorable  terms,  the  garrison,  consist- 
ing of  800  men,  being  allowed  to  march 
out  with  arms  and  baggage,  and  with 
them  about  200  women  and  children. 
As  an  instance  of  the  distress  to  which 
they  were  reduced,  we  are  told  by 
Story  that  only  a  few  fragments  of 
decayed  food  were  found  in  the  fort, 
and  that  some  of  the  men  as  they 
marched  out  were  chawing  pieces  of 
dry  hide  with  the  hair  on.  The  En- 
niskilliners  treated  the  Irish  soldiers 
and  their  families  with  great  brutality 
as  they  passed  aloug,  but  Schomberg 
humanely  directed  that  a  loaf  of  bread 
should  be  given  to  each  man  at  Armagh. 
It  was  well  known  for  some  time  that 
William  intended  to  conduct  the  Irish 
campaign  of  1690  in  person,  and  the 
spirits  of  his  army  and  adherents  iu  this 
country  were  consequently  raised  to  a 
high  pitch.  He  embarked  near  Ches- 
ter, on  the  11th  of  June,  and  landed  at 
Carrickfei-gus  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
14th,  attended  by  Prince  George  of 
Denmark,  the   duke    of  Wurtemberg, 


prisoners,  of  wliom  ivere  Captain  Netterville,  Captain 
Daniel  O'Neill,  Captain  O'Brien,  and  Captain  Qecrge 
M'Gee.  Of  the  enemy  there  were  slain,  Trahem,  Captain 
Armstrong,  Captain  Mayo,  and  near  fifty  private  men, 
and  about  sixty  wounded.    Brigadier  Wolseley  returned 


the  prince  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  the 
duke  of  Ormond,  the  eai'ls  of  Oxford, 
Portland,  Scarborough,  and  Manches- 
ter, Lord  Douglas,  the  Count  de  Sol- 
mes,  Major-general  Mackay,  and  other 
persons  of  distinction.  He  immediately 
took  horse,  and  at  the  Whitehouse, 
half-way  between  Carrickfergus  and 
Belfast,  was  met  by  Schomberg,  whose 
carriage  he  entered,  and  thus  drove  to 
Belfast,  where  he  was  received  with 
loud  shouts  of  "  God  bless  the  Protest- 
ant king."  Notice  of  his  arrival  was 
soon  transmitted  through  the  country 
by  bonfires,  and  the  discharge  of  can- 
non at  the  different  Williamite  quarters. 
His  army,  combined  with  that  of  Schom- 
berg, amounted,  according  to  the  most 
probable  estimate,  to  between  forty 
and  fifty  thousand  men,  and  was  com- 
posed of  a  strange  medley  of  nations, 
English,  Scotch,  Irish  Protestants, 
French  Huguenots,  Dutch,  Swedes, 
Danes,  and  Brandenburghers  or  Prus- 
sians, with  smaller  recruitments  from 
Switzerland  and  Norway;  more  than 
half  were  foreigners,  and  on  these  Wil- 
liatn  placed  his  chief  reliance,  the  fidel- 
ity of  the  English  iu  a  struggle  against 
their  old  king  being  somewhat  doubt- 
ful. All,  however,  were  well  trained, 
and  most  of  them  veteran  troops,  and 
all  were  armed  and  equipped  in  the 
best  i^ossible  manner.     They  wei'e  sup- 


to  hia  own  quarters,  having  first  burnt  the  town  of 
Cavan,  not  being  able  to  keep  it  because  the  castle  was 
in  possession  of  the  Irish."  See  Dr.  Wilde's  Extract 
from  "  Light  to  the  Blind,"  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy. 


584 


REIGN   OF  JAMES   II. 


plied  with  everything  requisite  for  war, 
and  more  especially  with  a  numerous 
train  of  artillery. 

On  the  IGth  of  June,  James  left  Dub- 
lin to  march  against  his  adversary  with 
an  army  of  about  20,000  men,  imper- 
fectly disciplined,  and  scantily  supplied 
with  even  the  most  necessary  require- 
ments for  a  campaign.  He  had  many 
brave  officers ;  his  French  division  was 
composed  of  first-rate  troops,  well  equip- 
ped and  appointed ;  the  Irish  horse 
were  admirable ;  but  the  dragoons  were 
not  so  well  trained ;  the  Irish  infantry 
consisted  for  the  most  part  of  raw 
levies,  scarcely  half  armed ;  and  for 
artillery  he  was  only  able  to  take  with 
him  the  twelve  field-pieces  which  he 
had  recently  received  from  France.* 

James  advanced  to  Dundalk,  while 
William  was  encamped  a  few  miles  be- 
yond Newry ;  and,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain the  strength  of  the  enemy,  the 
former  dispatched,  on  the  22d  of  June, 
Colonel  Dempsey,  with  60  horse,  and 
Lieutenant-colonel  Fitzgerald,  with  a 
few  companies  of  grenadiers,  to  lie  in 
wait  for  one  of  William's  reconnoitring 
parties.  TLis  duty  was  so  well  per- 
formed that  a  Williamite  detachment 
of  between  200  and  300  foot  and  dra- 
goons were  routed  with  great  loss  at 
the  half-way  bridge  between  Dundalk 
and  Newry.     An  English  officer,  who 

*  Lord  Mucaulay,  who  quotes  from  tlie  dispatches  of 
Avaux  several  passages  describing  the  condition  of  the 
Irish  army,  says:  "Almost  all  the  Irish  gentlemen 
■n'ho  had  any  military  experience  held  commissions  in 
the  cavalry  ;  and  by  the  exertions  of  these  officers  some 
regiments  had  been  raised  and  disciplined,  which  Avaux 


was  made  prisoner,  represented  Wil- 
liam's army  as  50,000  sti'ong ;  and,  al- 
though this  was  supposed  by  James  to 
have  been  a  gross  exaggeration  intended 
to  have  the  effect  of  inducing  him  to 
fly,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  not  very 
remote  from  the  truth.  This  slight 
success  cheered  the  Irish,  but  their 
spirits  were  damped  on  the  following 
morning,  when  James  commenced  his 
retrograde  movement  and  retired  to 
Ardee.  The  army  retreated  by  easy 
mai'ches,  and  on  the  28th  commenced 
recrossing  the  Boyue,  on  the  right  bank 
of  which  river  James  resolved  to  make 
a  stand.  Irish  historians  are  loud  in 
their  condemnation  of  James's  tactics. 
His  irresolution,  they  argue,  destroyed 
the  confidence  of  his  men ;  his  retreat 
from  Dundalk  made  them  feel  all  the 
discouragement  of  defeat ;  and  then, 
they  say,  he  should  not  have  hazarded 
a  battle  against  such  superior  forces,  or 
on  a  line  so  defenceless  as  that  of  the 
Boyne.  From  James's  memoirs,  how- 
evei-,  it  appears  that  his  original  design 
was  to  protract  the  campaign  as  much 
as  possible,  and  that  when  he  deter- 
mined to  fight  at  the  Boyne  it  was 
because  he  would  have  been  obliged  to 
abandon  all  Leinster  to  the  enemy  had 
he  left  the  passage  of  that  river  open. 

On    the    30th    of  June    the   hostile 
forces  first   confronted    each    other  on 


pronounced  equal  to  any  that  he  had  ever  seen.  It 
was,  therefore,"  he  admits,  "evident  that  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  foot  and  of  the  dragoons  was  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  vices,  not  of  the  Irish  character,  but  of  the  Irish 
administration."— fl"w<.  of  Eng.,  vol.  v.,  p.  43. 


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BATTLE   OF  THE   BOYNE. 


585 


tlie  opposite  banks  of  the  Boyne.  The 
Jacobite  army  was  encamped  on  the 
declivity  of  the  hill  of  Donore,  with 
its  right  wing  towards  Drogheda  and 
its  left  extending  np  the  river.  As 
there  are  no  considerable  inequalities 
in  the  surface,  the  whole  of  James's 
lines  must  have  been  visible  from  the 
heights  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  and  to  a  great  extent  exposed  to 
the  fire  of  the  enemy's  artilleiy.  James's 
centre  was  at  the  small  hamlet  of  Old- 
bridge,  close  to  the  bank,  where  he 
caused  some  intreuchments  to  be  has- 
tily thrown  up  to  defend  the  principal 
fords,  of  which  there  are  four  near 
this  point,  a  fifth  being  a  little  lower 
down  the  stream,  and  two  or  three 
others  a  few  miles  higher  up  in  the 
direction  of  Slane.  There  are  two 
islands  in  the  river  near  01dbrido:e 
which  facilitate  the  passage ;  and  at 
that  season,  which  was  remarkable  for 
drought,  and  at  the  time  of  low-water, 
the  Boyne  was  fordable  throughout  a 
great  part  of  its  course.  The  king 
himself  took  up  his  position  at  a  small 
ruined  church  on  the  top  of  the  hill 
of  Donore,  where  a  tuft  of  ash-trees 
now  forms  a  conspicuous  landmark. 

On  the  northern  side  of  the  Boyne 
the  high  land  of  the  interior  terminates 
in  a  steep  and  lofty  bank,  which  almost 


*  See  second  edition  of  Wilde's  Boyne  and  Black- 
water,  for  the  best  topographical  description  of  the  battle- 
field, as  well  as  for  an  excellent  and  connected  account 
of  the  battle. 

t  Story,  the  Williamite  historian,  admits  that  Wil- 
liam had  36,000  men  that  day  in  the  field,  but -adds 
74 


overhangs  the  river  for  several  miles, 
but  recedes  opposite  the  angle  which 
the  stream  forms  at  Oldbridge,  so  as 
to  leave  a  small  jilain  between  the 
heights  and  the  water  ;  the  line  of  hills 
being  also  at  this  point  intersected  by 
three  deep  ravines,  one  of  which  is  now 
known  as  King  William's  glen.  Thus 
the  Williamite  army,  approaching  from 
the  north,  was  completely  screened 
from  view  until  it  appeared  on  the 
brow  of  the  hill,  or  debouched  through 
the  ravines^into  the  plain :  the  charac- 
ter of  the  country  being  therefore 
highly  favoi-able  to  William,  who 
planted  batteries  along  the  heights  and 
kept  up  an  incessant  fire  from  his  artil- 
lery on  the  Irish  lines  during  the  after- 
noon of  the  30th.* 

The  i^recise  numerical  strength  of 
the  two  armies  is  a  matter  of  some  con- 
troversy, but  all  agree  in  admitting  a 
vast  superiority  in  numbers,  equipment, 
and  artillery  on  the  side  of  the  Wil- 
liamites.  The  duke  of  Berwick,  who 
was  one  of  James's  commanders,  and 
whose  statements  are  generally  found 
to  be  accurate  and  free  from  exafrsrera- 
tion,  tells  us  that  his  father's  army 
amounted  to  23,000  men,  while  that  of 
William  was  at  least  45,000,  and  this 
account  is  perhaps  as  near  the  exact 
truth  as  we  can  hope  to  arrive.f     The 


that  the  world  reckoned  the  number  at  least  one-third 
greater,  that  is  48,000.  Now,  weighing  all  the  circum- 
stances, there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  "  the  world" 
was  nearer  to  the  truth  than  Story.  ^Ir.  O'CaUaghan  has 
shown  ii'om  foreign  Williamite  contemporary  authori- 
ties that  William's  army  at  the  Boyne  consisted  of  63 


586 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   II. 


disparity  of  numbers  Avas,  howevei-,  one 
of  the  least  disadvantages  under  wliicli 
the  Jacobite  armj'  labored.  They  were, 
as  we  have  seen,  ill  provided  with  any 
of  the  necessaries  of  war ;  many  of 
them  were  raw  levies  ;  they  could  have 
no  confidence  in  their  imbecile  com- 
mander; and  their  only  artillery  con- 
sisted of  the  twelve  French  field-guns : 
whilst  against  them  was  marshalled  a 
numerous  and  veteran  army,  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  every  thing  ;  com- 
manded by  one  of  the  greatest  generals 
of  the  age,  with  a  host  of  experienced 
officers  under  him,  among  whom  the 
veteran  Schomberg  was  perhaps  his 
equal  in  military  skill;  and  with  a 
train  of  artillery  comprising  more  than 
fifty  field-pieces  and  some  mortars. 

An  incident  occurred  in  the  course 
of  the  afternoon  of  the  SOth  which  was 
near  determining  the  issue  of  the  con- 
test. William  rode  close  to  the  river- 
side to  reconnoitre,  and  the  group  of 
officers  attending  him  having  attracted 
the  attention  of  Tirconnell,  the  duke 
of  Benvick,  and  some  other  Jacobite 
officers  who  were  riding  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  the  latter,  or  King  James 
himself,  as  the  roj^al  memoirs  intimate. 


squadrons  of  horse  and  dragoons,  and  53  battalions  of 
infantry  ;  and  he  has  concluded  from  his  laborious  re- 
searches among  military  papers  in  Trinity  College,  the 
State  Paper  OfBce,  and  the  British  Museum,  that  whatever 
may  have  been  the  actual  number  of  William's  troops 
in  the  field,  his  army  on  this  occasion  amounted  by  the 
regimental  roll  to  51,000,  including  officers.  The 
author  of  the  PUmkett  MS.,  who,  however,  has  fallen 
into  several  errors  in  his  account  of  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne,  agrees  very  nearly  with  Story,  for  he  makes  the 
forces  of  the  prince  of  Orange  consist  of  36,000  effective 


ordered  two  gnus  to  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  distinguished  party.  At  the 
second  shot  a  six-pound  ball  grazed 
William's  right  shoulder,  cariying  away 
a  portion  of  the  skin  ;  and  the  effect 
havinof  been  observed  fi'om  the  Irish 
side  the  rumor  spread  that  William  was 
mortally  wounded.  To  remove  the 
alarm  which  was  produced  among  his 
own  men  he  rode  that  evening  through 
every  part  of  his  camp,  and  seemed  to 
make  light  of  the  occurrence  ;  but  in 
the  mean  time,  the  news  that  he  had 
been  hit  by  a  cannon-ball,  and,  as  it 
was  supposed,  fatally,  was  transmitted 
to  Dublin  and  thence  to  France,  and 
so  became  known  throughout  Eui'ope 
some  time  before  the  account  of  the 
battle  was  received,  the  effect  being 
such  as  might  have  been  expected  ac- 
cording as  it  reached  friends  or  foes. 

With  an  unaccountable  infatuation 
James  appeared  resolved  to  destroy 
any  hope  of  success  which  his  army 
miffht  still  have  cherished.  One  mo- 
raent  he  determined  on  a  general  re- 
treat, and  for  that  purpose  ordered  the 
camp  to  be  raised ;  but  the  next,  he 
altered  his  plan,  and  having  sent  o(f  the 
basfS'affe  and   six   of  his   twelve  field- 


men,  forming  3  troops  of  guards,  23  regiments  of  horse, 
5  of  dragoons,  and  46  of  foot ;  while  according  to  him, 
James  had  but  8  regiments  of  horse,  3  troops  of  guards, 
7  of  dragoons,  and  50  regiments  of  foot,  besides  6  regi- 
ments of  French,  the  whole  amounting  to  20,000  men. 
(Compare  Dr.  Wilde's  extracts  from  Pluukett  MS.  as 
before  quoted,  with  the  copious  authorities  collected  by 
Mr.  O'Callaghan  from  James's  Memoirs,  the  Memoirs  of 
the  duke  of  Berwick,  Story's  History,  and  various  Wil 
liamite  sources,  in  his  Annotations  to  Macariai  Exd 
dium  ;  also  second  edition  of  the  Orcen  Book.) 


BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE. 


SST 


pieces  to  Dublin,  be  apparently  made 
up  his  niiud  to  risk  a  battle.  The  re- 
moval, of  the  baggage  was  a  good  pre- 
paration for  an  orderly  retreat,  but  it 
was  a  plain  intimation  to  the  army  that 
a  retreat  was  contemplated;  and  the 
loss  of  the  artillery  was  a  fatal  diminu- 
tion of  strength.  The  king  indeed 
thought  of  nothing  but  the  means  to 
keep  the  way  open  in  his  rear;  and  all 
his  anxiety  was  that  the  enemy  should 
not,  by  a  flank  movement,  cut  off  his 
retreat  to  the  south,  where  some  say  he 
had  already  privately  directed  prepa- 
rations for  his  flight  to  Fi'ance.  Still, 
with  such  apprehensions  for  his  per- 
sonal safety,  it  is  strange  how  difficult 
it  was  to  persuade  him  to  take  anj'- 
precautions  for  the  defence  of  the  fords 
up  the  river;  for  late  on  the  eve  of  the 
battle  he  could  only  be  induced  to  send 
Sir  Niall  O'Neill,  with  his  regiment  of 
dragoons,  to  defend  the  pass  of  Rossna- 
ree,  about  four  miles  from  the  Irish 
camp  towards  Slane. 

The  morning  of  Tuesday,  July  1st 
(old  style),  1690,  dawned* bright  and 
iinclouded  on  the  hostile  camps.  The 
first  movement  observed  in  the  Wil- 
liamite  army  was  the  march,  at  suni-ise, 
of  a  division  of  10,000  picked  men, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-gen- 
eral Douglass,  Count  Schomberg  (the 
marshal's  son),  and  Lord  Portland,  the 
last  commanding  the  infantry,  along 
the  heights  in  the  direction  of  Slane. 
James's  Irish  officers  had  prepared  him 
for  this  movement  the  night  before, 
and  he  now  saw  his  fatal  error  in  reject- 


ing their  advice  to  provide  against  it. 
He  hastily  ordered  the  whole  of  his 
left  wing,  which  included  Lauzun'a 
French  division,  with  part  of  his  centre, 
and  his  six  remaining  field-pieces,  to 
march  with  all  possible  expedition  to 
oppose  the  flanking  division ;  but  it 
was  too  late  to  obstruct  their  passage. 
The  enemy  had  made  all  their  prepara- 
tions the  night  before,  and  had  got  the 
start.  The  Williamite  cavalry  forced 
the  passage  of  the  river  at  Rossnaree, 
which  was  gallantly  defended  by  Sir 
Niall  O'Neill,  who  was  mortally  wound- 
ed, and  lost  seventy  of  his  men.  Port- 
land's infantry  and  the  artillejy  crossed 
at  Slane,  where  the  bridge  had  been 
broken,  but  the  river  was  fordable.* 
James  accompanied,  or  rather  followed, 
Lauzuu  and  the  left  wing,  and  professed 
to  expect  that  the  brunt  of  the  fighting 
would  be  in  that  quarter,  where,  how- 
ever, no  action  did  take  place ;  for  the 
two  hostile  corps  found  themselves 
separated  within  half-cannon  range  by 
a  ravine  and  a  bog,  which  neither  at- 
tempted to  pass,  and  thus  they  did  not 
come  into  actual  collision  during  the 
day.  Their  subsequent  movements  we 
shall  presently  notice. 

About  ten  o'clock,^  "William  having 
learned  that  his  manoeuvre  on  the  right 
had  succeeded,  already  felt  assured  of 
the  victory.f  It  was  the  time  of  low- 
water,  and  the  hour  for  attempting  the 
fords   of   Oldbridsre   had   arrived.     A 


»  Plimkett  MS. 

f  "  Had  the  Irish,"  observes  a  military  authority, 
'  even  thrown  their  opponents  back  into  the  river,  still 


588 


REIGN   OF  JAMES    II. 


tremendous  fire  from  all  liis  batteries 
was  opened  on  the  whole  line  of  the 
Irish,  who  had  not  a  single  gun  to  re- 
ply, but  who  nevertheless  steadily 
awaited  the  attack.  William  had  di- 
rected his  men  to  wear  green  boughs 
in  their  caps ;  while  James,  in  compli- 
ment to  his  Bourbon  ally,  had  decorated 
his  with  strips  of  white  paper.  Mar- 
shal Schomberg  had  opposed  William's 
plan  of  battle  in  the  council  of  war,  but 
his  views  were  deemed  old-fashioned 
and  were  overruled,  and  he  was  the 
man  commanded  by  William  to  direct 
the  passage  of  the  centre  at  Oldbridge. 
The  Dutch  blue  guards,  described  as 
some  of  the  most  effective  infantry  in 
the  world,  were  the  first,  marching  ten 
abreast,  to  enter  the  stream,  under 
Count  de  Solnies,  at  the  highest  ford; 
opposite  Oldbridge.  So  shallow  was 
the  water  here  that  the  drummers  only 
required  to  raise  the  drums  to  their 
knees.  The  Londonderry  and  Eunis- 
killen  horse  next,  plunged  in,  and  at 
their  left  the  French  Huguenots  enter- 
ed, under  Caillemot,  brother  of  the 
Marquis  de  Euvigny.  The  English 
infantry  came  next  under  Sir  John 
Hanmer  and  the  Count  Nassau ;  lower 
down  were  the  Danes ;  and  at  the  fifth 
ford,  which  was  considerably  nearer  to 
Drogheda,  and  at  which  the  water  was 
deeper  than  at  any  of  the  former,  Wil- 
liam himself  crossed  with  the  cavalry 
of  his  left  wing.  Thus  was  the  Boyne, 
for  nearly  a  mile  of  its  course,  filled 


William's  advancing  on  their  flank,  wliieli  was  uncov- 
ered, could  not  be  remedied.     The  attack  by  Slane  was 


with  thousands  of  armed  men,  strug- 
gling to  gain  the  opposite  bank,  in  the 
face  of  a  foe  their  equals  in  gallantry, 
but  greatly  inferior  in  numbers,  disci- 
pline, and  arms. 

The  duke  of  Berwick,  whose  words 
we  translate,  tells  us  that  the  king,  his 
father,  having  marched  in  the  direction 
of  Slane  "  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
army,"  "left  to  guard  the  passage  of 
Oldbridge  eight  battalions  of  infantry, 
under  ]^ieutenant-general  Hamilton, 
and  the  right  wing  of  the  cavalry, 
under  his  (the  duke  of  Berwick's) 
orders."  "Schomberg,"  he  continues, 
"  who  remained  opposite  us,  attacked 
and  took  Oldbridge  in  spite  of  the  re- 
sistance of  the  regiment  Avhich  was 
stationed  there,  and  which  lost  150 
men  killed  on  the  spot;  whereupon 
Hamilton  went  down  with  the  seven 
other  battalions  to  expel  the  enemy. 
Two  battalions  of  the  (Irish)  guards 
scattered  them ;  but  their  cavalry  hav- 
ing managed  to  pass  at  another  ford, 
and  procee^ng  to  fall  upon  our  infan- 
try, I  brought  up  our  cavalry,  and 
thus  enabled  our  battalions  to  retire ; 
but  we  had  then  to  commence  a  combat 
very  unequal,  both  in  the  number  of 
the  squadrons,  and  in  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  which  was  very  much  broken, 
and  where  the  enemy  had  slipj^ed  in 
their  infantry.  Nevertheless,  we  charged 
again  and  again  ten  different  times,  and 
at  length,  the  enemy,  confounded  by 
our   boldness,  halted,  and  we  reformed 

the  grand  manceuvre."     Lieutenant-general  Keating's 
Defence  of  Ireland,  chap,  v.,  p.  19. 


BATTLE    OF   THE  BOYNE, 


589 


before  tliera,  and  marched  at  a  slow 
pace  to  rejoin  tlie  king."*  Tliis  is  tlie 
honest  narrative  of  a  soldier  who  was 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  The  few 
Irish  foot  left  to  defend  the  fords  were, 
in  point  of  numLers,  utterly  inade- 
quate; and  it  is  admitted  that  very 
few  of  them  had  muskets,  their  princi- 
pal arm  being  the  pike.  At  the  onset 
they  saw  themselves  unsupported,  and 
had  already  suffered  severely  before 
the  horse  came  to  sustain  them ;  so 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  does 
not  detract  from  their  character  as  brave 
men  that  they  should  have  given  way. 
Tirconnell,  who  held  the  chief  command, 
in  the  absence  of  James,  behaved  like 
a  gallant  soldier;  but  it  would  have 
required  more  consummate  generalship 
than  he  possessed  to  retrieve  the  for- 
tune of  the  day  against  such  fearful 
odds.  The  Irish  cavalry  fought  with 
desperate  valoi',  the  only  exceptions 
being  Clare's  and  Dungan's  dragoons ; 
and  the  latter  regiment  having  lost 
their  gallant  young  commander  by  a 
cannon-shot  at  the  commencement  of 
the  action,  their  discouragement  was  per- 
haps excusable.     It  was  also  unfortu- 


*  Memoires  du  Marechal  de  Berwick,  i.,  70.  From 
this  passage  of  the  duke's  memoirs  it  will  be  observed 
that  King  James,  as  already  stated  above,  had  accom- 
panied Lauzun  and  the  left  wing,  and  consequently  that 
he  could  not  have  been  a  spectator  of  the  battle  from 
the  top  of  Donore,  according  to  the  commonly  received 
notion.  The  same  also  appears  from  Lauzun's  dispatch 
of  the  26th  of  July,  from  Limerick,  and  from  James's 
own  memoirs,  vol.  ii.,  p.  395,  &c.  James,  therefore,  wit- 
nessed none  of  the  fighting  at  the  Boyne,  and  the  com- 
mon error  on  the  subject  originated  probably  in  the 
WOliamite  accounts. 


nate  for  the  Irish  that  Sarsfield's  horse 
accompanied  the  king  that  morning  as 
his  body-guard,  and  were  thus  pre- 
vented from  taking  any  part  in  the 
conflict.  By  one  of  the  charges  of  the 
Irish  cavalry  the  Danish  brigade  was 
driven  back  into  the  river.  The 
Huguenot  regiments  were  so  hotly  re- 
ceived that  they  also  were  compelled 
to  recoil,  and  their  commander,  Caille- 
mot,  was  mortally  wounded.  Old 
Schoraberg,  who  watched  the  struggle 
from  the  northern  bank,  now  plunged 
into  the  river  with  the  impetuosity  of 
a  young  man,  although  he  was  then  in 
his  eighty-second  summer.  He  refused 
to  buckle  on  his  cuirass,  although 
pressed  to  do  so  by  his  staff,  and  has- 
tened to  rally  the  wavering  Huguenots 
at  Oldbridge  ;  but  at  that  moment  a 
troojD  of  the  Irish  horse-guards  dashed 
furiously  into  the  thick  of  the  enemy, 
and  although  most  of  their  own  num- 
ber were  cut  down,  it  was  found  when 
they  retired  that  the  gray-headed  mai'- 
shal  was  no  more.  He  received*  two 
sabre  wounds  on  the  head,  and  a  car- 
bine bullet  in  the  neck.f  About  the 
same  time  Dr.  Walker,  to  whom  Wil- 


f  There  are  various  accounts  of  the  death  of  Schom-^ 
berg.  King  James  asserts  that  he  was  killed  at  Old- 
bridge  "  by  Sir  Charles  Take  or  O'Toule,  an  exempt  of 
the  guards ;"  but  the  Williamite  report  was  that  he 
was  shot  by  a  trooper  of  his  own  guard  who  deserted 
the  year  before  {Captain  Parker's  Memoirs).  Berwick 
says  it  was  the  blue  ribbon  which  he  wore  that  made 
him  a  special  object  in  the  melee.  Story  says  he  was 
"  fourscore  and  two"  when  he  was  killed,  and  that  his 
loss  "  was  more  considerable  than  all  that  were  lost  on 
both  sides."  His  remains  were  taken  to  Dublin,  em- 
balmed, and  deposited  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  until 


590 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   II. 


liam  had  just  given  the  See  of  London- 
deny,  was  sbot  dead  in  tlie  ford  while 
ui-giiio-  forward  the  Ulster  Protestants ; 
and  when  William  heard  of  his  death, 
he  gruifly  asked,  "  What  brought  him 
there  ?"  Where  there  were  gallant 
officers  enough  to  lead  the  men,  he 
thought  the  churchman  was  out  of 
his  place.  The  battle  raged  with  ter- 
rific fui'v ;  the  tide  had  be2;un  to  flow, 
and  the  passage  of  the  river  was  be- 
coming more  difficult ;  but  the  Irish 
hoise  of  one  wing  had  to  resist,  unsup- 
ported, the  advance  of  the  whole  horse 
and  foot  of  William's  left  and  centi'e, 
and  mere  human  valor  was  not  equal 
to  the  task.  Richard  Hamilton,  who 
behaved  like  a  hero  all  that  day,  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  William, 
who  did  not  cross  the  river  until  late 
in  the  action,  came  up,  and  leaving  his 
English  cavalry,  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Enniskilleners,  saying  that 
they  should  be  his  body-guard  that 
day,  although  one  of  them,  in  the  ex- 
citeijient  of  the  moment,  mistook  him 
for  an  enemy,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
killing  him.  A  little  later  in  the  day 
those  same  Enniskilleners  were  put  to 
flight  rather  iguominiously,  by  the 
Irish  horse  at  Flatten,  and  were  only 
rallied  by  William  himself  At  length 
the  retreat  of  the  Irish  became  general ; 
but  the  cavalry  retired  in  admirable 
order,  and  covered  the  broken  masses 
of  the  infentry.     Long  before  this  an 

they  should,  at  a  future  time,  be  removed  to  Westmin- 
ster Abbey.  But  they  have  since  remained  in  their 
first  resting-place. 


aid-de-camp  brought  news  to  James 
that  the  enemy  had  made  good  their 
passage  at  Oldbridge,  whereupon  the 
luckless  king  ordered  Lauzun  to  march 
on  a  parallel  direction  with  that  of 
Douglas  and  young  Schomberg  towards 
Duleek,  which  place  he  reached  before 
the  flying  throng  of  the  Irish  foot. 
Tirconnell  came  up  next ;  and  now  the 
French  itifantrj^  for  the  first  time  ren- 
dered good  service  by  their  admirable 
discipline,  preserving  their  OAvn  order 
and  co-operating  with  the  Irish  cavaliy 
in  covering  the  retreat.  Berwick's 
horse  was  the  last  to  cross  the  nai-row 
pass  of  Duleek  with  the  Williamites 
close  in  their  rear;  but  beyond  the 
defile  the  Irish  rallied  and  once  more 
presented  a  front  to  the  enemy.  Five 
of  the  six  field-pieces  which  James  had 
taken  with  him  in  the  morning  towards 
Slane  were  still  available,  the  sixth 
having  been  bogged  on  the  way ;  and 
the  Williamite  pursuers  reined  up  their 
steeds,  although  at  this  time  William 
was  rejoined  by  young  Schomberg  and 
Douglas  with  the  right  wing.  Again 
the  retreat  was  i-esumed  in  good  order, 
and  William's  horse  pursued,  keeping 
still  a  respectable  distance ;  and  at  the 
deep  defile  of  Naul  the  last  stand  was 
made.  It  was  now  nine  o'clock ;  the 
fiorhtins:  had  lasted  since  ten  in  the 
forenoon  ;  the  Irish  and  French  at  bay 
showed  a  grim  and  determined  front ; 
and  the  foe,  wearied  with  the  day's 
work,  gladly  received  orders  to  return 
to  Duleek. 

Thus  was  the  Boyne  lost  and  won. 


RETREAT  OF  THE  IRISH. 


391 


Let  no  partisan  feelings  prevent  the 
reader  from  doing  justice  to  the  heroic 
men  on  either  side.  We  have  given  a 
calm  narrative  of  fncts;  and  we  con- 
sider that  we  are  justified  in  concluding 
fi'om  them,  that  however  important  in 
its  results — the  least  of  which,  as  far  as 
Ireland  was  concerned,  was  the  setting 
of  a  dynasty  aside — there  seldom  has 
been  a  victory  which  gave  less  right  to 
the  victors  to  exult  over  the  vanquished ; 
or  a  defeat  in  which  the  vanquished  had 
less  cause  to  feel  the  blush  of  dishonor. 
As  to  the  loss  on  both  sides,  the  duke 
of  Berwick  states  that  of  the  Irish  to 
have  been  about  1,000  men  in  all,  in- 
cluding, of  course,  those  who  were  left 
wounded  on  the  field,  and  the  few 
stragglers  killed  in  the  retreat.  Of  the 
Williamite  loss  it  is  strange  that  there 
was  no  official  report ;  but  Story,  who 
was  present  in  the  English  camp,  admits 
a  loss  of  400  slain,  which  would  make, 
according  to  the  usual  proportion,  at 
least  1,200  killed  and  wounded;  and 
Captain  Parker,  one  of  "William's  offi- 
cers in  the  battle,  says  they  had  above 
500  killed  and  as  many  wounded.  Thus, 
at  the  lowest  calculation,  the  Williamite 
loss  was  about  equal  to  that  of  the  Irish, 
which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
considei-ing  the  orderly  style  of  the  re- 
treat, and  the  want  of  energy  displayed 
in  the  pursuit,  which  Berwick  attri- 
buted to  the  death  of  Schombei-g. 
Story  complains  of  the  "incomplete- 
ness of  the  victory,"  and  says  that  only 


*  There  is  a  well-known  anecdote  related  of  Lady  Tir" 
connelJ,  who  having,  it  is  said,  met  James  ou  his  arrival 


one  or  two  Irish  standards  M^ei'e  cap- 
tured. Lauzun's  French  lost  but  sis 
men  that  day;  and  on  William's  side 
it  is  confessed  that  the  battle  was  won 
by  the  foreign  mercenaries,  and  by  the 
northern  Anglo-Irish,  while  the  English 
troops  had  very  little  share  in  the  hon- 
ors of  the  day. 

James,  first  in  the  retreat,  arrived  in 
Dublin  with  some  horse  early  in  the 
evening ;  and  bodies  of  the  Irish  infantry 
coming  in,  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
confirmed  the  news  of  the  defeat.  Next 
morning  the  French  reached  the  me- 
ti'opolis,  and  the  Irish  cavalry  arrived 
in  such  excellent  order,  with  martial 
music,  that  it  was  for  a  moment  doubted 
whether  they  had  lost  the  battle.  On 
a  rimior  that  the  enemy  was  approach- 
ing, the  Irish  army  was  again  drawn 
out  on  the  north  side  of  the  city  to 
oppose  them,  but,  in  truth,  William's 
army  did  not  enter  Dublin  until  late 
in  the  evening  of  the  following  day, 
Thursday,  July  3d.  To  dispose,  in  the 
first  place,  of  the  fugitive  king,  we  have 
to  mention  that  having  called  together 
a  hastjr  meeting  of  the  civil  and  mili- 
tary authorities  at  the  castle,  being 
either  so  dull  as  not  to  have  perceived 
the  effect  of  his  own  blunders,  or  so  un- 
generous as  to  try  to  palliate  them  at 
the  expense  of  others,  he  delivered  a 
short  address,  in  which  he  cast  the 
blame  of  his  defeat  on  his  Irish  sol- 
diers.* He  also  showed  some  concern 
lest  the   discontented   soldiery  should 


at  the  castle,  and  hearing  him  reflect  sarcastically  on 
the  fleetneas  of  the  runaway  Irish,  observed,  that  his 


j92 


REIGN   OF    JAMES  II. 


pillage  and  burn  Dublin ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  not  told  of  any  act  of 
insubordination  or  violence  whicla  these 
men  committed.  At  five  o'clock  on 
Wednesday  morning  he  set  out,  and 
leaving  two  troops  of  horse  which  he 
had  taken  witli  him,  to  defend  the 
bridge  at  Bray,  as  long  as  they  could, 
should  the  enemy  come  up,  he  con- 
tinued his  journey  Avith  a  few  followers, 
through  the  Wicklow  mountains.  At 
the  house  of  a  Mr.  Hackett,  near  Ark- 
low,  he  bated  his  horses  for  about  two 
hours,  and  then  pursued  his  way  to 
Duncanuon,  where,  after  travelling  all 
niaht,  he  arrived  at  sunrise.  Here  he 
emljarked  on  board  a  small  French  ves- 
sel, which  took  him  by  the  following 
morning  to  Kiusale,  whence  he  sailed 
with  a  French  squadron,  which  had 
been  provided  for  his  service  by  the 
queen,  and  which  landed  him  at  Brest 
on  the  20th  of  July,  he  himself  being 
the  first  bearer  of  the  news  of  his  mis- 
fortune.* 

The  news. of  the  king's  flight  dis- 
heartened the  Irish  soldiers,  but  Tir- 
conuell,  to  whom  James  had  intrusted 


majesty  bad,  at  least,  tto  advantage  over  them  in  that 
respect. 

*  King  James's  Memoirs,  ii.,  39 7^06.  The  coast  was 
at  this  time  clear  from  English  ships ;  the  combined 
English  and  Dutch  fleets  having  been  beaten  off  Beachy- 
Head,  on  the  30th  of  June,  by  the  French  Admiral  Tour- 
ville.  It  is  not  true  that  James,  before  leaving  Dublin, 
gave  orders  that  each  person  should  shift  for  himself, 
or  that  the  army  should  ;make  the  best  conditions  it 
could  and  disperse,  although  liis  conduct  might  seem  to 
imply  such  orders.  After  his  arrival  at  St.  Germain  ho 
importuned  the  French  king  for  fresh  succor  to  send  to 
Ireland,  or  for  an  expedition  to  be  sent  into  England, 


the  chief  command,  gave  orders  that 
they  should  immediately  march  to 
Limerick,  each  colonel  to  take  his  men 
by  the  route  which  he  thought  best.  A 
great  many  of  the  Catholic  citizens  left 
Dublin  at  the  same  time,  together  with 
their  families;  and  in  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  the  2d  of  July,  Simon 
Luttrell,  the  Jacobite  governor,  evacu- 
ated the  city  with  the  militia.  Wil- 
liam entered  Dublin  on  Sunday,  when 
he  was  received  with  eveiy  demonstra- 
tion of  joy  by  the  Protestant  inhabit- 
ants, many  of  whom  had  been  confined 
as  objects  of  suspicion  by  James  ;  and 
he  proceeded  to  St.  Patrick's  cathedral, 
where  he  heard  a  sermon  from  Dr. 
King.  He  returned  to  his  camp  at 
Finglas  for  dinner,  pi'eferring  the  small 
portable  wooden  house,  which  he  used 
in  camjiaigning,  to  the  state  apartments 
in  Dublin  castle. 

The  day  after  the  passage  of  the 
Boyne,  Drogheda  submitted  to  Wil- 
liam's forces.  On  the  16th,  Kilkenny 
having  been  evacuated  by  a  small  Irish 
garrison  which  held  it,  opened  its  gates 
to  a  detachment  sent  under  the  duke  of 


but  Louis  saw  how  useless  it  was  to  make  any  further 
sacrifice  for  James,  who  tells  us,  that  finding  he  could 
obtain  no  succor,  he  was  then  obliged  to  send  an  order 
to  Tirconnell  to  come  away  himself  if  he  chose,  and  to 
bring  with  him  as  many  as  were  willing  to  accompany 
him,  or  otherwise  to  make  conditions  for  their  remain- 
ing in  Ireland,  if  they  so  preferred.  Memoirs,  ii.,  p.  413. 
James  blames  Tirconnell  for  having  advised  his  hasty 
flight  from  Ireland,  but  admits  that  the  duke's  only 
motive  v/as  his  solicitude  for  his  (James's)  personal 
safety,  and  for  the  queen's  peace  of  mind.  Vide  notes 
to  MacaruB  Mceidium. 


SIEGE  OF  ATHLONE. 


593 


Onnoud,  witli  wliom  "William  dined  on 
the  19th  at  his  castle  in  that  city;  Dun- 
cannon  was   surrendered;  and  on  the 
25th   of  July,  AYaterford  capitulated, 
its  garrison  of  1,600  men  marching  out 
with  arms  and  baggage  for  Limerick, 
towards  which    city  William   next  di- 
rected  his   course.     The   Irish   having 
now  made  the  Shannon  their  line  of 
defence.     Lieutenant-general     Douglas 
was  sent  by  "William,   on  the   9th  of 
July,  with  an  army  of  about  12,000 
men,  twelve  cannons,  and  two  mortars, 
to    lay   siege    to    Athlone,    of    which 
Colonel  Eichard  Grace  was  governor. 
Douglas  appeared  before  the  fortress 
on  the  17th,  and  after  seven  days  vain- 
ly spent  before  its  walls,  having  nearly 
exhausted    his   supply    of   gunpowder, 
and  heard  that  Sarsfield  was  coming  up 
with  the  Irish  horse  from  Limerick,  he 
raised  the  siege  and  withdrew  to  Mullin- 
gar.     Thence  he  proceeded  to  join  Wil- 
liam near  Limerick,  ravaging  the  coun- 
try as  he  passed,  and  slaying  many  de- 
fenceless people  whom  he  assumed  to  be 
rappai-ees  ;*    but   the  expedition    cost 
William  on  the  whole  a  loss  of  over 
400  men. 

The    garrisons    of    Waterford    and 


*  Mr.  Lesley  tells  us  that  "  those  who  were  then  called 
rapparees,  and  executed  as  such,  were  for  the  most  part 
poor,  harmless  country  people ;  that  they  were  daily 
killed  in  vast  numbers,  up  and  down  the  fields ;  or  taken 
out  of  their  beds  and  shot  immediately ;  which  many  of 
the  Protestants  did  loudly  attest"  (Aiistcei-  to  King). 
And  in  Story's  list  of  those  who  died  in  this  war,  it  is 
said  that  there  were  "  of  rapparees  kUled  by  the  army 
or  militia,  1,928  ;  of  rapparees  killed  and  hanged  by  the 
soldiers  without  any  ceremony,  122."  Vide  Sir  John 
Dalrymple's  Memoirs,  &c.,  part  i.,  p.  176. 


other  places  having  been  collected  into 
Limerick,  there  were  now  in  that  city, 
according  to  the  duke  of  Berwick, 
about  20,000  foot-soldiers,  only  one- 
half  of  whom,  however,  were  armed; 
and  the  Irish  cavalry,  amounting  to 
about  3,500  men,  encamped  five  miles 
from  the  city,  on  the  Clare  side  of  the 
river.  M.  Boisseleau,  a  Frencli  officei-, 
was  governor :  but  Lauzun  having  sur- 
veyed the  fortifications,  pronounced  the 
place  to  be  untenable,  swearing  that  it 
might  be  taken  with  roasted  apples, 
and  ordered  the  entire  French  division 
to  march  to  Galway,  there  to  await  an 
oj^portunity  to  embark  for  France.  It 
was  supposed  that  this  disgraceful  de- 
sertion, which  took  place  as  William's 
army  Avas  approaching  the  city,  would 
have  the  effect  of  preventing  further 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Irish ;  but 
its  only  result  was  to  leave  to  the  Irish 
foot-soldiers,  so  unjustly  censured  for 
their  conduct  at  Oldbridge,  the  undi- 
vided honor  of  the  subsequent  memora- 
ble defence  of  Limerick.f 

William's  forces  when  mustered  at 
Cahirconlish,  about  seven  miles  south- 
east of  Limerick,  on  the  7  th  of  August, 
after  the  junction  of  Kirke  and  Doug- 


t  To  view  in  its  true  light  the  conduct  of  the  French 
in  Ireland,  during  this  war,  one  must  bear  in  mind  that  _ 
they  were  the  allies  not  of  the  Irish  but  of  the  dethroned 
king  of  England,  whose  cause  they  deemed  hopeless, 
and  for  whose  interests  they  could  have  felt  little  sym- 
pathy. It  is  therefore  unjust  to  their  chivalrous  nation, 
to  assert  that  either  on  this  occasion,  or  at  any  time  in 
the  course  of  tliis  war,  they  betrayed  the  Irish,  in  whose 
national  cause  they  had  not  been  called  on  to  act.  The 
case  would  have  been  different,  and  so,  also,  we  may 
presume,  would  have  been  the  conduct  of  the  Rrench 


594 


REIGN"   OF   JAMES  II. 


las,  amounted  to  38,000  effective  men  * 
On  the  9th  the  whole  army  approached 
Limerick  and  encamped  at  Singland, 
in  the  southeastern  suburbs.  Next 
day  they  occupied  the  post  called  Ire- 
ton's  fort ;  planted  a  few  field-pieces  on 
Gallow's-green  to  annoy  the  to^yn,  and 
sent  a  summons  to  the  governor,  who 
consulted  with  Tirconnell,  Sarsfield,  and 
other  officers,  as  there  was  some  doubt 
what  course  should  be  pursued.  The 
answer,  however,  was  worthy  of  brave 
men.  It  was  addressed  to  William's 
secretary  from  a  sense  of  politeness,  as 
the  governor  could  not  give  AVilliam 
himself  the  title  of  king ;  and  was  to 
the  effect  that  he  hoped  to  merit  the 
good  opinion  of  the  prince  of  Orange 
better  by  a  vigorous  defence  than  by  a 
shameful  surrender  of  the  fortress  with 
which  he  had  been  intrusted  by  bis 
mastei".  King  James. 

At  this  time  William  had  only  his 
field  artillery,  but  his  heavy  battering 
train,  consisting  of  six  twenty-four- 
pounders  and  tAvo  eighteen-pounders, 
together  with  a  great  quantity  of  am- 
munition and  provisions,  tin  boats  to 
convey  troops  on  the  Shannon,  and 
other   necessaries    for    the   siege,    was 


troops,  had  they  been  sent  to  aid  the  Irish  as  a  nation 
against  England  ;  hut  the  cause  of  James  was  already 
lost.  As  to  Lauzun,  his  proper  sphere  was  a  court,  with 
its  intrigues,  not  a  camp,  with  its  hardships.  He  was 
no  general.  King  James  plainly  intimates  in  his  me- 
moirs, tliat  Lauzun  wished  Limerick  to  fall,  in  order 
that  his  own  conduct  might  he  excused.  He  desired  to 
get  hack  to  Versailles  at  any  hazard,  and  had  so  inspired 
his  officers  and  men  with  his  own  sentiments,  that  there 
was  among  them  a  general  cry  to  he  recalled  to  France. 
They  complained  that  they  could   get  in   Ireland  no 


coming  from  Dublin,  under  a  convoy, 
and  was  immediately  expected  in  the 
camp.  This  important  intelligence  was 
conveyed  by  a  French  gunner  who  de- 
serted to  the  city  the  day  after  Wil- 
liam appeared  before  the  walls,  and  it 
was  soon  turned  to  good  account. 
Whether  solely  at  his  own  suggestion, 
according  to  the  generally  received 
opinion,  or  acting  on  the  orders  of  Tir- 
connell, as  Berwick  relates,  Brigadier- 
general  Sarsfield  flew  to  the  horse-camp, 
obtained  a  party  of  500  picked  men, 
and  with  them  disappeared  that  night 
in  the  direction  of  Killaloe.  The  next 
day  (Monday,  the  11th)  he  halted  un- 
observed at  Silvermines,  on  the  northern 
slope  of  the  Keeper  mountain,  waiting 
for  information  through  his  scouts  from 
the  plain  below.  In  the  mean  time, 
one  Manus  O'Brien,  whom  Story  de- 
scribes as  "  a  substantial  country  gentle- 
man,-" came  to  the  English  camp,  and 
told  how  Sarsfield  had  left  the  night 
before,  on  what  was  believed  to  be 
some  desperate  enterprise ;  but  his 
statement  attracted  at  first  little  atten- 
tion. At  length  it  came  to  the  ears  of 
William,  who  then  gave  O'Brien  an 
interview,  and   who,   although  he  did 


bread,  without  which  they  could  not  live,  although  the 
Irish  managed  to  dispense  with  it  very  well.  The 
opinions  of  Louvois  on  that  war  and  his  hostility  to  the 
unhappy  James  were  also  well  understood ;  and  to 
countenance  them,  some  of  the  officers  wrote  home  that 
all  the  French  in  Ireland  were  doomed  men  if  not  re- 
called immediately.  Tet  to  letters  dictated  by  such  ob- 
vious prejudices  Lord  Macaulay  has  unfairly  referred  in 
his  history  as  a  testimony  against  the  Irish. 

*  Griffith's    Villare   Hihernieum,  a  WiDiamite   au- 
thority. 


SIEGE   OF   LIMERICK. 


595 


not  seem  to  thiuk  much  of  the   mattei-, 
nevertheless  ordered  out  500  horse  to 
meet    the    artillerj'.     Again    Sarsfield's 
good  fortune  prevailed,  and  the  party 
of  Williamite  cavalry,  which  was  com- 
manded by  Sir  John  Lanier,  was  not 
ready  to  march   until   two  o'clock  in 
the  morning.     The  artillery  convoy,  on 
their    route    from    Cashel,  had    halted 
that  ni^rht  at  the  small  ruined  castle  of 
Ballyneety,  near  the  borders  of  Tippe- 
rary.*     Being  now  only  a  few  miles  in 
the  rear  of  William's  camp,  while  the 
Irish    enemy  were  closely  besieged  in 
Limerick,  they  felt  secure,  and  the;  men 
havino'  turned  their  horses  out  to  ^raze 
retired  to  rest,  leaving  only  a  few  senti- 
nels on   guard.     Meanwhile    Sarsfield, 
led  by  faithful  guides,  had  been  pursu- 
ing devious  and  difficult  paths  through- 
out the  night,  and  it  was ,  near  morning 
wheu  his  appi'oach  aroused  the  sleeping 
convoy.     The  English  bugles  sounded 
to  horse,  but  the  conflict  which  ensued 
was .  very  brief.     Eveiy  man  wlio  re- 
sisted was  cut  down  to  the  number  of 
about  sixty,  and  the  rest,  all  but  one, 
took   to   flight.      The    heavy   cannons 
destined  to  batter  down  the  walls  of 
Limerick     were    then     charged    with 
powder,  and  their  mouths  being  fixed 
in  the  earth,  tliey  were  fired,  and  burst; 
the    boats    were    broken ;  the    wagons 
and    other    articles    which   could    not 
easily    be    carried   off   were    collected 


*  The  site  of  this  castle  is  marked  on  the  ordnance 
map,  about  three  and  ahalf  miles  south  of  the  Pallas 
station  of  the  Limerick  and  Waterford  Railway,  and 
between  two  and  three  miles  nearly  west  of  the  Cola 


into  a  heap  and  burned  ;  and  the  mag- 
azine of  gunpowder  being  fired  by 
train,  exploded  with  a  terrific  sound 
which  shook  the  earth  to  a  distance  of 
miles  around.  Sir  John  Lanier's  party 
saw  the  flash,  and  heard  the  rumbling 
noise,  about  an  hour  after  they  had  left 
the  camp.  They  rightly  guessed  the 
cause,  and  only  arrived  in  time  to  find 
that  every  thing  was  reduced  to  aslies, 
and  that  their  eftbrts  to  intercept  the 
intrepid  Sarsfield  and  his  gallant  band 
were  in  vain. 

The  success  of  tliis  hazardous  enter- 
prise animated  the  besieged  with  fresh 
resolution ;  while  in  the  camp  of  the 
enemy  it  produced  mingled  rage  and 
consternation.  William,  nevertheless, 
determined  to  press  the  siege  with  the 
utmost  vigor,  and  sent  to  Waterford 
for  more  heavy-  artillery.  Two  of  the 
great  guns,  found  dismounted  among 
the  debris  which  Sarsfield  had  left  at 
Ballyneety,  proved  to  be  still  available ; 
and  the  walls  of  Limerick  were  so  weak, 
that  even  field-pieces  were  sufficient  to 
make  an  impression  on  them.  One  of 
William's  first  proceedings  befoi-e  Lim- 
erick was  to  send  Generals  Ginkell  and 
Kirke,  with  about  5,000  horse  and  foot, 
to  effect  the  passage  of  the  Shannon. 
This  was  performed  by  the  aid  of  pon- 
toons near  St.  Thomas's  Island,  north 
of  the  city,  without  any  opposition. 
Tirconnell,  who  was  old  and  feeble,  and 


station  on  the  same  line.  Though  it  is  about  fifteen 
statute  miles  from  Limerick,  the  outposts  of  William's 
army  were,  probably,  not  much  more  than  seven  miles 
distant. 


596 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


had  no  hope  in  the  defence  of  Limerick, 
had  joined  Lauzun  in  Galway,  and  with- 
drawn the  Irish  horse  to  a  remote  dis- 
tance ;  and  Sarsfield  had  set  out  on  his 
own  famous  expedition.  It  was  feared 
that  Limerick  would  be  invested  on  both 
sides,  but  Ginkell's  and  Kirke's  divi- 
sion recrossed  the  Shannon  that  night, 
the  demonstration  being  apparently  in- 
tended only  against  the  Irish  cavalry  ; 
and  Berwick  ordered  the  destruction  of 
the  corn  on  the  north  side,  that  the  en- 
emy might  not  have  the  inducement  to 
come  again  to  that  quarter  foi-  forage. 
On  the  13th,  Brigadier  Stuart  was  sent 
by  William  to  take  Castleconnell, 
which  was  surrendered  after  a  slight 
resistance  by  its  governor,  Captain 
Barnwall,  and  the  garrison  of  120  men 
made  prisoners  of  war. 

The  trenches  before  Limerick  were 
opened  on  the  17th"  of  August,  and  the 
approaches  were  pushed  forward  with 
all  possible  ener^.  The  high  towers 
from  which  the  besieged  could  fire  into 
the  trenches  were  battered  down,  and 
two  redoubts  and  a  small  fort  were  ta- 
ken, though  not  without  considerable 
loss  on  the  part  of  the  besiegers.  On 
the  20th  a  vigorous  sortie  was  made, 
which'somewhat  retarded  the  enemy's 
works ;  but  by  the  24th  all  the  Wil- 
liamite  batteries  were  completed,  and 
a  fire  from  36  pieces  of  cannon  was 
opened  upon  the  walls  and  town ;  some 
of  the  guns  pouring  red-hot  shot,  and  a 
battery  of  four  mortars  throwing  a 
shower  of  shells  among  the  houses  ;  yet 
not  the  least  effect  was  produced  upon 


the  resolution  either  of  the  citizens  or 
the  garrison.  At  length,  on  Wednes- 
day, the  27th,  the  trenches  having  been 
carried  within  a  few  feet  of  the  pali- 
sades, and  a  breach  of  36  feet  wide  hav- 
ing been  made  in  the  wall  near  John's 
Gate,  William  commanded  the  assault 
to  take  place.  Ten  thousand  men  were 
ordered  to  support  the  storming  party  ; 
and  at  half-past  three  in  the  afternoon, 
at  a  given  signal,  500  grenadiers  leaped 
from  the  trenches,  fired  their  pieces, 
threw  their  grenades,  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments had  mounted  the  breach.  The 
Irish  were  not  unprepared,  although  at 
that  moment  the  attack  was  not  expect- 
ed. The  governor,  Boisseleau,  had 
caused  an  intrenchmeut  to  be  made  in- 
side the  breach,  and  behind  this  he  had 
planted  a  few  pieces  of  cannon,  a  cross- 
fire from  which  told  with  murderous 
effect  upon  the  assailants,  after  they  had 
filled  the  space  between  the  breach  and 
the  intrenchmeut.  For  one  instant 
they  halted,  but  the  next  they  pushed 
forward,  and  mimj  of  them  actually 
entered  the  town.  The  advantage, 
however,  was  momentary,  and  cost  the 
intruders  dearly.  The  Irish  rallied, 
and,  at  the  point  of  the  sword  and  pike, 
drove  the  storming  party  back  over  the 
breach,  where  a  most  terrific  conflict 
now  ensued.  Few  there  were,  indeed, 
of  the  first  assailants  who  ^vere  not  liors 
de  combat,  but  thousands  of  their  com- 
rades were  in  j^ossession  of  the  counter- 
scarp, and  ready  to  supply  their  place ; 
they  were  under  the  eyes  of  King  Wil- 
liam himself,  who  was  looking  on  from 


H 


SIEGE   OF  LIMERICK. 


59T 


CromweH's  "battery ;  and  they  fought 
hard  to  regain  the  advantage  which 
they  had  just  lost.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Irish  soldiers  behaved  with  the 
most  desperate  intrepidity ;  they  were 
animated  by  the  townspeople ;  and  the 
very  women,  says  the  Williamite  chap- 
lain, Story,  rushed  boldly  into  the 
breach,  and  stood  nearer  to  the  enemy 
than  to  their  own  men,  hurling  stones 
and  broken  bottles  into  the  face  of  the 
former.  For  nearly  three  hours  was 
this  deadly  struggle  maintained,  and 
during  that  time  never  was  breach 
more  fiercely  assailed  or  more  nobly 
defended.  The  Brandenburg  regiment, 
which  showed  great  determination,  had 
gained  the  Black  Battery,  but  at  that 
moment  a  mine  was  sprung  by  the  Irish, 
or,  as  Story  would  have  it,  "the  powder 
happened  to  take  fire,"  and  the  Bran- 
denburghers  w^ei'e  blown  up,  "  men,  fag- 
gots, stones,  and  what  not,  flying  in  the 
air  with  a  most  terrible  noise."  The 
duke  of  Berwick,  in  his  memoirs,  adds 
another  important  incident.  He  says 
Brigadier  Talbot,  who  was  then  in  one 
of  the  outworks,  called  the  horn-work, 
with  500  men,  ran  along  the  wall  on 
the  outside,  and  charging  the  enemy  in 
the  rear  routed  them,  and  then  entered 
the  town  through  the  breach.     Ifc  was 


*Tlie  account  in  tlie  London  Gazette  makes  Wil- 
liam's loss,  on  the  27th  of  August  alone,  455  killed,  and 
1,293  wounded,  or  1,748  in  all,  -nithout  including  the 
Brandenburghers,  who,  according  to  the  Williamite 
accounts,  had  iQQliors  do  combat  at  the  Black  Battery, 
which  would  give  a  total  of  2,148.  The  author  of  the 
Plunkett  MS.  says  the  besieged  had  not  above  a  hun- 
dred men  killed,  but  the  report  which  makes  the  total 


probably  against  Talbot's  party  that 
Colonel  Cutts  was  engaged  when  sent, 
according  to  Story,  by  the  duke  of 
Wurtemberg,  towards  "the  spur  at  the 
south  gate."  "From  half  an  hour  after 
three  till  after  seven,"  continues  the 
Williamite  historian,  "  there  was  one 
continued  fire  of  both  great  and  small 
shot,  without  any  intermission,  inso- 
much that  the  smoke  that  went  from 
the  toAvn  reached  in  one  continued 
cloud  to  the  top  of  a  mountain"  (the 
Keeper  hill)  "  at  least  six  miles  ofli". 
When  our  men  drew  off,  some  were 
brought  up  dead,  and  some  without  a 
leg,  others  wanted  arms,  and  some  were 
blind  with  powder ;  especially  a  gi-eat 
many  of  the  poor  Brandenburghers 
looked  like  furies  with  the  misfortune 
of  gunpowder  .  .  .  The  king  stood  nigh 
Cromwell's  fort  all  the  time,  and  the 
business  being  over,  he  went  to  his 
camp  very  much  concerned,  as  indeed 
was  the  whole  army;  for  you  might 
have  seen  a  mixture  of  anger  and  sor- 
row in  everybody's  countenance."  Well 
indeed  might  William  have  been  "  con- 
cerned," for  he  lost  over  2,000  men  in 
killed  and  wounded  that  daj'.* 

Various  reasons  are  assigned  by  the 
Williamites  for  the  discontinuance  of 
the  siege.     The  ammunition,  they  say. 


Irish  loss  m  that  glorious  affair  400,  is  more  to  be  relied 
on.  llr.  O'Callaghan  {Mncarim  E.reid.,  p.  378,  and 
Green  Book,  p.  117)  cites  a  MS.  Jacobite  accoimt  of  the 
siege,  in  his  possession,  which  makes  the  loss  of  tho 
enemy  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  o'.'  the  siege  5,000 
men,  and  that  of  the  Irish  during  the  same  period  1,003 
soldiers  and  97  officers  killed  and  wounded.  The  Lim- 
erick historian,  O'H.illoran,  and  following  him,  Dalrym- 


598 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  II. 


was  running  low ;  the  ground  was 
swampy,  and  the  season  rainy  ;  but  we 
are  told  with  more  probability  by  Jac- 
obite authorities  that  the  Ulster  Prot- 
estants objected  to  a  second  assault, 
as  its  failure  would  have  caused  a  gen- 
eral rising  of  the  Catholics,  and  the 
risk  would  have  been  therefore  too 
great;  and  they  add  that  William  show- 
ed excessive  bad  humor  at  the  council 
of  war.  On  Sunday,  the  31st  of  Au- 
gust, the  besieging  army  marched  off 
rather  precipitately,  fearing  a  pursuit ; 
which,  however,  the  garrison  had  no 
means  to  attempt,  as  their  cavalry  were 
not  at  hand.  William  went  by  Clon- 
mel  to  Waterford,  and  at  Duucannon 
took  shipping  on  the  5th  of  September 
for  England,  leaving  the  command  of 
'the  army  to  Count  de  Solmes,  who  was 
succeeded  soon  after  by  De  Ginkell, 
and  intrusting  the  civil  government  to 
Lord  Sidney,  Su"  Charles  Porter,  and 
Mr.  Coningsby  as  lords  justices. 

As  soon  as  the  siege  of  Limerick  was 
I'aised,  a  French  squadron  arrived  at 
Gal  way,  and  took  oif  Lauzun  and  his 
division,  and  with  him  departed  the 
duke  of  Tirconnell,  who  went  to  repre- 
sent to  James  the  actual  state  of  affairs 
in  L-eland,  having  committed  to  the 
duke  of  Berwick,  who  was  then  only 
twenty  years  of  age,  the  chief  command, 
with  a  council  of  regency  and  a  council 


pie,  relate  that  the  victorious  Irish  having  pursued  the 
English  into  the  camp,  assisted  them  to  extinguish  a 
fire  that  had  broken  out  in  the  English  hospital ;  but 
this  probably  refers  to  the  period  of  the  raising  of  the 
siege,  three  days  after,  when,    according   to    Mageo- 


of  war  to  assist  him.  Scarcely,  indeed, 
had  the  enemy  disappeared  from  before 
the  walls  of  Limerick,  when  the  jealous- 
ies that  had  long  existed  amons:  the 
L'ish  leaders  broke  out  into  open  and 
most  fatal  dissension.  Tirconnell  had 
become  exceedingly  unpopular.  His 
overbearing  manner  was  never  calcu- 
lated to  gain  friends ;  the  partiality  of 
which  he  was  accused  in  the  exercise  of 
his  patronage  was  sure  to  ci'eate  many 
enemies;  his  incapacity  as  a  general, 
aggravated  as  it  was  by  the  dulness 
and  feebleness  of  age,  provoked  the 
contempt  of  his  military  colleagues  ;  his 
friendship  for  Lauzun,  of  whom  the 
army  had  such  good  cause  to  complain, 
was  injurious  to  his  popularity ;  his 
Anglo-L'ish  sympathies  displeased  the 
native  Irish,  who  were  now  the  most 
important  element  in  the  Jacobite 
party,  and  whose  views  were  becoming 
daily  more  national  ;  all  these  circum- 
stances lowered  him  in  the  estimation 
of  the  people,  and  strengthened  the 
faction  which  was  formed  against  him 
among  the  leaders.  Subsequent  events, 
however,  enable  us  to  appreciate  at  its 
just  value  this  opposition  to  Tirconnell ; 
and  while  we  admit  his  faults,  it  is 
enough  for  us  to  know  that  the  chief 
organizer  of  the  cabal  against  him  was 
the  traitor,  Henry  Luttrell ;  and  that 
English   writers    who  have  shown  the 


ghegan,  the  enemy  on  departing  set  their  hospital  on 
fire.  O'Halloran,  Introduct.  to  Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol. 
i.,  chap,  v.,  p.  407,  ed.  1819 ;  Dalrymplo,  vol.  iii., 
p.  42 ;  Abbe:  Mageoghegan,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  p.  594, 
Duffy's  ed. 


SEIGE  OF  CORK. 


599 


bitterest  enmity  to  the  Irish,  have  been 
also  unauimous  in  endeavoring  to  de- 
preciate Tirconnell's  character.  One 
or  two  unprincipled  enemies  found  it 
easy  to  kindle  the  flame  of  popular  dis- 
pleasure against  such  a  man;  and  in 
the  chivalrous  '  Sarsfield,  whose  unso- 
phisticated mind  was  readily  imposed 
on,  they  found  an  influential  ally.  As 
to  the  charges  against  Tirconnell  of 
holding  secret  correspondence  with  the 
Williamite  authorities,  and  intending 
to  betray  the  Irish  interests,  they  are 
the  UDSujiported  assertions  of  enemies, 
and  we  are  assured  by  the  most  dili- 
gent investigator  of  this  portion  of  our 
history  that  he  has  never  been  able  to 
discover  any  authentic  confirmation  of 
them.* 

An  expedition,  conducted  by  the 
duke  of  Berwick  and  Sarsfield,  march- 
ed on  the  14th  of  September  to  attack 
the  castle  of  Birr,  but  retired  on  the 
19th  before  a  greatly  superior  force 
under  the  command  of  Generals  Doug- 
laSj  Kirke,  and  Sir  John  Lanier.  If  it 
served  no  other  purpose,  the  expedition 
had  at  least  the  effect  of  occupying  and 
dividing  the  "Williamite  array,  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  concentra- 


*  See  the  authorities  adduced  on  this  subject  by  Mr. 
O'CaUaghau  in  his  annotations  to  the  Macarice  Exci- 
dium.  It  is  evident  that  the  confidence  of  King  James 
and  the  duke  of  Berwick  in  Tirconnell  never  suffered 
any  diminution,  although  they  survived  him  long 
enough  to  witness  the  results  of  his  conduct,  and  to 
hear  aU  the  charges  against  him.  HaUam's  statement 
about  Tirconnell's  alleged  plans  to  separate  Ireland  and 
make  himself  king,  is  supported  by  some  curious  evi- 
dence, and  appears  to  be  such  a  wild  project  as  the 
ambitious  Richard  Talbot  might  at  some  time  for  a 


ted  against  Cork ;  before  which  town 
the  celebrated  John  Churchill,  then  eilrl, 
and  afterwards  duke,  of  Marlborough,f 
appeai'edon  the  22d  of  September  with 
an  army  of  15,000  men,  composed  chief- 
ly of  the  duke  of  Wurtemberg's  divi- 
sion and  of  8,000  fresh  troops,  which  he 
himself  had  brought  from  England. 
Marlborough  urged  the  siege  with  vig- 
or, and  his  great  military  genius  was 
more  keenly  stimulated  by  a  claim 
which  the  duke  of  Wurtemberg  had 
the  presumption  to  set  up  to  the  chief 
command.  The  garrison  was  numer- 
ous, but  was  badly  supplied  with  the 
munitions  of  war  ;  and  the  town  being 
unfit  to  stand  a  siege,  the  governor. 
Lieutenant-colonel  M'Eligot,  was  blam- 
ed for  not  evacuating  it  and  retiring  to 
Kerry,  as  he  had  been  directed  by  the 
Jacobite  authorities  in  Limerick  to  do. 
On  the  2^ih  the  walls  were  breached, 
and  the  following  day  an  assault  was 
ordered.  The  grenadiers  of  the  storm- 
ing party  were  led  by  the  duke  of 
Grafton,  who  had  been  vice-admiral  of 
England  under  James,  and  who  was 
mortally  wounded  by  a  ball  in  advan- 
cing to  the  breach,  and  died  a  few  days 
after  in  Cork.     At  the  last  moment  the 


moment  have  entertained.    See  Hallam's  Constitutional 
Sistory  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  5-30,  ed.  1829. 

f  The  duke  of  JIarlborough  was  uncle  to  the  duke 
of  Berwick,  whose  mother,  Arabella  Churchill,  Marl- 
borough's sister,  was  mistress  of  James  II.  when  duke 
of  York.  The  diike  of  Marlborough  was  the  bosom 
friend  of  James  II.,  and  is  taxed  with  base  ingratitude 
for  turning  immediately  to  WOliam's  side.  Henry 
Fitzroy,  duke  of  Grafton,  mentioned  a  little  further  on, 
was  an  illegitimate  son  of  Charles  II.,  and  was  there- 
fore the  nephew  of  James,  against  whom  he  fought. 


600 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  U. 


governor  beat  a  parley,  and  the  garri- 
son, to  the  number  of  between  4,000 
and  5,000  men,  became  prisoners  of 
war.  Their  ammunition  had  been  re- 
duced to  two  small  barrels  of  powder, 
so  that  further  resistance  was  impossi- 
ble ;  and  to  the  disgrace  of  the  English 
military  authorities,  the  conditions  on 
which  these  brave  men  surrendered 
were  most  shamefully  violated.* 

From  Cork,  Marlborough  marched 
the  very  same  day  to  Kiusale,  which 
the  gariison  set  on  fire  at  his  approach, 
retiring  into  the  old  and  new  forts, 
which  they  were  determined  to  defend. 
The  English  extinguished  the  fire,  and 
Marlborough  applied  all  his  energies  to 
the  siege  of  the  forts,  which  he  found 
stronger  than  he  expected ;  the  season 
being  already  so  far  advanced  that  he 
feared  the  consequences  of  a  protracted 
resistance.  The  old  fort  was  stormed 
on  the  3d  of  October,  and  its  garrison 
killed  or  taken  prisoners.  The  new 
fort  was  valiantly  defended  by  Sir  Ed- 


*  The  Rev.  Charles  Leslie  informs  us  that  General 
MacCarth.y  narrowly  escaped  being  murdered  after  the 
surrender,  and  could  get  no  satisfaction  on  his  com- 
plaint to  the  English  general ;  and  he  goes  on  to  state 
"  that  the  garrison,  after  laying  down  their  arms,  were 
stripped  and  marched  to  a  marshy  wet  ground,  where 
they  were  kept  with  guards  four  or  five  days,  and  not 
being  sustained  were  forced  through  hunger  to  eat  dead 
horses  that  lay  about  them,  and  several  of  them  dyed 
for  want.  That  when  they  were  removed  thence  they 
were  so  crowded  in  jails,  houses,  and  churches  that 
they  could  not  all  lye  down  at  once,  and  had  nothing 
but  the  bare  floor  to  lye  on,  where,  for  want  of  suste- 
nance, and  lying  in  their  own  excrements,  with  dead 
carcases  lying  wholo  weeks  in  the  same  place  with 
tliem,  caused  such  infection  that  they  dyed  in  great 
numbers  daily.  And  that  the  Eoman  Catholic  inhab- 
itants, tho'  promised  safety  and  protection,  had  their 


ward  Scott,  who,  in  reply  to  the  ene- 
my's summons  to  suireuder,  said  "  it 
would  be  time  enough  to  cajjitulate  a 
month  hence."  He  hoj)ed  to  be  reliev- 
ed by  the  Duke  of  Berwick,  who,  after 
mustering  seven  or  eight  thousand  men 
at  Kilmallock  for  that  purpose,  feared 
to  make  the  attempt,  the  besieging 
army  being  too  powerful.  On  the  15th 
the  garrison,  numbeiing  1,200  men, 
capitulated,  and  were  allowed  to  march 
outjvith  their  arms  and  baggage  for 
Limerick.  The  winter  passed  off  with- 
out any  other  military  operations  of 
importance,  except  simultaneous  at- 
temjits  by  the  Williamite  army  to  cross 
the  Shannon  at  Lanesborough,  James- 
town, and  Banagher,  all  which  were 
successfully  resisted  by  Sarsfield  and 
Berwick,  who  were  most  accurately  in- 
formed, through  their  spies,  of  all  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  The  rap- 
parees  gave  the  Williamites  a  good 
deal  of  annoyance  during  the  winter, 
and  some  treasonable  projects  for  the 


goods  seized,  and  themselves  stripped  and  turned 
out  of  town  soon  after."  (Leslie's  Ansiocv  to  King, 
p.  103). 

King  James's  memoirs  confirm  those  statements, 
while  WiUiamite  authorities  would  attribute  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Irish  prisoners  to  the  destitution  and  disease 
which  even  the  WiUiamite  garrison  endured ;  but  the 
monstrous  barbarities  practised  towards  both  the  pris- 
oners and  the  inhabitants  remain  imexplained.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  exemplified  in  all  the  wars  in  this 
country  since  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion,  that  the 
English  were  notorious  for  not  keeping  faith  with  the 
Irish  in  treaties  and  capitulations,  so  that  it  became  a 
settled  principle  with  the  Irish  to  place  no  reliance 
even  on  the  most  solemn  promises  of  their  English  foes. 
To  this  circumstance  may  be  attributed  many  a  pro- 
tracted struggle,  where  resistance  was  kept  up  long 
after  aU  hope  must  have  been  extinguished. 


^CJr^M^ 


M^Jloi5IE5!oL^AlfI&iItGI£  £; 


TIRCONXELL  RETURNS  TO  IRELAND. 


601 


delivery  of  Galway  to  the  enemy,  and 
for  tlie  passage  of  the  Shannon,  were 
timely  discovered  by  Sarsfield. 

A  meeting  of  those  opposed  to  Tir- 
connell  having  been  held  in  Limerick, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  induce  the 
duke  of  Berwick  to  alter  the  form  of 
government  left  by  Tirconnell,  as  being 
unconstitutional,  and  to  accept  a  coun- 
cil comiDosed  of  two  representatives 
from  each  of  the  provinces ;  but  Ber- 
wick resolutely  refused  to  yield  to  this 
request ;  consenting,  however,  that  four 
agents  should  be  sent  to  France  to  ex- 
press the  opinions  of  the  leaders  and 
exj^lain  the  state  of  the  army.  Two  of 
these  agents  were  Brigadier  Henry 
Luttrell  and  Colonel  Purcell,  whom 
Berwick  expressly  selected,  that  they 
might  be  detained  in  France  as  persons 
whom  he  deemed  turbulent  and  dan- 
gerous ;  and  he  sent  Brigadier  Maxwell 
as  his  private  emissary  to  explain  his 
wishes  on  the  subject  to  his  father, 
King  James.  On  the  voyage,  Henry 
Luttrell  and  Purcell  suspecting  the 
object  of  Maxwell's  journey  proposed 
to  throw  him  overboard,  but  were  pre- 
vented by  the  bishop  of  Cork  and  the 
elder  Luttrell,  i^vho  were  the  other  two 
deputies  ;  and  at  St.  Germain  James 
was  made  sensible  of  the  danger  which 
his  cause  in  Ireland  would  incur  should 
any  of  the  agents  be  forcibly  detained.* 

The  representations  of  Tirconnell  at 


*  Memoirea  du  llarechal  de  Berwick,  torn.  i.  jip.  88, 

90 ;  Memoirs  of  K.  James  II.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  422,  &c. 

"  Events  provelf '  says  Mr.  O'CaUagian,  "  how  just  was 

tlie  duke  of  Tirconnell's  aversion  to  Henry  Luttrell,  a 

TO 


Versailles  and  St.  Germain  were  ulti- 
mately successful,  notwithstanding  the 
impeachments  against  him,  and  he  re- 
ceived most  encouraging  promises ;  but 
unhappily  the  orders  of  Louis  were  not 
carried  out  by  his  ministers  and  their 
subordinates;  and  Tirconnell  returned 
to  L'eland  about  the  middle  of  January, 
1691,  with  a  very  inadequate  supplj'  of 
money,  and  some  provisions,  but  no  men. 
He  appears  to  have  received  but  28,000 
louis  d'or,  of  which  he  left  10,000  at 
Brest  to  purchase  provisions  ;  but  not- 
withstanding the  smallness  of  the  sum 
which  he  brought,  he  ventured,  on  his 
arrival,  to  cry  down  the  copper  money, 
a  proceeding  which  revived  public  con- 
fidence and  greatly  improved  trade. 
He  also  brought  from  King  James  a 
patent  creating  Sarsfield  earl  of  Lucan, 
viscount  of  Tully,  and  baron  of  Kos- 
berry.f  The  duke  of  Berwick  left  Ire- 
land the  followins:  month  for  France. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1691,  a  French 
fleet  arrived  in  the  Shannon,  bringing 
a  Ivge  quantity  of  provisions,  clothing, 
arms,  and  ammunition  for  the  Irish 
troops,  but  neither  men  nor  money. 
In  this  fleet  came  Lieutenant-general 
St.  Ruth,  a  French  offieer  of  great  bra 
very,  ability,  energy,  and  experience, 
who  was  sent  to  take  the  chief  com- 
mand of  the  Ii'ish  army  ;  and  with  him 
were  two  other  French  officers  of  rank, 
Major-generals  d'Ussou  and  de  Tesse  ; 


bad  man,  the  father  of  a  bad  man,  and  the  grandfather 
of  a  bad  man." — Macarice  Excid.,  p.  397,  note. 

t  Patrick  Sarsfield,  whose  memory  is  so  justly  and 
proudly  cherished  by  his  countrymen,  was  descended 


602 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


but  it  will  be  observed  that  James's 
army  in  Ireland  was  at  this  -time  exclu- 
sively composed  of  Irish  soldiers.  Tir- 
connell  was  still  viceroy,  but  with  pri- 
vate instructions  from  James  not  to 
interfere  in  any  way  with  St.  Ruth  in 
the  management  of  military  affiiirs. 
Hitherto  the  Irish  army  had  been  in  a 
most  wretched  state ;  the  men  were 
clothed  in  rags ;  the  officers  were  scarce- 
ly better  oft*;  food  was  so  scarce  that 
the  use  of  horse-flesh  was  frequently  re- 
sorted to ;  and  the  ordinary  pay  of  the 
Irish  foot^soldier,  when  money  could 
be  procured  for  the  purpose,  was  only 
one  penny  per  day  !  Let  us  compare 
this  state  of  the  Irish  array  with  that 
of  the  magnificent  force  whicb  Baron 
de  Ginkell  was  then  oi-ganiziug  in  Lein- 
ster,    preparatory    to   a    campaign,   in 

paternally  from  an  ancient  and  respectable  Anglo-Nor- 
man family  of  the  Pale,  and  maternally  from  a  most 
ancient  and  illustrious  Irish  stock ;  Ms  father  being 
Patrick  Sarsfield,  Esq.,  of  Lucan,  in  the  county  of  Dub- 
lin ;  and  his  mother,  Ann,  the  daughter  of  the  brave 
and  high-minded  patriot  of  1G41,  Colonel  Roger  O'More. 
His  elder  and  only  brother,  William,  dying  'without 
male  issue,  he  inherited  tlie  estate  of  Lucan,  producing 
an  income  of  about  £3,000  a  year.  He  commenced  his 
military  career  early ;  serving  first  as  an  ensign  in 
France,  in  the  regiment  of  Monmouth,  and  then  as  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Guards  in  England.  He  went  with  King 
James  to  France  in  Dect-mber,  1688,  and  returned  with 
him  to  Ireland,  in  1G89,  when  he  was  made  a  privy 
councillor,  a  colonel  of  horse  and  a  brigadier.  We 
have  seen  above  some  of  the  important  duties  in  which 
he  was  subsequently  engaged,  and  shall  find  him  em- 
ployed in  the  same  active  manner  up  to  the  close  of  this 
w.ir.  Subsequent  to  the  first  siege  of  Limerick,  he  was 
made  major-general.  After  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  in 
October,  1091,  we  shall  sec  him  sacrificing  his  fine 
estate  and  rejecting  oflers  of  advancement  in  the  Wil- 
liamite  army,  to  accompany  the  Irish  army  to  France, 
where  he  was  appointed  by  James  to  the  command  of 
his  second  troop  of  Irish  horse-guards.  In  July,  1692, 
he  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Steenldrk,  in 


which  all  the  resources  of  England 
were  to  be  employed  to  bring  the  war 
in  Ireland  to  a  close.  "  The  greater 
part  of  the  English  force,"  says  Macau- 
lay,  "was  collected  before  the  close  of 
May,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mullin- 
gar.  Ginkell  commanded  in  chief. 
He  had  under  him  the  two  best  officers 
— after  Marlborou2:h — of  which  our 
island  (England)  codld  then  boast, 
Talraash  and  Mackay.  The  marquis 
of  Ruvigny,  the  hereditary  chief  of  the 
refugees,  and  elder  brother  of  that 
brave  Caillemot  who  had  fallen  at 
Boyne,  had  joined  the  army  with  the 
rank  of  major-general.  The  lord  jus- 
tice Coningsby,  though  not  by  profes- 
sion a  soldier,  came  down  from  Dublin 
to  animate  the  zeal  of  the  troops.  The 
appearance  of  the  camp  showed  that 


which  the  allies  under  William  HI.  were  defeated  by 
the  French  under  the  Marshal  de  Luxembourg.  He 
was  created  marechal-de-camp  or  major-general  in  the 
service  of  France  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  in  that  rank  was 
killed  in  July,  1693,  in  the  great  battle  of  Landen,  in 
which  the  allies  under  William  III.  were  again  over- 
thrown by  Luxembourg.  "  His  character,"  says  Mr. 
O'Callaghan,  "  may  be  comprehended  in  the  words,  sim- 
plicity, disinterestedness,  honor,  loyalty,  and  bravery." 
(History  of  the  Irish  Brirjadcs  in  the  service  of  France, 
vol.  i.,  p.  135.)  He  married  the  lady  Honora  de  Burgo, 
second  daughter  ofWUliam,  seventh  carl  of  Clanrickard  ; 
by  whom  he  left  one  son,  who  served  under  the  duke 
of  Berwick  (who  mai-ricd  Earsficld's  widow),  and  died 
in  Spain  without  issue.  Sarsfield's  brother,  William, 
who  had  married  Mary,  a  daughter  of  Charles  II.  and 
sister  of  the  duke  of  Monmouth,  left  a  daughter,  Char- 
lotte, who  was  married  to  Agmondesham  Vesey ;  and 
their  daughter,  Anne,  was  married  to  Sir  John  Bing- 
ham of  Mayo,  whose  son.  Sir  Charles,  was  created  earl 
of  Lucan  by  George  IIL,  in  1776.  (Archdall's  Lodge, 
vol.  vii ,  p.  107.)  In  stature  Sarsfield  was  exceedingly 
taU.  There  is  a  French  portrait  of  him,  engraved  after 
a  picture  painted  by  "  My  lady  Bingham,"  who  was  no 
doubt  the  above-named  Anne,  grand-^tee  of  the  illus- 
trious Irish  soldier 


SIEGE  OF  ATIILONE. 


603 


the  money  voted  by  the  English  parlia- 
ment had  not  been  spared.  The  uni- 
forms were  new;  the  ranks  were  one 
blaze  of  scarlet,  and  the  train  of  artil- 
lery was  such  as  had  never  before  been 
seen  in  Ireland."* 

Such  was  the  army  which,  on  the  Tth 
of  June,  commenced  the  campaign  of 
1691,  with  the  siege  of  Ballymore  Cas- 
tle, in  Westmeath,  ihe  most  advanced 
outpost  of  the  Irish  in  that  direction. 
The  castle,  which  stands  on  the  verge 
of  Lough  Seudy,  was  defenceless  to- 
wards the  lake,  and  as  the  besiegers 
not  only  battered  it  with  their  artillery 
on  the  land  side,  but  approached  it  on 
that  of  the  water  by  boats,  the  gov- 
ernor, Colonel  Urick  Burke,  deemed  it 
right  to  surrender  on  the  following 
day;  having,  as  Story  says,  only  "two 
small  Turkish  pieces,  mounted  upon 
old  cart-wheels,"  to  reply  to  the  batter- 
ing train  of  the  enemy.  Ginkell  re- 
mained until  the  18th  at  Ballymore, 
repairing  and  strengthening  the  works  ; 
and  having  been  joined  by  the  duke  of 
Wurtemberg  and  Count  Nassau,  with 
7,000  foreign  mercenaries,  he  then 
marched  against  Athlone.  -The  English 
town,  or  Leinster  side  of  Athlone,  was 
never  of  much  military  strength.  Gin- 
kell, with  an  army  then  about  18,000 
strong,  appeared  before  it  on  the  19th 
of  June,  and  soon  effected  such  a  breach 
in  its  slender  wall,  that  he  was  able  to 


*Lord  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  vol.  vi.,  p.  83. 

\  Macaria  Eicidium,^.  118.  Mr.  O'Callaglian  says 
the  best  estimate  he  lias  been  able  to  form  of  the 
largest  force  St.  Euth  had  about  Athlone,  during  the 


assault  it  the  following  day  with  4,000 
men ;  and  the  small  Irish  garrison  post- 
ed at  that  side  of  the  river,  having  lost 
200  of  their  number,  retreated  by  the 
bridge,  Avhich  they  held  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy  until  they  had  broken  down 
two  arches  on  the  Connaught  side. 
The  Shannon,  at  this  place,  is  wide  and 
rapid,  but  was  fordable  a  little  below 
the  bridge,  at  a  point  not  then  known 
to  the  English,  and  breastworks  were 
thrown  up  along  the  river  at  the  Con- 
naught  side.  Late  on  the  20th,  St. 
Euth  was  informed  of  the  fall  of  the 
English  town,  and  advancing  with  the 
Irish  army,  which  he  had  just  got  into 
marching  order,  and  which  amounted, 
according  to  the  most  probable  account, 
to  15,000  horse  and  foot,  he  encamped 
two  or  three  miles  from  the  Irish  town 
of  Athlone.f  The  English  raised  their 
works,  on  the  Leinster  side  of  the  river, 
to  a  great  height,  and  by  the  aid  of 
fifty  battering  cannon  and  ten  mortars, 
from  which  they  kept  up  an  incessant 
fire,  night  and  day,  they  were  soon  able 
to  beat  down  the  face  of  the  castle 
which  lay  next  to  them,  and  to  level  the 
works  of  the  Irish  along  the  water  side. 
Besides  shells,  they  threw  from  their 
mortars  implements  of  destruction,  call- 
ed "  carcasses,"  which  were  filled  with 
combustible  materials,  and  which  set 
the  thatched  houses  on  fire ;  and  both 
houses  and  every  thing  in  the  shape  of 


siege,  including  the  garrison  and  the  troops  encamped 
with  himself,  some  miles  to  the  rear  of  the  place, 
is  from  22,000  to  23,000  infantry  and  cav.ilry.  JWd., 
p.  421. 


604 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


masonry  were  so  levelled  ou  the  Con- 
nauffht  side,  that  the  Irish  soldiers  had 
no  breastwork  from  behind  which  they 
could  fire ;  and  the  besiegers,  according 
to  their  own  account,  could  stand  with 
impunity  ou  the  river-side  and  look 
over*  The  town  was,  in  fact,  reduced 
to  a  mass  of  rubbish,  through  which  it 
was  impossible  for  two  men  to  walk 
abreast  in  any  part ;  and  we  are  told 
by  the  Williamite,  Story,  that  the  be- 
siegers threw  into  it  12,000  cannon  bul- 
lets, 600  bombs,  and  many  tons  of 
stones  shot  from  the  mortars,  and  that 
the  siege  cost  them  "  nigh  50  tons  of 
powder."  The  Irish,  who  had  only  a 
few  field-pieces,  nevertheless  prevented 
the  English  from  constructing  a  bridge 
of  boats.  The  besiegers  then  endeav- 
ored to  throw  planks  over  the  broken 
arches  of  the  bridge,  and  they  had 
nearly  succeeded  in  this  design,  when 
eight  or  ten  intrepid  Irishmen  under- 
took to  pull  down  the  planks  and  beams 
again,  and  performed  their  task  under 
the  terrible  fire  of  the  enemy — most  of 
them,  of  course,  being  killed  in  that 
fearful  duty.  "The  26th,"  says  the 
Williamite  historian  just  cited,  "  was 
spent  in  firing,  from  seven  batteries, 
upon  the  enemy's  works,  and  a  gi'eat 
many  were  killed  in  endeavoring  to 
repair  them.  About  30  wagons  laden 
with  powder  came  to  the  camp ;  and 
that  night  we  possess  ourselves  of  all 
the  bridge,  excej^t  one  arch  at  the  fur- 


*  Memoirs  of  Captain  Parker,  and  Rawdon  Papers, 
quoted  in  Annotations  to  Macarias  Excid.,  pp.  423,  423. 


ther  end,  on  the  Counaught  side,  which 
was  broke  down,  and  we  repair  anoth- 
er broken  arch  in  our  possession  ;  and 
all  night  our  guns  and  mortars  play 
most  furiously  ....  "VVe  labor 
hard  to  gain  the  bridge  :  but  what  we 
got  here  was  inch  by  inch,  as  it  were  ; 
the  enemy  sticking  very  close  to  it, 
though  great  numbers  of  them  were 
slain  by  our  guns."  "Well  might  the 
French  generals,  who  witnessed  this 
heroism  of  the  Irish  soldiers,  acknow- 
ledge that  "  they  never  saw  more  reso- 
lution and  firmness  in  any  men  of  any 
nation ;  nay,  blamed  the  men  for  their 
forwardness,  and  cried  them  up  for 
brave  fellows,  as  iutrjepid  as  lions."f 

It  was  the  general  opinion  in  both 
armies,  that  the  attempt  to  pass  the 
Shannon  at  Athlone  would  not  succeed, 
but  Ginkell  was  resolved  to  persevere. 
He  made  a  final  attempt  to  cross  the 
bridge  by  means  of  a  close  gallery, 
which,  however,  the  Irish  contrived  to 
set  on  fire,  and  he  was  once  more  foiled. 
At  length  it  was  suggested  that  owing 
to  the  dryness  of  the  season  the  river 
might  be  fordable,  and  three  Danes, 
who  were  sent  on  that  dangerous  duty, 
succeeded  in  finding  the  ford  already 
referred  to,  which  would  admit  twenty 
men  to  march  abreast,  and  Avhere  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  way  the  water 
would  not  then  reach  above  the  knee,  nor 
at  the  deepest  part  above  the  middle. 
But  for  this  discovery  the  siege  would 


f  Letter  of  Colonel  Felix  O'Niell  to  the  countess  of 
Antrim,  in  the  Raiodon  Papers,  p.  346. 


^. 


SIEGE  OF  ATHLONE. 


605 


have  been  raised,  and  St.  Ruth  still  be- 
lieved the  enemy  would  not  attempt 
the  ford. 

AVliile  every  energy  of  the  besieging 
army  was  thus  directed  with  precision 
by  the  will  of  one  commander,  there 
was  no  one  in  the  Irish  camp  whose 
authority  was  implicitly  obeyed,  and 
fatal  jealousies  and  divisions  prevailed. 
Tirconuell  intermeddled  with  military 
matters  to  the  great  annoyance  of  St. 
Ruth,  and  with  neither  St.  Ruth  nor 
Tirconnell  was  Sarsfleld  in  favor.  To 
prepare  against  an  assault,  however 
desperate  he  believed  such  an  attempt 
would  be,  St.  Rufh  ordered  the  ram- 
parts on  the  western  or  Connaught  side 
of  the  town  to  be  levelled,  that  a  whole 
battalion  might  enter  abreast  to  relieve 
the  garrison  when  the  assault  took 
place ;  but  d'Usson,  who  had  been 
made  governor,  first  opposed  the  plan, 
and  then  nes^lected  to  have  the  orders 
executed  when  St.  Ruth  insisted  on  the 
demolition.  On  the  other  hand,  d'Usson 
wished  to  have  the  defences  on  the  riv- 
er-side intrusted  to  a  particular  corps 
of  picked  men  ;  but  St.  Ruth  required 
that  each  battalion  should  take  the 
duty  in  turn,  in  order  that  all  might  be 
accustomed  to  the  enemy's  fire.  At 
the  critical  moment  to  which  we  have 
now  come,  it  happened  that  this  im- 
portant post  was  intrusted  to  two  regi- 
ments composed  mostly  of  recruits,  and 
that  the  officer  in  command  was  Major- 
general  or  Colonel  Thomas  Maxwell,  a 
Scotchman,  the  same  who  had  been 
sent  on  a  private  embassy  to  France 


by  Berwick,  and  who  was  therefore  a 
partisan  of  Tirconnell  and  was  unpopu- 
lar in  the  army.  Maxwell,  as  we  are 
told  by  one  party,  observed  certain 
preparations  among  the  besiegers  and 
demanded  a  re-enforcement  of  troops, 
but  was  answered  that  if  he  were  afraid, 
another  general  officer  would  be  seut 
in  his  place  :  while  by  the  other,  or  St. 
Ruth  i^arty,  it  is  stated  that  Maxwell 
refused  to  supply  his  men  with  ammu- 
nition, and  asked  them,  when  they  de- 
manded some,  if  they  wanted  to  shoot 
larks  ;  and  they  also  insinuate  that  he 
had  an  understanding  with  the  enemy 
to  betray  his  post.  The  Williamite 
historians  say  that  at  this  juncture  two 
Irish  officei's  swam  over  the  river  and 
assured  Ginkell  that  "  now  was  his 
time ;  that  the  Irish  were  mighty  se- 
cure ;  and  that  three  (rightly  two)  of 
the  most  iudifterent  Irish  regiments 
were  only  then  upon  guard,  the  rest 
being  secure  in  their  camp."  *  At 
length  all  was  prepared  for  the  assault. 
Two  thousand  chosen  men  were  set 
apart.  Ginkell  distributed  a  gratuity 
of  guineas  among  them.  The  command 
was  given  to  Major-general  Mackay,  as- 
sisted by  Major-general  Tettau,  the 
prince  of  Hesse,  and  Brigadier  la  Mel- 
loniere ;  the  grenadiers  were  command- 
ed by  Colonel  Gustavus  Hamilton,  and 
with  these  latter  Major-general  Talmash 
went  as  a  volunteer.  The  signal  was 
the  tolling  of  the  church-bell  a  few 
minutes  past  six  o'clock,  p.  jr.,  on  the 


►Harris's  Life  of  William  III;  Story,  &c. 


606 


REIGN   OF   JAMES  II. 


SOtli  of  June.  TLe  detachment  of 
gi-enadiers  first  took  the  ford,  and  they 
were  supported  by  six  battalions  of 
foot.  The  bastion  which  commanded 
the  ford  on  the  Irish  side  had  been  al- 
ready breached,  and  during  the  passage 
of  the  river  an  incessant  fire  was  kept 
up  from  all  the  English  batteries,  and 
from  the  musketry  in  the  trenches. 
Taken  by  surprise,  the  Irish  soldiers 
who  guarded  the  opposite  side  could 
do  little  more  than  discharge  their 
muskets  onx^  and  fly.  They  believed 
themselves  to  have  been  betrayed. 
Maxwell  was  made  prisoner  by  the 
English  ;  and  the  folding  party  having 
laid  planks  over  the  broken  arches  as 
soon  as  they  gained  the  other  side, 
the  besiegers  poured  in  their  columns 
across  the  bridge.  The  garrison  fled 
in  disorder.  D'Usson  had  been  a  can- 
non-shot from  the  town  at  the  time  of 
the  attack,  and  in  hastening  to  the  gate 
he  was  averturned  and  severely  hurt 
by  the  flying  multitude.  Thus  in  half 
an  hour  the  besiegers  were  masters  of 
the  mass  of  rubbish  and  ruins  which  then 
occupied  the  site  of  the  Irish  town  of 
Athlone ;  and  the  surprise  had  been  so 
complete,  that  the  Williamites,  accord- 
ing to  their  own  account,  lost  in  the 
assault  only  forty-six  men  killed  and 
wounded.*  The  means  of  defence 
which  the  Irish  possessed  during  this 
memorable  siege  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  the  enemy  found  in  the 

*  Leslie  says  the  Englisli  killed  a  hundred  men  in 
cold  blood  in  the  castle  of  Atlilone  and  in  an  outwork, 
after  they  had  become  masters  of  the  place. 


works  when  taken  only  six  brass  field- 
pieces  and  two  mortars ! 

St.  Ruth,  who  was  not  aware  of  the 
attack  until  all  was  over,  sent  some 
regiments  of  infantry  from  the  camp  to 
succor  the  town,  but  they  saw  their 
own  ramparts  manned  with  English 
soldiers.  He  then  moved  his  army  to 
Ballinasloe,  twelve  miles  off,  and  en- 
camjjed  Avith  the  river  Suck  between 
him  and  the  enemy.  A  council  of  war 
was  held,  and  it  was  resolved  that  they 
should  there  give  battle  ;  but  St.  Ruth, 
who  was  anxious  to  come  to  an  enofas^e- 
ment,  to  blot  out  the  disgrace  of  Ath- 
lone, subsequently  removed  the  camp 
to  Aughrim,  a  place  about  three  miles 
distant  on  the  road  to  Galway,  and 
which  he  preferred  to  the  banks  of  the 
Suck.  As  to  Tirconnell,  the  outcry 
against  him  having  become  louder  and 
more  general,  he  left  the  camp  immedi- 
ately after  the  surprise  of  Athlone,  and 
repaired  to  Limerick. 

The  choice  of  ground  which  St.  Ruth 
made  on  this  occasion  evinced  the  skill 
of  the  general.  The  Irish  army  en- 
camped along  the  ridge  of  the  high 
land  called  Kilcommadan  Hill,  which 
runs  neai'ly  northwest  and  southeast, 
then  bounded  towards  Ballinasloe  by  a 
morass,  through  which  flowed  a  small 
stream,  and  which  was  practicable  for 
fi)ot  but  not  for  cavalry.  On  the  right 
flank  was  the  tolerably  open  pass  of 
Urraghree  ;  and  the  Irish  left  rested  on 
the  then  insignificant  village  of  Augh- 
rim, where  there  was  another  pass,  or 
rather  causeway,  through  the  bog,  but 


BATTLE  OF  ATJGHRIM. 


607 


so  narrow  in  one  part  that  only  two 
horsemen  could  ride  abreast,  while  it 
was  moreover  commanded  by  the  ruin- 
ous castle  of  the  O'Kelly's,  in  which  St. 
Euth  posted  Colonel  "Walter  Burke 
with  200  men.  The  infantry  were  dis- 
posed in  the  centre  in  two  lines ;  the 
front  line  havincr  formed  several  breast- 
works  of  hedges  which  ran  along  the 
bottom  of  the  slope,  near  the  verge  of 
the  morass.  In  the  right  wing  the 
principal  portion  of  the  Irish  horse 
were  placed,  to  defend  the  important 
pass  of  Urraghree ;  in  the  left  wing 
there  were  also  some  horse  and  dra- 
goons, but  St.  Euth  appeared  to  think 
that  the  enemy  would  not  attempt  the 
narrow  causeway  at  that  side.  Some 
of  the  cavalry  were  posted  behind  the 
second  line  of  the  foot  in  the  centre,  as 
a  reserve. 

The  advanced  guards  of  the  Williara- 
ites  came  in  sight  of  the  Irish  on  the 
11th  of  July;  and  the  following  morn- 
ing, which  was  Sunday,  while  the  Irish 
army  was  assisting  at  Mass,  the  whole 
force  of  the  enemy  drew  up  in  line  of 
battle  on  the  high  ground  to  the  east, 
beyond  the  morass.  As  nearly  as  the 
strength  of  the  two  armies  can  be  esti- 
mated, that  of  the  Irish  was  about 
15,000,  hoi-se  and  foot,  and  that  of  the 
Williamites  from  20,000  to  25,000;  the 
latter  having  besides  a  numerous  artil- 
lery, while  the  Irish  had  but  nine  field- 
pieces.* 


*  Story  says  that  Gin'kell's  army  at  Auglirim  was  not 
more  than  17,000,  horse  and  foot,  while  the  Irish,  ac- 
cording to  him,  had  20,000  foot  and  5,000  horse.    Bish- 


The  morning  having  been  hazy,  it 
was  past  eleven  o'clock  before  Ginkell 
could  obtain  a  clear  view  of  the  Irish 
position,  and  commence  his  own  opera- 
tions. He  then  saw  that  he  had  no 
ordinary  difficulties  to  encounter;  but 
knowing  his  own  great  superiority  in 
artillery,  he  hoped  by  the  aid  of  that 
arm  alone  to  dislodge  the  Irish  centre 
from  their  advantageous  ground,  and 
as  quickly  as  his  guns  could  be  brought 
into  position  opened  fire  upon  the  enemy. 
He  also  directed  some  cavalry  move- 
ments on  his  left  at  the  pass  of  Urragh- 
ree, but  with  strict  orders  that  the  Irish 
should  not  be  followed  bej'oud  the 
pass,  lest  any  fighting  there  should 
force  on  a  general  engagement,  for 
which  he  had  not  then  made  up  his 
mind.  His  orders  on  this  point,  how- 
ever, were  not  punctually  obeyed  ;  the 
dragoons  sent  on  that  duty  having 
suffered  themselves  to  be  lured  forward 
by  the  Irish  hoi-se  where  a  number  of 
musketeers  were  placed  in  ambush,  and 
the  consequence  being  some  hot  skir- 
mishing, which  brought  larger  bodies 
of  the  Williamite  cavalry  into  action, 
and  thus  led  to  some  sharp  fighting, 
that  continued  from  about  two  to  three 
o'clock,  when  the  Williamites  letired 
from  the  pass.  Still,  it  appeared  very 
improbable  that  a  general  action  would 
take  place  that  evening.  Ginkell  held 
a  council  of  war,  and  the  prevalent 
opinion  seemed  to  be  that  the  attack 


op  Burnett  rates  the  Irish  army  at  28,000,  and  the 
English  at  20,000 ;  ■while  Captain  Parker,  who  served 
under  GinkeU,  and  was  present  at  the  battle,  says  the 


608 


REIGN   OF  JAMES  II. 


should  be  deferred  until  an  early  hour 
next  raorniug.  The  uncertainty  which 
prevailed  on  this  point  may  be  conceiv- 
ed from  the  fact,  that  the  deliberations 
were  kept  up  until  half-past  four  o'clock, 
when  the  final  decision  of  the  council 
Avas  for  an  iunnediate  battle.  At  five 
o'clock  the  fighting  was  renewed  at 
Urraghree,  and  for  an  hour  and  a  half 
there  was  considerable  firing  in  that 
quarter;  several  attempts  to  force  the 
pass  having  been  made  in  the  interval, 
and  the  Irish  cavalry  continuing  to 
maintain  their  ground  gallantly,  al- 
though against  double  their  own  num- 
bers. TJ'p  to  this  time  there  was  no 
action  between  the  centres  of  the  two 
armies,  or  the  wings  which  confronted 
each  other  near  the  pass  of  Aughrim, 
with  the  exception  of  the  cannonade 
which  was  kept  up  on  both  sides,  and 
in  which  the  Williamites  had,  as  has 
been  observed,  the  advantage  of  a  much 
more   numerous    artillery.     Indeed,   it 

two  armies  were  nearly  equal,  but  elsewhere  tells  us 
that  the  English  at  Mullingar  mustered  33,000,  and 
their  loss  in  the  interval  was  said  to  be  trifling.  King 
James's  Memoirs  state  that  in  the  retreat  from  Athioue 
the  desertion  from  the  Connaught  regiments  was  so 
great  that  the  foot  were  reduced  from  17,000  to  about 
11,000  ;  and  Colonel  O'Kelly,  author  of  the  Macarim 
Excidium,  reckons  the  Irish  infantry  at  Aughrim  as 
only  10,000,  and  the  horse  and  dragoons  as  4,000.  It  is 
stated  in  Light  to  the  Blind,  that  the  English  had 
double  the  number  of  cavalry,  though  the  Irish  had 
some  advantage  in  the  infantry  ;  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  statement,  as  far  as  regards  the  infantry, 
is  erroneous  ;  and  it  is  indeed  obvious  that  the  author 
of  that  MS.,  in  many  instances,  takes  his  data  as  to 
numbers  from  the  AVilliamite  authorities,  without  suffi- 
ciently testing  their  accuracy.  O'Halloran,  who  must 
have  often  conversed  with  persons  who  had  a  distinct 
personal  recollection  of  the  war,  and  whose  account 
agrees  with  that  traditionally  received  by  the  Irish  to 


was  plain  to  the  enemy  that  St.  Rufh 
could  not  turn  his  admirable  position 
to  its  full  advantage,  owing  to  the  great 
deficiency  of  his  field-train. 

At  length,  at  half-past  six,  Giukell, 
having  previously  caused  the  morass, 
in  front  of  the  Irish  centre,  to  be  sound- 
ed, ordered  his  infantry  to  advance  on 
the  point  where  the  fences  at  the  Irish 
side  projected  most,  and  where  the 
morass  was,  consequently,  narrowest. 
This,  it  appears,  was  in  the  Irish  right 
centre,  or  in  the  direction  of  Urraghree. 
The  four  regiments  of  Colonels  Erie, 
Herbert,  Creighton,  and  Brewer  were 
the  first  to  wade  throu2;h  the  mud  and 
water,  and  to  advance  against  the  near- 
est of  the  hedges,  where  they  were  re- 
ceived with  a  smart  fire  by  the  Irish, 
who  then  retired  behind  their  next  line 
of  hedges,  to  which  the  assailants,  in 
their  turn,  approached.  The  William- 
ite  infantry  were  thus  g.radually  drawn 
from  one  line  of  fences  to  another,  up 


this  day,  makes  the  numbers  of  Irish  and  English 
1.5,000  and  25,000  respectively.  Mr.  O'Callaghan,  who 
has  devoted  a  great  deal  of  research  to  the  subject, 
shows  that  the  WiUiamite  army  consisted  of  37  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  19  regiments  of  horse,  and  3  regi- 
ments and  14  troops  of  dragoons  ;  and  that  if  all  these 
regiments  had  been  complete,  the  numbers  would  have 
been,  infantry,  34,405  ;  horse,  6,837 ;  dragoons,  3,G07 ; 
total,  32,9::!9.  The  WiUiamite  writers  admit  a  loss  of 
less  than  GOO  men  between  the  muster  of  the  army  at 
Mullingar  and  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Aughrim  ;  and 
hence  it  is  clear  that  the  numerical  strength  of  the  army 
at  Aughrim  must  have  been  considerably  greater  than 
what  the  AVilliamite  historians  assert.  As  to  the 
artillery  on  both  sides,  the  disparity  was  also  very 
great.  Ginkell  had  four  batteries,  and  we  know  that 
two  of  these  mounted  six  guns  each,  whence  wo  might 
conclude  that  there  were  24  guns  in  all ;  while  it  is 
admitted  that  St.  Ruth  had  no  more  than  nine  field- 
pieces.— See  Macarios  Excid.,  p.  443,  note  233. 


BATTLE   OF  AUGHRIM. 


609 


the  slope  from  tlie  morass,  to  a  greater 
distance  than  was  contemplated  in  the 
plan  of  attack,  according  to  which  they 
were  to  hold  their  ground  near  the 
morass  until  they  could  be  supported 
by  re-enforcements  of  infantry  in  the 
rear,  and  by  cavalry  on  the  flanks. 
The  Irish  retired  by  such  short  dis- 
tances, that  the  Williamites,  "  disdain- 
ing to  sutler  their  lodging  so  near,"  as 
their"  own  historians  express  it,  pursued 
Avhat  they  considered  to  have  been  an 
advantage,  until  they  found  themselves 
face  to  face  with  the  main  line  of  the 
Irish,  who  now  charged  them  in  front ; 
while,  by  passages  cut  especially  for 
such  a  purpose  through  the  lines  of 
hedges  by  St.  Ruth,  the  Irish  cavalry 
poured  down  with  irresistible  force  and 
attacked  them  in  the  flanks.  The  effect 
was  instantaneous.  In  vain  did  Colonel 
Erie  endeavor  to  encourage  his  men 
by  crying  out,  that  "  there  was  no  Avay 
to  come  off  but  to  be  brave."  They  were 
thrown  into  total  disorder,  and  fled 
back  towards  the  morass,  the  Irish  cav- 
alry cutting  them  down  in  the  rear, 
and  the  infantry  pouring  in  a  deadly 
fire,  until  they  were  driven  beyond  the 
quagmire,    which    separated    the    two 

*  With  reference  to  this  part  of  the  day's  conflict, 
King  James's  Memoirs  assert  "  that  never  was  assault 
made  with  greater  fury  or  sustained  with  greater  obsti- 
nacy, especially  by  the  foot,  who  not  only  maintained 
their  posts  and  defended  the  hedges  with  great  valor, 
but  repulsed  the  enemy  several  times,  particularly  in 
the  centre,  and  took  some  prisoners  of  distinction  ;  inso- 
much that  they  looked  upon  the  victory  as  in  a  manner 
certain,  and  St.  Ruth  was  in  a  transport  of  joy  to  see  the 
foot,  of  whom  he  had  so  mean  an  opinion,  behave 
themselves  so  well,  and  perform  actions  worthy  of  a 
better  fate." — {Memoirs  ofK.  James  II.,  ii.,  457.)  The 
77 


armies.  Colonels  Erie  and  Herbert 
were  made  prisoners ;  but  the  former, 
after  being  twice  taken  and  retaken, 
and  receiving  some  wounds,  was  finally 
rescued.  Whilst  this  was  going  for- 
ward towards  the  Irish  right,  several 
other  Williaraite  regiments  crossed  the 
bog  nearer  to  Aughrim,  and  were  in 
like  manner  repulsed  ;  but  not  having 
ventured  araonfr  the  Irish  hedsres,  their 
loss  was  not  so  considerable,  although 
they  were  pursued  so  far  in  their  retreat 
that  the  Irish,  says  Story,  "  got  almost 
in  a  line  with  some  of  our  great  guns ;" 
or  in  other  words,  had  advanced  into 
the  English  battle-ground.  It  was  no 
wonder  that  at  this  moment  St.  Ruth 
should  have  exclaimed  with  national 
enthusiasm,  "  The  day  is  ours,  my 
boys  !  le  jour  est  a  nou-s^  me-s  enfans  .'" 
He  witnessed  the  triumph  of  his  own 
generalship,  and  the  heroic  bravery  of 
his  Irish  troops,  and  at  that  time  he 
had  evei'y  reason  to  feel  sure  of  a  vic- 
toiy.* 

The  manoeuvres  of  the  Dutch  general, 
on  the  other  side,  evinced  consummate 
ability,  and  the  peril  of  his  present  po- 
sition obliged  him  to  make  desperate 
efforts  to  retrieve  it.     His  army  being 

Abbe  Mageoghegan  says,  "  The  royal  (Jacobite)  foot 
performed  prodigies  of  valor.  They  repulsed  the 
enemy's  infantry  three  times  up  to  their  very  cannon ; 
and  it  is  said  that  at  the  third  time  General  St.  Ruth 
was  so  well  pleased  that  he  threw  his  hat  into  the  air  to 
express  his  joy." — {Hist,  of  Ireland,  p.  595.)  It  is  ex- 
pressly stated,  in  ligJd  to  the  Blind,  that  the  Irish  not 
only  drove  the  enemy  back  to  their  lines  beyond  the 
morass,  but  completely  broke  their  centre,  and  occupied 
a  portion  of  the  enemy's  ground;  and  this  statement 
appears  to  be  amply  borne  out  by  other  accounts, 
English  as'well  as  IrLsh. 


610 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


much  more  numerous  than  that  of  the 
Irish,  he  could  aftbrcl  to  extend  his  left 
wing  considerably  beyond  their  right ; 
and  this  causing  a  fear  that  he  intended 
to  flank  them  at  that  side,  St.  Ruth  oi- 
dered  the  second  line  of  his  left  to 
march  to  the  I'ight,  the  oflacer  who  re- 
ceived the  instructions  taking  with  him 
also  a  battalion  from  the  centre,  which 
left  a  weak  point  not  unobserved  by  the 
enemy.  St.  Ruth  had  a  fatal  confidence 
in  the  natural  strensrth  of  his  left,  owint; 
to  the  great  extent  of  bog  and  the  ex- 
treme narrowness  of  the  causeway  near 
Aughrim  Castle.  The  Williamite  com- 
mander perceived  this  confidence  and 
resolved  to  take  advantaare  of  it. 
Hence  his  movement  at  the  opposite 
extremity  of  his  line,  which  was  a  mere 
feint,  the  troops  which  he  sent  to  his 
left  not  firing  a  shot  during  the  day, 
while  some  of  the  best  regiments  of  the 
Irish  were  drawn  away  to  watch  them. 
The  point  of  weakening  the  Irish  left 
having  been  thus  gained,  the  object  of 
doing  so  soon  became  apparent.  A 
movement  of  the  Williamite  cavalry  to 
the  causeway  at  Aughrim  was  observed. 
Some  horsemen  were  seen  crossins:  the 
narrow  part  of  the  causeway  with  great 
difiiculty,  being  scarcely  able  to  ride 
two  abreast.  St.  Ruth  still  believed 
that  pass  impregnable,  as  indeed  it 
would  have  been  but  for  the  mischances 
which  we  have  yet  to  mention  ;  and  he 


*  Such  is  the  version,  given  in  Light  to  the  Blind,  and 
it  is  more  probable  than  that  of  Mageoghegan,  who 
Eays  the  garrison  of  tlie  old  castle  were  supplied  by  mis- 
take with  cannon  instead  of  musket  balls. 


is  reported  to  have  exclaimed,  when  he 
saw  the  enemy's  cavalry  scrambling 
over  it,  "  They  are  bivave  fellows,  'tis  a 
pity  they  should  be  so  exposed."  They 
were  not,  however,  so  exposed  to  de- 
struction as  he  then  imagined.  Artil- 
lery had  come  to  their  aid,  and  as  the 
men  crossed  they  began  to  form  into 
squadrons  on  the  firm  ground  near  the 
old  castle.  What  were  the  garrison  of 
the  castle  doing  at  this  time  ?  and  what 
the  reserve  of  cavalry  beyond  the  castle 
to  the  extreme  left  ?  As  to  the  former, 
an  unluck)^  circumstance  rendered  their 
eflforts  nugatory.  It  was  found,  on  ex- 
amining the  ammunition  with  which 
they  had  been  supplied,  that  while  the 
men  M^ere  armed  with  Fi-ench  firelocks 
the  balls  that  had  been  served  to  them 
were  cast  for  English  muskets,  of  which 
the  calibre  was  lai-ger,  and  that  they 
were  consequently  useless.*  In  this 
emergency  the  men  cut  the  small  glob- 
ular buttons  from  their  jackets  and 
used  them  for  bullets,  but  their  fire  was 
ineftective,  however  briskly  it  was  sus- 
tained, and  few  of  the  enemy's  horse 
crossing  the  causeway  were  hit.  This 
was  but  one  of  the  mischances  connect- 
ed with  the  unhappy  left  of  St.  Ruth's 
position.  We  have  seen  how  an  Irish 
officer,  when  ordered  with  reserves  to 
the  right  wing,  removed  a  battalion 
from  the  left  centre.f  This  error  was 
immediately  folio Aved  by  the  crossing 


■]• "  Through  this  mistake — which,  from  the  connec- 
tion of  cavalry  as  well  as  infantry  with  the  movement," 
says  Mr.  O'Callaghan,  "  I  suppose  to  have  been  made 
between  Brigadier  Henry  Luttrell,  who  was  a  Colonel 


DEATH  OF  ST.  RUTH. 


611 


of  the  morass  at  that  weakened  point 
by  three  Williamite  regiments,  who 
eiuployed  hurdles  to  facilitate  their 
passage,  and  who,  meeting  with  a  com- 
paratively feeble  resistance  at  the  front 
line  of  fences,  succeeded  in  making  a 
lodgment  in  a  cornfield  on  the  Irish 
side.  Nearly  contemporary  with  this 
success  of  the  enemy  was  the  passage 
of  the  •  morass  by  Ki^ke's  and  Hamil- 
ton's regiments  of  foot,  which  were 
enabled  to  drive  in  the  Irish  outposts 
at  the  old  castle,  and  to  place  obstruc- 
tions in  the  way  of  the  reserved  Irish 
cavalry,  whose  charge  from  behind  the 
castle  on  the  extreme  left  was  thus 
foiled ;  and  these  movements  of  infan- 
try, it  should  be  observed,  preceded  the 
passage  of  the  causeway  by  the  English 
cavalry. 

It  was  still  easy  to  remedy  the  mis- 
haps which  thus  threatened  to  mar  the 
success  of  the  Irish,  and  St.  Kuth,  for 
that  purpose,  left  his  position  in  front 
of  the  camp,  near  the  top  of  Kilcom- 
madan  hill,  and  placing  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  brigade  of  ♦horse,  hastened 
down  the  slope.  He  paused  at  one  of 
his  batteries  to  order  a  gunner  to  di- 
rect his  fire  to  a  particular  point,  and 
then  resuming  his  place  with  the  caval- 
ry, rode  towards  the  hostile  squadrons 


of  horse,  and  some  sutordinate  infantry  officer  in  this 
transfer  of  troops,  and  to  be  the  foundation  of  the 
national  tradition  about  the  '  treachery  of  the  general 
of  the  Irish  horse,  that  enabled  the  English  to  cross  the 
bog ' — three  battalions  of  the  enemy  were  enabled  to  slip 
over  the  skirt  of  the  morass  and  the  rivulet,  into  a  corn- 
field on  the  Irish  side,  and  establish  themselves  there  until 
they  could  be  assisted." — Green  Book,  p.  211,  second  ed. 


which  were  forming  near  Aughrim ; 
observing,  says  King  James,  to  those 
about  him :  "  They  are  beaten  ;  let  us 
beat  them  to  the  purpose."  But  the 
w^ords  were  scarcely  spoken  when  he 
was  hit  by  a  cannon-ball,  which  carried 
off  his  head — and  all  was  lost !  Yet 
why  should  all  be  lost,  if  victory  just 
before  had  been  so  certain  ?  It  appears 
to  be  the  destiny  of  Ireland  that  her 
leaders  cannot  agree ;  and  on  this  fatal 
occasion  it  hajipened  that  a  coolness 
existed  between  Sarsfielcl,  the  second  in 
command,  and  St.  Ruth.  Their  dis- 
agreement dated  from  the  surprise  of 
Athlone ;  and  owing  to  it,  the  only  man 
who  could  have  supplied  the  place  of 
the  French  general  was  left  with  some 
of  the  choicest  cavalry  as  a  reserve  in 
the  rear  of  the  camp,  with  positive  in- 
structions not  to  move  until  he  received 
further  orders.  Sarsfield  conceived 
that  under  the  circumstances  he  was 
bound  to  the  strictest  obedience,  and 
St.  Ruth,  on  the  other  hand,  communica- 
ted his  plan  of  battle  to  no  one ;  so  that 
when  he  fell  there  was  no  one  left  who 
understood  the  disposition  of  the  forces, 
and  no  one  to  issue  any  orders.  One 
of  his  attendants  threw  a  cloak  over 
the  body,  Avhich  was  then  removed  to 
the  rear  of  the  camp ;  *  but  it  was  im- 


*  What  finally  became  of  the  body  of  St.  Euth  has 
been  a  matter  of  doubt.  English  writers  say  that  it 
was  cast  into  a  neighboring  bog,  or  left  stripped  on 
the  field  with  the  nameless  dead;  but  the  author  of 
Light  to  the  Blind  informs  us  that  it  was  removed  by 
the  attendants  to  Loughrea,  and  there  privately  buried. 
A  bush  marks  the  spot  where  tradition  says  he  fell,  and 
at  some  distance  in  the  field  is  a  place  traditionally 


61i 


REIGN    OF  JAMES   II. 


possible  to  conceal  his  death  long.  The 
cavalry  who  saw  him  fall  halted,  and 
soon  left  the  field.  The  Irish  horse  to 
the  rear  of  Aughrim  Castle  were  the 
next  to  relinquish  their  ground.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  resist  the  Wil- 
liamite  cavalry  in  crossing  the  narrow 
causeway.  Their  numbers  were  in- 
creased and  their  infimtry  strengthen- 
ed. The  disorder  in  the  Irish  lines  was 
observed  from  the  hostile  camp,  and  a 
general  attack  on  all  points  was  com- 
manded. Still,  the  Irish  centre  and 
right  wing  maintained  their  ground 
obstinately,  and  the  fight  was  renewed 
with  as  much  vigor  as  ever.  The  Irish 
iufantiy  were  so  hotly  engaged  that 
they  were  not  aware  either  of  the  death 
of  St.  Ruth,  or  of  the  flight  of  the  cav- 
alry, until  they  themselves  were  almost 
suri-ounded.  At  the  same  time  Dr. 
Alexius  Stafibrd,  the  chaplain  of  King 
James's  Irish  foot-guards,  was  killed  ; 
and  the  death  of  this  pious  and  heroic 
priest  had  as  disheartening  an  effect  on 
the  infantry  as  that  of  the  general  had 
on  the  horse.*     A  panic  and  confused 

called  St.  Euth's  Flag.  The  shot  by  which  he  was 
filled  was  fired  from  one  of  the  guns  sent  to  aid  the 
English  cavalry  in  crossing  the  causeway  at  Aughrim  ; 
and  tradition  tells  us  that  it  was  aimed  by  the  advice  of 
an  Irishman  who  knew  the  personal  appearance  of  St. 
Euth,  and  who  desired  to  be  revenged  for  the  loss  of  a 
few  sheep  taken  by  the  Irish  soldiers. 

*This  distinguished  clergyman  was  dean  of  Christ 
Church,  master  in  chancery,  member  of  parliament, 
and  preacher  to  the  king's  inns.  Mr.  Duhigg,  the  his- 
torian of  the  king's  inns,  says:  "  Ilis  voluntary  servi- 
ces and  heroic  death  exact  even  from  a  firm  opponent 
of  his  political  and  religious  creed  a  ready  belief  of 
Stafford's  personal  virtue  and  humanity  ;"  and  the  same 
Protestant  writer,  referring  to  Dr.  Stafford's  conduct  at 
Aughrim,  observes  :  "  There  the  genius  of  his  coimtry 


flight  were  the  result.  The  cavalry  of 
the  right  wing,  who  were  the  first  in 
action  that  day,  were  the  last  to  quit 
their  ground.  Sarsfield,  with  the  re- 
serve horse  of  the  centre,  had  to  retire 
with  the  rest  without  striking  one 
blow,  "  although,"  says  the  Williamite 
Captain  Parker,  "he  had  the  greatest 
and  best  part  of  their  -cavalry  with 
him."  St.  Ruth  fell  about  sunset,f  and 
about  nine,  after  three  hours'  hard  fight- 
ing, the  last  of  the  Irish  army  had  left 
the  field.  The  cavalry  retreated  along 
the  high  road  to  Loughrea :  the  infan- 
try, who  mostly  flung  away  their  arms, 
fled  to  a  large  red  bog  on  their  left, 
where  great  numbers  of  them  were 
massacred  unarmed  and  in  cold  blood  ; 
but  a  thick  misty  rain  coming  on,  and 
the  night  setting  in,  the  pursuit  was 
soon  relinquished.  After  the  battle 
the  castle  of  Aughrim  was  taken,  and 
the  greater  part  of  its  brave  garrison 
put  to  the  sword ;  Colonel  Walter 
Burke,  with  twelve  of  his  officers  and 
forty  of  his  soldiers,  only  being  made 
prisoners. 

triumphed  over  professional  habits ;  a  jjeaceful  preacher 
became  a  warlike  chief ;  the  awful  ceremonies  of  relig- 
ion were  dispensed  to  a  submissive  flock,  and  their 
courage  strengthened  by  an  animating  harangue. 
Then,  with  the  crucifix  in  hand,  Stafford  passed  through 
the  line  of  battle,  and  pressed  into  the  foremost  ranks, 
loudly  calling  on  his  fellow-soldiers  to  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  religion  and  property  by  steadiness  and  atten- 
tion to  discipline  on  that  critical  day.  Success  crowned 
his  manly  efforts  until  death  interrupted  his  glorious 
career  ;  then,  indeed,  the  infantry  was  panic  struck." — 
History  of  the  King's  Inns,  pp.  233,  238,  239. 

fThe  12th  of  July,  old  style,  on  which  the  battle  was 
fought,  corresponded  with  the  22d  of  July,  new  style, 
on  which  day  sunset  at  Aughrim  would  be  about  ten 
minutes  past  eight. 


THE  LOSSES  AT  AUGIIRIM. 


CAS 


Of  the  loss  on  botli  sides  in  this  san- 
guinary battle  the  accounts  are,  of 
course,  conflicting.  The  English  official 
returns  make  that  on  the  Williamite 
side,  73  officers  and  600  soldiers  killed, 
and  111  officers  and  906  soldiers  wound- 
ed ;  or  the  total  of  killed  and  wounded, 
1,690.  But  there  is  good  reason  to 
think  that  these  numbers  are  too  low ; 
while  we  may  set  down  as  gross  exag- 
gerations the  English  and  Anglo-Irish 
statements,  which  represent  the  number 
of  Irish  killed  as  7,000  or  8,000.  The 
slaughter  of  the  Irish  was,  no  doubt, 
very  great,  as  in  general  no  quarter  was 
given  by  the  victors,  and  as  the  wound- 
ed would  appear  to  have  been  either 
massacred  or  left  to  perish  on  the  field  ; 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  Capt.iin  Parker,  who  fought  in 
the  Williamite  ranks  at  Aughrim,  agrees  very  nearly 
■with  King  James's  estimate,  for,  in  his  memoirs,  he  says, 
the  loss  of  the  Irish  was  near  4,000  killed  ;  and  adds, 
"  We  had  above  3,000  killed  and  wounded."  Other 
accotmts,  also  from  Williamite  sources,  would  confirm 
Captain  Parker's  estimate  of  the  Irish  loss.  Story,  how- 
ever, who  makes  that  loss  at  least  7,000,  says:  "There 
could  not  be  many  fewer  ;  for  looking  among  the  dead 
three  days  after,  when  all  our  own  and  some  of  theirs 
were  buried,  I  reckoned  in  some  small  inclosurcs,  150  ; 
in  others,  120,  &c.,  lying  most  of  them  in  the  ditches 
where  they  were  shot ;"  and  describing  the  appearance 
of  so  many  stripped  bodies  of  the  dead,  he  adds  :  "  The 
rest  from  the  top  of  the  hiU,  where  their  camp  had  been, 
looked  like  a  great  flock  of  sheep,  scattered  up  and  down 
the  country,  for  about  four  miles  round."  "  The  Eng- 
lish," says  Dalrym  pie,  "disgraced  aU  the  glories  of  the 
day,  by  giving  no  quarter ;"  and  Dr.  Leslie,  who  wrote 
a  year  after  the  battle,  mentions  how  "  above  2,000  of 
the  Irish,  who  threw  dovm  their  arms  and  asked  quar- 
ter, were  killed  in  cold  blood,  after  the  English  were 
absolutely  masters  of  the  field ;"  and  how  "  several  who 
had  quarter  given  them,  were  after  killed  in  cold  blood, 
in  which  number  were  the  Lord  Galway  and  Colonel 
Charles  Moore."  It  was  indeed  well  known  that  Lord 
Galway,  who  was  a  son  of  the  earl  of  Clanrickard,  and 
then  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  was  murdered  by  I 
some  of  the  Huguenots  after  the  battle  was  over ;  while,  ] 


but  we  believe  that  the  estimate  in 
King  James's  Memoirs,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  the  official  authority  on  the 
Irish  side,  and  according  to  which  "  the 
Irish  lost  nearly  4,000,  nor  was  that  of 
the  English  much  inferior,"  is  not  far 
from  the  truth.*  The  Irish  prisoners 
taken  were  only  526  of  all  ranks:  and 
all  the  Irish  tents,  baggage,  and  artil- 
lery ;  a  vast  quantity  of  the  small-arms ; 
32  pair  of  colors,  and  11  standards,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  The 
bodies  of  the  Irish  were,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, left  unburied,  and  became  a 
prey  to  the  dogs  and  to  the  fowls  of 
the  air ;  and  for  many  years  after,  their 
bones  were  to  be  seen  bleaching  in  the 
winter's  wind.f 

as  an  excuse  for  all  this  brutal  ferocity,  we  are  told, 
forsooth,  that  the  Irish  had  orders  to  give  no  quarter  if 
they  were  victorious, .  and  that  Colonel  Herbert  was 
killed  by  the  Irish  while  a  prisoner.  Of  the  former 
statement  we  may  assert,  that  it  is  a  groundless  fabri- 
cation ;  and  of  the  latter,  that  Colonel  Herbert,  who 
was  made  prisoner  along  with  Colonel  Erie,  was  prob- 
ably slain  to  prevent  his  being  rescued,  as  that  officer 
had  been.  Besides  St.  Ruth  and  dean  Alexius  Stafford, 
we  find  amongthe  kUled  on  the  Irish  side.  Lord  Galway 
(Burke),  Lord  Kilmallock  (a  Sarsfield) ;  Brigadiers  Wil- 
liam Mansfield  Barker,  H.  M.  G.  O'Neill,  and  O'Connell ; 
Colonels  Charles  Moore,  James  Talbot,  Arthur  O'Ma- 
hony,  Walter  Nugent,  Felix  O'Neil,  Ulick  Burke,  and 
Constantine  Maguire ;  Lieutenant-colonel  Morgan  ;  Ma- 
jors PurceU,  O'Donuell,  and  David  Burke,  Sir  John 
Everard,  &c.  Among  the  prisoners  were  Lords  Diileek, 
(Bellow),  Slane  (Flemming),  Boffin  (Burke),  and  Ken- 
mare  (Brown) ;  Major-generals  Dorringtou  and  John 
Hamilton ;  Brigadier  Tuite ;  Colonels  Walter  Burke, 
Gordon  O'Neill  (son  of  Sir  Phelim),  Butler  of  KUcash, 
O'Connell,  O'Madden,  &c. 

f  "  Their  bones,"  says  O'Halloran,  writing  some  fifty 
years  after,  "  yet  lie  scattered  over  the  plains  of  Augh- 
rim ;  but  let  that  justice  be  done  to  their  memories 
which  a  brave  and  generous  enemy  never  refuses." 
{Introduct.,  &e.,  ^d  Append.,  vol.  i.,  p.  533,  ed.  1819.) 
"  It  must,  in  justice,"  says  Harris,  "  be  confessed  that 
the  Irish  fought  this  sharp  battle  with  great  resolution. 


6U 


REIGiSr   OF   JAMES  II. 


Some  of  the  Irish  soldiers  repaired  to 
Galway,  but  the  greater  number,  in- 
chuling  all  the  cavalry,  proceeded  to 
Limerick.  On  Sunday,  July  19th,  a 
week  after  the  action  at  Aughrim, 
Ginkell  appeared  before  Galway,  which 
had  a  garrison  of  about  2,300  men, 
with  d'Usson,  who  had  gone  there  after 
the  loss  of  Athlone,  as  governor.  The 
old  fort,  on  a  rising  ground  near  the 
town,  which  in  Cromwell's  time  had 
given  so  much  trouble  to  the  towns- 
people, being  now  in  a  ruinous  state, 
was  not  occupied  by  the  garrison,  and 
the  enemy  were  thus  able  to  approach 
in  safety  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the 
town  wall. 

Here  it  is  necessary  to  introduce  to 
the  reader  a  remarkable  man,  whom 
we  have  not  yet  mentioned,  as  his  name 
was  not  especially  connected  with  any 
of  the  events  we  have  been  relating, 
altliouofh  he  had  for  some  time  before 


Tvhich  demonstrates  that  tlie  many  defeats  before  this 
time  sustained  by  them  cannot  be  imputed  to  a  nation- 
al cowardice,  but  to  a  defect  in  military  discipline  and 
use  of  arms,  or  to  want  of  sliill  and  experience  in  their 
commanders.  And  now,  had  not  St.  Rutli  been  taken  off, 
it  would  have  been  hard  to  say  what  the  consequences 
of  this  day  would  have  been"  (Life  of  William  III., 
p.  327.)  On  which  passage  Mr.  O'Callaghan  remarks, 
that  "  a  no  less  important  cause  than  any  above  speci- 
fied by  Harris  contributed  to  the  reverses  of  the  Irish, 
viz.,  their  great  inferiority  in  pay,  appointments,  small- 
arms,  artillery,  and  effective  numbers,  to  the  English, 
Scotch,  Anglo-Irish,  Dutch,  Danish,  German,  Huguenot, 
&:c.,  troops  of  the  line  opposed  to  them,  as  well  as  the 
very  effective  local  Williamite  militia,  or  yeomanry, 
in  which  Harris's  own  father,  Hopton  Harris,  served." 
(Macari^K  Excid.,  note  242,  p.  4G0.)  To  the  second  edi- 
tion of  Jlr.  O'Callaghan 's  Oran  Book  wo  may  refer  the 
reader  for  the  most  ample,  minute,  and  accurate  details 
of  tlie  affair  of  Aughrim  ;  but  no  account  of  the  disas- 
trous battle — or,  as  the  peasantry  of  the  West  of  Ire- 


this  occupied  a  prominent  place  among 
the  Irish  leaders.  This  was  Balldearg 
O'Donnell,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
ancient  chiefs  of  Tirconuell,  and  who 
had  come  to  Ireland  from  Spain,  short- 
ly after  the  battle  of  the  Boyne ;  per- 
suaded himself,  or  in  order  to  persuade 
others,  that  he  was  the  O'Donnell  with 
a  "  red  mark  "  (balldearg),  who,  accord- 
ing to  an  ancient  prophecy,  was  to  lead 
the  Irish  to  victory  against  their  op- 
pressors. It  is  a  ■  peculiar  feature  in 
Irish  history,  that  such  "prophecies" 
were  always  apt  to  gain  credit  with  the 
people  ;  but  it  must  be  added,  that  the 
English  in  Ireland  showed  equal  credu- 
lity on  the  subject,  whenever  the  vati- 
cinations promised  success  to  themselves, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Sir  John 
de  Courc}^  and  as  was  instanced  in 
much  more  recent  times  in  projihecies 
relatinir  to  the  battles  of  Kinsale  and 
Knocknaclashy.     Accordingly,  the  ad- 


land  call  It,  the  "breach  {briseadh)  of  Aughrim" — 
would  be  complete  with  the  omission  of  the  affecting 
incident  thus  related  by  Story :  "  There  is,"  observes 
the  Williamite  historian,  "  a  true  and  remarkable  story 
of  a  grey-hound  {rede,  an  Irisli  wolf-dog),  belonging  to 
an  Irish  officer.  The  gentleman  was  kiUed  and  stripped 
in  the  battle,  whose  body  the  dog  remained  by  night 
and  day ;  and  though  he  fed  upon  other  corpses  with 
the  rest  of  the  dogs,  yet  he  would  not  aUow  them,  or 
any  thing  else,  to  touch  that  of  his  master.  When  all 
the  corpses  were  consumed,  the  other  dogs  departed ;  but 
this  used  to  go  in  the  night  to  the  adjacent  villages  for 
food,  and  presently  to  return  again  to  the  place  where 
his  master's  bones  were  only  then  left ;  and  thus  he 
continued  till  January  following,  when  one  of  Colonel 
Foulke's  soldiers  being  quartered  nigh  hand,  and  going 
that  way  by  chance,  the  dog,  fearing  he  came  to  disturb 
his  master's  bones,  flow  upon  the  soldier,  who  being 
surprised  at  the  suddenness  of  the  thing,  unslung  his 
piece,  then  upon  his  back,  and  killed  the  poor  dog." 
{Continuation  of  Hist.,  cCc,  p.  147.) 


BALDEARG   O'DONNELL. 


615 


vent  of  Balldeai'g  O'Donnell  excited 
great  enthusiasm  among  the  humbler 
classes  ;  men  flocked  in  thousands  to  his 
standard ;  lie  set  up  as  a  sort  of  inde- 
pendent commander,  and  soon  had  en- 
rolled under  him  an  irregular  force  of 
eight  regiments,  which  he  supported  by 
levying  oppressive  contributions  wher- 
ever he  w^ent.  The  duke  of  Tirconnell, 
who  entertained  a  strong  dislike  for 
him,  deprived  him  of  three  regiments 
of  his  best  men,  under  the  pretence  of 
incorporating  them  with  the  regular 
army,  and  made  no  provision  for  the 
support  of  Balldearg's  remaining  bat- 
talions. The  popularity  of  the  adven- 
turer diminished  when  it  was  seen  how 
little  he  was  likely  to  acliieve ;  and 
during  the  battle  of  Aughrim  he  was 
in  the  vicinity  of  Tuam,  with  about  a 
thousand  men,  which  number  soon  after 
dwindled  down  to  six  hundred.  With 
these,  after  burning  and  pillaging  Tuam, 
he  marched  to  Cong,  in  the  county  of 
Mayo. 

The  inhabitan-ts  of  Galway  placed 
their  chief  i-eliance  on  the  promised  aid 
of  Balldearg,  whose  arrival  was  expect- 
ed by  the  way  of  lar-Connanght ;  but 
when  General  Mackay,  with  a  large  di- 
vision of  the  besiegers,  crossed  the 
river  some  distance  above  the  town,  on 
the  20th,  and  the  place  was  thus  invest- 
ed at  both  sides,  all  hope  of  succor 
from    Balldearg    being    abandoned,    a 


*  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  ■  his  pedigree  of  the  O'Donnells 

{Appendix  to  the  Four  Masters,  vol.  vi.,  p.  3330),  states 
that  Manus,  son  of  Caffar  Oge,  son  of  Caffar,  the  brother 
of  Rory  O'Donnell,  first  earl  of  TirconneU  and  of  the 


parley  to  settle  the  terms  of  a  capitula- 
tion was  called  for  the  same  day.  Gin- 
kell  being  desirous  to  hasten  the  co-n- 
clusion  of  the  war,  agreed  to  favorable 
conditions,  and  the  capitulation  having 
been  signed  on  the  21st,  the  Irish  gar- 
rison evacuated  the  town  on  the  26th, 
and  marched  to  Limerick,  taking  with 
them  six  pieces  of  cannon,  which  the 
English  lent  them  horses  to  draw. 
Balldearg  O'Donnell  now  entered  into 
negotiations  with  Ginkell  on  his  own 
account,  through  the  medium  of  a 
friend  named  Richards.  He  asked  to 
be  allowed  to  enter  the  service  of  "Wil- 
liam, and  was  actually  receiving  pay 
from  Ginkell,  when  he  pretended  to 
aid  the  Irish  garrison  of  Sligo,  then  be- 
sieged by  Col.  Michelburne.  Sir  Teige 
O'Regau,  who  so  braveljl  defended 
Charlemont  against  Schomberg,  was 
governor  of  Sligo,  and  having  capitula- 
ted on  the  14th  of  September,  marched 
with  his  garrison  of  600  men  to  Limer- 
ick ;  and  Balldearg  entered  into  Wil- 
liam's service  in  Flanders,  with  all  those 
of  his  men  whom  he  could  induce  to 
follow  him,  and  received  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  a  pension  of  £500  a 
year;  a  similar  amount  being  also  gi-ant- 
ed  by  the  Williamite  government  to 
Colonel  Henry  Luttrell,  who  by  less 
open  means  earned  a  traitor's  wages.* 

The  duke  of  Tirconnell  sent  a  mes- 
senger to    James    after   the    battle    of 


famous  Hugh  Roe,  was  styled  earl  of  Tirconnell,  on  the 
continent,  and  "  was  indubitably  the  very  man  called 
Balldearg  O'Donnell,  who  came  from  Spain  to  com- 
mand the  Irish  in  the  war  of  James  II.  ;"  and  in  a  note 


GIG 


REIGN    OF   JAMES   II. 


Aiiglirim  to  annoimcetliat  all  was  lost, 
and  that  unless  immediate  succor  arrived, 
there  was  no  resource  for  the  king's 
adherents  in  Ireland  but  to  make  the 
best  terms  they  could  and  submit.     At 

lie  adds :  "  He  disclaimed  the  king's  authority,  and 
made  demonstrations  of  maintaining  the  cause  of  the 
native  Irish  as  distinct  froni  King  James's  ;  and  restor- 
ing them  to  the  dominion  of  their  native  country  ;  hut 
being  thwarted  in  e\'ery  way  by  Tirconnell  (Talbot),  he 
turned  over  the  standard  of  King  William  III.,  and 
retired  to  Flanders,  where  he  was  consigned  to  poverty 
and  oblivion  ;  but  of  his  ultimate  fate,  nothing  has  yet 
been  discovered."  Colonel  Charles  O'Kelly,  the  author 
of  the  Mdcarice-  Eicidium,  attempts  to  defend  the  con- 
duct of  Balldearg,  with  whom  he  was  intimately 
acquainted.  Mr.  O'Callaghan,  in  his  notes  and  illustra- 
tions to  the  Macmim  Excidmm  (p.  4G9),  quotes  ofiScial 
MSS.  for  the  pensions  of  £500  each,  granted,  as  above 
stated,  to  O'Donnell  and  Henry  Luttrell. 

Since  the  preceding  pages  went  to  press,  documents  of 
an  authentic  and  most  imi)Ortaut  character,  placing  the 
conduct  of  this  much-maligned  Irish  warrior  in  an  entire- 
ly new  light,  have  come  into  the  possession  of  the  learned 
editor  of  the  Foar  Masters,  through  whose  extreme  kind- 
ness the  author  is  enabled,  before  this  volume  passes  from 
his  hands,  to  make  the  amende  to  the  memory  of  a 
brave  and  patriotic  chief  The  historical  facts  men- 
tioned in  the  text  about  O'Donnell  are  mainly  correct  ; 
the  calumnies  against  him  related  chiefly  to  his 
motives  ;  and  the  obscurity  in  W'hich  his  history  has 
been  hitherto  involved  has  been,  in  a  great  measure, 
caused  by  those  very  calumnies,  which  were  sufiBcient  to 
induce  even  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Hardiinan,  the  historian 
of  Galway,  to  think  it  not  worth  while  to  follow  up  his 
inquiries  about  him.  The  person  popularly  known  as 
Balldearg  O'Donnell  was  not  Manus  (as  stated  in  the 
note,  p.  615,  on  the  authority  of  the  Appendix  to  the 
Four  Masters,  p.  2380),  but  Hugh,  son  of  John,  son  of 
Hugh  Boy,  son  of  Calvaugh  (whose  pedigree  is  correctly 
given  by  Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  p.  2398  of  the  aforesaid 
Appendix,  and  has  also  been  ascertained  by  Professor 
Curry  from  independent  sources).  He  was  bom  in 
Donegal,  and  his  boyhood  was  spent  in  Ireland.  Re- 
pairing to  Spain,  where  so  many  of  his  family  had 
risen  to  distinction,  he  entered  the  army  there,  and 
rose  to  the  rank  of  brigadier,  but  he  never  abandoned 
his  allegiance  to  the  House  of  Stuart ;  and  on  the  acces- 
sion of  James  II.,  he  waited  on  the  EngUsh  ambassador 
in  Flanders,  to  offer  his  services,  should  they  be  required 
by  that  monarch.  When  the  Irish  took  up  arms  in 
defence  of  James,  and  of  their  own  national  and  relig- 
ious rights,  Spain  being  then  at  war  with  Louis  XI'V., 


the  same  time  he  made  Avliat  prepara- 
tions he  could  to  put  Limerick  in  a 
postui'e  of  defence.  He  caused  some 
additions  to  be  made  to  the  outworks, 
established  a   military  station  outside 

the  ally  of  James,  O'Donnell  could  not  obtain  permis- 
sion to  leave  the  Spanish  service  for  that  of  an  enemy's 
ally  ;  and,  forfeiting  his  high  position  in  his  adopted 
country,  he  hired  a  small  vessel  to  convey  him  to  Cork, 
whence  he  went  to  Kinsale,  and  saw  James  in  his  flight 
to  France  after  the  Boyne.  Subsequently,  he  obtained 
a  commission  to  raise  what  men  he  could  in  James's 
service,  and  soon  succeeded  in  enrolling  10,000  men, 
who  were  embodied  into  thirteen  regiments  of  foot  and 
two  of  horse  ;  but  from  the  first  he  was  thwarted  by 
Richard  Talbot,  who  li.id  obtained  from  James  the  title  of 
earl  of  Tirconnell — the  hereditary  title  of  O'Donnell,  and 
that  by  which  he  was  acknowledged  in  Spain — and 
this  was  the  true  cause  of  all  O'Donnell's  misfortunes 
in  Ireland.  He  was  sent,  after  the  first  siege  of  Limer- 
ick, to  the  upper  Shannon  to  defend  the  passes  into 
Connaught,  and  to  protect  the  keeriaghts — that  is,  those 
Irish  who,  having  lost  all  besides,  retained  their  cattle, 
with  which  they  moved  about  in  tho-old  nomadic  style. 
After  the  surprise  of  Athlone,  O'Donnell  could  be  no 
longer  useful  on  the  Shannon,  and  retired  more  westerly, 
but  still  had  the  keeriaghts  under  his  protection.  Tir- 
connell deprived  him  of  his  best  armed  men,  and  failed 
in  his  promises  to  obtain  supplies  of  arms  or  clothing 
for  the  remainder  ;  as  to  pay,  it  was  out  of  the  question  ; 
and  O'Donnell  was  not  raistd  l--eyond  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier, although  promised  a  higher  grade.  After  Augh- 
rim,  where  O'Donnell's  other  duties  did  not  allow  him 
to  be  present,  the  authorities  in  Galway  declined  his 
oft'er  to  garrison  that  town,  but  called  on  him  to  do  so 
\  when  it  was  too  late,  and  when  the  enemy  was  before 
their  vv-alls.  O'Donnell,  with  a  sutall  party,  proceeded 
from  Cong  across  the  lake,  and  advanced  to  the  hills 
close  to  Galway  on  the  west,  but  found  the  place 
invested  on  both  sides,  so  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  enter  the  town.  The  war  was  then  virtually 
over ;  and  a  few  days  later,  O'Donnell  received  a  letter 
from  Ginkell,  who  regarded  him  as  a  Spanish  officer, 
and  therefore  ofl'ered  him  most  favorable  terms.  These 
terms,  however,  O'Donnell  did  not  then  accept,  but  he 
stipulated  for  the  safety  of  the  poor  people,  who  had 
been  committed  to  his  protection.  When  the  last 
struggle  was  over  in  Limerick,  O'Donnell  could  not 
join  the  ranks  of  his  countrymen  going  to  France — a 
country  then  at  war  with  Spain,  to  which  he  was 
bound  by  every  tie  of  fealty  and  gratitude.  He  accept- 
ed a  commission  under  William  HI.,  to  command  two 
regiments  of  his  followers  who  still  adhered  to  him,  but 


DEATH  OF  TIRCONNELL. 


617 


tlie  walls,  collected  stores  of  provisions, 
and  exacted  a  promise  from  the  leading 
men  not  to  entertain  any  project  of 
submission  before  tliey  received  an 
answer  to  the  message  v^rhicli  had  been 
dispatched  to  France  ;  but  on  St.  LaAv- 
rence's-day,  the  10th  of  August,  he  was 
seized  by  a  fit  of  apoplexy,  at  the  house 
of  M.  d'Usson,  and  expired  on  the  14th, 
the  same  day  that  Ginkell  had  begun 
to  move  his  army  towards  Limerick 
from  his  camp  at  Cahirconlish.  Tir- 
connell  could  have  rendered  little  fur- 
ther assistance  personally,  but  his  loss  at 
that  moment  produced  a  void  which 
was  painfully  felt.  It  was  rumored 
that  his  death  was  caused  by  a  poison- 
ed cup  of  ratafia,  but  that  it  was  the 
result  of  natural  disease  is  much  more 
probable.  His  remains  were  inteiTed 
the  following  night  in  St.  Mary's  cathe- 
dral, but  no  inscription  or  other  mark 
indicates  the  place.  That  he  was  a 
faithful  and  zealous  supporter  of  King 
James  cannot  be  denied ;  and  William- 
ite  writers  admit  that  he  disjjlayed 
"  dexterity  and  zeal"  in  the  cause  which 
he  had  espoused.     The  duke  of  Berwick 


it  was  that  he  might  serve  in  Flanders,  which  was  then 
Spanish  ground ;  and  when  he  found  that  he  would  be 
sent  into  Hungary  to  fight  under  the  emperor,  he 
proceeded  to  Piedmont,  and  thence  to  Spain,  where  he 
was  honorably  received,  and  raised  to  the  rank  of 
major-general.  Wholly  destitute  of  fortune,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  he  should  accept  pay  from  William, 
which  was  in  lieu  of  that  to  which  he  was  entitled  as 
a  general  officer  in  the  Spanish  army.  In  fact,  there 
was  no  act  of  Balldearg  O'Donnell's  which  was  not 
worthy  of  a  brave,  honorable,  and  disinterested  man, 
and  a  true  Irishman,  and  all  the  calumnies  against  him 
may  be  attributed  to  the  jealousy  of  Richard  Talbot 
and  the  hostility  of  the  Anglo-Irish  interest.    The  im- 


assures  us  that  "  he  was  a  man  of  much 
worth,  although  not  of  a  military 
genius ;  that  his  firmness  preserved  Ire- 
land after  the  invasion  of  the  prince  of 
Orange ;  and  that  he  nobly  rejected 
every  offer  that  had  been  made  to  him 
to  submit."  *  By  the  authority  of  a 
provisional  appointment  made  by  King 
James,  Alexander  Fitton  (the  Jacobite 
lord  chancellor),  Francis  Plowden  (com- 
missioner of  the  revenue),  and  Sir  Rich- 
ard Nagle  (James's  secretary  of  state  and 
attorney-general),  assumed  the  office  of 
lords  justices,  but  their  duties  were  only 
nominal,  as  the  management  of  the 
army,  which  then  comprised  every 
thing,  was  committed  to  the  charge  of 
M.  d'Usson. 

At  this  time,  Ginkell  carried  on  pri- 
vate negotiations  with  Colonel  Henry 
Luttrell  within  the  city,  and  through 
the  means  of  the  factions  which  were 
fomented  there,  hoped  to  obtain  a  sur- 
render without  a  formal  siege.f  He 
dreaded  the  eflects  of  a  protracted  de- 
fence at  that  season,  when  the  autum- 
nal rains  were  so  soon  to  be  expected, 
and  was  prepared  to  grant  any  condi- 


pression  left  by  these  so  prejudiced  the  public  mind 
against  him,  that  the  statements  of  his  friend.  Colonel 
O'Kelly,  in  the  MacaricB  Excidium,  in  his  favor,  have 
hitherto  been  treated  as  valueless.  His  aobriguet  of 
Balldearg  (of  the  red-mark)  was  so  popular,  that  he  was 
never  called  in  contemporary  vmtings  by  his  real  name 
of  Hugh. 

*  Memoires  du  marecTud  de  BerwicTc,  tome  i.,  103. 

f  The  perfidy  of  Henry  LuttreU  was  discovered  on 
this  occasion  by  Sarsfield,  and  he  was  tried  by  court- 
martial  and  found  guilty  ;  but  through  the  influence  of 
his  numerous  friends,  he  was  only  committed  to  the 
castle  of  Limerick  until  the  decision  of  King  James 
could  be  known,  aod  was  of  course  liberated  at  the 


618 


REIGN   OF   JAMES   II. 


tions  that,  under  the  circumstances, 
might  be  demanded.  Still,  he  neglect- 
ed no  means  to  render  his  attack  suc- 
cessful. His  army  was  strengthened 
by  large  re-enforcements  of  Protestant 
militia,  who  were  stationed  at  Killaloe 
and  other  distant  outposts  :  an  English 
fleet  under  Captain  Cole  ascended  the 
Shannon,  and  a  most  formidable  train 
of  battering  artillery  was  provided. 
Ginkell's  army  took  up  nearly  the  same 
ground  which  William  occupied  the 
year  before.  The  besieged,  who,  says 
King  James,  had  at  that  time  thirty- 
five  battalions  tolerably  armed,  relin- 
quished their  outposts  on  the  Limerick 
side,  and  quartered  their  cavalry  on  the 
Clare  side,  towards  which  the  city  was 
still  open  ;  and  on  the  25th  of  August 
the  besiegers  were  i-egularly  posted, 
having  received  all  their  heavy  guns 
and  800  barrels  of  powder  two  days 
before.  Sixty  cannon,  none  of  them 
less  than  twelve-pounders,  say  the  "Wil- 
liamite  authorities,  and  no  fewer  than 
nineteen  mortars,  were  planted  against 
the  city.  On  the  30th,  the  bombard- 
ment commenced,  and  the  city  was  soon 

capitulation.  To  follow  this  notorious  traitor  to  his 
ultimate  fate,  we  may  mention,  that  on  the  night  of 
November  1st,  1717,  he  was  murdered  in  Stafford- street, 
in  the  city  of  Dublin,  while  returning  in  a  sedan-chair 
to  his  town  residence  in  that  street,  from  Lucas's  coflfee- 
house,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  Royal 
Exchange  on  Cork-hill ;  and  that  being  a  man  grossly 
immoral  in  his  private  character,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  his  political  or  social  delinquencies  were  the 
cause  of  his  murder ;  but  no  clue  to  the  assassin  ever 
could  be  discovered.  Several  of  his  descendants  were, 
according  to  the  authorities  quoted  hy  Mr.  O'Callaghau, 
in  the  first  volume  of  his  History  of  the  Irish  Brigades, 
notorious  for  depravity ;  but  his  male  posterity  became 


in  flames  in  several  quarters,  so  that  a 
great  number  of  the  inhabitants  took 
their  bedclothes  with  them,  and  formed 
a  camp  in  the  King's  Island  ;  and  many 
of  the  principal  citizens,  including  a 
great  number  of  ladies  and  the  Jacob- 
ite lords  justices,  established  another 
camp  about  two  miles  from  the  town 
on  the  Clare  side.  On  the  evening  of 
the  9th  of  September,  the  garrison  made 
a  sally  in  which  they  lost  several  men  ; 
and  on  the  10th,  a  breach  forty  yards 
wide  was  effected  in  the  wall  of  the 
English  Town,  behind  the  Dominican 
abbey  ;  but  a  deep  channel  of  the  river 
separating  the  breach  from  the  besieg- 
ers, no  attempt  to  storm  it  was  made. 
Still,  nothing  of  consequence  towards 
the  reduction  of  the  city  was  consid- 
ered to  have  been  achieved,  until  the 
night  of  the  15th  of  September,  when, 
owing  to  the  unpardonable  negligence, 
if  not  the  foul  treachery,  of  Brigadier 
Cliffoi'd,  who  was  posted  with  a  strong 
body  of  dragoons  to  prevent  such  an 
attempt,  the  besiegers  were  enabled, 
without  the  least  interruption,  to  throw 
a  pontoon  bridge  over  the  Shannon  to- 
extinct  by  the  death  of  his  grandson,  John  Luttrell 
Olmius,  third  baron  of  Irnham  and  earl  of  Carhampton, 
who  survived  until  1829,  when  he  died  in  hisSSth  year. 
In  the  work  of  Mr.  O'Callaghan  just  cited,  the  reader 
will  find  many  curious  particulars  about  Henry  Luttrell 
and  his  descendants.  Luttrell 's-town,  the  noble  and 
picturesque  demesne  of  the  family,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Liffey,  near  Lucan,  was  sold  in  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  by  Henry  Lawes  Luttrell,  elder  brother 
of  John  Luttrell  Olmius,  and  second  earl  of  Carhamp- 
ton ;  and  the  name  has  been  changed  by  tlio  present 
popular  jiroprietor,  Luke  White,  Esq.,  to  that  of 
Woodlands. 


SECOND  SIEGE  OF  LIMERICK. 


619 


wards  Annaheg ;  aud  so,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  16 til,  to  send  over  a  large 
detachment  of  horse  and  foot  to  the 
Clare  side  and  cut  off  the  communica- 
tion between  the  city  and  the  Irish 
horse-camp.  The  Irish  cavalry,  under 
Major-general  Sheldon,  retired  to  Six- 
mile  Bridge ;  and  the  lords  justices  and 
gentry  fled  in  great  Consternation  to 
the  city,  and  might  indeed  have  been 
all  intei'cepted  and  taken  had  not  the 
enemy  used  great  caution  in  their 
movements ;  Ginkell  fearing  an  ambus- 
cade, or  an  attack  from  the  Irish  while 
his  army  was  thus  divided :  aud  thus, 
with  the  exception  of  constructing  his 
bridge,  and  obliging  the  Irish  horse  to 
repair  for  forage  to  a  distance,  he  effect- 
ed nothing  on  this  occasion. 

On  the  22d,  Ginkell,  having  lulled 
the  garrison  into  a  false  security,  by  ap- 
pearing to  make  preparations  to  raise 
the  siege,  again  crossed  the  Shannon 
with  a  large  portion  of  his  army,  and 
proceeded  to  invest  the  town  at  the 
Clare  side.  The  three  regiments  of 
■  Kirke,  Tiffin,  and  Lord  George  Hamil- 
ton, with  all  the  grenadiers,  were  or- 
dered to  advance  and  attack  the  works 
at  the  Clare  end  of  Thomond  Bridge, 
which  were  bi'avely  defended  by  Colo- 
nel Lacy  with  about  TOO  men  ;  but  the 
number  of  the  enemy  being  overwhelm- 
ing, the  Irish  troops  were  obliged  to 
give  way  and  retreat  over  the  bridge. 
Unfortunately,  the  town-major,  who  was 
a  Frenchman,  fearing  that  the  enemy 
would  enter  pell-mell  with  the  Irish, 
raised  the  drawbridge.     He  apprehend- 


ed, no  doubt,  nothing  more  than  the 
surrender  of  these  men  as  prisoners  of 
war  ;  but  the  result  was  very  different. 
The  English  gave  no  quarter,  and,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  account,  600  of 
the  Irish  were  slaughtered  on  the 
bridge,  whicli  was  covered  with  piles 
of  dead  bodies,  while  about  130  were 
made  prisoners.  Several  of  the  Irisb 
jumjied  over,  and  perished  in  the  river ; 
and  the  English  admit  that  they  them- 
selves lost  between  200  and  300  killed 
and  wounded  in  the  affair. 

This  miserable  scene  of  carnage  was 
the  last  blood  shed  in  the  war.  The 
next  day,  "Wednesday,  the  23d,  a  parley 
was  demanded  on  the  part  of  the  gar 
rison,  and  a  cessation  of  arms  took 
place.  Even  the  gallant  Sarsfield 
was  among  the  first  to  recommend  a 
capitulation.  Why  should  they  per- 
severe longer  in  the  hopeless  struggle  ? 
The  long  looked-for  succor  from  France 
had  not  come,  nor  any  intelligence  as 
to  when  it  might  be  expected  ;  and  by 
all  it  was  admitted  that  the  solemn 
promise  made  to  Tirconnell  ceased,  un- 
der the  circumstances,  to  be  obligatory. 
Orf  the  morning  of  the  24th,  a  three- 
days'  truce  was  agreed  to.  On  the  26th, 
the  negotiations  were  opened,  hostages 
were  exchanged,  and  Sarsfield  and  Ma- 
jor-general Wauchop  dined  with  Gin- 
kell in  the  camp.  A  friendly  inter- 
course commenced  between  the  two 
armies,  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities ; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  3d  of  October 
that  the  military  and  civil  articles  of  ca- 
pitulation were  signed  and  exchanged  ; 


620 


REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 


the  former,  about  the  departure  of 
the  Irish  troops,  being  signed  by  the 
eenerals  of  both  armies ;  and  the  latter, 
relating  to  the  privileges  conceded  to  the 
Irish,  signed  by  the  English  general 
and  lords  justices*  The  same  even- 
ing, the  Williamite  army  got  possession 
of  the  Irish  outworks,  and  of  St.  John's 
gate  ;  and  the  follovping  day  four  regi- 
ments marched  into  the  Irish  Town; 
the  English  Town  being  left  for  the 
Irish  quarters,  until  arrangements  could 
be  made  for  the  embarkation   of  the 


*  The  Theatt  of  Limbeick. — The  Gitil  Articles  of 
this  treaty  will  be  ever  memorable  for  the  disgraceful 
and  perfidious  violation  of  them,  -n-hich  attaches  so  foul 
a  stain  to  the  English  government  of  Ireland.  By  the 
first  of  these  articles,  it  Tvas  stipvdated  and  agreed, 
"  that  the  Koman  Catholics  of  Ireland  shall  enjoy  such 
privileges,  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  as  they  did 
enjoy  in  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II.  ;  and  that  their 
majesties,  as  soon  as  their  affairs  will  permit  them  to 
summon  a  parliament  in  Ireland,  will  endeavour  to 
procure  the  said  Roman  Catholics  such  further  security 
in  that  particular,  as  may  preserve  them  from  any 
further  disturbance  on  account  of  their  religion."  The 
second  article  secured  to  Catholics  aU  their  estates  and 
properties,  such  as  they  were  rightfully  entitled  to  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  as  also  the  free  exercise  of  their 
respective  callings  and  professions.  Irish  merchants, 
then  absent  in  foreign  countries,  and  certain  Irish 
officers,  absent  in  France  on  the  affairs  of  the  army,  were 
to  have  the  benefit  of  these  articles.  By  the  fifth  article, 
a  general  pardon  was  granted  for  all  attainder's,  out- 
lawries, treasons,  premunires,  felonies,  &c.,  incurred  oir 
committed  since  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  James  II. 
All  private  suits  at  law,  for  trespasses  committed  during 
the  war,  were  prohibited.  Arrests  and  executions  for 
debts  or  damages  were  not  to  be  made  for  the  space  of 
eight  months.  But  above  all,  it  was  provided  by  the 
ninth  article,  that  the  oath  to  be  administered  to  such 
Roman  Catholics  as  submitted  to  the  government  of 
William  and  Mary,  was  to  be  the  Oath  of  Allegiance, 
"  and  no  other  ;"  that  is,  they  were  not  to  be  required 
to  take  such  oaths  as  the  oath  of  supremacy,  &c.  These 
civil  articles,  which  were  thirteen  in  number,  were 
signed  by  the  lords  justices,  Sir  Charles  Porter  and 
Thomas  Coningsby,   and  by  the   commander-in-chief, 


Irish  army  for  France.  Thus  was 
the  war  brought  at  length  to  a  conclu- 
sion, and  William  and  Mary  left  in  the 
undisputed  possession  of  their  throne 
A  few  days  after  the  capitulation  was 
signed,  a  French  fleet  of  18  ships  of  the 
line  and  20  ships  of  burden,  conveying 
3,000  soldiers,  200  officers,  10,000  stand 
of  ai"ms,  with  ammunition  and  provisions, 
arrived  in  the  Shannon ;  but  it  was  then 
too  late.  A  few  days  earlier,  it  would 
have  saved  Limerick,  and  might  have 
turned  the  scale  of  fortune  in  the  war. 


baron  de  Ginkell ;  and  were  subsequently  duly  ratified 
by  William  and  Mary,  and  on  the  34th  of  the  following 
February  enrolled  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  How  they 
were  fulfilled  by  the  English  government  will  be  seen 
in  the  next  chapter.  The  Military  Articles,  which 
were  twenty-nine  in  number,  related  chiefly  to  the 
arrangements  for  the  transport  of  the  Irish  troops,  with 
their  baggage,  &c.,  to  France.  The  first  of  these  articles 
was,  "  that  all  persons,  without  any  exceptions,  of  what 
quality  or  condition  soever,  that  are  willing  to  leave 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  shall  have  free  liberty  to  go  to 
any  country  beyond  the  seas  (England  and  Scotland 
excepted),  where  they  think  fit,  with  their  families, 
household  stuflT,  plate,  and  jewels.''  The  second  article 
stipulated,  that  all  officers  and  soldiers  of  every  grade 
in  any  of  the  garrisons  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Irish, 
or  encamped  in  the  counties  of  Cork,  Clare,  and  Kerry, 
"  as  also  those  called  rapparecs,  or  volunteers,"  should 
"  have  free  leave  to  embark  themselves  wherever  the 
ships  are  that  are  appointed  to  transport  them,  and  to 
come  in  whole  bodies,  or  in  parties,  companies  or  other- 
wise." If  the  officers  or  soldiers  were  plundered  by  the 
way,  government  was  to  make  good  their  losses. 
The  government  was  to  provide  50  ships  of  200  tons 
burden  each,  and  if  necessary  20  ships  more,  for  trans- 
ports, besides  two  men-of-war  to  convey  the  principal 
officers;  and  finally,  the  garrison  of  Limerick  might 
march  out  "  with  arms,  baggage,  drums  beating,  match 
lighted,  colors  flying,  six  brass  guns,  two  mortar-pieces, 
and  half  the  ammunition  then  in  the  place,  &c."  The 
articles  of  Limerick  have  been  frequently  republished, 
and  wUl  bo  found  in  full  in  Mageoghegan's  History 
of  Ireland;  Leland ;  Curry's  BemeiD  of  the  Civil 
Wars  ;  Ferras's  History  of  Limerick  ;  Taaft'e's  History, 
&c. 


IRISH  EXILES. 


621 


111  conformity  witli  the  articles  of 
capitulation,  the  Irish  infantry  were,  a 
few  days  after,  marshalled  on  the  Clare 
side  of  the  Shannon,  that  the  men 
might  have  an  oj^portuuity  to  declare 
their  -choice  between  departing  for 
France,  and  remaining  under  the  Eng- 
lish crovernment  at  home.  The  result 
was,  that  an  Ulster  battalion,  and  a  few 
men  in  most  of  the  regiments,  adopted 
the  latter  alternative  ;  about  1,000  men 
entering  the  Williamite  service,  and 
2,000  accepting  passes  to  return  home ; 
while  11,000,  together  with  all  the  cav- 
alry, volunteered  for  France.  A  body 
of  4,500  men,  under  Sarsfield,  sailed 
from  Cork  and  landed  at  Brest,  on  the 
3d  of  December ;  4,736  men,  besides 
officers,  embarked  at  Limerick,  with 
d'Usson  and  Tesse,  on  board  the  French 
squadron  already  mentioned ;  3,000  men 
followed  in  English  ships  under  Major- 
general  Wauchop ;  two  companies  of 
the  Royal  Irish  Guards  sailed  next; 
"and,"  says  the  Abb6  Mageoghegan, 
"  according  to  the  report  of  the  commis- 
saries, the  whole  of  the  Irish  troops,  in- 
cluding the  officers,  who  followed  King 
James  to  France,  amounted  to  19,059 
men."*     As  each  corj^s  of  the  gallant 


*  "  To  those,"  observes  Mr.  O'Callaghan,  "  are  to  bo 
added  the  brigade  of  Mouiitcashel,  of  5,270  men,  sent  to 
France  by  James  in  the  beginning  of  1C90,  making 
24,430,  which,  with  others  who  went  over  at  diflFerent 
times,  not  specified,  would,  according  to  King  James's 
Memoirs,  and  a  letter  of  Chevalier  Charles  Wogan, 
nephew  of  the  dulie  of  Tirconnell,  amount  in  all  to 
about  30,000  men."  (Mist,  of  the  Irish  Brigades,  Yol.  i., 
p.  61.)  The  several  regiments  were  remodelled,  their 
number  being  reduced,  and  the  force  of  each  increased  ; 
they  were  constantly  recruited  from  Ireland,  and  the 


exiles  arrived  at  the  ports  of  Brittany, 
Kins:  James  himself  went  down  to  meet 
them.  They  were  kindly  received  by 
the  French  kincr,  and  enrolled  in  his 
service  ;  and  all  Irish  Catholics  going 
to  France  were  granted  the  privileges 
of  French  citizenship,  without  the  for- 
mality of  naturalization,  a  right  which 
was  subsequently  confirmed  to  them  by 
Louis  XV.  Many  of  the  exiles  were 
accompanied  by  their  families,  but  a 
great  many  of  the  women  and  children 
were  also  left  behind,  and  reduced  to 
a  state  of  utter  destitution.  The  wild 
wailing  at  the  parting  scenes  in  Limer- 
ick and  Cork,  and  on  the  shores  of 
Kerry,  smote  the  hearts  even  of  their 
enemies.  Several  of  the  expatriated 
Irish  gentry  rose  high  in  the  courts 
and  camps  of  the  continent,  and  be- 
came the  founders  of  families  of  dis- 
tinguished rank  in  France,  Spain,  and 
Austria ;  whereas,  had  they  remained 
at  home,  they  could  only,  as  Irish  Cath- 
olics, have  participated  in  the  degrada- 
tion of  their  race  and  country. 

Thus  was  this  unequal  struggle 
brought  to  a  close.  Before  it  com- 
menced, the  Irish  had  been  already 
reduced  by  many  years  of  plunder  and 


men  generously  offered  to  serve  for  the  pay  of  French 
soldiers,  although  entitled  to  a  higher  amount  as  stran 
gers,  in  order  that  the  obligation  of  King  James  to  the 
French  government  might  be  less  onerous.  For  an  ac- 
count of  the  distinguished  services  of  the  Irish  brigades, 
and  other  particulars  relative  to  them,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred  to  Mr.  O'CaUaghan's  History  of  the  Irish  Bri- 
gades in  the  Service  of  France  ;  Mr.  O'Connor's  History 
of  the  Irish  Brigade,  or,  as  it  is  frequently  called,  Mili- 
tary History  of  the  Irish;  Mr.  Dalton's  King  Jajucs's 
Irish  Army  List,  &c. 


622 


REIGN  OF    JAMES  II. 


oppression,  to  a  state  that  might  well 
have  seemed  one  of  utter  helplessness. 
They  were  left  almost  unaided  ;  for  it 
so  happened  that  their  French  allies 
did  not  fight  one  battle  for  them. 
And  yet,  after  three  hard-fought  cam- 
paigns, it  was  only  the  combined  forces 
of  England,  her  foreign  allies,  and  her 
Protestant  colonists  of  Ireland,  that 
prevailed  against  them.  The  war  cost 
William,  according  to  Story,  about 
£6,636,742,  an  approximate  calculation 
rather  under  the  trnth  than  otherwise. 
During  the  year  1690  and  1691,  Wil- 
liam's army  in  Ireland  amounted  to 
between  35,000  and  36,000  regular 
troops,  besides  the  well-armed  and  well- 


*  Harris's  Mnmoir  of  Cox,  in  Ware's  Irisli  Writeis, 
and  Leland's  History  of  Ireland.  The  articles  of  the 
Secret  Proclamation  are  not  precisely  known,  but  they 
are  presumed  to  have  been  nearly  the  same  as  those 
which  were  offered,  by  William  to  Tirconnell,  a  little 
before  the  battle  of  Aughrim,  and  which,  as  we  learn 


trained  Protestant  militia,  who  did 
garrison  duty;  and  so  desirous  was  his 
government  to  terminate  the  contest, 
that  the  lords  justices  had  a  proclama- 
tion printed  offering  much  more  ftivor- 
able  terms  than  those  actually  agreed 
to ;  but  finding  on  their  arrival  at  the 
camp  that  negotiations  for  a  capitulation 
were  on  foot,  the  document  was  sup- 
pressed, and  is  therefore  known  as  the 
"  secret  proclamation."*  General  Gin- 
kell  was,  as  a  reward  for  his  services, 
created  earl  of  Athlon  e  and  baron  of 
Aughrim,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  all 
the  forfeited  estates  of  William  Dungan, 
earl  of  Limerick,  in  eight  counties  of 
Ireland. 


from  a  letter  of  the  Chevalier  Charles  Wogan  to  Dean 
Swift,  were :  To  the  Irish  Catholics  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion  ;  half  the  churches  of  the  kingdom  ;  half 
the  emploj-ments,  civU  and  military,  if  they  pleased ; 
and  the  moiety  of  their  ancient  properties.  The  Irish 
mistrusted  these  concessions,  and  rejected  them. 


ARTICLES  OF  LIMERICK  VIOLATED. 


623 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

FROM   THE   TREATY   OF   LIMERICK   TO   THE   DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE. 

State  of  Ireland  after  the  departure  of  tlie  brigades. — The  articles  of  Limerick  violated. — The  Catholics  reduced 
to  a  deplorable  condition. — Disposal  of  the  forfeited  estates. — William  III.  and  his  parliament  at  issue. — 
Enactment  of  penal  laws  in  Ireland. — Moylneux's  "  case  stated." — Destruction  of  the  Irish  woollen  manufac- 
ture.— Death  of  WLUiam. — Intolerance  of  the  Protestant  colonists. — Penal  laws  of  Queen  Anne's  reign. — The 
sacramental  test. — Attempts  to  extirpate  the  Catholics. — The  Palatines  (note). — Accession  of  George  I. — Re- 
bellion in  Scotland  in  1715. — Profound  tranqmllity  in  Ireland. — Rigorous  execution  of  the  penal  laws. — Con- 
tests between  the  English  and  Irish  parliaments. — The  latter  deprived  of  its  independence. — BiU  for  more 
eifectually  preverfting  the  growth  of  Popery. — Rise  of  the  patriots  in  the  Irish  parliament. — Dean  Swift. — 
Woods'  half-pence — Extraordinary  excitement.— Frightful  state  of  public  morals. — Cardinal  Wiseman  on  the 
fidelity  of  the  Irish  (note).— Accession  of  George  II. — An  address  from  the  Catholics  treated  with  contempt. — 
Primate  Boulter. — Charter  schools  established  to  proselytize  the  Catholic  children. — Converted  Papists  sus 
pected. — Distress  and  emigration. — Fresh  rigors  against  the  Catholics. — Proposed  massacre. — The  great  Scot- 
tish rebellion  of  1745. — Lord  Chesterfield  in  Ireland. — Disputes  in  the  Irish  parliament  about  the  surplus 
revenue. — The  patriots  weakened  by  the  corrupting  policy  of  the  Government. — First  movements  of  the 
Catholics. — First  Catholic  committee. — Discountenanced  by  the  clergy  and  aristocracy. — Thurot's  expedition 
— Accession  of  George  III.— The  Whiteboys.— The  Hcarts-of-Oak  and  Hearts-of-Steel  Boys.— Efforts  of  the  pa- 
triots against  tlie  pension  list. — Execution  of  Father  Shcehy. — Lord  Townsend's  administration. — The  Octen- 
nial BiU. — The  Irish  parliament  struggles  for  independence. — Outbreak  of  the  American  war,  and  attempts 
to  conciliate  Ireland. — Refusal  to  receive  foreign  troops. — The  volunteers. — Great  distress  and  popular  discon- 
tent.— Mr.  Grattan's  resolution  of  independence. — Conduct  and  resolution  of  the  volunteers. — The  Dungannon 
resolutions. — Legislative  independence  of  Ireland  voted. — New  measures  of  Catholic  relief. — Influence  of  the 
volunteers. 


[FROM  A.  D.   1G91   TO  A.  D.   1783.] 


WITH  Sarsfield  and  bis  companions 
in  arms  departed  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  Ireland.  Then,  indeed,  might 
it  be  said  that  the  heart  of  Ireland  was 
broken.  Those  left  behind  were  a  help- 
less and  dispirited,  and  hence  a  timid 
and  nnresisting,  people ;  and  it  was  easy 
to  foresee  that  when  they  thus  ceased 
to  be  formidable,  they  had  little  to 
hope  for  from  the  good  faith  of  the 
victors.  Two  months  had  not  elapsed 
from  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Lim- 
erick, when,  in  open  violation  of  the 
articles,    "the  justices    of    the   peace, 


sheriffs,  and  other  magistrates,"  says 
Harris,  "  presuming  on  their  power  in 
the  country,  did,  in  an  illegal  manner, 
dispossess  several  of  their  majesties' 
(Catholic)  subjects,  not  only  of  their 
goods  and  chattels,  but  of  their  lands 
and  tenements,  to  the  great  reproach  of 
their  majesties'  government  :"*  and 
the  lords  justices,  who  were  compelled 
to  issue  a  proclamation  against  the  out- 
rageous proceedings  of  their  subordi- 
nates, state  in  their  letter  of  November 


*  Harris's  Life  of  King  William,  p.  357. 


624 


REIGN   OF   WILT  "Am   m. 


19tb,  1691,  that  tliey  "Lad  received 
complaints  from  all  parts  of  Ireland  of 
the  ill-treatment  of  the  Irish  who  had 
submitted,  had  their  majesties'  protec- 
tion, or  were  included  in  articles ;  and 
that  they  (the  Irish)  were  so  extremely 
terrified  with  apprehensions  of  the 
continuance  of  that  usage,  that  some 
thousands  of  them  who  had  quitted 
the  Irish  army  and  went  home  with 
the  resolution  not  to  go  to  France,  were 
then  come  back  again  and  pressed 
earnestly  to  go  thither,  rather  than 
stay  in  Ireland,  where,  contrary  to  the 
public  faith  as  well  as  law  and  justice, 
they  were  robbed  of  their  substance 
and  abused  in  their  persons."  The  Pro- 
testants exclaimed  vehemently  against 
the  terms  made  with  the  Catholics  as 
being  too  liberal ;  it  was  proclaimed 
from  their  pulpits  that  the  peace  ought 
not  to  be  observed ;  they  were  disap- 
pointed in  their  hopes  of  obtaining  all 
the  estates  of  the  Papists,  and  would 


*  Describing  the  results  of  the  war  of  1G91,  the  great 
Edmund  Burke  says :  "  The  ruin  of  the  native  Irish, 
and  in  a  great  measure,  too,  of  the  first  races  of  the 
English,  was  completely  accomplished.  The  new  in- 
terest was  settled  with  as  solid  a  stability  as  any  thing 
in  human  affairs  can  look  for.  All  the  penal  laws  of 
that  unparalleled  code  of  oppression,  which  were  made 
after  the  last  event,  were  manifestly  the  effects  of  nation- 
al hatred  and  scorn  towards  a  conquered  people,  whom 
the  victors  delighted  to  trample  upon,  and  were  not  at 
all  afraid  to  provoke.  They  were  not  the  effects  of  their 
fears  but  of  their  security.  They  who  carried  on  this 
system  looked  to  the  irresistible  force  of  Great  Britain 
for  their  support  in  their  acts  of  power.  They  were 
quite  certain  that  no  complaints  of  the  natives  would 
be  heard  on  this  side  of  the  water  (in  England)  with  any 
other  sentiments  than  those  of  contempt  and  indigna- 
tion. Their  cries  served  only  to  augment  their  torture. 
...    .     Indeed,  at  that  time  in  England  the  double  name 


not  yield  a  shred  of  the  liberty  which 
they  claimed  for  themselves  to  those 
over  whom  foreign  arms  had  enabled 
them  to  prevail.  In  fine,  they  were  not 
content  to  conquer,  but  should  enslave 
their  late  foes,  and  trample  them  under 
foot ;  and  the  more  these  foes  were 
humbled  in  the  dust,  the  more  insolent 
and  inexorable  did  the  unscenerous  vie- 
tors  become.  The  intolerant  demands 
of  the  Protestant  faction  were  soon  to 
be  fully  gratified.  The  general  disarm- 
ing of  the  Irish  Catholics  was  one  of 
the  first  steps  for  that  purpose ;  the 
disposal  of  the  forfeited  estates  was 
proceeded  with ;  Catholics  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  Irish  parliament  by  an 
act  of  the  English  legislature  ;  the  way 
was  pre23ared  for  the  whole  nefarious 
code  of  penal  laws;  and  the  native 
population  was  reduced  to  a  state  so 
abject  that  op2:)ression  might  be  carried 
to  any  extent  against  them  with  im- 
punity.* 


of  the  complainants,  Irish  and  Papists — it  would  be 
hard  to  say  singly  which  was  the  most  odious — shut  up 
the  hearts  of  every  one  against  them."  (Letter  to  Sir 
Hercules  Langrishe,  p.  44.)  Sir  Richard  Cox,  the  anti- 
Irish  author  of  the  Hibernia  Anylicana,  in  a  letter  of 
October  24th,  1705  (preserved  in  the  Southwell  papers), 
says  the  youth  and  gentry  of  the  Irish  were  "  destroyed 
in  the  rebellion  or  gone  to  France  ;  those  who  are  left, 
destitute  of  horses,  arms,  money,  capacity,  aud  courage. 
Five  out  of  six  of  the  Irish  are  poor  insignificant  slaves, 
fit  for  nothing  but  to  hew  wood  and  draw  water."  Swift 
was  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  the  Irish  Papists  were 
"  altogether  as  inconsiderable  as  the  women  and  chil- 
dren." (See  Letter  on  the  Sacramental  Test,  written  in 
1708  ;  the  Drapicr's  Letters,  &c.)  And  Lord  Macaulay, 
who  loved  to  dwell  on  any  expression  impljnng  contempt 
for  the  Irish,  endeavored  to  make  this  language  stronger. 
"The  Protestant  masters  of  Ireland,"  he  writes,  "wliile 
ostentatiously  professing  the  political  doctrines  of  Locke 


DISPOSAL  OF  FORFEITED  ESTATES, 


625 


We  learn  from  official  sources  that 
the  number  of  Irish  outlawed  by  King 
William's  English  jjarliament  for  their 
fidelity  to  King  Jam^s  II.,  whom  they 
regarded  as  their  legitimate  sovereign, 
was  3,921,  and  that  the  Irish  forfeited 
estates  amounted  to  1,060,792  acres, 
of  the  annual  value,  at  that  time,  of 
£211,623.  The  sale  of  this  property  in- 
troduced into  Ireland  a  fresh  set  of 
adventurers,  being  the  third  migration 
of  new  settlers  to  displace  the  old  race 
since  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.*  The 
Catholics  of  the  native  and  early  An- 
glo-Irish races  still,  indeed,  constituted 
the  great  bulk  of  the  population,  but 
they  were  not  recognized  as  having  a 
political  existence ;  and  although  the 
Protestant  colonists  raided  disputes 
among  themselves,  and  formed  an 
"English"  and  an  "Irish"  party  of 
their  own,  they  were  unanimous  on  the 
point  of  denying  all  civil  rights  to  the 
Catholic    Irish.     The    question  of  the 


and  Sidney,  held  tliat  a  people  who  spoke  the  Celtic 
tongue  and  heard  Mass  could  have  no  concern  in  those 
doctrines.  Molyneus  questioned  the  supremacy  of  the 
English  legislature.  Swift  assailed  with  the  keenest 
ridicule  and  invective  every  part  of  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment. Lucas  disquieted  the  administration  of  Lord 
Harrington.  Boyle  overthrew  the  administration  of  the 
duke  of  Dorset.  But  neither  Molyneux  nor  Swift, 
neither  Lucas  nor  Boyle,  ever  thought  of  appealing  to 
the  native  population.  They  would  as  soon  have  thought 
of  appealinff  to  the  sicine."  (Bist.of  Eng.,  vol.  vi.,p.  119.) 
*  Lord  Chancellor  Clare,  in  his  celebrated  speech  on 
the  Union,  referring  to  this  Williamite  confiscation, 
says :  "  It  is  a  very  curious  and  important  speculation 
to  look  back  to  the  forfeitures  of  Ireland,  incurred  in 
the  last  century.  The  superficial  contents  of  the  island 
are  calculated  at  11,043,683  acres  "  (that  is,  of  arable 
land,  according  to  the  survey  of  Ireland  then  received). 
"  In  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  whole  of  the  province  of 
79 


independence  of  the  Irish  parliament 
began,  immediately  after  the  war,  to 
excite  a  lively  interest.  In  the  parlia- 
ment which  met  in  Dublin  on  the  5th 
of  October,  1692,  the  feeling  on  this 
subject  ran  so  high  that  a  bill  sent  from 
England  for  imposing  certain  duties, 
was  rejected  by  the  commons  without 
any  ground  for  the  rejection  being  as- 
signed, save  that  "  the  said  bill  had  not 
its  rise  in  this  house."  This  vote  w^as 
passed  the  28th  of  October;  and  on  the 
3d  November,  Lord  Sydney,  the  lord 
lieutenant,  went,  unexpectedly,  and  pro- 
rogued the  parliament,  pronouncing  at 
the  same  time  a  severe  rebuke,  and 
ordering  the  clerk  to  enter  his  protest 
against  the  vote  of  the  commons  on 
the  journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in 
vindication  of  the  prerogative  of  the 
crown.  In  the  English  parliament  a 
discussion  took  place  on  Irish  affairs, 
and  an  address  to  the  king  was  voted, 
complaining  of  great  abuses  and  mis- 


Ulster  was  confiscated,  containing  3,836,837  acres  ;  set 
up  by  the  court  of  claims  at  the  restoration,  7,800,000  ; 
forfeitures  of  1G88,  1,060,793 ;  total,  10,097,639  acres. 
So  that  the  whole  of  your  island  has  been  confiscated, 
with  the  exception  of  the  estates  of  five  or  six  families  of 

English  blood, and  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the 

island  has  been  confiscated  twice,  or  perhaps  thrice,  in  the 
course  of  a  century.  The  situation,  therefore,  of  the 
Irish  nation  at  the  revolution  stands  unparalleled  in 

the  history  of  the   habitable  world The  whole 

power  and  property  of  the  country  have  been  conferred 
by  successive  monarchs  of  England  upon  an  English 
colony,  composed  of  three  sets  of  English  adventurers, 
who  poured  into  this  country  at  the  termination  of  three 
successive  rebellions.  Confiscation  is  their  common 
title ;  and  from  their  first  settlement  they  have  been 
hemmed  in  on  every  side  by  the  old  inhabitants  of  the 
island,  brooding  over  their  discontent  in  sullen  indigna- 
tion." 


626 


REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  IIL 


manngement  in  tlie  affairs  of  Ireland, 
such  as  the  recruiting  of  the  king's 
troops  with  Papists,  "  to  the  endanger- 
ing and  discouraging  of  the  good  and 
loyal  Protestant  subjects  in  that  king- 
dom ;"  the  granting  protection  to  the 
Irish  Papists,  "  whereby  Protestants 
are  hindered  from  their  legal  remedies, 
and  the  coui-se  of  law  stopt ;"  the  let- 
ting of  the  forfeited  estates  at  under 
rates  ;  the  enormous  embezzlements  of 
the  foi-feited  estates  and  goods.  But 
above  all,  the  parliament  complained  of 
an  addition  Avhich  they  said  was  made 
to  the  articles  of  Limerick  after  the 
town  was  surrendered,  "  to  the  very 
great  encouragement  of  the  Irish  Pa- 
pists," which  addition,  as  well  as  the 
articles  themselves,  they  prayed  might 
be  laid  before  the  house  ;*  and  they  also 
besought  his  majesty  that  no  grant 
might  be  made  of  the  forfeited  estates 
in  Ireland  until  an  opportunity  was  af- 
forded of  settling  the  matter  in  parlia- 
ment. William  was  annoyed  at  this 
interference  of  the  Enejlish  commons. 
As  to  the  Irish  forfeitures,  he  had  al- 
ready bestowed  most  of  them  as  re- 
wards for  the  services  of  his  friends  ; 
and  he  was  indignant  at  the  attempt 


*  In  the  second  article,  ■which  secured  the  possession 
of  their  estates  to  the  residents  of  Ijimerick  and  of  the 
other  garrisons  then  in  the  occupation  of  the  Irish,  and  to 
the  Irish  officers  and  soldiers  then  in  the  counties  of  Lim- 
erick, Clare,  Kerrj',  Cork,  and  Mayo,  the  words,  "  And 
all  such  as  are  under  their  protection  in  the  said  coun- 
ties," were  accidentally  omitted  in  the  copy  of  the  ar- 
ticle which  was  signed,  although  contained  in  the  origi- 
nal draft  that  had  been  settled  between  the  parties. 
Sarsfield  insisted  that  the  mistake  should  be  rectified, 


to  set  aside  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  to 
which  he  admitted  that  "  his  word  and 
honor  were  engaged,  which  he  never 
would  forfeit."  His  only  answer  to  the 
address  was,  therefore,  conveyed  in 
these  few  words  :  "  I  shall  always  have 
great  consideration  of  what  comes  from 
the  House  of  Commons ;  and  I  shall  take 
great  care  that  what  is  amiss  shall  be 
remedied." 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  Wil- 
liam HI.  was  not  pei'sonally  responsible 
for  the  i^enal  laws  against  Catholics  en- 
acted in  his  reign.  He  was  not  inclined 
to  persecute  any  man  for  his  religion  ; 
and  he  was  too  good  a  soldier  to  wish 
to  trample  on  a  brave  but  unfortunate 
foe  whom  he  had  vanquished  in  the 
field.  In  politics,  the  principles  of  the 
Tories  were  more  congenial  to  him  than 
those  of  the  Whigs.  The  Whigs  of 
that  day  were  indeed  nearly  identical 
in  spirit  with  the  Orangemen  of  later 
times,  and  differed  in  many  respects 
from  the  great  constitutional  party  of 
that  name  in  modern  times  professing 
principles  friendly  to  popular  liberty 
and  toleration  ;  but  intolerant  and  vio- 
lent as  they  were,  it  was  the  Whigs 
of  that  day  who  had  placed  William 


and  Gink  ell  accordingly  added  the  omitted  words  to  the 
treaty  after  the  Irish  town  of  Limerick  had  been  put 
in  his  possession.  The  French  fleet  werejust  then  com- 
ing up  the  Shannon,  and  it  was  admitted  that  it  would 
have  been  very  imprudent,  under  the  circumstances,  for 
the  Dutch  general  to  hesitate.  The  words  in  question 
were  duly  ratified  and  confirmed  by  William  and  Mary, 
at  the  same  time  with  the  substantive  articles  ;  and  yet, 
to  them  the  English  House  of  Commons  raised  the  dis- 
graceful objection  mentioned  above. 


ENACTMENT  OF  PENAL  LAWS. 


627 


on  the  throne  of  England,  and  to  their 
imperious  legislation  even  he  was 
obliged  to  yield  his  will.  In  1693 
Lord  Sydney  was  recalled  from  the 
government  of  Ireland,  which  was 
then  vested  in  Lord  Capel,  Sir  Cyril 
Wyche,  and  Mi'.  Duncombe,  as  lords 
justices ;  but  while  the  two  latter  wished 
to  distribute  justice  with  an  equal  hand. 
Lord  Capel  took  every  opportunity  to 
infringe  the  articles  of  Limerick,  and 
curtail  the  rights  of  the  Irish.  Wyche 
and  DuncomVje,  for  their  impartiality, 
were  stisrmatized  as  Tories  and  Jacob- 
ites,  and  Lord  Capel  soon  obtained 
the  sole  government  as  lord  deputy. 
In  1695  he  summoned  a  parliament 
which  sat  for  several  sessions,  and  which 
enacted,  without  opposition,  numerous 
penal  statutes  against  the  Catholics. 
Among  them  were  laws  "for  restraining 
foreign  education;"  "for  the  better  se- 
curing the  government  by  disarming 
the  Papists;"  "for  banishing  all  Papists 
exercising  any  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
and  all  regulars  of  the  Popish  clergy 
out  of  the  kingdom;"*  "to  prevent 
Protestants     intermarrying     with    Pa- 


*  "According  to  Captain  South's  account,"  says  New- 
enham,  "  there  were  in  Ireland  in  the  year  1698,  495 
rcguhu,  and  872  secular,  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
According,  to  the  same  account,  the  number  of  regulars 
shipped  for  foreign  parts,  by  act  of  parliament,  was 
424— viz.,  from  Dublin,  153 ;  from  Galway,  170 ;  from 
Cork,  75  ;  and  from  Waterford,  26."  ( VieiD  of  the  Nat- 
ural and  Political  Cimimstancea  of  Ireland,  p.  196.) 

f  By  the  laws  referred  to  in  the  text  it  was  enacted 
that  all  Popish  archbishops,  bishops,  vicars-general, 
deans,  Jesuits,  monks,  friars,  &c.,  and  all  Papists  exer- 
cising any  ecclesiastical  jxirisdiction,  should  depart  the 
kingdom  before  the  first  of  May,  1698  ;  those  who  neg- 
lected to  obey  that  order  were  to  be  imprisoned  until 


pists,"  and  "  to  prevent  Papists  being 
solicitors."  These  laws  were  in  direct 
contravention  of  the  treaty  of  Limer- 
ick; but  this  parliament  went  a  step 
further,  and  passed  an  act,  which  they 
had  the  effrontery  to  call  "  an  act  for 
the  confirmation  of  the  articles  made 
at  the  surrender  of  the  city  of  Limer- 
ick ;"  but  which,  in  reality,  omitted  the 
first  article,  and  curtailed  the  others  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  Catholics  justly 
regarded  it  as  a  virtual  frustration  of 
the  rights  which  the  treaty  was  in- 
tended to  secure  to  them.  A  petition 
was  presented  from  Robert  Cusack,  Esq., 
and  Captains  Francis  Segrave  and 
Maurice  Eustace,  praying  on  the  part 
of  themselves  and  their  fellow  Catholics 
that  they  might  be  heard  by  counsel  on 
the  measure  before  it  passed  into  law, 
but  the  House  of  Commons  unanimously 
resolved  that  the  said  petition  should 
be  rejected.  In  the  upper  house  a  pro- 
test against  the  nefarious  measure  was 
signed  by  seven  lay  peers,  and  to  their 
honor  be  it  said,  by  as  many  Protestant 
bishops.f 

While  the  j^arliament  of  the  Protest- 


they  were  transported  beyond  the  seas  ;  and  if  any  re- 
turned from  such  transportation  they  would  be  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and  should  suifer  accordingly — that  is, 
be  executed.  From  the  29th  December,  1697,  any  Po- 
pish archbishop,  &c.,  coming  into  this  kingdom  from  be- 
yond the  seas,  was  to  be  imprisoned  for  twelve  months, 
and  then  transported  ;  and  if  returning  after  such  trans- 
portation, to  be  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  punished 
accordingly.  Any  person  after  the  1st  of  May,  1698, 
concealing  or  entertaining  any  such  Popish  archbishops, 
bishops,  &c.,  should  for  the  first  offence  forfeit  £20 ;  for 
the  second,  double  that  sum  ;  and  for  the  third,  should 
forfeit  during  life  all  his  lands  and  tenements,  and  also 
all  his  goods  and  chattels,  one  moiety  to  the  king,  and 


628 


REIGN   OF  WILLIAM   III. 


ant  colony  in  Ireland  was  thus  indulg- 
ing the  prejudices  of  an  intolerant  fac- 
tion, by  enacting  laws  against  the  unof- 
fending and  helpless  Catholics,  it  was 
engaged  on  another  side  in  a  vital  con- 
flict for  its  own  independence  against 
the  English  legislature.  The  rights 
which  the  English  parliament  had  vin- 
dicated for  itself  by  the  revolution,  it 
sternly  denied  to  the  sister  institution 
in  Ireland ;  but  it  was  as  sternly  en- 
countered by  a  power  of  its  own  crea- 
tion. That  Protestant  ascendency,  in 
fact,  which  English  policy  had  so  long 
labored  to  establish  and  foster  in  Ire- 
land now  presented  a  stubborn  obstacle 
to  the  maintenance  of  English  suprem- 
acy. In  1698,  Mr.  Molyueux,  one  of 
the  members  for  the  university  of  Dub- 
lin, published  his  famous  book,  entitled, 
"  The  case  of  Ireland's  being  bound  by 
acts  of  parliament  in  England  stated." 
In  it  he  reviewed  the  history  of  the 
Pale  from  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion ; 
and  from  the  whole  connection  of  the 
two  kingjdoms,  drew  strong  inferences 
in  support  of  their  reciprocal  legislative 

tbe  other  moiety,  if  it  did  not  exceed  £100,  to  the  in- 
former— the  surplusage  over  £100  to  goto  the  king.  A 
resolution  of  the  Irish  parliament  of  December  1st,  1C97, 
recommended  the  revival  of  the  law  of  2d  Eliz.,  chap. 
2,  which  obliged  every  person  to  attend  the  Protestant 
service  on  Sundays,  under  a  penalty  of  12d.  for  each 
neglect.  The  law  restraining  foreign  education,  after 
the  prohibition  of  Catholic  education  at  homo,  enacted 
that  "  if  any  subjects  of  Ireland  should  go,  or  send,  any 
chUd  or  other  person  to  be  educated  in  any  Popish  uni- 
versity, college,  or  school,  or  in  any  private  family  be- 
yond the  seas  ;  or  if  such  child  should,  by  any  Popish  per- 
son, be  instructed  in  the  Popish  religion,  or  if  any  subjects 
of  Ireland  should  send  money,  &c.,  towards  the  mainte- 
nance of  such  child  or  other  person,  already  sent  or  to 
be  sent,  every  such  offender  should  be  forever  disabled 


independence.  The  English  House  of 
Commons  resolved  unanimously  "that 
the  book  published  by  Mr.  Molyneux 
was  of  dangerous  tendency  to  the 
crown  and  people  of  England,  by  deny- 
ing the  authority  of  the  king  and  par- 
liament of  England  to  bind  the  king- 
dom and  people  of  Ireland,  and  the 
subordination  and  dependence  that  Ire- 
land had  and  ought  to  have  upon  Eng- 
land, as  being  united  and  annexed  to  the 
imperial  crown  of  England."  They 
also  condemned  in  the  strongest  terms 
the  practice  of  the  Irish  parliament  to 
re-enact  laws  made  in  England  expressly 
to  bind  Ireland ;  and  went  in  a  body 
to  present  an  address  to  the  king,  pray- 
ing his  majesty  "  to  take  all  necessary 
care  that  the  laws  which  directed  and 
restrained  the  parliament  of  Ireland 
should  not  be  evaded."  Thus  did  the 
English  Parliament  try  to  carry  the 
matter  with  a  high  hand,  while  the 
Irish  Parliament  could  do  little  more 
than  protest  against  the  usurpation  of 
its  constitutional  rights. 

England  had   long  been  jealous  of 

to  sue,  or  prosecute  any  action,  &c.,  in  law  or  in  equity  ; 
to  be  guardian,  administrator,  &c.,  to  any  person,  or  to 
be  capable  of  any  legacj  or  deed  of  gift ;  and  besides, 
should  forfeit  all  their  estates,  both  real  and  personal, 
during  their  lives."  "  It  is  really  shameful,"  observes 
Dr.  Curry  (Hist.  Review,  p.  530),  "  to  see  what  mean, 
malicious,  and  frivolous  complaints  against  Papists  were 
received  under  the  notion  of  grievances  by  that  parlia- 
ment. Thus,  '  a  petition  of  one  Edward  Sprag  and 
others,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  other  Protestant 
porters  in  and  about  the  city  of  Dublin,  complaining  that 
one  Darby  Ryan,  a  Papist,  had  employed  porters  of  his 
own  persuasion,  having  been  received  and  read,  was  re- 
ferred to  the  committee  of  grievances,  that  they  should 
report  thereon  to  the  house.'" — {Com.  Jour.,  vol  ii., 
p  609.) 


THE   IRISH   WOOLLEN   MANUFACTURES. 


629 


the  woollen  manufactures  of  Ireland ; 
and  on  the  principle  that  Irish  interests 
ouofht  to  be  subordinate  to   those  of 
England,  it  was  resolved  that  that  im- 
portant branch  of  Irish  industry  and 
commerce  should  be  destroyed.     Some 
attempts   for   that   j3urpose  Lad   been 
made  so  long  ago  as  Strafford's  time ; 
but,  notwithstanding  these,   the  trade 
flourished ;  and  now,  as  on  that  occa- 
sion, it  was  pi-oposed  to  encourage  the 
linen  trade  as  a  substitute,  linen  not 
being  a  staple  commodity  in  England ; 
although,  in  this,  too,  at  a  later  period, 
Irish  rivalry  excited  English  jealousy. 
In  June,  1698,  addresses  on  the  subject 
from  the  Ensclish  Houses  of  Lords  and 
Commons   were  presented  to  William 
III.,  who,  in  reply,  said,  "I  shall  do  all 
that  in  me  lies  to  discourage  the  wool- 
len manufacture  in  Ireland,  and  to  en- 
courage the  linen  trade  there ;  and  to 
promote   the  trade  of  England ;"  and 
he  sent  instructions  accordingly  to  his 
lords  justices    in    Ireland.     The   Irish 
parliament  manifested,  on  the  occasion, 
a  base  subserviency,  which  proved  that 
their  recent  contests  were  for  the  pi'iv- 
ileges  of  their  order,  not  for  the  inter- 
ests of  the  country.     In  the  session  of 
1689,  they  passed  a  law  imposing  on 
the  exportation  of  Irish  woollen  goods, 
duties  which  amounted  to  a  prohibition  ; 
and,  in  the  same  year,  a  law  w^as  passed 
in  England  restraining  the  exportation 

*  Arthur  Toung.  in  Ms  Tour  in  Ireland,  points  out 
liow  futile  was  the  hope  that  England  would  give  that 
encouragement  to  the  Irish  linen-trade  which  was  prom- 
ised as  a  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  woollen  manu- 
facture.   He  shows  how,  in  direct  breach  of  the  com- 


of  Irish  woollen  manufactures,  includ- 
ing frieze,  to  any  country  except  Eng- 
land and  Wales.  The  Irish  wool-trade 
was  carried  on  exclusively  by  the  Pro- 
testant colonists,  and  it  was  said  that 
40,000  persons  were  reduced  to  poverty 
by  its  destruction.* 

Seven  commissioners  were  sent  by 
the  English  parliament  to  inquire  into 
the  disposal  of  the  forfeited  estates  in 
Ireland,  and  four  out  of  the  seven,  in 
oj^position  to  court  influence,  presented 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  in  December, 
1699,  a  report  which  caused  extreme 
annoyance  to  the  king,  who  had  made 
grants  according  to  his  own  views. 
One  of  his  grants,  not  included  in 
the  private  forfeitures  already  men- 
tioned, consisted  of  95,649  acres  of 
the  personal  estates  of  James  II., 
worth,  per  annum,  £25,995,  which 
William  had  given  to  his  favorite, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Villiers,  created  coun- 
tess of  Orknej'.  The  inquiry  elicited 
several  unpleasant  exposures,  and  gave 
rise  to  warm  debates  in  the  English 
parliament.  The  House  of  Commons 
voted  that,  "  the  advising  and  passing 
of  the  said  grants  was  highly  reflecting 
upon  the  king's  honor;"  and,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1700,  passed  an  act  for  re- 
suming the  granted  estates  as  public 
property.  These  proceedings  embit- 
tered the  latter  days  of  William  III., 
who   broke   his  collar-bone    by  a   fall 


pact,  the  23d  George  II.  laid  a  tax  on  sail-cloth  made  of 
Irish  hemp  ;  how  bounties  were  giveu  to  English  linens 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  Irish,  and  how  certain  Irish  linen 
fabrics  were  not  admitted  into  England. — Tour,  part  ii., 
p.  107,  4to  ed. 


630 


REIGN   OF   QUEEN   ANNE. 


fi'om  his  horse,  on  the  26th  of  February, 
1702,  and  died  on  the  8th  of  March 
following,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of 
his  age.  He  was  never  popular  in  Eng- 
land, and  his  inability  to  control  the 
English  parliament,  in  the  instance  just 
mentioned,  or  in  the  dismissal  of  his 
Dutch  guards  from  England,  relieves 
his  memory,  to  some  extent,  from  the 
odium  of  other  acts  of  the  legislature 
during  his  reign.  He  survived  only  a 
short  time  the  dethroned  king,  James 
II.,  who  died  at  St.  Ger mains,  Septem- 
ber 16th,  1701 ;  and  he  was  deeply 
chagrined  to  find  that,  immediately 
upon  that  event,  the  "Pretender"  was 
acknowledged  king  of  England,  as 
James  III.,  by  the  courts  of  France  and 
Spain. 

For  the  reign  of  William's  successor, 
Anne,  was  reserved  the  distinction  of 
bringing  the  execrable  penal  code  to 
full  maturity.  At  this  time  nothing 
whatever  was  done  on  the  part  of  the 
Irish  Catholics  to  provoke  aggression : 
no  offences  were  alleged  against  them  : 
they  kept  aloof  from  the  party  agita- 
tion of  the  day,  and  had  subsided  into  a 


*  James,  the  second  and  last  duke  of  Ormoud,  v.-lio 
on  this  occasion  assured  ilio  parliament  that  he  would 
be  always  most  ready  to  do  every  thing  in  his  powec  to 
prevent  the  growth  of  Popery,  was  grandson  of  James, 
the  first  or  "  great"  duke,  who,  as  representative  in  Ire- 
land of  Charles  I.,  and  then  of  Charles  II.,  duri«g  the 
civil  wars  of  the  Commonwealth,  had  exhibited  such 
bitter  enmity  to  the  coufederato  Catholics.  Thomas, 
earl  of  Ossory,  son  of  the  first  duke  and  father  of  the 
second,  did  not  live  to  inherit  his  ancestral  honors,  and 
his  noble  qualities  rendered  his  death  (in  1080)  a  deplor- 
able loss  to  his  country.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
■while  from  the  earliest  times  membel'S  of  the  noble 


state  of  utter  prostration  and  debility. 
Still,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  Catholic 
population,  the  Protestant  colonists  did 
not  feel  their  ascendency  secure.  The 
power  of  England  at  their  back,  the 
wealth  of  the  country  in  their  hand.s, 
and  the  well-forged  chains  which  bound 
the  Catholics  to  »the  earth  were  not 
sufiScieut.  They  imagined  that  in  the 
persecution  of  the  Catholics  lay  their 
own  safetj'.  In  1703  the  duke  of  Or- 
moud came  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieuten- 
ant, and  ou  his  arrival  the  House  of 
Commons  waited  on  hira  in  a  body,  with 
a  bill  "for  preventing  the  further 
growth  of  Popery,"  praying  him,  says 
Burnett,  with  more  than  ordinary  ve- 
hemence to  intercede  so  effectually  for 
them  that  it  might  be  sent  back  under 
the  great  seal  of  England.  This  he 
undertook  to  do ;  and  we  learn  from 
the  same  authority  that  he  fulfilled  his 
promise  punctually.*  Several  mem- 
bers appear  to  have  disapproved  of  the 
bill,  but  not  one  had  the  honor  or  man- 
liness to  raise  his  voice  against  it ;  those 
who  were  ashamed  of  the  measure 
merely  resigning  their  seats,  to  which 


family  of  Ormond  were  foremost  in  the  popular  ranks, 
the  head  of  the  house  almost  invariably  sided  with  the 
English  party  against  his  country.  The  second  duke, 
who,  as  mentioned  above,  promoted  the  penal  enacts 
ments  against  the  Catholics,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
who  joined  the  prince  of  Orange  against  James  II.,  sub- 
sequently took  the  part  of  the  Pretender  against  George 
I.,  and  shortly  after  the  death  of  Queen  Anne  was  at- 
tainted of  high  treason,  and  deprived  of  all  his  estates 
and  titles.  He  died,  in  1745,  an  exile  in  the  south  of 
France,  where  he  had  subsisted  on  a  pension  from  the 
kings  of  France  and  Spain,  but  it  would  appear  that  ho 
alwavs  continued  a  consistent  Protestant. 


THE   "SACRAMENTAL   TEST." 


631 


less  scrupulous  men  were  elected.  Yet, 
even  the  silent  protest  of  such  resigna- 
tions, as  they  became  more  frequent, 
would  not  be  tolerated  by  the  tyrant 
majority  ;  and  it  was  made  a  standing 
order  that  no  new  writs  would  be  is- 
sued to  replace  such  reluctant  members. 
In  England,  the  Tory  advisers  of  Anne 
deemed  the  atrocious  measure  harsh 
and  uncalled  for ;  yet  they  had  not  the 
courage  to  stem  the  tide  of  anti-popish 
persecution.  To  evade  their  responsi- 
bilitj^,  they  resoi-ted  to  a  mean  subter- 
fuge. They  added  to  the  bill,  the 
clause  known  as  the  "  Sacramental 
Test,"  which  excluded  from  every  pub- 
lic trust  all  who  refused  to  receive  the 
Sacrament  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Established  Church,  and  which,  there- 
fore, militated  against  Presbyterians 
and  other  Protestant  dissenters,  as  well 
as  against  Catholics ;  and  they  hoped 
by  that  means  to  have  the  bill  rejected 
by  the  Irish  parliament,  in  which  the 
dissenters  had  great  influence.  The 
artifice,  however,  did  not  succeed.  The 
dissenters  were  at  fii'st  alarmed,  but  on 
being  assured  that  the  clause  would 
never  be  put  in  force  against  themselves, 
and  that  it  was  only  the  Pajiists  who 
were  aimed  at,  they  withdrew  their  op- 
position. Some  of  the  Catholic  nobil- 
ity and  gentry  petitioned  to  be  heard 
by  counsel  against  the  bill,  and  Sir 
Theobald  Butler,  Sir  Stephen  Rice,  and 


*  The  admirable  and  unanswerable  arguments  of  the 
Catholic  counsel  against  the  bill  have  been  preserved  in 
the  appendix  to  Curry's  Bedew;  and  will  also  be  found 


Counsellor  Malone,  were  accordingly 
allowed  to  appear  against  it  at  the  bar 
of  the  Houses  of  Lords  and  Commons; 
but  all  their  appeals  to  the  laws  or 
treaties,  or  to  the  justice  or  humanity 
of  the  legislature,  were  in  vain.  The 
petitioners  were  told  in  mockery  that 
if  they  were  deprived  of  the  benefits 
of  the  articles  of  Limerick  it  would  be 
their  own  fault,  since  by  conforming  to 
the  established  religion,  they  would  be 
entitled  to  these  and  many  other  ad- 
vantages ;  that  therefore  they  ought 
not  to  blame  any  but  themselves ;  that 
the  passing  of  that  bill  into  a  law  was 
needful  for  the  security  of  the  kingdom 
at  that  juncture;  and,  in  short,  that 
there  was  nothing  in  the  treaty  of  Lim- 
erick which  hindered  them  to  pass  it  !* 
"  The  bill,"  says  Mr.  O'Conor,  "  passed 
without  a  dissentient  voice ;  without 
the  opposition  or  protest  of  a  single  in- 
dividual to  proclaim  that  there  was  one 
man  of  righteousness  in  that  polluted 
assembly  to  save  it  from  the  rej^roach 
of  universal  depravity ."f  On  the  4th 
of  March,  1704,  it  received  the  royal 
assent ;  and  on  the  lYth,  the  Commons 
resolved  unanimously,  that  all  magis- 
trates and  others  who  neglected  to  put 
the  laws  in  execution  against  the  Pa- 
pists betrayed  the  public  liberty.  In 
June,  1705,  they  resolved  that  the  say- 
ing or  hearing  of  Mass  by  any  one  who 
had  not  taken  the  oath  of  abjuration 


in  the  appendix  to  Plowden's  Historical  Review,  and  in 
Taaffe's  History. 
f  O'Conor's  History  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  p.  169. 


632 


REIGN    OF    QUEEN    ANNE. 


was  illegal,  and  that  any  judges  or 
magistrates  who  neglected  to  inquire 
into  and  discover  such  wicked  practices 
•u'ere  enemies  to  the  queen's  govern- 
ment ;  and  in  order  to  remove  the  re- 
pugnance which  people  naturally  feel 
for  the  infamous  trade  of  informers  and 
priest-hunters,  it  was  unanimously  re- 
solved that  the  prosecuting  and  inform- 
ing against  Papists  was  an  honorable 
service  to  the  State.  But  these  brutal 
laws  were  not  j^et  stringent  enough, 
and  to  consolidate  the  system,  an  act 
was  passed,  in  1 Y09,  to  explain  and  amend 
the    act   for    preventing    the    further 


*  Letter  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe.  We  may  say 
with  Mr.  Lawless,  that  "  it  is  painful  to  recall  the  mind 
to  the  contemplation  of  these  laws,  which  were  con- 
ceived by  the  malignant  genius  of  monojwly  ;  that  for 
the  interests  of  mankind,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  better  to 
bury  these  examples  of  public  infamy,  the  very  mention 
of  which  must  more  or  less  contribute  to  the  degrada- 
tion of  public  morals  ;  but  that  the  duties  of  the  his- 
torian silence  the  voice  of  the  philanthropist"  (Lawkss's 
Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  31G) ;  but  as  a  still  stronger 
reason  for  dwelling  on  the  loathsome  details,  we  may 
add,  that  under  the  withering  influence  of  these  laws 
successive  generations  of  Irish  Catholics  grew  up  and 
passed  away ;  that  their  eifects  on  the  moral  and  ma- 
terial interests  of  the  nation  remained  long  after  the 
barbarous  laws  themselves  were  eflaced  from  the  statute- 
book,  and  that  there  are  many  circumstances  in  the  so- 
cial state  of  Ireland  at  this  moment  which  must  be  ex- 
plained by  a  reference  to  the  penal  code.  For  these 
reasons  we  subjoin  the  following  enumeration  of  the 
Irish  penal  laws  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  as  given  by 
Taaffe  (Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  5G7,  &c.) :  "  If  the 
eldest  or  any  other  son  became  a  Protestant,  the  father, 
if  possessing  an  estate  by  descent  or  purchase,  was  ren- 
dered incapable  of  disposing  any  part  of  it,  even  in 
legacies  or  portions.  If  a  child  pretended  to  be  a  Pro- 
testant, the  guardianship  of  it  was  taken  from  the  father 
and  vested  in  the  next  Protestant  relation.  If  children 
became  Protestants,  the  parents  were  compelled  to  dis- 
cover the  amount  of  their  property,  that  the  Court  of 
Chanceiy  might  at  pleasure  allot  portions  for  the  rebel- 
lious children.  If  a  wife  became  a  Protestant  during  the 
lifetime  of  her  husband,  she  should  have  such  provision 


growth  of  Popery,  so  that  the  code  was 
now,  as  Burke  describes  it,  "  a  machine 
of  wise  and  elaborate  contrivance,  and 
as  well  fitted  for  the  oppression,  im- 
povei'isbment,  and  degradation  of  a 
people,  and  the  debasement  in  them 
of  human  nature  itself,  as  ever  pro- 
ceeded from  the  perverted  ingenuity  of 
man."  ''•" 

During  the  whole  of  Anne's  reign 
the  penal  laws  were  enforced  with  rig- 
orous severity,  yet  the  persecuted  Cath- 
olics of  Ireland  could  be  charged  with 
no  act  of  disloyalty.  In  England,  and 
among  the  Irish  Protestants,  the  dis- 


as  the  lord  chancellor  thought  fit  to  adjudge.  If  no 
Protestant  heir,  the  estate  was  to  bo  divided  among  the 
children,  &c.,  share  and  share  alike.  (This  amounted 
to  the  abolition  of  promogeniture  for  Catholics.) — The 
heirs  of  a  Protestant  possessor,  if  Papists,  disinherited, 
and  the  estate  transferred  to  the  next  Protestant  rela- 
tion.— Papists  rendered  incapable  of  purchasing  lands, 
or  rents  or  profits  from  lands,  or  taking  leases  for  any 
term  over  thirty-one  years  ;  and  if  the  profit  on  the  farm 
exceeded  one-third  of  the  rent,  the  possessor  might  be 
ousted,  and  the  property  vested  in  the  Protestant  discov- 
erer.— Papists  rendered  incapable  of  anntiities. — De- 
prived of  votes  at  elections. — Incapacitated  from  serving 
on  grand-juries. — Expelled  from  Limerick  and  Galway. 
— Limited  to  two  apprentices,  except  in  the  linen-trade. 
— Twenty  pounds  penalty  or  two  months'  imprisonment 
for  not  acknowledging  when  and  where  Mass  was  cele- 
brated ;  who  and  what  persons  were  present ;  when  or 
where  a  priest  or  schoolmaster  resided. — Popish  clergy 
to  be  registered,  and  to  officiate  only  in  the  parish  in 
wliich  they  are  registered. — £50  reward  for  discovering 
a  popish  archbishop,  bishop,  vicar-general,  or  any  per- 
son exercising  foreign  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. — £20 
reward  for  a  regular  or  secular  clergyman  not  registered. 
— £10' reward  for  a^  Popish  schoolmaster  or  usher. — 
These  rewards  to  be  le\'ied  exclusively  on  Papists. — Ad- 
vowsons  of  Papists  vested  in  her  majesty. — £30  per  an- 
num settled  upon  priests  becoming  Protestants."  By 
another  law  the  Catholics  were  prevented  from  purchas- 
ing any  part  of  the  forfeited  estates,  tut  allowed  to 
dwell  on  them  as  laborers  or  cottiers,  provided  their 
tenement  did  not  exceed  in  value  the  rent  of  thirty 
shillings  a  year. 


RIGOROUS   EXECUTION   OF   THE   PENAL   LAWS. 


633 


sensious  of  Whigs  and  Tories  daily  in- 
creased in  virulence ;  violent  ruptures 
took  place  between  the  English  Houses 
of  Lords  and  Commons;  in  Ireland, 
the  dissenters  complained  loudly  of  the 
grievances  inflicted  on  thera  by  the 
high  church  party ;  and  all  the  attempts 
made  by  the  profligate  earl  of  Wharton 
and  other  viceroys  to  unite  all  sects  of 
Protestants  against  the  "  common  ene- 
ni}^,"  as  the  Catholics  were  termed, 
proved  ineffectual.  The  English  par- 
liament enacted  several  laws  to  bind 
Ireland,  and  yet  no  protest  was  now 
made  against  them  by  the  degenerate 
Irish  parliament,  which  seemed  content 
witli  the  liberty  to  make  laws  against 
the  Catholics.  It  appeared  to  be  a  set- 
tled principle,  that  the  Catholics  were 
to  be  harassed  even  to  extermination.* 
"The  last  consummation,"  says  an  elo- 


*  In  1709  some  of  tlic  extirpated  Catliolics  were  re- 
placed by  colonies  of  Protestants  from  diiForent  parts  of 
Germany,  but  known  by  the  general  name  of  Palatines. 
Many  tliousands  of  those  Germans  came  to  England, 
«  and  Dr  Curry  says,  that  841  families  were  bronght  over 
to  Ireland  (Lodge  makes  the  number  500  families, 
averaging  sis  persons  each,  vol  vi.,  p.  3-t),  and  tliat  the 
sum  of  f  i4,850  was  appointed  for  their  maintenance 
out  of  the  public  revenue  ;  but  parliament  soon  grew 
tired  of  the  burden,  for  in  1711  the  Lords,  in  addressing 
the  queen,  thanked  her  that  by  her  care  she  had  antici- 
pated their  own  endeavors  to  free  tlie  nation  from  the 
load  of  debt  "  which  the  bringing  over  numbers  of  use- 
less and  indigent  Palatines  had  brought  upon  them." 
Burnett  tolls  us,  that  the  English  Commons  voted  that 
those  who  had  encouraged  and  brought  over  the  Pala- 
tines were  enemies  to  the  nation  (vol.  ii.,  p.  .S38).  In 
Ireland  their  chief  patron  was  Sir  Thomas  Southwell, 
afterwards  baron  of  Castlematrcss,  and  ancestor  of  Vis- 
count Southwell.  Their  principal  colony  was  fixed  at 
Courtmatress  near  R.athkeale,  and  colonies  were  subse- 
quently planted  at  Adare,  Castle  Oliver,  and  other  places 
in  the  county  of  Limerick,  and  also  at  some  localities  ' 
in  Kerry.  The  Palatines  got  farms  on  leases  for  three  j 
80 


quent  writer,  "  was  now  perfected.  The 
land  Avas  reduced  to  a  waste,  yet  fear 
and  discord  still  reigned ;  solitude  was 
everywhere,  but  peace  was  not  yet  es- 
tablished. Emic-rations  became  numer- 
ous  and  frequent ;  all  who  could  fly, 
fled.  They  left  behind  a  government 
a  prey  to  every  vice,  and  a  country  a 
victim  to  eveiy  wrong.  The  facility 
of  acquiring  property  liy  the  violation 
of  the  natural  duties  of  social  life  was 
too  powerful  a  temptation  :  dishonesty, 
treachery,  and  extravagance  prevailed. 
The  rewards  of  conformity  cast  at  large 
the  seeds  of  mutual  distrust  in  the 
hearts  of  child  and  of  j^arent.  Hypoc- 
risy and  dissimulation  were  applauded 
and  recompensed  by  the  laws  them- 
selves. A  nursery  for  j'oung  tyrants 
was  formed  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
legislature ;    habitual    oppression    and 


lives  at  two-thirds  of  the  rent  at  which  land  would  be 
let  to  Irish  tenants.  They  were  also  encouraged  in 
various  other  ways ;  and  these  advantages,  with  their 
skilful  husbandry,  and  habits  of  industry,  frugality,  and 
cleanliness,  raised  them  considerably  in  the  scale  of 
comfort  above  their  Irish  neighbors.  When  Arthur 
Young  visited  Ireland  in  1776,  he  found  that  the  Pala- 
tines retained  to  a  great  extent  their  German  customs 
and  maimers.  Even  at  the  present  day,  they  may  be 
said  to  form  distinct  communities,  although  their  an- 
cient national  peculiarities  have  been  long  laid  aside. 
They  are  industrious  and  inoffensive ;  live  in  friendly 
relations  with  their  Catholic  neighbors  ;  and  although 
they  still  adhere  to  some  form  of  Protestantism  (chiefly 
dissent),  they  have  intermamed  in  numerous  instances 
with  Catholics.  After  m.entioning  how  the  Palatines 
"  had  houses  built  for  them,  plots  of  land  assigned  to 
each  at  a  rent  of  favor,  were  assisted  in  stock,  and  all 
of  them  with  leases  for  lives  from  the  head  landlord," 
Arthur  Young  adds  :  "  The  poor  Irish  are  rarely  treated 
i  n  this  manner  ;  when  they  are,  they  work  much  greater 
improvements  than  (are)  common  among  tliose  Ger- 
mans." Such  was  the  impartial  statement  of  a  con- 
temporary English  traveller.     Tour,  &c.,  part  ii.,  p.  18. 


634 


ACCESSIOiSr   OF   GEORGE   I. 


habitual  subserviency  degraded  and 
debased  the  upper  classes.  The  lower, 
without  rights,  without  land,  with 
scarcely  a  home,  with  nothing  which 
truly  gives  country  to  man,  basely 
crept  over  their  native  soil,  defrauded 
of  its  blessings,  '  the  patient  victims  of 
its  wrongs — the  insensible  spectators 
of  its  ruin,'  and  left  behind  them,  be- 
tween the  cradle  and  the  grave,  no 
other  trace  of  their  existence  than  the 
memorial  of  calamities  under  which 
they  bent,  and  of  crimes  which  were 
assiduously  taught  them  by  their  gov- 


ernors." * 


It  M'as  well  known  that  Queen  Anne 
was  opposed  to  the  succession  of  the 
house  of  Hanover,  and  the  chief  aim 
of  her  Tory  ministei's  during  the  latter 
years  of  her  life  was  to  prepare  the 
way  to  bring  in  her  brother,  the  Pre- 
tendei',  at  her  death.  Neither  the 
queen,  however,  nor  her  ministers,  had 
resolution  enough  for  so  important  a 
movement.  All  the  energy  was  to  l)e 
found  on  the  side  of  the  Whigs ;  and 
Anne  had  the  mortification  to  see  her 
brotlier  attainted  by  the  English  par- 
liament, and  a  proclamation  issued  of- 
fering £50,000  reward  for  his  appre- 


*  Hist.  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Association,  by  Thomas 
Wyse,  Esq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  34.  Lord  Chesterfield,  describing 
the  state  of  this  country  a  few  years  later,  says :  "  All 
the  causes  that  ever  destroyed  any  country  conspire  in 
this  point  to  ruin  Ireland."  Misc.eU,  Works,  vol.  iii., 
p.  34. 

f  George  I.  wag  the  eldest  son  of  Ernest  Augustus, 
bishop  of  Osnaburg,  elector  of  Hanover  and  duke  of 
Brunswick-Lunenburg.  His  hereditary  claim  to  the 
throne  of  England  he  derived  through  his  mother,  So- 


hension;  and  to  find  tliat,  contrary  to 
her  express  wishes,  the  successor  chosen 
for  her  hj  the  Whigs  was  invited  into 
England  during  her  lifetime.  These 
provocations  hastened  her  death,  which 
took  place  on  the  1st  of  August,  1714  ; 
and  a  few  hours  after  her  demise  George 
Augustus,  duke  of  Cambridge,  and  son 
of  the  elector  of  Hanover,  was  pro- 
claimed king  as  George  I.f 

The  year  1715  was  memorable  for 
the  rebellion  in  Scotland  in  favor  of 
the  Pretender ;  but  in  Ireland  there 
was  no  sympathetic  movement,  and  this 
country  continued  so  tranquil  that  gov- 
ernment was  able  to  remove  six  regi- 
ments of  foot  to  assist  in  suppressing 
the  insurrection  in  North  Britain.  The 
Irish  parliament  evinced  its  loyalty  by 
setting  a  price  of  J25O,00O  on  the  head 
of  the  Pretender,  and  attainting  the 
duke  of  Ormond,  who  had  joined  the 
standard  of  that  unfortunate  prince. 
Still,  the  Irish  Catholics  were  as  much 
distrusted  and  persecuted  as  ever,  and, 
in  official  language,  were  habitually 
designated  "  the  common  enemy."  The 
lords  justices,  in  their  address  to  the 
Commons  this  year,  recommended  that 
all  distinctions  should  be  put  an  end  to 


phia,  who  was  the  fifth  daughter  of  Frederick  V.,  elec- 
tor-palatine, and  king  of  Bohemia,  and  of  the  princess 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I.  of  England.  He  was 
in  his  55th  year  when  he  ascended  the  throne.  The 
Pretender,  or  James  111.,  as  he  was  styled  on  the  conti- 
nent, would  have  been  acceptable  enough  to  the  people 
of  England  as  Anne's  successor,  were  it  not  for  his  re- 
ligion ;  but  the  attempts  which  his  sister  made  shortly 
before  her  death  to  induce  him  to  abandon  Catholicity 
were  ineffectual. 


CONTEST   BETWEEN   ENGLISH   AND  IRISH  PARLIAMENTS. 


635 


in  this  realm,  save  tliat  of  Protestant 
and  Papist ;  and  the  magistrates,  slier- 
ilfs,  mayors,  and  others  in  authoritj^, 
received  instructions  from  government 
to  execute  with  strictness  the  laws 
against  Catliolics.  Rewards  were  of- 
fered for  the  discovery  of  any  Papist 
that  should  presume  to  enlist  in  the 
king's  service,  "  that  he  might  be  turned 
out  and  punished  with  the  utmost  se- 
verity of  the  law ;"  and  about  the  same 
time  tlie  Commons  resolved,  that  any 
one  instituting  a  prosecution,  under  the 
law  as  it  then  stood,  against  dissenters 
for  entering  the  army  or  militia,  "  was 
an  enemy  to  the  Protestant  interest 
and  a  friend  to  the  Pretender;"  this 
distinction  being  made  between  Cath- 
olics and  dissenters  at  the  very  moment 
that  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  were 
in  ai'ms  for  the  son  of  James  II.,  while 
the  Irish  Catholics  presented  an  aspect 
of  lethargic  tranquillitj-.  The  lords 
justices  granted  orders  for  apprehend- 
ing most  of  the  Catholic  nobility  and 
landholders,  as  persons  suspected  of 
disaffection ;  but  after  a  painful  im- 
prisonment they  were  all  dischai'ged, 
without  even  the  shadow  of  a  case  be- 
ing set  up  against  them.* 

A  contest,  which  excited  a  lively  in- 
terest, now  arose  between  the  English 
and  Irish  Houses  of  Lords  on  a  question 
of   appellate  jurisdiction.     A    case   of 


*  Describing  the  rigor  witli  wliich  the  penal  laws  were 
at  this  time  enforced,  Plowden  says  it  was  "  a  rigid  per- 
secution against  Catholics  for  the  mere  exercise  of  their 
religion ;  their  priests  were  dragged  from  their  conceal- 
ment, many  of  them  were  taken  from  the  altars  whilst 


property  between  Hester  Shei'lock  and 
Maurice  Annesley  having  been  decided 
for  the  respondent  by  the  court  of  ex- 
che(iuer  in  Ireland  in  1719,  the  judg- 
ment was  reversed  on  appeal  by  the 
Irish  House  of  Peers.  Annesley,  the 
respondent,  then  brought  the  cause  be- 
fore the  House  of  Peers  in  England, 
which  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the 
Irish  court  of  exchequer.  The  Irish 
peers  denied  the  legality  of  the  appeal 
to  England,  alleging  that  an  appeal  to 
the  king  in  his  Irish  parliament  was 
definitive  in  any  cause  in  Ireland,  and 
they  obtained  the  opinion  of  the  Irish 
judges  to  that  effect.  The  case  became 
more  complicated  by  the  infliction  of  a 
fine  on  Alexander  Burrowes,  sheriff  of 
Kildare,  for  refusing  to  comply  with 
the  orders  of  the  court  of  exchequer 
and  of  the  English  peers,  by  putting 
Annesley  in  possession  of  the  estate ; 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  Irish  peei's 
removed  the  fine,  and  voted  that  the 
sheriff  had  behaved  with  integrity  and 
courage  in  the  matter.  All  the  reason 
of  the  case  appeared  to  be  on  the  side 
of  the  Irisli  peers,  but  their  English 
masters  soon  made  them  sensible  of 
their  error,  by  enacting — "  That  where- 
as attempts  have  been  lately  made  to 
shake  off  the  subjection  of  Ireland  unto, 
and  dependence  upon,  the  imperial 
crown  of  this  realm ;  and  whereas  the 


performing  divine  service,  exposed  in  their  vestments 
to  the  derision  of  the  soldiery,  then  committed  to  jail, 
and  afterwards  banished  the  kingdom."  History  oj 
Ireland,  yo\.  ii.,  p.  73. 


636 


REIGN    OF   GEORGE    I. 


lords  of  Ireland,  in  order  thereto,  have 
of  late,  against  la^\^,  assumed  to  them- 
selves a  power  and  jurisdiction  to  ex- 
amine and  amend  the  judgments  and 
decrees  of  the  courts  of  justice  in  Ire- 
laud  ;  therefore,  <fec.,  it  is  declared  and 
enacted,  tfec,  that  the  said  kingdom  of 
Ireland  hath  been,  is,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  subordinate  unto,  and  de- 
pendent upon,  the  imperial  crown  of 
Great  Britain,  as  being  inseparably 
united  and  annexed  thereunto;  and 
that  the  king's  majestj^,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  Commons 
of  Great  Britain  in  parliament  assem- 
bled, had,  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to 
have,  full  power  and  authority  to  make 
laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force  and 
validity  to  bind  the  peoj^le  of  the 
kincrdom  of  Ireland.  And  it  is  further 
enacted  and  declared,  that  the  House 
of  Lords  of  Ireland  have  not,  nor  of 
right  ought  to  have,  any  jurisdiction  to 
judge  of,  affirm,  or  reverse  anj- judgment, 
etc.,  made  in  any  court  Avithin  the  said 
kingdom,"  &c. 

Thus  was   the   Ii-ish   parliament   de- 
graded to  the  rank  of  a  provincial  as- 


*  Sist.  of  GdthoUa  Association,  i.,  p.  28.  The  Irisli 
Protestant,  observes  Mr.  Wyse,  "  had  succeeded  in  es- 
cluding  the  Catholics  from  all  power,  and  for  a  moment 
held  triumphant  and  exclusive  possession  of  the  con- 
quest ;  but  he  w.-.s  merely  a  locum  tenens  for  a  more 
powerful  conqueror,  a  jackal  for  the  lion,  au  Irish  stew- 
ard for  an  English  master ;  and  the  time  soon  came 
round  when  he  was  obliged  to  render  up  reluctantly, 
but  immediately,  even  this  oppressive  trust.  The  ex- 
clusive system  was  turned  against  him ;  lie  had  made 
the  executive  entirely  Protestant ;  the  Whigs  of  George 
I.  male  it  almost  entirely  Enr/Ush.    His  victory  paved 


semldy,  and  Ireland  reduced  to  a  state 
of  "  a  mere  grovelling  colony,  regulated 
l:)y  the  avarice  or  fears  of  a  stranger  ;* 
and  in  this  state  did  they  continue  until 
the  glorious  epoch  of  1782.  But  the 
humiliation  of  the  Irish  legislature  did 
not  blunt  its  appetite  for  oppressing  the 
Catholics.  In  1719,  an  act  was  passed 
to  exempt  the  Protestant  dissenters 
from  certain  penalties  to  which  they 
were  liable  in  common  with  the  Cath- 
olics ;  and,  as  if  it  were  necessary  that 
this  simple  justice  to  the  dissenter 
should  be  relieved  by  a  fresh  exhibition 
of  malignity  to  the  Papist,  a  bill  was 
brou2:ht  in  1Y23  for  still  more  effect- 
ually  preventing  the  further  growth  of 
Popery.  The  bill,  however,  contained 
a  clause  of  so  savage  a  nature  against 
the  Catholic  clergy,  that  the  whole  bru- 
tal measure  was  suppressed  in  Eng- 
land, and  thus  fell  to  the  ground. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  reign  we  be- 
gin to  hear  of  "  patriots"  as  a  new  party 
in  Ireland,  different  from  "Whigs  and 
Tories,f  and  standing  rather  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  English  party,  by 
whom  they  "were  usually  styled  the 
"disaffected."      Their   leader   was   the 


the  way  for  another  far  easier,  and  far  more  important. 
Popery  fell,  but  Ireland  fell  with  it." — Ibid.,  p.  27. 

f  Some  hold  that  the  Whigs  and  Tories  were,  from 
the  beginning,  respectively  identical  in  principle  with 
the  parties  which  now  bear  those  names,  and  that 
the  only  diflTerence  was  one  of  circumstances,  wliich 
caused  men  to  act  at  one  time  very  differently  from  what 
they  would  at  another  time,  although  actuated  all  the 
wliile  by  the  same  principles.  At  all  events,  the  Whigs 
and  Tories  of  the  period  of  which  we  now  treat  begin 
to  assume  a  closer  resemblance  than  they  previously  had 
to  the  more  modern  parties. 


WOOD'S   HALF-PENCE.— "DRAPIER'S   LETTERS." 


637 


celebrated  Dr.  Jonathan  Swift,  dean  of 
St.  Patrick's,  who  in  religion  belonged 
to  the  Tory  or  high-church  j^arty,  and 
in  politics  adhered  to  the  Whigs  ;  but 
who  practically  separated  himself  from 
both,  and  employed  his  great  powers 
as  a  writer  to  uphold  the  interests  of 
Ireland  against  the  hostile  influence  of 
the  British  cabinet.  Swift  had  already 
exerted  himself  as  an  advocate  of  Irish 
manufiictures  against  English  monop- 
oly ;  but  a  circumstance  now  occurred 
which  called  into  action  Avith  memo- 
rable effect  all  his  wonderful  energy. 
In  1793,  one  William  Wood,  a  scheming 
Englishman,  obtained  from  George  I., 
throu2;h  the  influence  of  the  duchess  of 
Kendal,  the  king's  mistress,  a  patent 
for  supplying  Ireland  with  a  coinage  of 
copper  half-pence  and  forthings  to  the 
amount  of  £108,000.  It  must  be  re- 
rembered  that  this  was  an  age  of  frauds 
on  a  gigantic  scale.  France  had  been 
just  before  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin 
by  the  Mississippi  scheme,  and  England 
was  still  suffering  from  the  disaster  of 
the  South  Sea  bubble.  Some  such  ca- 
lamity was  anticipated  in  Ireland  from 
Wood's  patent,  and  the  cry  of  alarm 
was  universally  raised  against  it.  Swift 
took  up  the  subject  in  his  celebrated 
"  Drapier's  Letters,"  in  which,  assuming 
the  character  of  a  Dublin  draper,  he 
attacked  the  job  in  a  style  of  argument 
and  ridicule  that  produced  an  amazing 
effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  people. 


*  It  is  alleged  that  Wood's  copper  Lad  been  assayed 
at  the  mint  and  found  to  be  of  the  rsquir  ed  value,  and 


Every  class,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  throughout  Ireland,  was  inspired 
with  horror  for  Wood's  half-pence.  The 
incomparable  "  drapier"  told  them  that 
Wood  had  employed  so  base  an  alloy 
for  his  half-pence,  that  the  whole  mass 
which  would  be  forced  upon  the  coun- 
try in  lieu  of  £108,000,  would  not  be 
worth  £8,000;  that  twenty-four  of 
those  half-pence  would  be  scarcely 
worth  more  than  one  penny  ;  that  the 
price  of  commodities  should  be  raised 
in  proportion  as  the  value  of  the 
coin  was  depressed,  so  that  a  penny- 
worth could  not  be  sold  for  less  than  at 
lea,st  twenty  of  the  half-pence ;  that 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  Wood 
from  imposing  upon  Ireland  any  quan- 
tity of  his  base  copper  that  he  chose,  so 
that  at  length  all  the  gold  and  silver 
coin  might  be  withdrawn  from  the 
country ;  in  which  case  a  lady  could 
not  go  out  shopping  without  taking  a 
wagon-load  of  the  vile  half-pence 
along  with  her ;  and  a  gentleman  of 
moderate  property  would  require  scores 
of  horses  to  draw  home  his  half-year's 
rent,  and  extensive  cellars  in  which  to 
stow  it  away !  As  to  the  position  in 
which  a  banker  would  be  placed  when 
Ireland  had  no  coin  but  Wood's  half- 
pence, it  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 
"In  fact,"  says  the  drapier,  "if  Mr. 
Wood's  project  should  take,  it  would 
ruin  even  our  beggars  ;*  for,  when  I  give 
a  beggar  a  half-penny  it  will  quench  his 


that  consequently  all  the  dean's  arguments  were  illu- 
sory. 


638 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  I. 


tliii'st,  or  go  fi  good  way  to  fill  his  belly  ; 
but  tlie  twelfth  part  of  a  half-penny 
will  do  him  no  more  service  than  if  I 
should  give  him  three  pins  out  of  my 
sleeve."  In  tlie  midst  of  the  ferment 
about  Wood's  patent,  Dr.  Hugh  Boul- 
ter, an  Englishman,  was  made  arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  and  sent  over  here 
to  manage  the  English  interest,  as  it 
was  called— that  is,  to  keep  every  thing 
in  Ireland  subservient  to  English  views 
and  interests.  For  nearly  twenty  years 
he  continued  to  fill  that  post,  and  during 
the  interval  the  functions  of  the  vice- 
roy were  little  more  than  nominal, 
every  tiling  being  done  by  the  counsel 
and  management  of  Primate  Boulter. 
Within  a  foi'tnight  after  his  arrival  in 
Ireland  he  wrote  to  the  duke  of  New- 
castle that  things  were  in  a  very  bad 
state  here,  "  the  people  so  poisoned  with 
apprehension  of  Wood's  lialf-pence, 
that  he  did  not  see  there  could  be  any 
hopes  of  justice  against  any  person  for 
seditious  writings  if  he  did  but  mix 
something  about  Wood  in  tLem."  It 
was  well  known  that  Swift'  was  the 
author  of  the  Drapier's  Letters,  yet  the 
government  could  obtain  no  evidence 
against  him,  althougli  a  reward  of  £300 
was  oftered  for  the  discovery  of  tlie 
writer,  and  Swift's  seci'et  was  known  to 
several.  The  printer,  Hai'ding,  was 
taken  up  and  prosecuted ;  but  the 
first  grand-juiy  ignored  the  bill  against 
him  ;  and  when  Chief-justice  Whitshed, 
the  corrupt  tool  of  government,  caused 
another  grand-jury  to  be  sworu,  they 
went  I'urtlier  than  tlie  former  jury,  by 


passing  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  writer 
of  the  Drapier's  Letters  and  presenting 
Wood's  scheme  as  a  fraud  on  the  jiublic. 
At  length,  in  1725,  the  obnoxious  pat- 
ent was  withdrawn ;  Wood  receiving 
an  indemnity  of  £3,000  a  year  for 
twelve  years ;  and  the  popularity  of 
Dean  Swift  rose  to  a  height  wliich 
had  no  precedent  in  Ireland  at  that 
time. 

No  other  event  of  importance  marked 
the  reign  of  Geoi'ge  I.,  who  died  at  Os- 
uaburg,  in  Germany,  on  the  10th  of 
June,  1727,  in  the  sixty-eightk  year  of 
his  afre  and  the  thirteenth  of  his  reio-n. 
From  the  time  he  ascended  the  throne 
he  had  sufi'ered  himself  to  be  governed 
implicitly  by  the  Whigs;  and  under 
him  all  the  faults  of  English  misrule  in 
Ireland  were  canied  to  the  extreme. 
It  was  an  age  of  political  and  sosial 
turpitude.  For  a  long  time  past  a  flood 
of  immorality  had  been  inundating 
England,  and  the  few  attempts  then 
made  to  stem  the  torrent  of  ci'ime  there 
only  indicated  the  vastness  of  the  evil. 
Religion  had  long  since  disappeared, 
and  honor  followed.  Corruption  and 
venality  in  public  men,  and  avarice, 
prodigality,  and  shame-faced  profligacy 
in  piivate  life,  wei'e  the  chai'acteristic 
vices.  The  dominant  faction  in  Ireland 
had  not  escaped  the  contagion;  but 
the  Irish  Catholics  were  humbled  and 
oppressed  too  low  to  come  within  its 
sphere.  The  chastening  rod  of  afilic- 
tion  was  heavy  upon  them,  and  the 
fidelity  Avith  which  they  clung  to  their 
religion    during   those    evil    days,   and 


CATHOLICS  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  VOTE. 


Co  9 


uucler  all  the  liarniliations  and  temporal 
grievances  wliich  it  brought  upon  them, 
is  assuredly  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
thinsfs  related  in  their  checkered  his- 
tory."- 

On  the  accession  of  George  II.,  the 
Catholics  ventured  to  jirepare  an  ad- 
dress to  the  new  monarch  expressing 
their  loyalty,  and  i:iledging  themselves 
to  a  continuance  of  their  peaceful  de- 
meanor. The  address  was  presented 
hj  Lord  Delvin  to  the  lords  justices 
(one  of  whom  was  Primate  Boulter), 
witli  a  prayer  that  it  might  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  king;  but  it  was  received 
Avith  silent  contempt,  and  was  never 
forwarded  to  England.  Hitherto  Cath- 
olics miglit  vote  at  elections,  on  tak- 
ing the  oatlis  of  allegiance  and  abjura- 


*  Perbaps  the  follon-ing  beautiful  words  of  Cardinal 
Wiseman,  describing  the  steadfastness  of  the  Irish  iu 
the  Catholic  faith,  are  not  more  applicable  to  any  period 
than  to  tliat  at  which  we  have  now  arrived.  In  his  ser- 
mon at  the  consecration  of  the  new  church  at  Ballina- 
sloe,  his  eminence  said:  "Throw  on  one  side  wealth, 
nobility,  and  worldly  position  ;  the  influence  of  superior 
education  of  the  highest  class  ;  literature,  science,  and 
whatever  belongs  to  those  who  command,  according  to 
this  world.  Cast  into  the  other  scale  poverty  and 
misery,  the  absence  almost  for  ages  of  the  power  of 
culture  ;  the  dependence  totally  for  all  that  is  necessary 
in  this  life,  for  daily  food  itself,  upon  those  who  belong 
to  the  other  class.  See  these  two  bodies  acting  for  cen- 
turies reciprocally  upon  one  another.  Suppose  it  to  be 
a  matter  of  mere  human  opinion,  human  principle, 
science,  or  of  that  knowledge  of  every  sort  that  distin- 
guishes them,  and  judge  if  it  is  possible,  that  for  hun- 
dreds of  years  that  which  is  so  much  greater,  more 
powerful,  and  more  wise  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  ought 
not  to  have  crumbled  and  crushed  under  itself  that 
which  was  absolutely  subject  to  it,  and  lying  under  its 
feet,  and  reduced  it  into  a  homogeneous  mass ;  and 
breaking  down  the  barriers  of  opinion  that  separated 
the  two,  have  made  them  in  this  become  but  one." 
And  describing  how  soon  such  an  effect  was  produced  iu 
England,  where  "  a  few  j-ears  of  superiority  in  one  class. 


tion ;  but  in  1727  a  bill  was  brought 
into  the  Irish  parliament  which  de- 
prived them  of  this  last  vestige  of  con- 
stitutional rights.  It  was  simply  en- 
titled, "  A  bill  for  further  regulating  the 
election  of  members  of  j^arliament,"  and 
no  intimation  was  given  that  any  new- 
penal  enactment  was  intended ;  but 
without  any  notice  oi-  debate,  or  any 
cause  being  assigned,  a  clause  was  in- 
troduced which  enacted,  "that  no  Pa- 
pist, though  not  convict,  should  be  en- 
titled or  admitted  to  vote  at  the  election 
of  any  member  to  serve  in  parliament, 
or  of  any  magistrate  for  any  city  or 
town  corporate."f  This  was  effected 
throus'h  the  manacrement  of  Primate 
Boulter,  who  in  the  next  place  busied 
himself  in  the  establishment  of  Protest- 


whicli  monopolized  all  earthly  advantages,  wore  away 
the  patient  resistance  of  those  who  would  not  otherwise 
have  altered  their  faith,  until  at  length  districts  which 
once  were  most  fervent  and  most  zealously  Catholic 
hardly  heard  that  name  amongst  them,  and  scarcely  a 
trace  was  left  in  the  feelings  and  traditions  of  the  people, 
of  the  former  existence  of  the  Catholic  church  amongst 
them  ;"  he  asked  what  has  caused  this  distinction,  and 
answers,  "  I  cannot  see  but  this  difference,  that  it  pleased 
God,  by  one  of  those  dispensations  which  we  must  not 
endeavor  to  penetrate,  to  allow  religion  there  to  take, 
perhaps,  a  nobler  and  more  magnificent  hold  upon  the 
surface  of  the  land,  demonstrating  itself  by  more  splen- 
did edifices,  by  more  noble  endowments  of  universities, 
colleges,  and  hospitals  ;  while  here  He  makes  its  roots 
strike  deep  into  the  very  soil,  and  so  take  possession  of 
the  soil  that  it  was  impossible  to  ever  uproot  it." — Card. 
Wiseman's  Tour  in  Ireland,  ■p^.  23,  23,  24. — Dablin: 
J.  Duffy. 

f  The  disfranchisement  of  Catholics  is  included  by 
Taaffe  among  the  disabilities  enacted  in  the  reign  of 
Anne.  We  may  here  add,  that  in  order  to  preclude 
Catholics  from  a  knowledge  of  proceedings  in  parlia- 
ment, it  was  made  a  standing  order  of  the  Irish  House 
of  Commons,  in  1713,  "  that  the  scrgeant-at-arms  should 
take  into  custody  all  Papists  that  were  or  should  presume 
to  come  into  the  galleries." 


640 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  II. 


ant  charter  schools,  of  which  he  may 
be  said  to  have  been  the  founder.  "  The 
great  number  of  Papists  in  this  king- 
dom," he  wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Lon- 
don, "and  the  obstinacy  with  which 
they  adiiere  to  their  own  religion,  occa- 
sions our  trying  what  may  be  done 
with  their  children  to  bring  them  over 
to  our  Church."*  So  well  was  the 
secret  of  proselytisni  even  then  under- 
stood. An  intense  anxiety  was  felt  at 
this  time  to  exclude  from  the. legal  pro- 
fession not  only  Catholics  but  even 
converts  from  Catholicity.  "  We  must 
be  all  undone  here,"  says  Primate 
Boulter,  "  if  that  profession  gets  into 
the  hands  of  converts,  where  it  is  al- 
ready got,  and  where  it  every  day  gets 
more  and  more."  A  convert  should 
test  his  sincerity  1)y  five  years'  pei'se- 
verance  in  Protestantism  before  he 
could  be  admitted  a  barrister;  and  in 
1728,  a  stringent  act  was  passed  to 
prevent  Papists  from  practising  as  soli- 
citors. 

While  this  latter  measure  was  pend- 
ing, some  Catholics  set  a  subscription 
on  foot  to  oppose  it  in  parliament; 
and  one  Henuessy,  a  suspended  j^riest, 
gave  information  to  government  that 


*  Boulter's  Letters,  vol.  ii.,  p.  10.  In  the  same  letter, 
wHch  is  dated  May  5,  1730,  he  writes :  "  I  can  assure 
j-ou,  the  Papists  are  here  so  numerous  that  it  highly 
concerns  us  in  point  of  interest,  as  well  as  out  of  con- 
cern for  the  salvation  of  those  poor  creatures,  who  are 
our  fellow-subjects,  to  try  all  possible  means  to  bring 
them  and  theirs  over  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  re- 
ligion. And  one  of  the  most  likely  methods  we  can 
think  of  is,  if  possible,  instructing  and  converting  tie 
young  generation  ;  for,  instead  of  converting  those  who 
are  adult,  we  arc  daily  losing  several  of  our  meaner 


the  subscription  was  for  the  Pretender, 
that  large  sums  were  collected,  and  that 
certain  Catholic  bishops  were  the  or- 
ganizers of  the  scheme.  It  happened 
that  only  £5  were  collected,  but  the 
House  of  Commons  caused  a  commis- 
sion of  inquiry  to  issue,  which  magnified 
and  distorted  the  facts.  The  matter, 
however,  went  no  further. 

For  some  years  great  distress  had 
prevailed,  and  the  depression  of  trade 
and  general  discontent  which  resulted, 
drove  vast  numbers  to  emisrrate  :  but 
the  emigration  was  chiefly  confined  to 
the  northern  Protestants,  and  this  in- 
creased the  disproportion  of  Catholics 
and  Protestants  and  was  a  fresh  source 
of  alarm. 

More  stringent  measures  were  taken 
to  disai-m  the  Catholics,  so  that  even 
a  Protestant  in  the  employment  of 
a  Catholic  was  not  allowed  to  have 
arm.s.  In  1733,  the  duke  of  Dor- 
set, then  lord-lieuteuaut,  caused  a  bill 
to  be  laid  before  the  Irish  parliament 
to  relieve  the  dissenters  from  the 
test  act,  and  recommended  a  firm  union 
among  all  Protestants,  as  having  one 
common  interest  and  the  same  common 
enemy — namely,    the    Catholics ;    but 


people  who  go  off  to  Popery."  {Ibid.,  pp.  11,13.)  Two 
days  after  he  wrote  to  the  same  effect  to  the  duke  of 
Newcastle,  asking  a  charter  for  a  Protestant  school  cor- 
poration "  to  take  the  management  of  schools  for  in- 
structing the  Popish  youth,"  and  the  charter  was  ac- 
cordingly granted.  Boulter  estimated  that  there  were 
"five  Papists  to  one  Protestant,"  and  "near  3,000  Po- 
pish priests  of  all  sorts"  in  Ireland ;  and  the  Pro- 
testant bishop,  Berkeley,  writing  in  1744,  makes  the 
numbers  in  Munster  eight  Papists  to  one  Protest- 
ant. 


RUMORS   OF   A   FRENCH   INVASION. 


641 


the  measure  was  opposed  by  Dean 
Swift  and  the  patriots,  and  was  with- 
drawn.* 

Rumors  of  an  intended  French  inva- 
sion, in  1744,  gave  rise  to  a  fresh  ebul- 
lition of  rage  against  the  Catholics ;  a 
search  was  made  in  private  houses  for 
the  priests,  and  the  chapels  were  closed. 
In  England,  the  Catholics  were  expelled 
from  London  ;  but  in  Ireland,  where 
they  were  too  numerous  for  expulsion, 
the  idea  of  getting  rid  of  them  by  a 
massacre  seems  to  have  been  very 
generally  entertained.  This  diabolical 
project  was  even  suggested  by  a  noble- 
man in  the  J^rivy  council ;  and  a  con- 
spiracy to  carry  it  into  execution  was 
actually  formed  in  Ulster,  the  pretence 
being  that  the  Catholics  intended  to 


*  The  frequent  distress  alluded  to  in  the  text  arose 
from  a  complication  of  causes.  Agricultural  improve- 
ment was  discouraged  among  the  Catholics  by  the  pe- 
nal laws,  which  prevented  a  Catholic  from  obtaining  a 
long  lease,  and  also  exposed  him  to  be  deprived  of  his 
farm  if  it  could  be  shown  that  the  rent  was  less  than 
two-thirds  of  the  full  improved  value  of  the  land.  Agii- 
culture  was  still  further  paralyzed  by  a  resolution  of  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons  in  1735,  which  was  allowed  to 
pass  as  law,  and  which,  by  abolishing  agistment  tithes 
on  barren  cattle,  relieved  the  owners  of  pasture  lands, 
and  threw  the  great  burden  of  the  tithes  on  tillage. 
Potatoes  had  long  since  become  almost  the  exclusive 
food  of  the  Irish  peasantry ;  and  the  entire  jTotatoe  crop 
of  1739  having  been  destroyed  by  a  severe  frost  in  No- 
vember (it  being  at  that  time  the  custom  to  leave  pota- 
toes in  the  ground  until  Christmas),  a  frightful  famine 
ensued  in  1740  and  1741,  and  it  was  estimated  that 
400,000  persons  died  of  starvation  in  those  fatal  years. 
See  Professor  Curry's  letter  in  a  tract  on  this  famine, 
published  in  1846  ;  also  Dr.  ^Yilde's  Mcports  on  Deaths, 
Census  Papers. 

f  Dr.  Curry,  who  tells  us  that  the  atrocious  suggestion 

of  the  priv}^  councillor  "  was  quickly  overruled  by  that 

honorable  assembly,"  adds.  "  yet  so  entirely  were  some 

of  the  lower  northern  dissenters  possessed  by  this  pre- 

81 


murder  the  Protestants.f  Nevertheless 
when  the  Scottish  rebellion  broke  out, 
in  1745,  there  was  no  corresponding 
movement  in  Ireland.  The  army  of 
Prince  Charles  Edward  ou  that  occasion 
was,  indeed,  composed  to  a  great  extent 
of  Irishmen,  or  men  of  Irish  extraction, 
but  these  had  been  already  in  the  ser- 
vice of  France ;  if  and  in  Ireland  a 
tranquillity  prevailed  which,  under  such 
dire  provocation,  could  only  have  been 
the  result  of  the  deepest  depression. 
The  dansjer  which  mi2;ht  arise  from 
Irelan.d  at  such  a  juncture  was,  however, 
formidable,  and  the  earl  of  Chesterfield 
M'as  sent  over  as  lord-lieutenant,  to  calm 
public  feeling  by  a  policy  of  concilia- 
tion. He  treated  the  Catholics  with 
lenity,    allowed    them    to   keeji    their 


vaQing  rancor  against  Catholics,  that  in  the  same  year, 
and  for  the  same  declared  purpose  of  prevention,  a  con- 
spiracy was  actually  formed  by  some  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Lurgan,  to  rise  in  the  night-time  and  destroy  all 
their  neighbors  of  that  denomination  in  their  beds." 
This  inhuman  design,  he  says,  was  known  and  attested 
by  several  inhabitants  of  Lurgan,  and  an  account  of  it 
was  transmitted  to  Dublin  by  a  respectable  linen  mer- 
chant of  that  city  then  at  Lurgan.  It  was  also  frus- 
trated "  by  an  information  of  the  honest  Protestant 
publican  in  whose  house  the  conspirators  had  met  to 
settle  the  execution  of  their  scheme,  sworn  before  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ford,  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  that  district, 
who  received  it  with  horror,  and  with  difficulty  put  a 
stop  to  the  intended  massacre." — Curry's  State  of  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland ;  see  also  Plowden,  and  Wright's 
Hist,  of  Ireland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  339. 

j;  So  extensively  was  the  secret  recruiting  for  foreign 
service  carried  ou  in  Ireland,  notwithstanding  the  rigid 
laws  on  the  subject,  that  we  are  told  by  the  Abbe  Mageo- 
ghegan,  ou  the  authority  of  French  official  documents, 
that  more  than  450,000  Irishmen  died  in  the  service  of 
France  between  the  years  1091  and  1745  ;  and  Jlr. 
Newenham,  in  liis  inquiry  into  the  population  of  Ire- 
land, thinks  that  "  we  are  not  sufficioutly  warranted  in 
considering  this  statement  an  exaggeration." 


642 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  II. 


chapels  open,  and  even  encouraged 
their  assemblages,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  employed  secret  agents  to  at- 
tend all  their  places  of  resort,  and 
through  them  learned  that  no  designs 
were  entertained  by  the  Catholics 
against  the  government.  He  also  em- 
ployed skilful  writers  to  disseminate  his 
views  through  the  mediam  of  pretended 
popular  pamphlets  ;  and,  on  the  whole, 
the  policy  which  he  was  sent  to  carry 
out  was  cowardly  and  insincere,  only 
meant  to  deceive  with  false  hopes  in  a 
moment  of  danger.  So  tranquil  was 
Ireland,  that  he  was  able  to  send  four 
battalions  to  assist  the  duke  of  Cum- 
berland against  Charles  Edward  in 
Scotland  ;  but  by  the  battle  of  Cullo- 
den,  April  16th,  1746,  the  insurrection 
in  Scotland  was  crushed ;  and  there 
being  no  longer  any  need  of  a  soothing 
policy  for  Ireland,  Lord  Chesterfield 
was  recalled  on  the  25th  of  the  same 
month,  and  the  government  intrusted 
to  Archbishop  Hoadley,  successor  to 
Boulter,  Lord  Chancellor  Newport,  and 
Mr.  Boyle,  the  then  popular  speaker  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  as  lords  jus- 
tices. 

In  1747,  George  Stone  succeeded 
Hoadley  as  primate,  and  like  Boulter 
became  the  manager  of  the  English  in- 
terest, and  the  virtual  head  of  the 
Irish  government.  He  was  a  proud, 
arrogant,  unprincipled,  and  unscrupu- 
lous man,  and  is  accused  of  having  I'e- 
sorted  to  means  the  most  demoralizing 
to  corrupt  the  Irish  gentry  for  the 
maintenance    of    English     ascendency. 


In  1749  disputes  arose  in  the  Irish  par- 
liament about  the  appropriation  of  the 
surplus  revenue,  and  the  question  of 
privilege  was  revived.  A  bill  was  in- 
troduced in  the  Commons  to  apply  the 
unappropriated  surplus  to  the  liquida- 
tion of  the  national  debt.  The  court 
party  alleged  that  such  an  appropria- 
tion could  not  be  made  without  the 
previous  consent  of  the  crown,  while 
the  patriots  insisted  that  no  such  con- 
sent was  necessary.  The  subject  gave 
rise  to  warm  and  protracted  discussions. 
In  1751  and  1753,  the  dispute  was  re- 
newed with  increased  violence;  the 
duke  of  Dorset,  who  had  been  a  second 
time  appointed  lord-lieutenant,  told  the 
parliament  that  the  king  gave  his 
"  consent  and  recommendation"  to  the 
application  of  the  surplus  towards  the 
reduction  of  the  national  debt ;  but  the 
formula  offended  the  Commons,  who 
regarded  it  as  an  infringement  of  their 
jDrivileges  and  passed  the  bill  without 
any  reference  to  it.  The  English  min- 
istry Avere  enraged,  and  sent  back  the 
bill  from  England,  with  words  interpo- 
lated in  the  preamble  to  express  the 
kind's  recommendation  and  consent. 
From  year  to  year  the  dispute  was  re- 
newed, and  the  patriots  continued  visi- 
bly to  gain  ground.  The  earl  of  Kil- 
dare  presented  to  the  king  in  person  a 
bold  address,  complaining  of  the  arro- 
gance and  the  illegal  and  coirupt  inter- 
ference of  Primate  Stone  and  the  lord- 
lieutenant's  son.  Lord  George  Sackville, 
in  public  affairs.  This  manly  proceed- 
ing was,  itself,  an  important  triumph. 


THE  PATRIOT  PARTY  DISORGANIZED. 


043 


aud  popular  excitement  ran  so  high 
that  the  viceroy  left  the  country  in  dis- 
may ;  but  in  the  end  corruption  pre- 
vailed. By  an  ingenious  complication 
of  intrigues  the  patriot  party  was  dis- 
organized. Henry  Boyle,  the  speaker, 
was  created  earl  of  Shannon,  and  his 
clamorous  but  hollow  patriotism  more- 
over silenced  by  a  pension.  Mr.  Pon- 
sonby,  son  of  the  earl  of  Besborough, 
a  man  of  inordinate  ambition,  was 
elected  speaker ;  Prime  Sergeant  An- 
thony Malone,  another  leading  patriot 
was,  a  little  later,  gratified  with  the 
chancellorship  of  the  exchequer;  and 
although  a  few  men  of  integrity  re- 
mained unpurchased,  the  ranks  of  the 
patriots  were  so  broken  as  to  be  no 
longer  formidable.  Lord  Hartington, 
who  soon  after  became  duke  of  Devon- 
shire, was  sent  over  to  replace  the  duke 
of  Dorset,  and  helped  to  carry  out 
these  arrangements;  but  when,  in  1756, 
he  was  about  to  return  to  England,  in- 
stead  of  counselling,  as  usual,  a  union 
of  Protestants  against  the  "  common 
enemy,"  he  recommended  harmony 
among  all  his  majesty's  subjects.  Lord 
Chancellor  Jocelyn,  and  the  earls  of 
Kildare  and  Besborough,  were  then  ap- 
pointed lords  justices;  and  although  it 
was    soon   found,   as   usually  happens, 


*  Charles  O'Conor  has  left  us  a  brief  memoir  of  his 
friend,  Dr.  Curry,  prefixed  to  the  second  edition  of  the 
Keview  of  the  Civil  Wars.  He  was  descended  from  an 
ancient  Irish  family  of  Cavan — the  O'Corras — who 
were  deprived  of  their  property  in  tlie  usurpation  of 
Cromwell ;  and  maternally  he  was  related  to  Dean 
Swift.  His  grandfather  commanded  a  troop  of  horse 
under  James  II.,  and  fell  at  Aughrim.    Dr.  Curry  studied 


that  the  patriots  did  not  act  up  to  the 
same  jjrinciples  in  office  which  they  ad- 
vocated out  of  it,  still  a  change  had 
come  over  the  spirit  of  the  times ;  a 
bi'ighter  day  was  dawning;  bigotry 
was  on  the  wane,  and  liberal  principles 
began  to  be  appreciated.  To  this 
period  are  to  be  ti-aced  the  first  aspira- 
tions after  religious  liberty  which  the 
oppressed  Irish  Catholics  ventured  to 
breathe — the  first  humble  germs  of  the 
great  Catholic  movement  which  in  after 
years  was  to  assume  such  gigantic  pro- 
portions. 

It  was  in  1746  that  Dr.  John  Curry, 
a  Catholic  physician,  practising  in  Dub- 
lin, and  distinguished  for  his  profes- 
sional ability  aud  humanity,  conceived 
the  idea  of  vindicating  his  country  from 
the  withering  calumnies  which  national 
and  sectarian  hatred  and  rage  for  spoli- 
ation had  invented  and  propagated, 
and  which  credulity  and  hostile  preju- 
dice had  too  readily  accepted.  Some 
valuable  historical  tracts  were  the  first 
results  of  his  learned  and  patriotic 
studies,  and  these  were  matured  a  few 
years  later  into  the  famous  "  Historical 
and  Critical  Review  of  the  Civil  Wars 
of  Ireland,"  which  has  been  so  often 
quoted  in  these  pages.*  Dr.  Curry  for 
some  time  stood  alone,  but  his  writings 


at  Paris,  and  obtained  his  diploma  of  physician  at 
Rheims.  His  first  historical  tract  was  a  dialogue  on  the 
Rebellion  of  1641,  which  appeared  anonymously  in 
1747,  and  drew  forth  a  voluminous  reply  from  Walter 
Harris,  the  editor  of  Ware's  Works.  Dr.  Curry's  re 
joinder,  also  anonymous,  was  liis  "  Historical  Memoirs 
of  the  Irish  Rebellion,"  a  small  book,  first  printed  in 
1T59,  and  which  would  be  invaluable  if  we  had  not  this 


644 


KEIGN  OF    GEORGE  II. 


attracted  the  attention  of  Charles 
O'Conor,  of  Belanagar,  the  eminent 
Irish  antiquary  and  friend  of  Dr.  John- 
son, and  both  were  soon  drawn  toerether 
by  a  commnnity  of  sympathies  on  be- 
half of  their  sufferinEC  co-relimonists. 
To  these  two  men  was  added  a  third 
friend  of  the  cause — Mr.  Wyse,  a  Cath- 
olic gentleman  of  Waterford,  who  en- 
tered with  zeal  into  their  views;  and 
in  tlie  communings  and  correspondence 
of  the  thi'ee  M'ere  to  be  found  the  first 
pulsations  of  returning  life  in  the  Cath- 
olic body  of  Ireland.  Their  first  step 
Avas  to  address  a  circular  to  the  Catho- 
lic clergy  and  aristocracy,  inviting  co- 
operation ;  but  this  effort  failed.  The 
Catholic  aiistocracy  shrunk  from  pub- 
lic notice.  Tliey  had  suffered  too  much 
in  past  times,  and  had  too  much  to  fear 
from  the  future  ;  they  Avere  too  timid, 
too  apathetic,  and  too  proud.  The 
Catliolic  clergy  were  equally  shrinking 
and  equally  timid;  they  feared  the 
slightest  public  movement ;  "  they 
trembled  at  the  possibility  of  plunging 
still  more  deeply  and  inextricably  into 
]>ersecutiou  the  suffering  Church  of  Ire- 
land ;"  the  priest-hunter  was  still  abroad 
and  eager  for  his  prey  ;  but  the  habitual 
solitude  and  exclusion  in  which  they 
had   so   long   sheltered   themselves,  as 


larger  and  more  important  production,  The  Reuew,eic., 
the  first  edition  of  wliicli  was  printed  in  1775.  Dr. 
Curry  died  in  17S0.  He  was  devoted  lieart  and  soul  to 
tlie  interests  of  the  Catliolic  Church  and  of  his  country. 
*  Vyse's  Mist.  Catholic  Association,  vol.  i.,  ch.  ii.  In 
addition  to  the  above-mentioned  motives,  in  which  we 
have  followed  Mr.  Wyse,  it  is  probable  that  there  was 
another  equally  strong — namely,  an  unwillingness  to 


much  as  the  apprehension  of  danger, 
made  the  Irish  clergy  dislike  notorietj'-, 
and  so  they  disapproved  of  any  move- 
ment.* There  was  still  another  body 
to  be  appealed  to,  not  at  all  numerous, 
but  with  more  energy,  hope,  and  enter- 
l^rise  than  the  others — namely,  the 
Catholic  merchants  and  commercial 
men  ;  and  to  these  our  three  regenera- 
tors next  had  recourse.  In  September, 
1757,  John  Eussell,  duke  of  Bedford, 
was  aj^pointed  lord-lieutenant.  He 
professed  liberal  sentiments,  and  the 
occasion  Avas  thought  a  favorable  one 
for  an  address  from  the  Catholics ;  but, 
with  the  fate  of  Lord  Delvin's  address 
before  their  eyes,  any  fresh  attempt  of 
the  kind  was  deemed  worse  than  use- 
less by  many,  and  the  gentry  and  clergy 
rejected  the  proposal.  An  address, 
nevertheless,  Avas  prepared  by  Charles 
O'Conor,  and  proposed  by  him  at  a 
meeting  of  citizens  held  in  the  Globe 
Tavern,  Essex-street.  Four  hundred  re- 
spectable names,  chiefly  of  men  in  the 
commercial  classes,  AA'ere  soon  attached 
to  it ;  and  it  was  presented  to  Mr.  Pon- 
sonby,  the  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  "  the  depression  and  degi'a- 
dation  of  the  body  being  at  that  time 
such  that  they  dared  not  venture  to 
Avait  ujjou   the    lord-lieutenant    or    to 


trust  a  ftfw  self-appointed  men  where  so  much  was  at 
stake,  and  where  the  interests  of  religion  were  involved. 
The  Bchismatical  conduct  of  the  English  Catholic  Com- 
mittee, many  years  after,  showed  how  dangerous  it  was 
to  confide  the  management  of  such  afiliirs  to  any  body 
of  laymen ;  but,  for  the  Irish  committee,  it  must  be  said 
that  they  never  laid  themselves  open  to  any  charge  of 
that  nature. 


FIRST  WORDS   OF   KINDNESS. 


645 


present  the  address  in  person."  A 
long  interval  passed  before  any  answer 
was  received ;  and  those  wlio  had  op- 
posed the  address  began  to  congratu- 
late themselves  on  their  own  superior 
judgment.  Dr.  Curry  and  his  friends 
had  projected  an  association  for  the 
management  of  Catholic  affairs,  and 
had  formed  a  committee,  in  which  they 
were  aided  by  a  few  of  the  Dublin 
merchants,  but  the  clergy  and  aristoc- 
racy cautiously  held  aloof.  At  length 
the  address  appeared  in  the  Gazette, 
with  a  gracious  reply,  in  Avhich  the 
Catholics  were  told  that  "  the  zeal  and 
attachment  which  they  professed  could 
never  be  more  seasonably  manifested 
than  in  the  present  conjuncture  ;  and 
that  as  long  as  they  conducted  them- 
selves with  duty  and  affection  they 
could  not  fail  to  receive  his  majesty's 
protection."  These  w^ere  the  first  words 
addressed  in  kindness  to  the  Catholics 
of  Ireland  by  the  representatives  of 
English  power  since  the  imfortunate 
James  11.  lost  his  throne.* 


*  "  Addresses,"  says  Mr.  Wyse,  "  now  poured  in  from 
all  sides  ;  but  so  debased  by  the  most  servile  adulation 
of  tbe  reigning  powers,  and  by  ungrateful  vituperation 
of  tlie  French,  from  whom,  from  the  treaty  of  Limerick 
up  to  that  hour,  they  were  indebted  for  every  benefit, — 
the  exile  for  his  home — the  scholar  for  his  education — 
their  ancient  and  decayed  aristocracy  for  commissions 
in  the  army  for  their  yovmger  sons, — that  their  freer  de- 
scendants blush  in  reading  the  disgraceful  record,  and 
turn  aside  in  disgust  for  the  melancholy  evidence  of  the 
corrupting  and  enduring  influences  of  a  long-continued 
state  of  slavery." — Eist.  Cath.  Association,  vol.  i.,  p.  64. 
And  Mr.  O'Conor,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Curry,  of  Dec,  1759, 
referring  to  these  addresses,  says :  "  Some  of  those  gen- 
tlemen scold  those  unfortunate  ancestors  whom  you 
have  so  well  defended  ;  others  again  scold  the  French 
nation,  who,  from  them  at  least,  have  deserved  better 


In  1759,  Dublin  was  disturbed  by 
violent  tumults,  in  consequence  of  a 
proposal  for  a  union  between  England 
and  Ireland  on  the  plan  of  that  be- 
tween England  and  Scotland.  The 
people  were  enraged  at  a  project  which 
would  deprive  them  of  their  nationality 
and  parliament,  and  subject  them  to 
the  burden  of  English  taxation.  A 
Protestant  mob  broke  into  the  House 
of  Lords,  insulted  the  peers,  seated  an 
old  woman  on  the  throne,  and  searched 
for  the  journals  with  a  view  to  commit- 
ting them  to  the  flames.  The  excite- 
ment was  chiefly  promoted  by  the 
speeches  and  writings  of  Dr.  Charles 
Lucas,  who  had  been  obliged  to  fly  the 
country  some  years  before  on  account 
of  his  manly  assertion  of  popular  rights 
against  the  abuses  of  the  government 
and  of  the  corporation.  Still,  Lucas 
was  not  a  friend  of  the  Catholics,  for 
justice  to  that  proscribed  class  as  yet 
formed  no  part  of  the  political  creed  oi 
patriots.  He  had  assailed  them  in  his 
writings  ;f  and  although  some  members 


quarters — France,  the  asylum  of  our  poor  fugitives,  lay 
and  clerical,  for  seventy  years  past !"  And  again  he 
adds  :  "  Some  declare  themselves  so  happy  as  to  require 
a  revolution  in  their  private  oppressed  state  as  little  as 
they  do  a  revolution  in  government  I"  Such  had  been 
the  prostrating  effect  of  the  penal  laws  upon  the  minds 
and  spirit,  as  well  as  upon  the  natural  condition  of  the 
people. 

f  Lucas  abused  the  Catholics  in  his  "  Barber's  Let.- 
ters,"  and,  patriot  as  he  was,  late  writers  have  justly 
pronounced  him  "  an  uncompromising  bigot."  He  died 
in  1771, 58  years  of  age,  having  during  the  latter  period 
of  his  life  been  reduced  to  a  state  of  extreme  infirmity 
by  the  gout.  His  remains  were  honored  with  a  public 
funeral,  and  his  statue  in  white  marble,  by  the  Irish 
sculptor,  Edward  Smyth,  was  placed  in  the  Royal  Ex- 
change. 


646 


REIGN    OF    GEORGE    11. 


of  tlie  House  of  Commons  attempted  to 
thro\y  upon  the  Catholics  the  odium  of 
the  riots,  the  government  knew  the 
charge  to  be  unfounded,  and  hence  the 
friendly  reply  to  the  Catholic  address 
just  mentioned.* 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
great  alarm  was  produced  by  rumors 
of  an  intended  invasion  from  France. 
Armaments  M^ere  preparing  at  Havre 
and  Vannes  for  a  descent  on  some  in- 
definite part  of  the  coast.  A  powerful 
fleet  under  Admiral  Conflans  lay  at 
Brest  to  convoy  the  expedition,  and 
another  squadron  under  the  celebrated 
Thurot  was  to  sail  from  Dunkirk  to 
engage  the  attention  of  the  enemy  else- 
where. At  this  time,  however,  England 
had  her  Rodney  and  her  Hawke.  The 
latter  admiral  defeated  the  Brest  fleet 
on  the  20th  of  November,  in  an  action 
oif  Quiberon  ;  the  expedition  from  Nor- 
mandy did  not  sail  at  all,  and  the  Dun- 
kirk squadron,  which  consisted  of  only 
five  frigates,  having  sailed  on  the  3d  of 
October,  and  proceeded  towards  the 
North,  was  driven  by  storms  to  seek 
shelter  in  ports  of  Norway  and  Swe- 
den. On  these  inhos2:)itable  coasts,  and 
among  the  western  isles  of  Scotland, 
Thurot  passed  the  winter.  One  of  his 
ships  had  returned  to  France,  another 
disappeared  and  was   never  heard  of, 


*  Various  circumstances  about  tUs  time  tended  to  re- 
tard the  progress  of  Catholic  interests.  Thus,  in  1758 
a  hostile  feeling  was  excited  in  Dublin  by  the  prosecu- 
tion of  Mr.  Saul,  a  Catholic  merchant  of  that  city,  whose 
crime  was  that  he  afforded  shelter  to  a  young  Catholic 
lady  named  O'Toole,  who  was  importuned  by  some  of 


and  ^^■ith  the  remaining  three  he  ap- 
peared off  Carrickfergus  on  the  21st  of 
February,  1760.  Thurot  was  of  Irish 
descent,  his  real  name  being  O'Farrell. 
His  life  had  been  a  continued  series  of 
the  strangest  adventures.  He  possessed 
a  gallant  and  enterprising  spirit,  and 
his  generosity  was  equal  to  his  daring. 
His  small  force  had  been  thinned  by 
the  hardships  of  the  northern  winter, 
and  famine  and  fatigue  had  reduced 
his  surviving  men  to  a  deplorable  state. 
His  ships,  too,  wei'e  in  a  shattered  con- 
dition ;  and  at  Islay  the  disheartening 
news  of  the  defeat  of  Conflaus  had,  for 
the  first  time,  reached  him.  Still,  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  provisions,  as 
well  as  his  innate  love  of  glorj'',  induced 
him  to  make  some  attempt  to  carry 
out  his  original  plan  of  an  invasion, 
and  he  disembarked  on  the  strand  near 
Carrickfergus.  He  had  then  only  about 
600  soldiers,  but,  with  the  addition  of 
some  seamen,  mustered  nearly  1,000 
men.  The  town  was  gai'risoned  by 
four  companies  of  the  62d  regiment, 
under  Colonel  Jennings,  without  can- 
non, and  with  a  scanty  supply  of  am- 
munition. The  Frencli  approached, 
and,  after  some  firing  from  the  walls, 
the  garrison,  together  with  the  mayor 
and  some  of  the  armed  townsmen,  re- 
tired into   the  castle,  which   was   in   a 


her  family  to  abandon  her  religion.  Mr.  Saul  was 
told  from  the  bench  "  that  the  laws  did  not  presume 
a  Papist  to  exist  in  the  kingdom,  nor  could  they 
breathe  without  the  connivance  of  government."  Ho 
and  his  family  were  obliged  to  seek  an  asylum  in 
France. 


THE  WHITEBOYS. 


647 


dilapidated  state,  but  wliicli  they  con- 
tinued to  defend  with  musketry  until 
their  powder  was  nearly  exhausted ; 
several  of  the  assailants,  Avith  their 
commanding  officer,  the  Marquis  d'Es- 
trees,  being  killed  in  an  attack  upon 
the  gate.  The  besieged  then  surren- 
dered themselves  prisoners  of  war,  on 
condition  that  the  town  should  be 
spared  ;  but  contributions  of  provisions 
w^ere  levied  both  on  Carrickfergus  and 
Belfast,  the  French  threatening  to 
■march  on  the  latter  town  if  the  sup- 
plies demanded  were  not  sent.  At 
length,  on  the  26th,  the  invaders  took 
their  departure ;  and  two  days  after 
they  encountered  off  the  Isle  of  Man 
three  English  frigates,  which  had  sailed 
from  Kinsale  in  search  of  them,  under 
Captain  Elliott.  A  sharp  action  en- 
sued. The  French  vessels  were  in  a 
crippled  state ;  but  Thurot  fought  his 
ship  until  the  hold  was  nearly  filled 
with  water  and  the  deck  covered  with 
the  slain.  At  length  he  was  killed, 
and  the  three  French  frigates  soon 
after  struck,  and  were  taken  into  Ram- 
sey ;  but  even  his  enemies  lamented  the 


*■  Thurot's  grandfather  was  a  Captain  Farrell  or 
O'Ferrall,  who  was  attached  to  the  court  of  James  II. 
at  St.  Germ?ins,  where  he  married  Mademoiselle  Thu- 
rot, the  niece  of  a  member  of  the  parliament  of  Paris. 
The  lady's  family  were  indignant  at  the  match ;  but 
Captain  O'Farrell  died  soon  after  the  marriage,  and  in 
less  than  a  year  his  wife  followed  him  to  the  grave, 
leaving  an  infant  son,  who,  being  educated  by  her 
friends,  assumed  their  name.  When  this  son  grew  up 
he  resided  at  Boulogne,  and  was  the  fatlicr  of  the  famous 
sea-captain,  who  left  France  when  a  boy,  and  passed  many 
years  in  London  and  also  some  time  in  Dublin,  where 
he  was  reduced  so  low  that  lie  became  the  valet  of  a 
Lord  B .    At  that  time  smuggling  was  not  regarded 


fate  of  the  chivalrous  and  undaunted 
Thurot.'=- 

George  II.  died  suddenly  at  Kensing- 
ton on  the  25th  of  October,  1760,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  George 
III.  The  following  year  the  disturb- 
ances of  the  Whiteboys  became  rife 
in  the  south  of  Ireland.  They  com- 
menced in  Tipperary,  and  were  occa- 
sioned by  the  tyranny  and  Ya,])acitj  of 
landlords,  who,  having  set  their  lands 
far  above  the  value,  on  the  condition  of 
allowing  the  tenants  certain  common- 
ages to  lighten  the  burden,  subsequentl}^ 
inclosed  these  commons,  and  thus  ren- 
dered it  imjjossible  for  the  unfortunate 
tenants  to  subsist.  The  people  col- 
lected at  night  and  demolished  the 
fences,  from  which  circumstance  they 
were  first  called  "  Levellers ;"  their 
name  of  Whiteboys  being  given  from 
the  shirts  which  they  wore  outside 
their  clothes  at  their  nightly  gatherings. 
Another  cause  of  their  discontent  was 
the  cruel  exactions  of  the  tithemongers 
— "  harpies,"  says  a  contemporary^  wri- 
ter, "  who  squeezed  out  the  very  vitals 
of  the  people ;  and  by  process,  citation, 


as  the  disreputable  pursuit  which  more  recent  ideas 
have  made  it.  Many  a  large  fortune,  of  which  the  pos- 
sessors did  not  blush  at  the  source,  was  realized  by  it ; 
and  to  the  adventurous  life  of  a  smuggler  various  cir- 
cumstances conspired  to  commit  young  Thurot.  He 
commanded  sundry  vessels  engaged  in  that  traffic  be- 
tween France  and  the  coasts  of  England  and  Scotland  ; 
and  his  enterprising  spirit  obtained  for  him  at  Boulogne 
the  title  of  the  Bang  of  the  Smugglers.  In  the  war  he 
commanded  a  privateer,  and  from  this  he  was  taken 
into  the  French  navy,  in  which  he  soon  became  distin- 
guished for  his  naval  skill  and  bravery. — See  a  memoir 
of  him  written  by  his  friend,  the  Rev.  John  F.  Durand  ■ 
also  the  Annual  BcgMer  for  17C0. 


CAS 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


aud  sequestration,  dragged  from  tliem 
the  little  wliicli  tlie  landlord  had  left 
them."*  "At  last,"  says  Young,  "the 
Whiteboys  set  up  to  be  the  general 
redressors  of  grievances;  punished  all 
obnoxious  individuals  who  advanced 
the  value  of  lands,  or  hired  farms  over 
their  heads ;  and  having  taken  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  into  their  own 
hands,  were  not  very  exact  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  it The 

barbarities  they  committed  were  shock- 
ing. One  of  their  usual  punishments, 
and  by  no  means  the  most  severe,  was 
taking  jjeople  out  of  their  beds,  carrying 
them  naked  in  winter,  on  horseback, 
for  some  distance,  and  burying  them 
up  to  their  chin  in  a  hole  filled  with 
briers,  not  forgetting  to  cut  off  one  of 
their  ears."f  These  outrages  were 
chiefly  confined  to  the  counties  of  Wa- 
terford,  Cork,  and  Tipperary.  In  1762 
a  government  commission  reported  that 
the  rioters  were  persons  of  different 
religious  persuasions,  and  that  none  of 
them  showed  any  disaffection  to  the 
government,  a  report  which  was  con- 
firmed by  the  judges  on  the  Munster 
circuit.  A  special  commission  was  sent 
down  to  try  a  number  of  the  offenders; 
aud  Sir  liichard  Aston,  chief-justice  of 


the  common  pleas,  became  so  popular 
for  the  impartiality  which  he  displayed 
on  the  occasion,  that  the  country-people 
lined  the  roads  as  he  passed  to  give 
expression  to  their  gratitude.  Father 
Nicholas  Sheehy,  the  parish  priest  of 
Clogheen,  drew  upon  himself  the  ani- 
mosity of  the  landlords  by  the  zeal  he 
evinced  in  advocatinj'  the  cause  of  his 
poor  parishioners.  In  1765  a  procla- 
mation was  issued  offering  a  reward  of 
£300  for  his  arrest  as  a  person  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and,  although  he  might 
easily  have  escaped  to  France,  he  felt 
so  conscious  of  his  innocence,  that  he 
wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  offering 
to  surrender  and  save  the  government 
the  money,  provided  he  was  tried  in 
Dublin  instead  of  Clonmel.  His  offer 
was  accepted,  and  after  a  minute  inves- 
tigation of  the  eharo-es  as^ainst  him  he 
was  acquitted ;  the  only  witnesses  pro- 
duced by  his  accusers  being  a  woman 
of  abandoned  character,  a  man  charged 
with  horse-stealing,  and  a  vagrant  boy, 
all  three  being  taken  from  the  Clonmel 
jail  and  suborned  to  prosecute  him. 
His  enemies,  anticipating  such  a  result, 
had  trumped  up  a  charge  of  murder 
against  him,  and  had  him  carried  back 
to  Clonmel ;  where,  on  the  sole  evidence 


"Enquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  outrages  committed  hy 
tlie  LetcUers.  Aitliur  Young,  who  travelled  in  Ireland 
while  these  disturbances  prevailed  there,  describes  their 
causes  in  nearly  similar  terms,  aud  he  adds :  "  Acts 
were  passed  for  their  punishment,  which  seemed  calcu- 
lated for  tlie  meridian  of  Barbary  ;  by  one,  they  were  to 
be  hanged  under  certain  circumstances,  without  the  com- 
mon formalities  of  a  trial,  which,  though  repealed  the 
following  session,  marks  the  spirit  of  punishment ;  while 


others  remain  yet  the  law  of  the  land,  that  would,  if 
executed,  tend  more  to  raise  than  queU  an  insm-rection. 
From  aU  which  it  is  evident  that  the  gentry  of  Ireland 
never  thought  of  a  radical  cure,  from  overlooking  the 
real  cause  of  the  disease,  which,  in  fact,  lay  in  them- 
selves, and  not  in  the  WTetches  they  doomed  to  the  gal- 
lows."—Towr,  part  ii.,  p.  30,  ed.  1780. 
f  Tffiir,  p.  70. 


PROTESTANT  ASSOCIATIONS. 


649 


of  the  same  vile  witnesses,  wliose  testi- 
mony failed  in  Dublin,  he  was  con- 
victed, and  three  days  after,  on  the  15th 
of  March,  1766,  was  hanged  and  quar- 
tered at  Clonmel.* 

Associations  similar  to  those  of  the 
Whiteboys  were  formed  among  the 
Protestant  peasantry  of  the  North, 
under  the  names  of  "  Hearts-of-oak 
boys"  and  "  Hearts-of  steel  boys."  The 
former  of  these  banded  themselves,  in 
the  first  instance,  for  the  abolition  of 
a  custom  of  compulsory  road-making, 
known  as  the  six  days'  labor,  which  the 
gentry  had  converted  most  unjustly  to 
their  own  advantage  ;  but  the  oppres- 
sive tithe  system,  and  the  exorbitant 
rents  charged  for  bogs,  became,  in  the 
next  place,  subjects  of  complaint,  and 
like  the  southern  malcontents,  the 
Hearts-of-oak  boys  made  themselves 
general  reformers  of  agrarian  abuses. 
They  committed  numerous  acts  of 
violence  in  the  years  1762  and  1763; 
but  the  grievances  of  which  they 
complained  were  taken  into  considera- 
tion by  parliament,  and  in  some  measure 
redressed ;  while  those  under  which  the 
southern  peasantry  groaned  were  left 
untouched.  For  the  unhappy  White- 
boys,  there  was  no  remedy  but  the 
gibbet.     The  ITeartspof-steel   boys  did 


*  Fatlicr  Slieeliy  died  protesting liis  innocence,  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  his  execution  was  as  foul  a  murder  as 
ever  was  perpetrated  under  the  cover  of  law.  The 
principal  managers  of  the  prosecution  were  the  Rev. 
John  Hewetson,  a  Protestant  clergyman,  and  Sir  Thomas 
JIaude ;  who,  with  the  earl  of  Carrick  and  Mr.  John  Bag- 
well, distinguished  themselves  by  their  activity  against 
the  Whiteboys.  Father  Shechy's  grave,  in  the  church- 
-82 


not  make  their  appearance  till  1769, 
and  for  a  few  yeai's  they  gave  the 
government  considerable  trouble.  They 
associated  to  resist  the  rack-renting 
practices  of  the  middlemen,  and  the 
severe  measures  employed  to  put  down 
their  disturbances  led  to  an  extensive 
emigration  to  America. 

Returning  to  the  proceedings  in  the 
Irish  parliament,  we  find  that  in  1762 
a  bill  was  passed  without  a  division,  to 
enable  Catholics  to  lend  money  on  the 
security  of  real  property,  but  was  sup- 
pressed in  England.  The  following 
year  the  attempt  was  renewed  in  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  by  Mr.  Mason, 
but  defeated  by  a  majority  of  138  to 
53 ;  the  Protestant  party  alleging  that 
the  bill  had  been  inadvertently  passed 
on  the  last  day  of  the  preceding  session, 
and  that  such  a  measure,  if  adopted, 
would  soon  make  Papists  masters  of  a 
great  part  of  the  landed  interest  of  the 
country. 

The  patriots  were  at  this  time  en- 
gaged in  vehement  attacks  upon  the 
pension  list,  which  had  grown  into  a 
monstrous  source  of  abuse.  The  Ensr- 
lish  privy  council  assumed  the  right  of 
granting  any  pensions  they  chose  out 
of  the  Irish  revenue.  In  1763  the 
pensions  on  the  Irish  civil  establishment, 


yard  of  Clogheen,  continues  to  this  day  to  be  visited  with 
veneration  by  the  peasantry.  See  aU  the  facts  of  this 
iniquitous  case,  and  of  the  subsequent  persecution,  mi- 
nutely investigated  by  Dr.  Madden  in  the  historical  in- 
troduction to  his  Lides  and  Times  of  the  United  Irish- 
men ;  also  Curry's  Candid  Inquiry,  &c.,  and  his  State 
of  the  CatJwlks  of  Irdaiid. 


650 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


and  therefore  not  including  the  military 
and  certain  special  pensions,  amounted 
to  i£72,000,  which  exceeded  the  civil 
list  by  £42,000.  The  revenue  of  the 
country  was  diminishing  and  the  bur- 
dens increasing.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  that  year  the  Irish  debt  was 
£521,162,  and  at  the  close  it  had  risen 
to  £650,000.*  The  subject  gave  rise 
to  violent  heats  in  parliament ;  but  a 
juggling  and  evasive  policy,  which  had 
become  familiar  to  the  Irish  govern- 
ment, prevailed,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
patriots  were  foiled.  The  corrupting 
influence  of  the  court  party  was  con- 
stantly employed  to  thin  the  ranks  of 
the  patriots,  who,  finding  that  the  pen- 
sions went  on  multiplying,  and  that 
all  their  agitation  on  that  point  was 
abortive,  took  up  the  more  general 
(question  of  parliamentary  reform. 
Hitherto  the  duration  of  parliament  in 
Ireland  depended  solely  on  the  will  of 
the  king,  and  might  be  prolonged  during 
an  entire  reign,  as  happened  in  that  of 
George  II.  In  England  the  duration 
was  limited  by  the  septennial  act  of 
George  I. ;  and  in  1765  the  Irish  Com- 
mons passed  the  heads  of  a  similar 
bill  for  Ireland ;  but  the  measure  was 
suppressed  in  England,  and  in  reply  to 
an  address  to  the  king,  a  very  ungra- 
cious answer  was  returned.  Lord 
Townshend  was  appointed  lord-lieuten- 
ant in  1767,  and  came  over  determined 

*  The  Irisli  income  and  expenditure,  as  calculated  in 
1763,  stood  thug :  the  military  expenditure  for  two  years, 
£980,956  ;  the  civil  ditto,  £243,9o6  ;  extraordinary  and 
contingent  expenses,  £300,000 ;  total  expenditure  for 


to  break  up  a  system  of  corruption, 
which,  although  of  its  own  creation, 
the  Irish  government  then  found  to  be 
an  insupportable  tyranny.  A  certain 
number  of  parliamentary  leaders  were 
at  that  time  known  as  undertakers, 
whom  it  was  necessary  for  government 
to  keep  in  its  pay,  at  a  large  cost,  and 
who  "  undertook,"  as  the  phrase  went, 
upon  certain  terms,  to  carry  the  "  king's 
business"  through  parliament.  These 
leaders  wei-e  made  the  channels  for  all 
places,  pensions,  and  other  court  favors, 
— a  privilege  which  was  indispensable 
to  enable  them  to  fulfil  their  compact ; 
and  in  order  to  crush  the  system,  it  was 
resolved  to  make  the  stream  of  favor 
flow  directly  from  the  government.  A 
great  commotion  in  political  cii'cles  was 
the  consequence :  yet,  nothing  more  had 
been  done  than  to  substitute  one  system 
of  jjolitical  profligacy  for  another ;  and 
by  traflickiug  in  corruption  more  in  de- 
tail, the  government  soon  found  that  it 
had  only  subjected  itself  to  a  more  op- 
pressive incubus.  Lord  Townshend's 
convivial  habits  and  lavish  distribution 
of  favors  made  him  for  some  time  pop- 
ular ;  but  there  were  not  wanting  able 
and  honest  men  to  expose  the  debasing 
influence  of  his  policy,  and  his  popular- 
ity was  soon  turned  into  contempt  and 
detestation.f  In  1767  another  septen- 
nial bill  was  passed  and  transmitted  to 
England,  where  it  was  transformed  into 


two  years,  £1,523,2!2  ;  total  revenue  for  that  period, 
£1,209,864;  excess  of  expenditure  to  be  added  to  na- 
tional debt,  £314,248. 
f  Witty  and  powerful  invectives  against  Lord  Town- 


DISSENSIONS   AMONG  THE   CATHOLICS. 


651 


an  octennial  one.  By  this  alteration  it 
was  hoped  to  secure  its  rejection  ;  but 
the  Irish  parliament,  on  the  conti'ary, 
accepted  it  as  an  instalment  of  reform, 
and  it  was  regarded  as  a  triumph  by 
Charles  Lucas  and  his  friends,  after  so 
many  years  of  agitation  on  the  subject. 
A  new  parliament  was  now  to  be 
elected,  and  in  order  to  secure  a  strong 
majority  for  the  government,  Lord 
Townshend  scattered  bribes  profusely, 
and  emploj'ed  every  species  of  corrup- 
tion. In  all  his  bargains,  howevei",  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  as  an  open  question 
the  right  of  the  Irish  parliament  to 
originate  its  own  money-bills ;  and 
upon  this  important  point  he  came  to 
a  collision  wnth  the  j^arliament,  which 
met  on  the  I7th  of  October,  1769. 
The  English  privy  council  sent  over  a 
money-bill,  which  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons  rejected,  "because  it  had  not 
its  origin  in  that  house."  Followius: 
the  precedent  of  Lord  Sydney  in  1692, 
Lord  Townshend  went  to  the  House  of 
Lords  on  the  26th  of  Decembei-,  caused 
the  Commons  to  be  summoned  to  the 
bar,  animadverted  in  strong  terms  on 
their  proceedings,  and  having  ordered 
the  clerk  to  enter  his  protest  on  the 
journals  of  the  house,  in  vindication  of 
the  royal  prerogative,  prorogued  parlia- 
ment, which  was  not  again  permitted 
to  meet  until  the  26th  of  February, 
1771.      The    excitement   produced    by 


shend  were  published  during  his  administration  in  the 
Freeman's  Journal,  and  were  subsequently  collected  in 
a  Tolume,  entitled  "  Baratariana."  Their  principal 
writers  were.  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe,  Flood,  Parker, 


this  proceeding  surpassed  any  thing  of 
the  kind  since  the  affair  of  Wood's 
half-pence. 

Meantime  fatal  dissensions  prevailed 
in  the  Catholic  body,  and  retarded  its 
progress.  The  committee  had  prepared 
an  address  to  Geoi'ge  HI.  on  his  acces- 
sion. It  w^as  signed  by  600  persons ; 
but  the  clergy  and  nobility  would  not 
give  their  concurrence,  and  some  of 
them  met  at  Trim  and  adopted  a  sep- 
arate address.  The  committee  next 
ventured  to  lay  before  the  throne  a 
"remonstrance"  or  statement  of  their 
grievances,  and  rose  considerably  in 
importance ;  some  of  the  Catholic  no- 
bility beginning  to  co-operate  with 
them.  A  division,  however,  sprung 
up,  in  which  Lord  Trimbleston,  a  man 
of  overbearing  and  dictatorial  manners, 
separated  himself,  and  was  followed  by 
others  ;  while  Lord  or  Count  Taaffe,  a 
nobleman  of  quite  '  an  opposite  charac- 
ter, continued  to  identify  himself  with 
the  committee.  At  length  this  first 
Catholic  association,  having  graduall}' 
melted  away,  expired  in  1763.  Lord 
Townshend's  parliament,  on  reassem- 
bling in  1771,  passed  an  act  to  enable  a 
Catholic  to  take  a  long  lease  of  fifty 
acres  of  bog,  to  which,  if  the  bog  were 
too  deep  for  a  foundation,  half  an  acre 
of  arable  land  misrht  be  added  for  a 
house ;  but  this  holding  should  not  be 
within  a  mile  of  any  city  or  town,  and 


Bushe,  and  Henry  Grattan,  the  last  named  being  then  a 
young  man.  The  viceroy  was  supported  in  another 
clever  series  of  papers  called  "  The  Baclidor." 


652 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


if  half  the  bog  were  uot  reclaimed  in 
twenty-oue  years,  the  lease  was  forfeit- 
ed. This  paltry  concession  shows  what 
little  progress  Catholic  interests  had 
made  in  the  interval ;  and  the  viceroy 
thought  it  necessary  to  counterbalance 
it  by  an  act  to  add  £10  a  year  to  the 
pension  of  £30  offered  to  any  "  Popish 
priest  duly  converted  to  the  Protestant 
religion."  The  jiitiful  temptation  to 
pi'oselytisra  was  styled  "Townshend's 
golden  drops"  by  the  wits  of  the  day. 

Lord  Townshend  was  succeeded  in 
the  Irish  government,  in  1772,  by  the 
earl  of  Harcourt,  whose  administration 
commenced  under  more  favorable  au- 
sjjices.  In  1773  a  bill  was  introduced 
to  lay  a  tax  of  two  shillings  in  the 
pound  on  the  income  of  Irish  absentee 
landlords  who  would  not  reside  in  Ire- 
land at  least  six  months  in  each  year. 
The  measure  was  exceedingly  po^Dular, 
and  the  government,  supporting  it  as 
an  open  question,  rose  greatly  in  public 
favor ;  but  the  violent  opposition  of  the 
great  land-owners,  many  of  whom  re- 
sided altogether  in  England,  prevailed, 
and  the  bill  was  rejected. 

In  1775  hostilities  commenced  be- 
tween England  and  her  revolted  Ameri- 
can colonies,  and  the  English  parliament 
discussed  the  propi'iety  of  relieving  Ire- 
land from  some  of  her  commercial  dis- 
abilities. The  concessions  made  were 
trilling,  but  they  serve  to  illustrate  the 
rule  so  well  established  in  Irish  history. 


*  It  was  in   the  same  luemoratle  year  (1775)  that 
Henry  Grattan  first  entered  parliament,  as  member  for 


that  the  season  of  England's  weakness 
and  alarm  has  ever  been  that  of  redress 
and  hope  for  Ireland.  We  shall  see  it 
further  illustrated  as  we  proceed.  On 
the  23d  of  November,  the  same  year,  a 
message  from  the  lord-lieutenant  in- 
formed the  Irish  parliament  that  the 
situation  of  affairs  in  his  majesty's 
American  dominions  rendered  it  neces- 
sary to  demand  a  draft  of  4,000  men 
from  the  Irish  establishment, — these 
troops,  however,  not  to  be  a  charge  on 
the  Irish  revenue  during  their  absence 
from  the  kingdom  ;  and  an  equal  num- 
ber of  foreign  Protestant  troops  to  be 
sent  to  replace  them.  The  Commons 
readily  assented  to  the  removal  of  the 
4,000  men  as  required,  on  the  promised 
condition  that  the  country  should  at 
the  same  time  be  relieved  from  their 
pay;  but  the  second  proposition  w*as 
respectfully  declined,  the  house  resolv- 
ing that  the  loyal  people  of  Ireland 
would  be  able  so  to  exert  themselves 
as  to  make  the  aid  of  foreign  soldiers 
unnecessary.  Tliis  resolution  was  car- 
ried by  a  large  majority.  It  surprised 
and  perplexed  the  ministry,  and  was  in 
fact  the  first  foreshadowing  of  the  vol- 
unteer system ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  viceroy's  engagement  to  Free 
Ireland  from  the  charge  of  the  troops 
to  be  withdrawn  from  that  kingdom, 
elicited  an  indignant  vote  of  censure 
from  the  English  parliament,  and  was 
repudiated  by  the  minister.* 


the  borough  of  Chaileinont,  and  that  Daniel  0'C!onnell 
was  born. 


IRISH  SYMPATHY  WITH  THE  AMERICANS. 


653 


To  prevent  a  sui:)ply  of  provisions 
from  reaching  the  Americans  from  Ire- 
land, an  embargo  was  laid  on  the  ex- 
portation of  Irish  commodities.  This 
proceeding  had  a  disastrous  effect. 
The  agriculturists  were  quite  ruined; 
the  tenantry  were  unable  to  pay  their 
rents  ;  the  manufacturers  were  thrown 
upon  public  charity  for  support ;  the 
revenue  fell  away ;  and,  the  infamous 
pension  list  being  still  continued,  the 
Irish  debt  rose  to  £994,890.  Resolu- 
tions and  addresses  describing  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  were  moved  in 
the  Irish  parliament  by  the  patriots, 
but  to  no  purpose.  In  England  the 
American  war  was  unpopular,  but  in 
Ireland  it  was  still  more  so.  Sympathy 
for  the  revolted  colonies  was  publicly 
expressed,  to  the  intense  alarm  of  the 
government.  In  1775  the  thanks  of 
the  city  of  Dublin  were  voted  in  the 
common  council  to  Lord  Effingham  for 
having  thrown  up  his  commission  rather 
than  draw  his  sword  against  his  fellow- 
subjects  of  America;  and  this  feeling 
continued  to  gain  ground.  The  analogy 
between  Ireland  and  America  was  ob- 
vious. In  the  English  House  of  Com- 
mons, Mr.  Rigby,  arguing  in  sujoport 
of  the  sordid  policy  of  his  country,  as- 
serted that  the  parliament  of  Gi'eat 
Britain  had  clearly  as  much  right  to 
tax  Ireland  as  to  tax  America.  Never 
was  there  a  more  rash  or  ill-timed  com- 
parison. It  could  not  fail  to  suggest 
that,  where  the  cases  were  so  similar,  a 
similar  mode  of  redressing  grievances 
might  be  resorted  to. 


In  IT 77,  Lord  Harcourt  was  recalled, 
and  the  earl  of  Buckinghamshire  being 
sent  over  as  lord-lieutenant,  announced 
to  the  Irish  parliament  the  alliance  be- 
tween France  and  the  Americans,  at 
the  same  time  making  an  appeal  for 
support  to  his  majesty's  faithful  people 
of  Ireland.  The  Commons  immediately 
voted  a  sum- of  £300,000,  to  be  raised 
by  a  tontine  ;  but  this  was  an  absurd 
stretch  of  generosity,  which  the  patriots 
opposed  in  vain ;  and  a  message  from 
the  viceroy  soon  after  admitted  the  in- 
ability of  the  country  to  raise  the 
money.  In  October  this  year,  General 
Burgoyne  and  his  army  of  6,000  men 
surrendered  to  the  American  general. 
Gage.  The  news  produced  consterna- 
tion, and  Lord  North  expressed  an 
earnest  wish  that  the  penal  laws  against 
the  Irish  Catholics  might  be  relaxed ; 
but  bigotry  was  still  predominant  in 
the  Irish  parliament,  and  no  attempt  of 
that  nature  had  any  chance  of  success. 
In  January,  1778, the  independence  of 
the  American  States  was  acknowledged 
by  France,  and  many  weeks  did  not 
elapse  until  a  bill  for  the  partial  relief 
of  the  Catholics  unanimously  passed  the 
English  parliament.  With  this  inroad 
upon  bigotry  for  a  precedent,  Mr.  Gar- 
diner introduced  a  similar  bill  in  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  on  the  25th 
of  May  the  same  year.  The  measure 
had  the  approbation  of  government, 
and  the  general  support  of  the  patriots, 
yet  it  was  only  after  a  severe  contest 
and  eight  divisions  that  it  was  carried 
by  the   small   majority  of  nine  votes. 


654 


REIGN  OP  GEORGE  III. 


In  the  House  of  Lords  two-thirds  of 
the  members  voted  for  it.'" 

It  was  near  the  close  of  1YY9  when 
the  Irish  parliament  was  again  called 
together,  and  in  the  mean  time  distress 
and  discontent  had  increased  to  an 
alarming  extent.  Appeals  to  the  im- 
becile and  bankrupt  government  re- 
ceived no  reply ;  the  people  were  thrown 
upon  their  own  i-esources ;  agitation  for 
free  trade  and  in  favor  of  Irish  manu- 
factures became  general;  and  the  vol- 
unteering system  had  been  set  on  foot, 
and  already  made  considerable  prog- 
ress. The  secretary  of  state  sent  infor- 
mation to  Belfast  that  two  or  three 
privateei's  in  company  might  be  ex- 
pected in  that  vicinity ;  and  the  people 
were  at  the  same  time  informed  that 
government  had  no  troops  available 
for  their  defence,  except  some  sixty 
horse  and  a  couple  of  companies  of  in- 
valids. They  were  in  fact  told  that 
government  could  not  protect  them. 
A  vivid  recollection  of  Thurot's  visit 
to  their  neighborhood,  some  nineteen 
years  before,  was  still  preserved  at  Bel- 
fast, and  the  attempt  made  at  that  time 
to  faise  an  armed  force  to  repel  the  in- 
vaders was  also  reuiembered.  The  ex- 
ample of  1760  was  followed   in    1779, 

*  This  act — 18th  Geo.  III.,  ch.  GO — repealed  so  much 
of  tlie  11th  and  12th  Wm.  III.,  ch.  4,  as  aflfected  the  in- 
heritance or  purchase  of  property  hy  Catholics  ;  a  Cath- 
olic who  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  framed  four  years 
before  might  take  or  dispose  of  a  lease  for  999  years  ; 
the  unnatural  right  given  to  a  child  on  embracing  the 
Protestant  religion  to  demand  a  maintenance  and  alter 
the  succession  was  abolished  ;  and  tlie  clauses  authoriz- 
ing the  prosecution  of  priests  and  Jesuits,  and  the  im- 
prisonment of  Popish  schoolmasters,  were  repealed. 


and  to  the  men  of  Belfast,  therefore,  is 
to  be  attributed  the  glory  of  having 
originated  the  volunteers.f  So  rapidly 
did  the  movement  spread,  that  in  the 
mouth  of  May  the  number  of  volunteer 
companies  had  begun  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  government ;  and  in  Septem- 
ber the  number  of  men  enrolled  in  the 
counties  of  Down  and  Antrim,  and  in 
and  near  Coleraine,  amounted  to  3,925. 
Hardy  states  that  in  the  first  year 
42,000  volunteers  were  enrolled.^ 

Parliament  having  met  on  the  12  th 
of  October,  Mr.  Grattau  moved  an 
amendment  to  the  address,  depicting 
vividly  in  a  preamble  the  distressed 
state  of  the  country,  and  concluding 
with  a  resolution,  that  the  only  re- 
source for  their  expiring  commerce  was 
to  open  a  free  export  trade,  and  to  allow 
his  majesty's  Irish  subjects  to  enjoy  their 
natural  birthright.  Several  of  the  min- 
isterial members,  and  among  others,  Mr. 
Flood,  who  then  held  a  place  under 
government,  supported  the  amendment ; 
but  Mr.  Grattan's  preamble  was  got  rid 
of,  and  another  amendment,  less  gal- 
ling to  government,  proposed  by  Mr. 
Hussey  Burgh,  prime  sergeant,  and 
unanimously  adopted, — namely,  "that 
it  is  not  by  temporary  expedients,  but 


\  A  volunteer  corps  had  been  organized  in  Kilkenny, 
against  the  Whiteboys,  in  1770  ;  they  were  called  the 
Kilkenny  Rangers  ;  other  armed  parties  had  also  been 
raised  before  this  period  in  various  localities ;  but  the 
great  national  volunteer  movement,  strictly  speaking, 
dates  from  the  arming  at  Belfast  in  the  beginning  of 
1779,  its  primary  object  being  to  repel  foreign  inTar 
sion. 

i  Life  of  Charlemont. 


THE  RELIEF  OF  IRISH  COMMERCE. 


655 


by  a  free  trade  alone,  that  this  nation 
is  now  to  be  saved  from  impending 
ruin."  Wlien  the  speaker  carried  the 
resolution  from  the  parliament  house  to 
the  castle,  he  passed  between  ranks  of 
the  Dublin  volunteers,  drawn  up  in 
arms  under  their  commander,  the  duke 
of  Leinster,*  amid  the  enthusiastic  ac- 
clamations of  a  vast  assemblasre  of 
people ;  and  the  House  of  Lords  passed 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  national  army 
for  their  array  on  the  occasion.  On 
the  13th  of  November,  Lord  North  in- 
troduced in  the  English  parliament 
three  propositions  for  the  relief  of  L-ish 
commerce.  The  first  permitted  a  free 
exportation  of  L-ish  wool  and  woollen 
manufactures  ;  the  second  made  a  simi- 
lar concession  for  Irish  glass  manufac- 
tures ;  and  the  thii'd  granted  freedom 
of  trade  with  the  British  plantations, 
on  cei'taiu  conditions,  of  which  the 
basis  was  an  equality  of  taxes  and  cus- 
toms. Bills  embodying  the  two  former 
propositions  were  immediately  passed, 
but  the  third  was  deferred  for  a  short 
time.  These  measures  had  little  effect 
in  calming  the  agitation  in  Ireland ; 
the  ideas  of  the  people  expanded  with 
their  success,  and  they  now  looked  for 
nothing  short  of  their  full  constitutional 
rights,  and  the  liberation  of  their 
country  from  the  supremacy  of  the 
English  parliament.  On  the  19th  of 
April,  1780,  Mr.  Grattan  moved,  "that 
no  power   on  earth,  save    that   of  the 


*  This  nobleman  was  William  Robert,  tbe  second 
duke.    His  lather  was  James,  the  twentieth  earl  of  Kil- 


king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland, 
had  a  right  to  make  laws  for  Ireland." 
His  speech  on  the  occasion  was  a  mag- 
nificent exertion  of  his  eloquence.  He 
said:  "I  vrill  not  be  answered  by  a 
public  lie  in  the  shape  of  an  amend- 
ment ;  neither,  speaking  for  the  subject's 
freedom,  am  I  to  hear  of  faction.  I 
wish  for  nothing  but  to  breathe  in  this 
our  land,  in  common  with  my  fellow- 
subjects,  the  air  of  liberty.  I  have  no 
ambition,  unless  it  be  the  ambition  t/) 
break  your  chain  and  contemplate  your 
glory.  I  never  will  be  satisfied,  as  long 
as  the  meanest  cottager  in  Ireland  has 
a  link  of  the  British  chain  clankinsr  to 
his  rags.  He  may  be  naked,  he  shall 
not  be  in  irons  ;  and  I  do  see  the  time 
is  at  hand,  the  spirit  has  gone  forth,  the 
declaration  is  planted,  and  though  gi-eat 
men  should  apostatize,  yet  the  cause 
will  live ;  and  though  the  public  speaker 
should  die,  yet  the  immortal  fire  shall 
outlast  the  organ  which  conveyed  it, 
and  the  breath  of  liberty,  like  the  word 
of  the  holy  man,  Avill  not  die  with  the 
prophet,  but  survive  him."  At  the  sug- 
gestion, however,  of  Mr.  Flood,  after 
an  interesting  debate,  which  lasted  un- 
til six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  ques- 
tion was  not  broue;ht  to  a  division,  and 
the  resolution  thus  did  not  appear  on 
the  journals  of  the  house.  This  result 
gave  rise  to  much  dissatisfaction,  which 
was  greatly^ncreased  by  the  tendency 
of  various  acts    of  the  British    2-)arlia- 


dare,  who  was  created  mar'juis  of  KUdare  in  1761,  and 
duke  of  Leinster  in  1766. 


656 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


ment  to  iritate  the  Irish  nation.  Thus 
the  animal  mutiny  bill  sent  over  from 
the  Irish  parliament  was  returned,  al- 
tered into  a  permanent  one ;  and  by 
the  influence  of  government  it  was 
adopted  in  its  altered  form. 

Meantime,  the  spirit  of  volunteering 
had  rapidly  gained  ground.  The  num- 
bers enrolled  were  stated  to  amount  this 
year  to  over  40,000  men,  unpaid,  self- 
clothed,  self-organized,  and  called  into 
existence  by  no  other  authority  than 
the  voice  of  the  people,  and  the  necessity 
of  the  country.  The  affrighted  gov- 
ernment was  induced  to  deliver  to  them 
16,000  stand  of  arms,  and  they  had 
also  begun  to  raise  a  considerable  artil- 
lery  force.  They  selected  their  own 
oflicers.  They  rose  into  existence  free 
from  any  pledge,  and  totally  unshackled 
by  any  government  control.  They 
were  assiduous  in  acquiring  a  know- 
ledge of  military  discipline,  and  were 
materially  aided  in  that  object  by 
numbers  of  their  countrymen  who  had 
returned  invalided,  from  the  American 
war.  In  projDortion  as  the  apprehen- 
sion of  a  foreiirn  invasion  became  dissi- 
pated,  they  turned  their  attention  to 
their  political  rights  :  each  corps  ex- 
pressed its  opinions  in  resolutions,  which 
were  published  in  the  journals ;  and  ef- 
forts were  successfully  made  to  unite  all 
the  volunteer  corps  in  Ireland  by  a  com- 
bined organization  ;  the  edfl  of  Charle- 
mont  being  chosen  commander-in-chief. 


*  The  resolution  was  proposed  by  Mr.  John  O'Neill, 
of  Shane's  castle ;  it  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Pitzgibbon, 


The  session  of  1780  closed  on  the  2d 
of  September,  and  the  earl  of  Bucking- 
hamshire having  displeased  the  ministry 
by  the  weakness  of  his  administration, 
was  recalled,  the  earl  of  Carlisle  being 
sent  to  replace  him.  The  new  viceroy 
found  the  nation  profoundly  agitated 
by  the  two  great  questions  of  free  trade 
and  legislative  independence.  During 
the  summer  of  1781  reviews  of  the  volun- 
teer coi'ps  were  held  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  and  had  a  most  exciting  ef- 
fect. The  organization  of  the  volunteer 
movement  made  immense  progress ; 
and  when  Lord  Carlisle  met  the  Irish 
parliament  on  the  9th  of  October,  it  was 
plain  from  the  conciliatory  tone  of  his 
address,  that  he  durst  not  hazard  a 
stronger  policy  than  his  predecessor. 
He  omitted,  however,  all  mention  of  the 
volunteers,  whom  government  wished 
to  check  and  disarm  without  daring  to 
make  the  attempt.  On  the  motion  of 
Mr.  O'Neil,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
a  vote  was  unanimously  passed,  thank- 
ing the  volunteers  "  for  their  exertions 
and  continuance,  and  for  their  loyal 
and  spirited  declarations  on  the  late 
expected  invasion."*  The  debates  in 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons  at  this 
period  were  constantly  of  the  deej^est 
interest.  Government  had,  indeed,  se- 
cured a  corrupt  majority,  with  which 
it  was  able  to  carry  almost  every  meas- 
ure that  it  desired  ;  but  on  the  popular 
side,  thei'e  was   an   array   of  brilliant 


afterwards  Lord  Clare  ;  but  the  government  having  been 
obliged  to  acquiesce,  it  was  carried  without  a  division. 


THE  ULSTER  VOLUNTEERS. 


657 


talent,  which  swayed  public  opinion, 
and  which  no  government  could  at  all 
times  safely  resist.  Grattan's  fervid 
and  thrilling  eloquence  Avas  always 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  country. 
His  pojDularity  was  unbounded.*  Flood 
had  sacrificed  place  to  principle,  and 
his  now  unrestrained  adhesion  added 
greatly  to  the  strength  of  the  opposi- 
tion, f  At  length  news  ai-rived  that 
Lord  Cornwallis's  army  had  surrender- 
ed to  the  French  in  America.  It  was  a 
day  of  humiliation  and  dismay  for  Eng- 
land; but  with  that  generous  sympathy 
which  England's  misfortunes  have  seldom 
failed  to  elicit  from  Irishmen,  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons,  on  the  motion  of 
Mr.  Yelverton,  voted  an  address  of  loy- 
alty and  attachment  to  the  king,  and 
readily  granted  the  supplies  which 
were  demanded.  Still,  some  of  the 
patriots  abstained  from  these  votes,  lest 
they  should  be  understood  as  an  ex- 
pression of  opinion  against  the  Ameri- 
cans. On  the  Tth  of  December,  Mv. 
Grattan  informed  the  house,  that  their 


*  "  The  address  and  the  language  of  this  extraordi- 
nary man  were  perfectly  original  ,■  from  liis  first  essay 
in  parliament,  a  strong  se'nsation  had  been  excited  b}' 
the  point  and  eccentricity  of  his  powerful  eloquence ; 
nor  was  it  long  until  those  transcendent  talents,  which 
afterwards  distinguished  this  celebrated  personage,  were 
perceived  rising  above  ordinary  capacities,  and,  as  a 
charm,  communicating  to  his  couutr\Tncn  that  energy, 
that  patriotism,  and  that  perseverance,  for  which  ho 
himself  became  so  eminently  distinguished ;  his  action, 
his  tone,  his  elocution  in  public  speaking,  bore  no  re- 
semblance to  that  of  any  other  person ;  the  flights  of 
genius,  the  arrangements  of  composition,  and  the  solid 
strength  of  connected  reasoning,  were  singularly  blended 
in  his  fiery,  yet  deliberative  language ;  he  thought  in 
logic,  and  he  spoke  in  antithesis  ;  his  irony  and  his  sa- 
tire, rapid  and  epigrammatic,  bore  down  aU  opixjsition, 
83 


debt  at  that  time,  including  annuities, 
amounted  to  £2,667,600,  an  enormous 
sum,  accumulated  in  a  few  years  by 
patronage  and  corruption.  On  the 
11th,  Mr.  Flood  moved  for  an  inquiry 
into  the  operation  of  Poyning's  law, 
but  the  motion  was  negatived  by  a  di- 
vision of  139  to  67,  the  usual  majority 
of  the  government. 

Events  which  constitute  a  memorable 
and  glorious  era  in  Irish  history  were 
now  at  hand.  On  the  28th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1781,  the  officers  of  the  southern 
battalion  of  the  first  Ulster  regiment 
of  volunteers,  commanded  by  Lord 
Charlemont,  met  together  at  Armagh  ; 
and,  having  declared  that  they  beheld 
with  the  utmost  concern  the  little  at- 
tention paid  to  the  constitutional  rights 
of  Ireland  by  the  majority  of  their  re])- 
resentatives  in  parliament,  they  invited 
every  volunteer  association  throughout 
Ulster  to  send  delegates  to  deliberate 
on  the  alarming  situation  of  public  af- 
fairs, and  fixed  Friday,  February  15th, 
1782,  for  the  assembly  of  delegates,  to 

and  left  him  no  rival  in  the  broad  field  of  eloquent  in- 
vective ;  his  ungraceful  action,  however,  and  the  hesi- 
tating tardiness  of  his  first  sentences,  conveyed  no  favor- 
able impression  to  those  who  listened  only  to  hia  exor- 
dium ;  but  the  progress  of  his  brilliant  and  manly 
eloquence,  soon  absorbed  every  idea  but  that  of  admira- 
tion at  the  overpowering  extent  of  his  intellectual 
faculties."  Such  was  Sir  Jonah  Barrington's  estimate 
of  Henry  Grattan's  eloquence. — See  Jiise  and  Fall  of 
the  Irish  Nation,  pp.  88,  89. 

f  INIi-.  Flood  held  office  during  the  administrations  of 
Lords  Ilarcourt  and  Buckinghamshire  ;  but  in  1780  he 
resigned,  on  the  ground  that  the  line  of  policy  which  he 
had  undertaken  to  support  was  not  adopted  by  govern- 
ment. He  was  subsequently  able  to  boast  that  whOe 
in  ofiBce  he  had  never  shrunk  from  his  duty  to  his  coun- 
try. 


658 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE  III. 


take  place  at  Dungannou.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Irish  volunteers  had 
hitherto  derived  weight  as  well  from 
their  moderation  as  from  their  firmness 
and  numbers ;  they  combined,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  the  character  of  citizens 
and  of  soldiers ;  temperate  and  peace- 
able, as  well  as  armed  and  disciplined, 
there  was  something  singularly  impos- 
ing and  dignified  in  their  aspect ;  and 
it  was  impossible  not  to  recognize  in 
their  organization  great  prudence  and 
patriotism,  as  well  as  vast  military 
power.  The  invitation  of  the  Ulster 
regiment  was  responded  to  by  143  vol- 
unteer corps  of  the  northern  province, 
and  government  durst  not  interfere  to 
prevent  the  meeting.  The  delegates 
assembled  at  Dungannou  on  the  ap- 
pointed day;  most  of  them  were  men 
of  large  properties  and  of  acknowledged 
patriotism  ;  they  felt  the  w^eighty  im- 
port of  their  proceedings,  which  would 
pledge  the  country  to  a  course  that 
misrht  involve  a  hostile  collision  with 
Great  Britain.  The  place  of  meeting 
was  the  church,  a  circumstance  which 
enhanced  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion ; 
Colonel  William  Irviue  was  appointed 
chairman,  and  twenty-one  resolutions 
were  adopted.  These  were  in  substance 
as  follows : 

*  The  address  of  ttanks  of  the  convention  to  the  par- 
liamentary minority  was  couched  in  the  following  spir- 
ited words :  "  We  thank  you  for  your  noble  and  spirited, 
though  hitherto  ineffectual  efforts,  in  defence  of  the 
great  constitutional  and  commercial  rights  of  your 
country.  Go  on  1  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  the 
people  is  with  you,  and  in  a  free  country  the  voice  of 
the  people  must  prevail.  We  know  our  duty  to  our 
sovereign,  and  are  loyal.    We  know  our  duty  to  our- 


That  whereas  it  has  been  asserted 
that  volunteers,  as  such,  could  not  with 
propriety  debate  or  publish  their  opin- 
ions on  political  subjects,  or  on  the 
conduct  of  parliament  or  public  men : 
Resolved,  that  a  citizen,  by  learning 
the  use  of  arms,  does  not  abandon  any 
of  his  civil  rights.  Resolved,  that  the 
claim  of  any  body  of  men  other  than 
the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ire- 
land, to  make  laws  to  bind  this  king- 
dom, is  unconstitutional,  illegal,  and  a 
grievance ;  that  the  powers  exercised 
by  the  privy  councils  of  both  kingdoms, 
under  color  or  pretence  of  the  law  o'f 
Poyniugs,  are  unconstitutional  and  a 
grievance ;  that  the  ports  of  Ireland 
are  by  right  open  to  all  foreign  coun- 
tries not  at  war  with  the  king ;  that  a 
mutiny  bill,  not  limited  in  point  of  du- 
ration from  session  to  session,  is  uncon- 
stitutional; that  the  independence  of 
the  judges  is  equally  essential  to  the 
impartial  administration  of  justice  in 
Ireland  as  in  England ;  that  it  was 
their  decided  and  unalterable  determi- 
nation to  seek  a  redress  of  these  griev- 
ances ;  that  the  minority  in  parliament 
who  had  supported  their  constitutional 
rights  were  entitled  to  thanks  ;*  that 
four  members  from  each  county  of  Ul- 
ster should  be  appointed  a  committee. 


selves,  and  are  resolved  to  be  free.  We  seek  for  our 
rights,  and  no  more  than  our  rights ;  and  in  so  just  a 
pursuit  we  should  doubt  the  being  of  a  Providence  if 
we  doubted  of  success."  The  last  of  the  resolutions 
adopted  at  Dungannon  was  suggested  by  Mr.  Grattan 
to  Mr.  Dobbs,  just  before  the  latter  gentleman  left  Dub- 
lin to  attend  the  convention.  It  was  passed  with  two 
dissentient  votes. 


CONVENTION   OF   DUNGANNON. 


659 


till  the  next  general  meeting,  to  act  for 
the  volunteer  corps  there  represented, 
and  to  communicate  with  other  volun- 
teer associations ;  that  they  held  the 
right  of  pi'ivate  judgment  in  matters  of 
I'eligion  to  be  equally  sacred  in  othei's 
as  in  themselves,  and,  therefore,  as  men 
and  as  Irishmen,  as  Christians  and  as 
Protestants,  they  rejoiced  in  the  relaxa- 
tion of  the  penal  laws  against  their 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-subjects. 

Such  was  the  famous  convention  of 
Dungannon.  Its  resolutions  were  adopt- 
ed by  all  the  volunteer  corps  of  Ireland, 
and  served  as  the  basis  of  parliamentary 
proceedings  in  both  countries.*  In  a 
word,  a  revolution  without  precedent 
in  any  other  country  had  been  achieved. 
On  the  very  day  on  which  these  mem- 
orable resolutions  were  passed,  Mr. 
Gardiner  (afterwards  Lord  Mountjoy) 
introduced  his  measure  for  the  relief  of 
the  Catholics.     Some  delay  was  caused 

*  These  resolutions  of  Dungannon  were,  to  a  great 
extent,  only  tlie  solemn  assertion  of  principles  already 
set  fortli  in  resolutions  of  volunteer  corps,  discussed  in 
parliament,  and  sanctioned  by  public  opinion.  Thus, 
on  the  9th  of  June,  1780,  the  Dublin  volunteers,  Tvith 
their  general,  the  duke  of  Leinster,  in  the  chair,  resolved 
unanimously,  "  That  the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of 
Ireland  only  are  competent  to  make  laws  binding  the 
subjects  of  this  realm ;  and  that  we  will  not  obey,  or  give 
operation  to  any  laws,  save  only  those  enacted  by  the 
king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland,  whose  rights  and 
privileges,  jointly  and  severally,  we  are  determined  to 
support  with  our  lues  and  fortunes."  The  effective  men 
of  the  volunteer  corps  which  sent  delegates  to  Dungan- 
non, or  which  subsequently  acceded  to  the  Dungannon 
resolutions,  were,  according  to  the  abstract  given  in  the 
appendix  to  Grattan's  Miscellaneous  Works :  In  Ulster, 
34,153  ;  in  Munster,  18,056  ;  in  Connaught,  14,336  ;  in 
Leinster,  22,283  ;  total,  88,837 ;  which,  with  the  addition 
of  twenty-two  corps  which  had  acceded  but  made  no  re- 
turns, and  that  were  estimated  at  about  12,000  men, 
made  a  grand  total  for  all  Ireland  of  100,000  men.   The 


by  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  by  Mr. 
Fitzgibbon  ;  but  the  government  having 
left  it  an  open  question,  Mr.  Gardiner's 
principal  propositions  were  adopted.f 

On  the  fall  of  Lord  North's  ministry, 
Loixl  Carlisle  retired  from  his  post,  and 
was  succeeded  by  the  duke  of  Portland, 
who  was  sworn  into  office  as  lord- 
lieutenant  on  the  14th  of  April,  1Y82. 
Mr.  Fox  communicated  to  the  Britisb 
parliament  a  royal  message,  recom- 
mending to  their  immediate  considera- 
tion the  adjustment  of  the  questions 
which  produced  so  serious  an  agitation 
in  Ireland.  The  new  viceroy  met  the 
Iri.sh  parliament  on  the  16th  of  April ; 
and  on  that  day  Mr.  Grattan  moved  an 
amendment  to  the  address,  pointing  out 
the  principal  causes  of  the  discontent 
in  Ireland,  and  declaring  that  to  re- 
move those  causes  the  6th  Geo.  I.,  ch.  5, 
which  asserted  the  dependency  of  the 
Iiish   parliament  on  that  of  England, 


artillery  belonging  to  the  volunteer  corps  of  the  several 
provinces,  were  :  In  Ulster,  33  pieces  ;  in  Munster,  33  ; 
in  Connaught,  20  ;  in  Leinster,  38  ;  total,  130  pieces. 

f  Mr.  Gardiner  separated  his  measure  into  three  dif- 
ferent bills.  The  first  enabled  Catholics  to  take,  hold, 
and  dispose  of  lands  and  other  hereditaments  in  the 
same  manner  as  Protestants,  with  the  exception  of  ad- 
vowsons,  manors,  and  parliamentary  boroughs  ;  it  also 
repealed  the  statutes  against  the  hearing  or  celebrating 
mass ;  against  a  Catholic  having  a  horse  worth  £5  or 
upwards;  and  that  which  empowered  grand-juries  to 
levy  from  Catholics  the  amount  of  any  losses  sustained 
through  privateers,  robbers,  &c.,  and  which  excluded 
them  from  dwelling  in  the  city  of  Limerick,  &c.  The 
second  bill  was  entitled,  "An  Act  to  enable  Persons 
professing  the  Popish  Religion  to  teach  Schools  in  this 
Kingdom,  and  for  regtilating  the  Education  of  Papists, 
and  also  to  repeal  Parts  of  certain  Laws  relative  to  the 
Guardianship  of  their  Children."  These  two  bUls  were 
passed  into  law  ;  but  the  third,  which  authorized  inter- 
marriage between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  was  nega- 
tived by  a  majority  of  eight. 


660 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


sliould  be  repealed;  the  ap2:)ellate  juris- 
diction of  the  lords  of  Ireland  should 
be  restored;  the  unconstitutional  powers 
of  the  privy  council  should  be  abolished ; 
and  the  perpetual  mutiny  bill  repealed. 
The  motion,  which  Avas  an  echo  of  the 
leading  resolutions  of  Duugannon,  was 
unanimously  agreed  to." 

On  the  17th  of  May,  17S2,  the  alarm- 
ino:  state  of  Ireland  was  brought  un- 
der  the  consideration  of  the  British 
senate,  by  the  earl  of  Shelburne  in  the 
peers,  and  by  Mr.  Fox  in  the  Com- 
mons; and  resolutions  were  adopted 
declaring  it  to  be  the  opinion  of  parlia- 
ment that  the  6th  Geo.  I.,  entitled,  "An 
Act  for  the  better  securing  the  Depen- 
dency of  Ireland  upon  the  Crown  of 
Great  Britaiu,"  ought  to  be  repealed  ;f 
and  "  that  it  was  indispensable  to  the 
interests  and  happiness  of  both  king- 
doms that  the  connection  between  them 
should  l)e  established  l:)y  mutual  consent 
upon  a  solid  and  permanent  footing," 
for  which  purpose  an  address  should 
be  presented  to  his  majesty,  jiraying 
that  measures  conducive  to  that  import- 
ant end  should  be  taken.  These  reso- 
lutions passed  the  lou'er  house  unani- 
mowely,  and  in  tlie  peers  the  only  dis- 
sentient voice  was  that  of  Lord  Lou2;h- 
borough. 

*  TMs  memorable  address,  or  declaration  of  riglits, 
assured  liis  majesty  "that  his  subjects  of  Ireland  are  a 
free  people.  That  the  crown  of  Ireland  is  an  imperial 
crown,  inseparably  annexed  to  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  on  which  connection  the  interests  and  happi- 
ness of  both  nations  essentially  depend ;  but  that  the 
kingdom  of  Ireland  is  a  distinct  kingdom,  with  a  par- 
liament of  her  own,  the  sole  legislature  thereof.  That 
there  is  no  body  of  men  competent  to  make  laws  to 


On  the  27th  of  May  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment met  after  an  adjournment  of  three 
weeks,  and  the  duke  of  Portland  an- 
nounced in  his  opening  speech  the  un- 
conditional concessions  made  to  Ireland 
by  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain. 
The  news  was  received  with  an  out- 
burst of  gratitude.  These  concessions, 
as  expounded  by  Mr.  Grattan,  amounted 
to  the  giving  up  by  England,  uncon- 
ditionally and  in  toto,  of  every  claim 
of  authority  over  Ireland ;  they  were 
grounded  not  merely  on  expediency 
but  on  constitutional  principles ;  they 
were  yielded  magnanimously,  and  in  a 
manner  that  removed  all  suspicion ;  and 
all  constitutional  questions  between  the 
two  countries  were  at  an  end.  Such 
was  Mr.  Grattau's  interpretation  of  the 
measure.  He  moved  the  address  in  a 
brilliant  S2:)eech,  breathing  the  generous 
sentiments  of  his  noble  and  confiding 
nature.  A  warm  discussion  ensued. 
Mr.  Flood,  Sir  Samuel  Bradstreet,  re- 
corder of  Dublin,  and  Mr.  Walsh,  a 
barrister,  took  a  different  view  from 
Mr.  Grattan  of  the  English  concessions. 
It  -was  urged  by  them  that  the  simple 
repeal  of  the  act  of  6  George  I.  merely 
expunged  from  the  English  statute-book 
the  declaration  that  England  had  the 
right  to  make  laws  for  Ireland ;  it  did 

bind  this  nation  except  the  king,  lords,  and  commons 
of  Ireland,  nor  any  other  parliament  which  hath  any 
authority  or  power,  of  any  sort  whatsoever,  in  this  coun- 
try, save  only  the  parliament  of  Ireland ;"  and  "  that 
we  humbly  conceive  that  in  this  right  the  very  essence 
of  our  liberties  exists— a  right  which  we,  on  the  part  of 
all  the  people  of  Ireland,  do  claim  as  their  birthright, 
and  which  we  cannot  yield  but  with  our  lives." 
f  See  the  substance  of  this  statute,  pp.  GG5,  G30,  supra. 


msi^iBi'' 


.ir![rAsr.  ffioii'.. 


Sc    SON 


TWO  PARTIES  AMOXG  THE  PATRIOTS. 


661 


not  deny  that  Eaglaud  had  that  power ; 
but  left  the  question  as  it  was  before 
the  passing  of  the  obnoxious  act,  when 
the  English  parliament  so  frequently 
arrogated  to  itself  and  exercised  such 
power.  All  Mi'.  Grattan's  arguments 
were  founded  on  a  generous  estimate 
of  the  honor  and  good  faith  in  which 
the  resolutions  of  the  English  parlia- 
ment were  brought  forward;  and  his 
opinion  prevailed.  The  address  was 
carried  by  a  division  of  211  to  2.  The 
house  then,  as  an  evidence  of  its  grati- 
tude, voted  that  20,000  Irish  seamen 
should  be  raised  for  the  British  navy, 
and  a  grant  of  £100,000  be  made  to 
carry  out  that  object.  Nothing  was 
heard  but  mutual  congratulations ;  it 
was  the  great  and  bloodless  victory  of 
the  volunteers ;  a  day  of  general  thanks- 
giving was  appointed ;  and  the  house 
next  testified  the  gratitude  of  the  coun- 
try to  its  gifted  benefactor,  by  voting 
£50,000  to  purchase  an  estate  and 
build  a  house  for  Mr.  Grattan. 

Two  parties  now  arose  among  the 
patriots,  led  by  the  rival  orators,  Mi'. 
Grattan  and  Mr.  Flood.  Tlie  former 
had  been  led  into  error  by  his  too 
generous  credulity.  At  that  very 
moment,  English  statesmen  were  con- 
templating the  reassertion  of  English 
supremacy ;  and  the  duke  of  Portland, 
encoui'aged  by  the  divisions  among  the 
patriots,  wrote  to  Lord  Shelburne  on 
the  6th  of  June,  1782,  that  he  had  the 
best  reason  to  hojDe  that  he  would  soon 
be  able  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  the 
power  claimed  by  England ;  although 


a  few  days  after  he  was  compelled  to 
acknowledge  that  the  state  of  popular 
feeling  in  Ireland  rendered  such  a  step 
impossible  for  the  present.  Mr.  Flood's 
opinions  gained  ground  out  of  doors, 
while  those  of  his  opponent  continued 
to  prevail  in  parliament.  Most  un- 
worthy aspersions  were  thrown  upon 
the  motives  of  Mr.  Grattan.  It  was 
said  that  he  had  obtained  his  reward, 
and  that  he  was  now  ready  to  abandon 
the  popular  cause.  On  the  other  hand, 
Mr.  Flood's  friends  urged  that  their 
leader  had  made  an  enormous  per- 
sonal sacrifice  for  his  country ;  and 
as  he  would  not,  they  said,  stoop  to  ac- 
cept any  boon,  an  attempt,  but  a  fruit- 
less one,  was  made  to  induce  the  pi'esent 
government  to  restore  his  office,  then 
in  the  hands  of  an  unpopular  man,  Sir 
Geoi'ge  Young.  Mr.  Flood  brought 
the  question  at  issue  between  him  and 
Mr.  Grattan  before  the  house,  in  the 
shape  of  a  motion  for  leave  to  bring 
in  the  heads  of  a  bill  declaring  the  sole 
and  exclusive  right  of  the  Irish  j^arlia- 
meut  to  make  laws  in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever, internal  and  external,  for  the 
kingdom  of  Ireland;  but  on  the  19th 
of  July  the  house  divided,  when  only 
six  members  voted  for  his  motion ;  the 
ground  of  rejection,  as  stated  by  Mr. 
Grattan,  being,  that  the  exclusive  right 
of  Ireland  to  self-legislation  had  already 
been  asserted  by  Ireland,  and  fully  and 
finally  acknowledged  by  the  English 
parliament. 

A  chanofe  of  cabinets  was  brought 
about  by  the  death  of  the  Whig  min- 


662 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


ister.  the  marquis  of  Rockingham  ;  and 
Earl  Temple  was  sent  to  replace  the 
duke  of  Portland  in  the  government  of 
Ireland.  Dui'iug  the  administration  of 
tlie  latter,  several  important  measures 
had  been  carried.  The  Bank  of  Ireland 
was  established ;  a  liabeas  corpus  act 
was  given  to  this  country  ;  the  dissent- 
ers were  relieved  from  the  sacramental 
test ;  the  perpetual  mutiny  bill  was  re- 
pealed, and  the  independence  of  the 
judges  was  established.  At  length,  on 
the  27th  of  July,  the  eventful  session  of 
17S2  was  brought  to  a  close.  Popular 
discontent,  however,  was  far  from  be- 
ing set  at  rest.  The  question,  whether 
the  simple  repeal  of  the  6  George  I. 
were  sufficient,  or  whether  England 
should  not  be  called  upon  to  renounce 
formally  her  claim  of  supremacy,  was 
everywhere    discussed.*     Hence,    "  re- 

*  In  the  following  session  (33  Geo.  TIT.)  government 
brought  into  the  British  parliament  an  express  act  of 
renunciation,  "  for  removing  and  preventing  all  doubts 
which  have  arisen,  or  might  arise,  concerning  the  ex- 
clusive rights  of  the  parliament  and  courts  of  Ireland 
in  matters  of  legislation  and  judication,"  &c. 

\  For  detailed  accounts  of  the  proceedings  of  the  vi)l- 


peal"  and  "  renunciation,"  became  the 
watchwords  of  the  two  parties.  Pro- 
vincial, county,  and  district  meetings  of 
volunteer  corps  and  delegates  were 
frequently  held,  their  resolutions  were 
published  in  the  newspapers,  and  every 
private  soldier  was  taught  to  feel  that 
he  had  a  right  to  express  his  sentiments 
on  the  constitutional  questions  which 
occupied  the  legislature.f  The  con- 
duct of  the  people  was  peaceable  and 
orderly,  yet  public  feeling  was  highly 
excited.  It  was  a  period  of  great 
national  energy ;  but  having  in  this 
already  lengthy  chapter  traced  the 
fortunes  of  Ireland  from  their  very 
lowest  ebb  to  what  it  has  been  the 
fashion  to  regard  as  their  culminatinoc 
point,  we  shall  not  add  another 
word  here  to  forestall  approaching 
events. 


unteers,  the  reader  may  refer  to  the  Lives  of  Qrattan 
and  Lord  Charlemont ;  Sir  Jonah  Barrington's  Rise  and 
Fall  of  Vie  Irish  Nation;  MacNevin's  History  of  tJie 
Volunteers,  in  Dufiy's  "  Library  of  Ireland ;"  the  Ap- 
pendix to  Grattau's  Miscellaneous  Works;  Historical 
CoUectioiis  Relative  to  Belfast;  Hist,  of  the  Conven- 
tion ;  the  public  journals  of  the  period,  &c.,  &c. 


A  DECEPTIVE  VICTORY. 


663 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


FKOM   THE   DECLABATIOK    OF   INDEPEKDENCE   TO   THE   UiaON. 

Short-comings  of  the  volunteer  movement. — Corruption  of  the  Irish  parliament. — The  national  convention  of 
delegates  at  the  Kotunda. — the  Bishop  of  Derry. — The  Convention's  Reform  BOl. — BUI  rejected  by  parliament. 
— The  convention  dissolved  and  the  fate  of  the  Volunteers  sealed. — The  Commercial  Relations  BUI — Orde's 
propositions. — Great  excitement  in  parliament. — Mr.  Pitt's  project  abandoned. — Popular  discontent. — Dis- 
orders in  the  South. — The  Eight-boys. — The  feud  of  the  Peep-o'-day-boys  and  Defenders — Frightful  atroci- 
ties of  the  former. — The  Orange  Society. — The  regency  question. — Political  clubs. — Ferment  produced  by  the 
French  Revolution. — The  Catholic  committee. — Theobald  Wolfe  Tone. — Formation  of  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen — Their  principles. — Catholic  Relief  BUI  of  ITSS. — Trial  of  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan. — Mission 
of  Jackson  from  the  French  Directory — His  conviction  and  suicide. — Administration  of  Earl  FitzvriUiam — 
Great  excitement  at  his  recall. — New  organization  of  the  United  IiiBlunen. — Their  revolutionary  plans. — 
TVolfe  Tone's  mission  to  France. — The  spy  system.- — Ipiquitous  proceedings  of  the  government — Efforts  to  accel- 
erate an  explosion. — The  Insurrection  and  Indemnity  acts. — The  Bantry  Bay  expedition. — Reynolds  the 
informer. — Arrest  of  the  Executive  of  the  United  Irishmen. — Search  for  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald. — His 
arrest  and  death. — The  insurrection  prematurely  forced  to  an  explosion. — Free  quarters,  torturings,  and  mili- 
tary executions. — ^Progress  of  the  insurrection. — Battle  of  Tara. — Atrocities  of  the  military  and  the  magis- 
trates.— The  insurrection  in  Kildare,  Wexford,  and  Wicklow. — Successes  of  the  insurgents. — Outrao-es  of 
runaway  troops. — Siege  of  New  Ross. — Retaliation  at  ScuUabogue. — Battle  of  Arklow. — Battle  of  Vinegar 
HUl. — Lord  CornwalUs  assumes  the  government. — Dispersion  and  surrender  of  insurgents. — The  French  at 
Killala.— Flight  of  the  English. — The  insurrection  finally  extinguished. — The  Union  proposed. — Opposition 
to  the  measure. — Pitt's  perfidious  policy  successful. — The  Union  carried. 

[a.  d.  1783  TO  A.  D.  1800.] 


A  T  tlie  close  of  the  last  chapter  we 
•*--^  left  the  volunteers  in  possession 
of  a  constitutional  victory;  but  we 
then  paused  before  the  bright  side  of  a 
picture,  of  which  we  have  now  to  ex- 
amine the  shade.  Turuino;  aside  from 
the  glorious  pageant  of  the  national 
army,  we  are  here,  unhappily,  doomed 
to  find  that  the  victory  was  deceptive 
and  evanescent;  that  the  parliament 
which  was  made  free  was  venal,  cor- 
rupt, and.  unless  reformed,  worthless; 
that  the  popular  leaders  were  in  religion 


intolerant,  in  jDolitics  short-sighted,  and 
many  of  them  faithless  and  insincere; 
that  although  four-fifth.s  of  the  popula- 
tion were  Catholics,  the  just  rights  of 
this  vast  majority  were  not  recognized 
by  the  very  men  who  sought  political 
freedom  for  themselves;  that  the  coun- 
try was  consequently  weakened  by  dis- 
union, and  an  unjust  government  en- 
abled with  security  to  refuse  all  reform 
of  abuses  and  all  redress  of  grievances ; 
and,  finally,  that  the  volunteer  associa- 
tion, deprived  of  moral  influence,  was, 


664 


EEIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


after   a    few  years,  suffered   to   die   of 
inanition.*  ' 

On  the  15tli  of  July,  1*783,  parlia- 
ment u'as  dissolved  and  a  new  parlia- 
ment summoned  to  meet  in  October. 
It  Avas  a  moment  when  the  question  of 
reform  was  very  earnestly  and  generally 
agitated.  The  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons was  then  composed  of  300  mem- 
bers, of  whom  64  were  returned  for 
counties,  and  of  the  remainder  at  least 
1Y2,  or  a  majority  of  the  whole  house, 
were  sent  in  for  close  boroughs,  the 
property  of  a  few  lords  and  wealthy 
commoners,  and  Avhich  were  bought 
and  sold  like  any  ordinary  merchan- 
dise. Other  members,  besides  those  for 
close  boroughs,  were  also  purchased  by 
government;  and  the  few  who  could 
be  said  to  represent  the  people  honestly 
formed  a  minority  insignificant  in  point 
of  numbers.  In  this  degraded  state  of 
venality  aud  corruption,  however,  the 


*  "  The  services  of  tlie  volunteers,"  says  Dr.  Madden, 
"  are,  on  the  whole,  greatly  exaggerated  by  our  histori- 
ans ;  the  great  vronder  is,  how  little  substantial  good  to 
Ireland  was  effected  by  a  body  which  was  capable  of 
effecting  so  much.  As  a  military  national  spectacle, 
the  exhibition  was,  indeed,  imposing,  of  a  noble  army  of 
united  citizens  roused  by  the  menace  of  danger  to  the 
State,  and  once  mustered,  standing  forth  in  defence  of 
the  independence  of  their  country.  But  it  is  not 
merely  the  spectacle  of  their  array,  but  the  admirable 
order,  conduct,  and  discipline  of  their  various  corps — 
not  for  a  short  season  of  political  excitement,  but  for 
a  period  of  nearly  ten  years — that  even,  at  this  dis- 
tance of  time,  are,  with  many,  a  subject  of  admiration. 

But  what  use  did  the  friends  and  advocates  of 

popular  rights  make  of  this  powerful  association  of 
armed  citizens,  which  paralyzed  the  Irish  government, 
and  brought  the  British  ministry  to  a  frame  of  mind 
very  different  to  that  which  it  hitherto  exhibited  towards 
Ireland  ?  Why,  they  wielded  this  great  weapon  of  a 
nation's  collected  strength  to  obtain  an  illusory  indo- 


Irish  parliament  was  not  unique  ;  that 
of  England  at  the  same  period  presents 
similar  characteristics,  for  which  the 
debasing  policy  of  the  government  and 
the  profligacy  of  the  times  were  respon- 
sible. The  subject  of  parliamentary 
reform  was  now  taken  up  warmly  by 
the  volunteers.  A  meetins:  of  dele- 
gates  was  held  at  Lisburn  on  the  1st  of 
July,  1783,  preliminary  to  another  held 
at  Duugannon  on  the  8th  of  September, 
at  which  all  the  Ulster  volunteer  corps 
were  represented.  The  subject  of 
equal  representation  of  the  people  in 
parliament  was  discussed  and  com- 
mended to  the  attention  of  the  volun- 
■  teers  of  all  Ireland.  The  movement 
was  taken  up  in  the  same  spirit  by  the 
other  provinces,  and  the  result  of  their 
provincial  meetings  was  the  project  of 
a  gi-and  national  volunteer  convention, 
to  assemble  in  Dublin  on  the  10th  of 
November.    These  proceedings  alarmed 


pendencc,  which  never  could  rescue  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment from  the  influence  of  the  British  minister  without 
reform,  aud  which  left  the  parliament  as  completely  in 
the  power  of  the  minister,  through  the  medium  of  his 
hirelings  in  that  house,  as  it  had  been  before  that 
shadow  of  parliamentary  independence  had  been  gained. 

The  other  adjimcts  to  this  acquisition  were,  a 

place-bill  aud  a  pension-bill,  which  had  been  the  stock- 
in-trade  of  the  reforming  principle  of  the  opposition  for 
many  years.  No  great  measure  of  parliamentary  re- 
form or  Catholic  emancipation  was  seriously  entertained 
or  wrung  from  a  reluctant  but  then  feeble  government. 
The  error  of  the  leaders  was  in  imagining  that  they 
could  retain  the  confidence  of  the  Catholics,  or  the  co- 
operation of  that  body,  which  constituted  the  great 
bulk  of  the  population,  while  their  convention  publicly 
decided  against  their  admission  to  the  exercise  of  the 
elective  franchise."— r/ic  United  Inshmen,  their  Lives 
and  Times,  by  R.  R.  Madden,  M.  D.  First  Series,  p. 
143,  second  edition. 


CONVENTION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEERS. 


665 


government,  but  the  new  parliament. 
in  tlie  mean  time,  met  and  passed  a  vote 
of  tlianks  to  tLe  volunteers.  This  per- 
haps was  only  intended  to  conciliate. 
A  warm  debate  took  place  on  the 
question  of  retrenchment,  and  the  o])- 
position  was,  as  usual,  defeated.  Grattan 
had  latterly  ceased  to  co-operate  earn- 
estly with  the  other  popular  leaders. 
On  this  occasion  an  angry  altercation 
took  place  between  him  and  Flood, 
whose  policy  was  more  progressive  and 
uncompromising,  and  the  mutual  hos- 
tility of  these  two  great  men,  which 
was  so  disastrous  to  their  country, 
became  henceforth  more  bitter  than 
ever. 

Monday,  the  10th  of  November, 
arrived,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty 
delcsrates  of  the  volunteers  of  Ireland 
assembled  at  the  Royal  Exchange. 
They  elected  as  their  chairman  the  earl 
of  Charlemont,  and  adjourned  to  the 
great  room  of  the  Rotunda,  marching 
two  and  tAvo  through  the  streets,  es- 
corted by  the  county  and  city  of  Dub- 
lin volunteers,  with  drums  beating  and 
colors  flying.  Vast  multitudes  assem- 
bled ;  there  was  great  enthusiasm,  and 
the  scene  was  altogethei"  a  most  impos- 
ina:  one.*  In  the  Rotunda  the  seats 
were  arranged  in  semicircular  oi'der 
before  the  chair,  the  orchestra  was  oc- 
cupied by  ladies,  and  the  delegates 
adopted  in  their  proceedings  the  forms 
of  parliament.  One  of  the  most  prom- 
inent members  of  the  convention  was 

•  See  description  of  the  procession,  in  Gilbert's  Hist. 

of  Duhlin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  61. 

84 


Frederick  Augustus  Hervey,  earl  of 
Bristol  in  the  English  peerage,  and 
Protestant  bishop  of  Deny  in  Ireland. 
This  eccentric  personage  took  the  ex- 
treme pojiular  side  on  all  questions,  and 
was  idolized  by  the  multitude.  He 
assumed  a  degree  of  princely  state; 
was  daily  escorted  to  the  convention 
by  a  troop  of  light  dragoons  command- 
ed by  his  nephew,  George  Robert  Fitz- 
gerald, of  duelling  notoriety ;  and  was 
only  saved  by  the  eccentricity  of  his 
manner  from  the  serious  consequences 
to  which  his  bold  assertion  of  opinion 
would  have  laid  him  open. 

The  convention  had  not  made  much 
progress  in  its  deliberations  before  gov- 
ernment contrived  by  an  artifice  to 
introduce  the  seeds  of  dissension.  Sir 
Boyle  Roche,  a  man  notorious  for  his 
blunders  and  buflfoonery,  made  his  ap- 
pearance at  the  Rotunda,  with  Avhat 
purported  to  be  a  message  from  Lord 
Kenmare,  to  the  effect  that  the  Irish 
Catholics  were  satisfied  with  what  had 
been  done  for  them  by  the  legislature, 
and  that  they  only  desired  to  enjoy  in 
peace  the  benefits  bestowed  upon  them. 
This  occurred  on  the  14th  of  Novem- 
ber, and  the  same  day  the  general 
committee  of  the  Catholics  held  a  meet- 
ing, with  Sir  Patrick  Bellew  in  the 
chair,  and  resolved  unanimously  that 
the  message  to  the  national  convention 
was  totally  unknown  to,  and  unauthor- 
ized by  them  ;  and  that  they  were  not 
so  unlike  the  rest  of  mankind  as  to 
prevent,  by  their  own  act,  the  removal 
of  their  shackles.     This  resolution  was 


666 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE   III. 


communicated  to  the  convention  in  the 
evening  by  the  bishop  of  Deny ;  but 
the  assembly,  with  all  its  assumption  of 
liberality,  was  anti-Catholic.  Follow- 
ing the  principles  laid  down  by  the 
Dungannon  convention,  it  had,  by  its 
first  resolution,  restricted  to  Protestants 
the  right  of  assuming  arms ;  it  now 
pretended  not  to  be  able  to  distinguish 
between  the  authenticity  of  Sir  Boyle 
Roche's  message  and  that  of  the  reso- 
lution of  the  Catholic  committee,  and 
concluded  by  an  illiberal  exclusion  of 
Catholics  from  the  constitutional  priv- 
ileges claimed  for  the  Protestant  minor- 
ity. "We  cannot  be  surprised  that 
such  a  course  should  have  deprived 
the  convention  of  Catholic  sympathies. 
Plans  of  reform  were  now  submitted 
for  consideration  by  several  of  the 
delegates.  Hardy,  in  his  "Life  of 
Charlemont,"  describes  them  as  "in- 
congruous fancies  and  misshapen  the- 
ories." Mr.  Flood  and  the  bishop  of 
Derry  took  the  leading  part  in  digest- 
ing these  plans,  and  out  of  them  was 
at  length  composed  the  bill  which  Mr. 
Flood  introduced  in  parliament  on  the 
29  th  of  November.  A  stormy  debate 
in  the  House  of  Commons  ensued.  Mr. 
Yelverton,  the  attorney-general  (after- 
wards Lord  Avonmore),  led  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  bill.  Although  he  himself 
had  been  a  volunteer,  he  declared  that 
originating:  as  the  bill  did  with  an 
armed  body,  it  was  inconsistent  with 
the  freedom  of  debate  in  that  house  to 
receive  it.  They  did  not  sit  there  to 
register  the  edicts  of  another  assembly, 


or  to  receive  propositions  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  He  admired  the  vol- 
unteers so  long  as  they  confined  them- 
selves to  their  first  line  of  conduct,  but 
when  they  formed  themselves  into  a 
debating  society,  and  with  that  rude 
instrument,  the  bayonet,  probed  and 
explored  a  constitution  which  required 
the  nicest  hand  to  touch,  his  respect 
and  veneration  were  destroyed.  Such 
was  the  logic  employed  against  the 
bill.  Mr.  Flood  defended  the  bill  and 
the  volunteers  by  a  display  of  powerful 
eloquence.  A  writer  who  was  present 
describes  the  scene  as  "  almost  terrific" 
— as  one  of  "  uproar,  clamor,  violent 
menace,  and  furious  recrimination."* 
Several  supporters  of  the  measure,  and 
the  delegates  who  were  present,  ap- 
peared in  uniform.  Mr.  Grattan  gave 
the  bill  but  a  feeble  support,  and  the 
motion  was  rejected  by  a  division  of 
159  to  77.  Corruption  was  triumphant. 
The  attorney-general  the  nmoved,  "  that 
it  had  now  become  necessary  to  declare 
that  the  house  would  maintain  its  just 
rights  and  privileges  against  all  en- 
croachments whatsoever,"  and  the  reso- 
lution was  carried  by  a  similar  majority. 
The  gauntlet  was  fairly  thrown  down 
to  the  volunteers,  and  the  consequences 
might  have  been  most  serious  to  the 
emj^ire  had  not  some  of  the  popular 
leaders  behaved  with  more  than  ordi- 
nary prudence.  Lord  Charlemont  ex- 
erted himself  privately  and  publicly  to 
prevent  a  collision ;  and  at  length,  on 

*  Hardy's  Life  of  Charlemont,  vol.  ii.,  p.  146. 


COMMERCIAL   REGULATIONS  BILL. 


667 


the  morning  of  Tuesday,  the  2d  of 
December,  adjourned  the  convention 
sine  die.  This  sealed  the  fate  of  the 
volunteers.  Their  prestige  and  influ- 
ence were  gone  forever.  Mr.  Flood 
retired  in  disgust  to  England,  and  on 
his  return  the  following  year  introduced 
another  reform  bill,  only  to  be  again 
defeated.  His  object  was  to  show  that 
it  was  not  because  the  former  bill 
emanated  from  the  volunteers  it  had 
been  rejected,  but  because  it  was  di- 
rected against  the  scandalous  corruption 
of  an  unprincipled  House  of  Commons. 
An  attempt  was  made  by  Flood,  tap- 
per Tandy,  and  others,  to  get  up 
another  national  congress,  by  addressing 
circulars  to  the  hiijh-sheriffs,  invitinf>- 
them  to  convene  meetings  of  their 
respective  counties  and  cities  to  elect 
delegates ;  but  the  high-sheriffs  were 
threatened  by  government  with  the 
vengeance  of  the  law,  and  few  of  them 
had  the  hardihood  to  hold  the  required 
meetings.  A  few  delegates  were,  how- 
ever, returned,  and  in  October,  1784, 
met  in  Dublin  with  closed  doors. 
Flood  attended  their  sittinsfs:  but  some 
of  them  were  offended  at  his  hostility 
to  the  Catholics ;  the  abortive  conven- 
tion dissolved ;  and  Fitzo-ibbon,  then 
attorney-general,  to  make  an  example, 
prosecuted  the  sheriff'  of  the  county  of 
Dublin  by  an  attachment.  The  volun- 
teers, deserted  by  most  of  their  aristo- 
cratic leaders,  now  became  a  democratic 
association.  In  Belfast  and  Dublin 
they  commenced  openly  to  train  people 
of  all  classes  and  sects   in  the    use  of 


arras,  and  the  example  was  followed 
elsewhere ;  but  government,  reassured 
by  the  late  triumph  over  the  volunteers 
in  parliament,  now  took  bolder  meas- 
ures. The  standing  army  was  raised 
to  15,000  men,  and  in  February,  1785, 
a  sum  of  £20,000  was  voted  to  clothe 
the  militia.  These  forces,  however,  were 
unpopular,  and  the  volunteers  having 
ceased  to  co-operate  with  the  civil 
authorities  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace,  every  part  of  the  country  soon 
became  disturbed  by  scenes  of  tumult 
and  violence. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  the  trade  and 
manufactures  of  Ireland  invariably 
sacrificed  to  the  interests  of  England. 
The  great  question  of  1785  was  a  bill 
for  regulating  the  commercial  relations 
of  the  two  countries.  William  Pitt 
was  the  minister,  and  the  duke  of  Rut- 
laud  was  viceroy  of  Ireland.  The 
measure  was  introduced  in  the  Irish 
parliament  by  Mr.  Secretary  Orde,  in 
the  shape  of  nine  propositions,  and  did 
not  jiass  without  considerable  opposi- 
tion, as  it  was  proposed  that  this  coun- 
try should  contribute  a  quota  for  the 
protection  of  the  general  commerce  of 
both  countries  at  the  discretion  of  the 
British  parliament.  The  bill  passed 
the  Irish  parliament  on  the  12th  of 
February,  and  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
Pitt  in  the  English  House  of  Commons 
on  the  22d.  The  commercial  jealousy 
of  England  had  been  roused,  and  peti- 
tions were  poured  in  from  all  quarters 
against  the  measure.  Pitt  complained 
of  this  hostility  as  unjust  and   ungen- 


GGS 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE   III. 


erous,  but  secretly  he  took  measures  to 
allay  the  sordid  fears  of  the  English 
manufacturers,  by  assuring  them  that 
Ireland  should  derive  little  advantage 
from  the  bill ;  and  he  accordingly  added 
eleven  new  propositions  to  the  nine 
Irish  ones,  altering  the  bill  so  materially, 
that  when  returned  to  Ireland  in  Au- 
gust it  had  ceased  to  be  the  same  meas- 
ure which  had  passed  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment. By  the  new  propositions,  Ire- 
land was  to  be  debarred  from  all  trade 
beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  would  be 
bound  by  whatever  navigation  laws 
the  English  parliament  might  thence- 
forth enact.  The-  insulting  restrictions, 
and  the  attempt  to  bind  Ireland  by 
English-made  laws,  produced  a  violent 
commotion  in  the  Irish  parliament. 
They  were  denounced  in  one  of  the 
most  memorable  efforts  of  his  eloquence 
by  Grattau,  who  now  saw  how  griev- 
ously he  had  been  mistaken  about  the 
constitutional  arrangements  of  1182. 
"  This  bill,"  he  said,  "  goes  to  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  most  invaluable  part  of 
your  parliamentary  capacity;  it  is  a 
union,  an  incipient  and  creeping  union; 
a  virtual  union,  establishing  one  will  in 
the  general  concerns  of  commerce  and 
navigation,  and  reposing  that  will  in 
the  parliament  of  Great  Britain ;  a 
union  where  our  parliament  preserves 
its  existence  after  it  has  lost  its  author- 
ity, and  our  people  are  to  pay  for  a 
parliamentary  establishment  without 
any  proportion  of  parliamentary  repre- 
sentation."    The  latent  patriotism  even 


of  that  corrupt  house  was  awakened, 
and  when  a  division  on  the  altered 
bill  took  2:)lace,  after  a  debate  which 
was  sustained  until  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  the  numbers  were  found  to 
be,  for  the  bill,  12Y,  against  it,  108.  So 
small  a  majority,  yielded  by  its  own 
hirelings,  was  properly  regarded  by  the 
ministry  as  a  defeat,  and  the  bill  was 
abandoned  ;  but  Pitt  never  forgave  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons  for  this  dis- 
play of  its  nationality. 

Popular  discontent,  arising  from  a 
variety  of  causes,  social,  political,  and 
religious,  pervaded  the  whole  country 
and  gave  rise  in  many  places  to  scenes 
of  tumult  and  disorder.  Opposition  to 
the  importation  of  English  marmfac- 
tures  was  renewed,  and  led  to  some 
violent  proceedings,  particularly  in 
Dublin.  In  the  south,  the  Whiteboys 
were  revived  under  the  name  of  Right- 
boys,  and  in  1V8V  their  turbulence  and 
acts  of  intimidation  filled  several  coun- 
ties with  alarm.  Tithes,  church-rates, 
and  rack-rents  had  driven  the  famishing 
peasantry  to  madness;  the  law  afforded 
them  no  relief,  and  against  the  un- 
limited exactions  of  tithe-proctors  and 
middlemen,  and  the  cruelties  of  unjust 
magistrates,  they  sought  protection  in 
their  own  system  of  wild  justice.  Mr. 
Grattan  made  various  fruitless  attempts 
in  parliament  to  obtain  an  inquiry  into 
the  causes  of  this  agrarian  discontent. 
He  was  opposed  by  Fitzgibbon,  who, 
defending  the  parsons,  said  he  knew 
the  unhappy  tenantry  were  ground  to 
powder   by  relentless   landlords;   and 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT. 


669 


instanced  cases  in  Munster,  in  which,  to 
his  own  knowledge,  a  poor  tenant  was 
compelled  to  pay  £Q  an  acre  for  potato 
ground,  which  £6  he  had  to  work  out 
with  his  landlord  at  five  pence  a  day. 
He  might  have  found  cases  much  worse 
still  in  Connaught ;  but  Grattan  showed 
that  "  the  landlord's  overreaching, 
compared  to  that  of  the  tithe-farmer, 
was  mercy."  To  the  relentless  inhu- 
manity of  both  these  classes  the 
wretched  people  were  abandoned ;  and 
when  goaded  into  resistance,  they  were 
refused  by  the  legislature  any  remedy 
but  the  bayonet  and  the  halter.  Still, 
the  outrages  committed  by  the  Eight- 
boys  were  not  to  be  excused,  and  they 
were  denounced  from  the  altars  by  the 
Catholic  clergy,  and  more  particularly 
in  pastorals  issued  by  the  Most  Rev.  Dr. 
Butler,  archbishop  of  Cashel,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Dr.  Troy,  Catholic  bishop 
of  Ossory. 

Meantime,  disturbances  of  a  different 
nature  commenced  in  the  north  be- 
tween two  parties  called  Peep-o'-day- 
boys  and  Defenders.  They  originated 
in  1784  among  some  country  people, 
who  ajjpear  to  have  been  all  Protest- 
ants or  Presbyterians ;  but  Catholics 
having  sided  with  one  of  the  parties, 
the  quarrel  quickly  grew  into  a  re- 
ligious   feud,    and     spread    from     the 

*  The  first  Orange  lodge  ■was  formed  in  September" 
1795,  in  tlie  village  of  Loughgall,  in  Armagh.  The 
confederacy  spread  rapidly,  and  the  frightful  atrocities 
eommitted  by  its  members  on  the  Catholics  helped  to 
accelerate  the  insurrection  of  '98,  and  added  fearfully  to 
its  horrors.  "  The  original  oath,  or  purple  test,  of  this 
society  was  not  produced  by  the  officers  of  the  society 


county  of  Armagh,  where  it  com- 
menced, to  the  neighboring  districts  of 
Tyrone  and  Down.  Both  parties  be- 
longed to  the  humblest  classes  of  the 
community.  The  Protestant  party  were 
well  armed,  and  assembling  in  num- 
bers, attacked  the  houses  of  Catholics, 
under  pretence  of  searching  for  arms ; 
insulting  their  persons,  and  breaking 
their  furniture.  These  wanton  outrages 
were  usually  committed  at  an  early 
hour  in  the  morning,  whence  the  name 
of  Peep-o'-day-boys ;  but  the  faction 
was  also  known  as  "Protestant  boys" 
and  "Wreckers,"  and  ultimately  merged 
in  the  Orange  society.*  Their  object 
was  something  more  than  a  mere  at- 
tack upon  Catholics  for  their  religion. 
They  coveted  the  lands  occupied  by 
their  Catholic  neighbors,  and  adopted 
the  Cromwellian  j)rinciple  of  sending 
the  Papists  "to  hell  or  Connaught." 
For  this  j)urpose  they  burned  the 
houses  of  the  Catholics,  great  numbers 
of  whom  were  thus  driven  from  the 
country,  and  their  holdings  afterwards 
given  to  Protestants ;  and  Plowden 
tells  us,  that  in  the  beginning  of  1796, 
"  it  was  generally  believed  that  7,000 
Catholics  had  been  forced  or  burned 
out  of  the  county  of  Armagh,  and  that 
the  ferocious  banditti  who  had  expelled 
them  had   been   encouraged,  connived 

on  the  inquiry  entered  into  by  the  parliamentary  com- 
mittee in  1835  ;  but  the  existence  of  this  diabolical  test 
was  given  in  evidence  before  the  Secret  Comnaittee  of 
1798,  by  Mr.  Arthur  O'Connor,  and  the  knowledge  of 
it  admitted  by  the  committee  on  that  occasion."  Tfie 
United  Ifishmen,  &c.,  first  series,  p.  110,  second  edi- 
tion. 


670 


KEIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


at,  aud  protected  by  the  government." 
Ao-ainst  these  savasre  atrocities  the 
Catholics  were  compelled  to  band  them- 
selves for  protection,  aud  hence  they 
assumed  the  name  of  Defenders.  The 
association  of  Defenders,  however, 
sjiread  into  some  localities  where  no 
aggression  from  Protestants  was  to  be 
apprehended,  and  in  such  cases  the 
Defenders  leae^ued  themselves  for  the 
redress  of  various  agi'arian  grievances, 
especially  that  of  the  tithe  system. 
They  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  of 
secrecy,  and  had  pass-words  like  other 
similar  societies,  but  they  were  exclu- 
sively illiterate  men,  and  their  political 
opinions  were  generally  limited  to  a 
vagu&  notion  that  "something  ought 
to  be  done  for  Ireland."* 

In  the  autumn  of  1Y88,  George  III. 
was  attacked  by  insanity,  and  the  re- 
gency was  conferred  in  England  on  the 
prince  of  Wales,  clogged  with  a  variety 
of  restrictions,  upon  which  Mr.  Pitt 
insisted.  The  Irish  parliament,  gener- 
ally ready  enough  to  assert  its  own 
23rivileges,  refused  to  be  dictated  to 
either  by  the  English  parliament  or  by 
the  minister,  aud  in  tlie  exercise  of  its 
national  independence  voted  the  re- 
gency without  restriction  or  limitation. 
The  lord-lieutenant  (the  marquis  of 
Buckingham)  refused  to  forward  the 
address  to  the  prince  of  Wales ;  but 
the  parliament  appointed  a  commission 
to  convey  the  address  to  England,  and 


*  See  Plowden's  History,  vol.  ii.,  c.  7 ;  MacNevin's 
Pieces  of  Irish  Ilistory,  p.  55,  &c.    The  trials  of  the 


the  deputation  was  most  graciously 
received  by  the  prince.  The  phalanx 
of  corruption  was  for  the  moment 
broken  up  in  the  Irish  ^^arliament ;  the 
hirelings  were  uncertain  whom  they 
should  obey ;  and  Grattan  seized  the 
opportunity  to  introduce  a  pension  bill 
and  some  other  popular  measures.  But 
the  king's  health  was  suddenly  restored ; 
the  servile  majority  resumed  their  ranks, 
and  all  attempts  at  reform  were  as  hope- 
less as  ever.  Pitt  was  exasperated  by 
the  conduct  of  the  Irish  parliament  on 
the  regency  question,  and  never  after 
lost  sight  of  his  determination  to  de- 
prive Ireland  of  her  legislature. 

No  viceroy  ever  exerted  the  corrupt- 
ing influence  of  government  more 
shamelessly  than  the  marquis  of  Buck- 
ingham. He  bargained  openly  for 
single  votes,  and  during  his  short  ad- 
ministration added  iSl3,000  a  year  to 
the  pension  list.  In  1790  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  earl  of  Westmoreland. 
It  was  an  age  of  political  associations ; 
societies  were  springing  into  existence 
in  eveiy  part  of  the  empire.  A  Whig 
club  was  established  iu  Ireland  similar 
to  that  of  England ;  but  not  only  were 
Catholics  excluded,  as  they  were  from 
most  of  the  other  political  societies, 
but  even  the  discussion  of  the  Catholic 
question  was  interdicted.  The  ferment 
in  the  popular  mind  was  daily  increased 
by  the  progress  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion, and  the  wildest  theories  of  democ- 


Defenders ;  Dr.  Madden's  Lives  and  Times  of  the  United 
Irishmen,  &c. 


ORIGIN  OF   THE  UNITED  IRISHMEN. 


671 


racy  begaa  to  float  oa  the  tide  of 
public  opiniou.  Stil],  the  governmeat 
was  inexorable  in  its  opposition  to  every 
proposition  for  reform,  and  it  was 
openly  asserted  in  parliament  that  such 
conduct  seemed  designed  to  goad  the 
people  to  rebellion.  Grattan  arraigned 
the  ministry  in  a  long  series  of  charges, 
and  that  other  gifted  and  illustrious 
L'ishman,  John  Philpot  Currau,  labored 
at  this  time  in  the  same  cause ;  but 
their  efforts  were  in  vain. 

On  the  11th  of  February,  1T91,  a 
general  committee  of  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  met  in  Dublin,  and  resolved  to 
apply  to  parliament  for  relief  fi'om  their 
disabilites.  The  Catholics  had  hithei'to 
refrained  from  all  agitation,  and  their 
body  was  weakened  by  a  division  into 
an  aristocratic  and  a  democratic  party, 
this  breach  being  daily  widened  by  the 
suspicion  with  which  the  excesses  of 
the  French  revolution  induced  the 
friends  of  religion  and  order  to  regard 
all  democratic  tendencies.  The  most 
active  men  of  the  Catholic  committee 
at  this  time  were  John  Keogh,  Eichard 
M'Cormic,  John  Sweetman,  Edward 
Byrne,  and  Thomas  Braughall.  Theo- 
bald Wolfe  Tone,  a  young  barrister  of 
considerable  talent  and  of  an  ardent 
and  aspiring  disposition,  proffered  his 
services  to  promote  their  cause,  as  did 
likewise  the  Hon.  Simon  Butler,  also  a 
barrister,  and  some  other  patriotic 
Protestants  and  Dissenters;  and  the 
accession  of  such  men  gave  a  fresh 'im- 
pulse to  their  efforts,  and  roused  them 
to  the  adoption  of  more  decisive  lan- 


guage than  they  had  hitherto  used. 
Nothing  was  more  calculated  to  excite 
the  jealousy  of  government  than  this 
fellowship  of  Protestants  and  Cath- 
olics ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
friends  of  the  popular  cause  saw  that 
nothing  was  more  necessary  to  promote 
their  views  than  unanimity  between  all 
classes  of  Irishmen.  With  this  object 
in  view,  Wolfe  Tone  visited  Belfast  in 
October,  1791,  at  the  invitation  of  a 
volunteer  club  already  existing  there, 
composed  of  such  men  as  Samuel  Neil- 
son,  Robert  Simms,  Thomas  Russell, 
&c.,  and  in  conjunction  with  them 
founded  the  first  club,  which  took  the 
name  of  the  Society  of  United  Irish- 
men. He  then  returned  to  Dublin,  and 
with  James  Napper  Tandy,  Simon 
Butler,  and  others,  founded  a  similar 
society  in  the  metropolis.  The  funda- 
mental resolutions  of  the  society  were : 
"  1st.  That  the  weight  of  English  in- 
fluence in  the  government  of  this  country 
is  so  great  as  to  require  a  cordial  union 
among  all  the  people  of  Ireland,  to 
maintain  that  balance  which  is  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  our  liberties  and 
the  extension  of  our  commerce.  2d. 
That  the  sole  constitutional  mode  by 
which  this  influence  can  be  opposed,  is 
by  a  complete  and  radical  reform  of 
the  representation  of  the  people  in 
parliament.  3d.  That  no  reform  is 
just  which  does  not  include  every 
Irishman    of    every    religious    persua- 


sion. 


^^ 


Such  were  the  principles  of  the  first 
United  Irishmen.     Their  society   was 


672 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


perfectly  constitutional,  and  in  every 
respect  as  legal  as  any  of  the  numerous 
political  clubs  which  at  that  time  existed 
in  England  and  Ireland,  and  which 
boasted  among  their  members  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  statesmen  of 
the  day.  Wolfe  Tone  and  some  of  his 
associates  had  already  imbibed  republi- 
can ideas,  but  it  is  an  unquestionable 
fact  that  they  did  not  attemjit  to  en- 
graft these  on  the  original  constitution 
of  the  United  Irishmen,  which  was 
thoroughly  monarchical.  The  grand 
princij^le  of  the  society  was  that  of 
"  union  among  all  classes  of  Irishmen ;" 
it  was  this  which  marked  it  out  as 
specially  dangerous  in  the  eyes  of  a 
government  which,  like  every  L-ish 
government  since  the  earliest  times  of 
English  rule  in  this  country,  relied 
on  the  contrary  principle  of  division 
amongst  the  people;  and  it  was  this 
which  gave  the  society  so  much  political 
influence  during  the  first  period  of  its 
existence.* 

In  Jul)',  1791,  the  anniversary  of  the 
French  revolution  was  celebrated  with 


*  The  "test"  of  tlie  first  society  of  United  Irislimen 
was  as  follows  :  "  I,  A.  B.,  in  the  presence  of  God,  do 
pledge  myself  to  my  country,  that  I  will  use  all  my 
abilities  and  influence  in  the  attainment  of  an  impartial 
and  adequate  representation  of  the  Irish  nation  in  par- 
liament; and  as  a  means  of  absolute  and  immediate 
necessity  in  the  establishment  of  this  chief  good  of 
Ireland,  I  will  endeavor,  as  much  as  lies  in  my  ability, 
to  forward  a  brotherhood  of  affection,  and  identity  of 
interests,  a  communion  of  rights,  and  a  union  of 
power,  among  Irishmen  of  all  religious  persuasions, 
without  which  every  reform  in  parUament  must  be  par- 
tial, not  national,  inadequate  to  the  wants,  delusive  to 
the  wishes,  and  insufficient  for  the  freedom  and  happi- 
ness of  this  country." — See  Wolfe  Tone's  Memoirs; 


military  pomp  at  Belfast  by  the  armed 
volunteei-s  and  townspeople.  Demo- 
cratic ideas  became  daily  more  preva- 
lent, and  in  order  to  protest  against 
such  jjrinciples,  sixty-four  of  the  Cath- 
olic aristocracy  seceded  from  the  Cath- 
olic body,  and  presented  an  address  of 
loyalty  to  the  lord-lieutenant.  This 
proceeding  was  uncalled  for,  and  was 
injurious  to  their  cause ;  indeed,  these 
were  the  persons  of  whose  sentiments 
Sir  Boyle  Roche  undertook  to  be  the 
worthy  expositor  to  the  volunteer  con- 
vention in  1783.  In  1792,  the  Catholic 
committee  employed  the  son  of  the 
great  Edmund  Burke  as  their  advocate 
to  defend  them  against  the  imputations 
of  the  sixty-four  addressors.  In  fact, 
the  attention  of  the  committee  was 
then  so  exclusively  confined  to  the  one 
great  point  of  obtaining  a  relaxation  of 
the  penal  code,  that  they  mixed  them- 
selves up  with  no  other  political  agita- 
tion, and  nothing  could  be  more  unjust 
than  to  impute  to  their  j^roceedings  a 
democratic  character.  A  convention 
of  Catholic  delegates  was   suggested  ; 


Madden's  Lives  and  Times  of  the  United  Irishmen,  &e. 
"  Strictly  speaking,"  says  the  historian  of  the  United 
Irishmen,  "  Samuel  NeUsou  was  the  originator,  and 
Tone  the  organizer  of  the  society,  the  framer  of  its 
declaration,  the  penman  to  whom  the  details  of  its  for- 
mation was  intrusted.  The  object  of  Tone  in  assisting 
in  the  formation  of  the  Belfast  and  Dublin  societies  is 
not  to  be  mistaken — he  clearly  announces  it  in  his  diary. 
In  concluding  the  account  of  the  part  he  took  in  the 
formation  of  the  former,  he  plainly  states :  '  To  break 
the  connection  with  England,  the  never-failing  source 
of  aU  our  political  evUs,  and  to  assist  the  independence 
of  my  country — these  are  my  objects.'" — Madden's 
Lices  and  Times  of  the  United  Irishmen,  second  series 
p.  11,  second  edition. 


CATHOLIC  RELIEF  BILL. 


673 


this  proposal  (fraught  witli  most  im- 
portant results)  produced  an  outcrj^, 
and  violent  proceedings  against  the 
Catholics  were  adopted  by  the  grand- 
juries  throughout  the  country.  Never- 
theless the  Catholic  delegates  assembled 
in  Dublin,  and  held  their  first  meeting 
on  the  2d  of  December,  1792,  at  the 
Tailor's  Hall  in  Back-lane.  The  Cath- 
olics next  prepared  a  petition  to  the 
king,  representing  their  grievances ;  it 
was  signed  by  Dr.  Troy  and  Dr.  Moy- 
lan,  on  behalf  of  the  prelates  and 
clergy,  and  by  all  the  county  delegates. 
Five  delegates-^namely.  Sir  Thomas 
French,  Mr.  Byrne,  Mr.  Keogh,  Mr. 
Devereux,  and  Mr.  Bellew — were  chosen 
to  convey  the  petition  to  Loudon,  and 
on  the  2d  of  January,  1793,  they  pre- 
sented it  to  his  majesty,  by  whom  they 
were  very  graciously  received. 

Under  the  pressure  of  renewed  war 
with  France,  and  in  order  to  detach 
the  Catholics  from  the  more  active  and 
dangerous  politicians  of  other  creeds, 
government  brought  in  the  relief  bill 
of  1793  ;*  but  in  the  same  session  were 
passed  a  militia  bill,  and  the  guuj^owder 
and  convention  bills;  the  two  latter 
coercive  measures  being  directly  aimed 
against  the  volunteers  and  the  United 
Irishmen,  the  former  havin<r  still  re- 
tained  a  nominal  existence.     Mr.  Pitt's 


*  TMs  act  (33  Geo.  m.)  restored  tbe  elective  francliise 
to  the  Irish  Catholics,  and  threw  open  to  them  certain 
offices  in  the  army  in  Ireland,  and  all  offices  in  the 
navy,  even  that  of  admiral,  on  the  Irish  station.  In  the 
army  three  offices  were  still  excepted — viz.,  those  of 
commander-in-cMef,  master-general  of  the  ordnance, 
85 


favorite  tactics  were  to  create  disunion 
and  alarm,  and  thus  to  prepare  the  way 
for  strong  measures.  He  enveloped 
the  proceedings  of  the  executive  in 
mystery,  and  reckoned  on  the  fears, 
and  never  on  the  confidence  of  the 
people. 

A  meeting  of  the  United  Irishmen, 
held  in  Dublin  in  February,  1793,  pub- 
lished an  address  protesting  against 
the  inquisitorial  nature  of  certain  pro- 
ceedings of  the  secret  committee  of 
the  House  of  Lords,  then  conducting  an 
inquiry  relative  to  the  Defenders'  asso- 
ciation. For  this,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Butler, 
who  acted  as  chairman  of  the  meetiusr, 
and  Mr.  Oliver  Bond,  the  secretary, 
were  called  before  the  bar  of  the  house, 
and  adjudged  to  be  each  imprisoned 
six  mouths  and  fined  £500.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1794,  Mr.  Archibald  Hamilton 
Eowan  was  prosecuted  for  an  address 
to  the  volunteers,  adopted  at  a  meeting 
of  the  United  Irishmen,  of  which  he 
was  secretary,  and  which  was  held 
nearly  two  years  before.  He  was  de- 
fended by  Curran,  who  made  one  of 
his  most  celebrated  speeches  on  the 
occasion ;  but  by  the  aid  of  the  nefari- 
ous jury-packing  system,  then  newly 
introduced  by  the  notorious  John  Gil- 
ford, the  sherifi',  and  on  the  testimony 
of  a  peijured  witness,  Mr.  Eowan  was 


and  general  on  the  staff.  The  preceding  year  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons  refused  to  receive  a  petition  from 
Belfast  in  favor  of  the  Catholics ;  and  yet,  in  1793,  the 
only  bigots  in  that  den  of  corruption  who  were  con- 
sistent enough  to  vote  against  the  relief  bill,  were  Dr. 
Duigenan  and  Jlr.  Ogle. 


674 


REIGN    OF    GEORGE   III. 


convicted  of  a  seditious  libel,  and  sen- 
tenced to  two  years'  imprisonment  and 
a  fine  of  £500.  These  proceedings  in- 
creased the  popular  ferment,  and  an 
address  from  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen  was  presented  to  Mr,  Rowan 
in  Newgate  ;  but  on  the  1st  of  May  he 
made  his  escape,  and  although  £1,000 
reward  was  offered  for  his  apprehen- 
sion, he  succeeded  in  making  his  way 
to  France,  and  thence  to  America. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  1794,  an 
emissary  arrived  in  Ireland  from  the 
French  Convention,  to  sound  the  popu- 
lar mind  relative  to  an  invasion.  This 
person  was  the  Rev.  William  Jackson, 
a  Protestant  clergyman  of  Irish  extrac- 
tion, but  who  had  been  born  in  Eng- 
land, and  had  resided  many  years  in 
France,  He  rashly  confided  his  secret 
to  his  legal  adviser,  Mr.  John  Cock- 
ayne, a  London  solicitor,  by  whom  it 
was  immediately  revealed  to  the  prime 
minister,  Mr.  Pitt.  By  Pitt's  advice, 
Cockayne  accompanied  Jackson  to  Ire- 
land, and  was  present  at  his  interviews 
with  Leonard  M'Nally,  Ai-chibald 
Hamilton  Rowan,  then  in  Newgate, 
Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  and  other  lead- 
ers of  the  United  Irishmen.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  Irish  leaders,  they  looked 
at  first  with  some  suspicion  on  Jack- 
son, and  avoided  committing  them- 
selves in  the  presence  of  Cockayne. 
Thus  did  the  first  overtures  of  France 
to  Ireland  come,  as  it  were,  through 
the  very  hands  of  William  Pitt  him- 
self; and  the  government  having  made 
this  first  experiment  in  treason  manu- 


facture, had  Jackson  arrested  on  the 
28th  of  April,  Three  days  after,  as 
we  have  seen,  Hamilton  Rowan  made 
his  escape,  and  on  the  4tli  of  May  the 
meeting  of  United  Irishmen  at  the 
Tailor's  Hall  was  dispersed  by  the 
sheriff,  under  the  convention  act,  and 
their  papers  seized.  Many  of  the 
more  j^i'udeut  members  of  the  society 
now  thought  it  hi2;h  time  to  withdraw. 
The  latter  j^art  of  1794  witnessed 
some  strange  political  intrigues.  Pitt 
professed  to  abandon  his  policy  of  co- 
ercion, and  thereupon  many  of  the  old 
Whig  party  entered  into  a  coalition 
with  him.  The  earl  of  Westmoreland 
was  recalled  from  Ireland,  and  on  the 
4th  of  January,  1795,  Earl  Fitzwilliam, 
a  nobleman  of  liberal  principles  and 
most  estimable  disposition,  arrived  to 
replace  him.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  came 
over  with  the  express  understanding 
that  he  was  to  pursue  a  policy  of  con- 
ciliation. At  Dublin  Castle  he  found  a 
system  established  utterly  incompatible 
with  any  honest,  constitutional  plan  of 
government,  and  he  at  once  set  about 
reforming  it.  His  first  acts  were  to 
dismiss  Secretary  Cooke,  and  to  de- 
prive Mr.  Beresford  of  the  power  which 
had  enabled  him  and  his  family  for 
many  years  to  monopolize  a  vast  pro- 
portion of  the  public  emoluments,  and 
to  exercise  an  uncontrolled  sway  over 
the  Irish  government.  The  new  vice- 
roy surrounded  himself  with  liberal- 
minded  men  ;  the  Catholics  were  prom- 
ised complete  emancipation ;  the  peo- 
ple  were   inspired   with   a   confidence 


THE   SOCIETY   OF  UNITED   IRISHMEN. 


675 


which  they  had  never  felt  till  then  ; 
and  extraordinary  joy  was  diffused 
through  the  country.  But  this  was 
only  for  a  moment.  When  the  hopes 
of  the  nation  were  raised  to  the  his^hest 
pitch,  Lord  Fitzwilliam  was  recalled. 
The  effect  was  heart-rending.  Ad- 
dresses and  resolutions  poured  in  from 
all  sides  to  avert  the  calamity,  but  to 
no  purpose.  On  the  25th  of  March, 
Lord  Fitzwilliam  took  his  departure 
from  Ireland,  amidst  the  amruish  of  the 
people.  His  coach  was  drawn  to  the 
water-side  by  some  of  the  most  respect- 
able citizens  of  Dublin  ;  the  city  wore 
an  aspect  of  mourning,  but  the  public 
grief  was  equalled  by  the  public  indig- 
nation at  the  heartless  duplicity  of  the 
minister.  Pitt  had  made  up  his  mind 
for  the  Union,  cost  wliat  it  might,  and 
he  knew  that  it  was  through  tlie  hu- 
miliation and  misfortune,  not  thiough 
the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  L'e- 
land,  that  such  a  measure  could  be 
brought  about.  To  realize  his  favorite 
project,  this  unhappy  country  was  to  be 
deluged  with  crime  and  blood. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1795,  the  Rev. 
William  Jackson  was  put  on  his  ti-ial  for 
treason,  and  convicted  on  the  evidence 
of  Cockayne.  When  the  unfortunate 
man  was  brought  up  for  judgment  on 
the  30th,  he  took  a  dose  of  arsenic  be- 
fore entering  the  dock,  and  to  give 
time  for  the  poison  to  take  effect,  he 
caused  his  counsel,  Mr.  Leonard  Mc- 
Nally,  to  plead  in  arrest  of  judgment. 
Externally  he  concealed  the  frightful 
tortures  which  he  endured ;     his  jail- 


ers did  not  pefceive  a  muscle  change ; 
and  the  ingenuity  of  counsel  protracted 
the  argument  until  the  wretched  pris- 
oner fell  in  the  agonies  of  death.  A 
coroner's  inquest  closed  the  scene. 
Jackson's  object  in  anticipating  the 
law  was,  to  save  for  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren the  little  money  which  he  possess- 
ed, and  which  would  have  been  confis- 
cated had  judgment  been  pronounced. 

The  Society  of  United  Irishmen  had 
already  assumed  a  new  character. 
Desperation  having  succeeded  to  hope 
in  the  public  mind,  physical  force  and 
foreign  aid  -were  thought  of.  The 
original  objects  of  reform  and  emanci- 
pation were  merged— at  least  in  the 
minds  of  many  of  the  leaders — in  revo- 
lution and  republicanism.  The  original 
test  of  the  society  was  changed  into  an 
oath  of  secrecy  aud  mutual  fidelity ; 
and  for  the  words,  "equal  representa- 
tion of  the  people  in  jiarliament,"  was 
substituted  in  their  declaration  the 
phrase,  "  a  full  representation  of  all  the 
people  of  Ireland ;"  the  word  "  all" 
being  added  and  "  parliament"  omit- 
ted. Baronial,  county,  and  provincial 
committees  were  established ;  each  so- 
ciety was  limited  to  twelve  members, 
including  a  secretary  and  treasurer; 
five  of  these  secretaries  formed  a  lower 
baronial  committee,  which  delegated 
one  of  its  members  to  an  upper  baronial 
committee ;  and  so  on  for  the  commit- 
tees of  counties  and  provinces.  Each 
of  the  four  provinces  had  a  subordinate 
directory,  delegated  by  a  provincial 
committee;   and  in  Dublin  there  was 


676 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


an  executive  directory  of  five  persons, 
elected  by  ballot  in  the  provincial  di- 
rectories. The  executive  directory  ex- 
ercised supreme  command  over  the  en- 
tire union,  and  its  members  were  only 
known  to  the  secretaries  of  the  provin- 
cial committees  ;  but  the  result  proved 
that  all  this  secrecy  and  complicated 
organization  alForded  no  protection 
against  treachery.  From  the  veiy 
commencement  every  important  \ivo- 
ceeding  of  the  United  Irishmen  was 
known  to  the  government. 

By  the  10th  of  May,  1*795,  the  new 
organization  of  the  society  was  com- 
plete on  paper;  and  on  the  20th,  Wolfe 
Tone  left  Dublin  for  Belfast,  on  his 
way  to  America.  He  had  been  impli- 
cated by  the  evidence  on  Jackson's 
trial,  but  through  the  influence  of  very 
powerful  friends  lie  was  saved  from 
prosecution  on  condition  of  quitting 
the  country.  From  America  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Fj'ance,  in  fulfilment  of  a 
promise  which  he  had  made  to  the 
leadei-s  at  home,  that  he  would  lay 
such  I'epresentations  before  the  French 
republican  government  as  would  lead 
to  an  invasion  of  Ireland.  He  arrived 
at  liavre  on  the  1st  of  Februarj^,  1796, 
and  hastened  to  Paris.  His  creden- 
tials consisted  only  of  two  votes  of 
thanks  from  the  Catholic  Committee, 
of  which  he  had  been  secretary,  and 
his  certificate  of  admission  to  the  Bel- 
fast volunteers.  The  American  ambas- 
sador was  friendly  to  him ;  he  intro- 


*  For  the  details  of  the  events  here  rehited,  and  of 
those  which  are  immediately  to  follow,  the  reader  is  re- 


duced  himself  to  Carnot ;  and  his  suc- 
cess, under  many  disheartening  cir- 
cumstances, was  so  complete,  that  on 
the  16th  of  December,  the  same  year, 
a  French  expedition  under  General 
Hoche  sailed  from  Brest  to  Ireland. 
It  consisted  of  17  shijjs  of  the  line, 
besides  frigates,  &c.,  to  the  number  in 
all  of  43  sail,  having  on  board  15,000 
troo2:)S  and  45,000  stand  of  arms,  with 
artillery,  ammunition,  &c. ;  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone  himself,  with  the  rank  of 
adjutant-general,  being  on  board  the 
same  ship  with  General  Grouchy,  the 
second  in  command.  It  was  madness 
to  undertake  the  expedition  at  such  a 
season.  Scarcely  had  the  shores  of 
France  been  cleared,  when  foul  winds 
and  foggy  weather,  "  the  only  unsub- 
sidised  allies  of  England,"  dispersed  the 
fleet ;  the  admiral's  ship,  with  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, separated,  and  such  of 
the  vessels  as  kept  together  cruised  for 
six  or  eight  days  at  the  entrance  to 
Bantry  Bay,  waiting  in  vain  for  Hoche, 
and  then  returned  to  France  ;  Grouchy 
having  refused  to  attempt  a  landing 
without  tlie  orders  of  the  chief  in  com- 
mand. It  was  one  of  those  cases  in 
which  the  destinies  of  nations  seem  to 
hang  by  a  slender  thread.  Had  the 
weather  been  more  propitious,  it  is 
quite  possible  that  the  result  of  the 
expedition  might  have  been  a  success- 
ful civil  war  in  Ii-eland,  and  the  loss  of 
this  country  forever  to  the  crown  of 
England.* 

ferred  to  T/ie  United  Irishmen,  their  Lives  and  Times, 
by  Dr.  R.  R.  Madden,  M.  R.  I.  A. — a  work  of  immense 


"STRONG  MEASURES"  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


677 


The  liorrible  drama  wliicli  Avas  to  be 
played  out  in  Ireland  during  the  t^^'o 
or  three  ensuing  years  was  novr  com- 
menced in  right  earnest.  Esirl  Cam- 
den succeeded  Lord  Fitzwilliam  as  lord- 
lieutenant  ;  Robert  Stewart,  Viscount 
Castlereagh,  a  political  apostate,  who 
had  entered  parliament  as  a  pledged 
reformer,  but  who  soon  pi'oved  himself 
the  most  unprincipled  foe  to  popular 
rights,  became  an  active  member  of 
the  Irish  executive ;  Lord  Carhampton, 
the  worthy  grandson  of  the  infamous 
Henry  Luttrell,  got  the  command  of 
the  army,  and  exercised  his  power 
with  fierce  and  reckless  cruelty  ;  early 
in  1796  an  insurrection  act  was  passed, 
making  the  administration  of  an  oath 
like  that  of  the  United  Irishmen  pun- 
ishable with  death ;  a  discretionary 
power  was  given  to  magistrates  to 
proclaim  counties ;  houses  might  be  en- 
tered between  sunset  and  sunrise,  and 
the  inmates  seized  and  sent  on  board 
tenders  without  any  formality  of  trial ; 
Lord  Carhampton,  had,  indeed,  in  the 
summer  of  1795,  banished  in  that  way 
one  thousand  three  hundred  persons  on 


labor  and  research,  and  tTMch.  constitutes  in  itself  a 
repertory  of  Irish  history  for  this  period ;  also  to  the 
Memoirs  nf  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone;  Dr.  "W.  J.  MacNe- 
vin's  Pieces  of  Irish  Histor;/ ;  Moore's  Life  of  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald;  MacNevin's  Liws  and  Trials  of 
Eminent  Irishmen  ;  Telling's  Personal  Narrative  of  the 
Pebellion;  William  Samson's  Autobiography,  edited  by 
William  Cooke  Taylor;  Autobiography  of  Hamilton 
Rowan,  edited  by  Dr.  Drummond ;  Hay's  History  of 
the  Insurrection  in,  Wexford;  Conley's  Personal  Nar- 
rative; O'KeUy's  General  History  of  the  Rebellion; 
History  of  the  Rebellion,  by  the  Eev.  James  Gordon  (a 
Protestant  clergyman) ;  Alexander's  Account  of  the 
Rebellion  ;  C.  Jackson's  History  of  the  Rebellion  ;  Mus- 


his  own  authority  and  without  any 
legal  form  ;  the  ferocity  and  fanaticism 
of  the  Orangemen,  as  the  Peep-o'-day- 
boys  were  now  denominated,  were 
employed  for  the  extirpation  of  the 
Catholics  ;*  and  acts  of  indemnity 
were  passed  to  shield  the  magistrates 
and  military  from  responsibility  for 
the  cruelties  in  which  they  exceeded 
the  law.  In  parliament  nothing  would 
be  done  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
the  country  or  allay  the  popular  fer- 
ment ;  but  every  thing  that  could  most 
effectually  provoke  and  foment  discon 
tent.  The  results  were  only  what 
were  to  be  expected.  If  revolution 
can,  under  any  circumstances,  be  jus- 
tified— and  upon  revolution  the  con- 
stitution of  Euo^land  is  founded — it 
would  be  monstrous  to  blame  the  un- 
happy victims  of  Pitt's  policy  in  Ire- 
land for  meditating  resistance  at  that 
fatal  period.  Accordingly,  we  find  that 
the  leaders  of  the  United  Irishmen 
formed  the  plan  of  engrafting  a  mili- 
tary organization  on  their  civil  organ- 
ization. This  was  commenced  in  Ul- 
ster  about   the    end   of  1796,  and  in 


grave's  Work  (a  tissue  of  prejudice  and  falsehood)  ; 
Reports  from  Committees  of  Secrecy  of  the  Houses  of 
Lords  and  Commons  ;  Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation ;  the  Lives  and  Speeches  of 
Henry  Qrattan  and  John  Philpot  Curran  ;  Lord  Clon- 
curry's  Personal  Recollections ;  the  Correspondence  of 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  of  the  JIarquis  ComwaUis,  &c. 

*  The  Peep-o'-day-boys  and  Defenders  fought  a  pitched 
battle  at  a  place  called  the  Diamond,  near  Armagh,  on 
the  21st  September,  1795.  The  former  were  much 
better  armed,  and  the  latter,  although  more  numerous, 
were  beaten  with  a  loss  of  forty-eight  killed.  It  was 
notorious  that  government  encouraged  the  Peep-o'-day 
boys  or  Orangemen. 


678 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE   III. 


Leinster  iu  the  beginning  of  1797. 
The  secretary  of  a  society  of  twelve 
became  a  petty  officer;  the  delegates 
to  tlie  lower  baronial  committees  be- 
came captains  ;  the  delegate  from  the 
lower  to  the  upper  baronial  committee 
was,  in  most  cases,  a  colonel ;  but 
every  commission  higher  than  that  of 
colonel  was  in  the  appointment  of  the 
executive  directory.  The  members  did 
not  for  some  tin:e  adopt  these  titles, 
nor  was  the  Leinster  directory  elected 
until  the  close  of  1797.  The  society 
spread  rapidly  among  the  humbler 
classes,  especially  in  localities  where 
Orange  clubs  wei-e  established.  On 
the  eve  of  the  outbreak  in  1798  the 
total  number  of  enrolled  members  was 
computed  at  500,000,  and  of  these  very 
nearly  800,000  might  be  counted  on  as 
effective  men.  A  few  yeai's  before  the 
leaders  complained  that  the  people 
were  sluggish  and  hard  to  be  moved ; 
they  now  found  that  the  great  difficulty 
was  to  restrain  them  under  the  system 
of  provocation  practised  by  govern- 
ment. Some  of  the  leadeis  were  too 
enthusiastic ;  but  it  was  a  settled  point 
among  them  that  without  foreign  aid 
an  insurrection  should  not  be  hazarded  ; 
that  the  country  sliould  not  be  exposed 
to  the  horrors  of  a  war  like  that  of  La 
Vendee,  and  that  the  impatience  of  the 
people  should  be  restrained  by  every 
means  until  the  arrival  of  a  French  in- 
vading army.  Agents  were  therefore 
repeatedly  sent  to  solicit  the  aid  of 
France.  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  a 
brother  of  the  duke  of  Leinster,  and 


who  had  served  with  great  distinction 
in  the  English  army  in  Canada,  went  on 
one  of  these  missions  to  France  in 
1796,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Arthur 
O'Connor,  a  member  of  the  Irish  par- 
liament. They  proceeded  to  Switzer- 
land, where  they  had  an  interview  on 
the  frontier  with  General  Hoche,  pre- 
vious to  the  departure  of  the  Bantry 
Bay  expedition.  Li  March,  1797,  Mr. 
Lewines,  an  attorney  of  Dublin,  was 
sent  on  a  similar  mission,  and  remained 
in  Fi'ance  as  a  permanent  agent  of  the 
L'ish  directory ;  Wolfe  Tone  being 
also  at  the  same  time  in  Paris.  In 
June,  1797,  Dr.  MacNiJvin  was  dis- 
patched to  France  on  a  similar  errand, 
but  only  got  to  Hamburgh,  where  he 
imprudently  ventured  to  communicate 
by  letter  with  the  French  government, 
and  a  copy  of  his  memorial  came  in- 
to the  hands  of  the  British  minister 
through  the  treachery  of  an  employee 
in  the  French  foreign  office.  Indeed, 
the  English  government  was  thorough- 
ly informed  of  every  movement  of  the 
Irish  leaders,  and  might  at  any  moment 
have  bi'oken  up  the  scheme  which  was 
thus  hatched  under  its  very  eyes.  A 
regular  system  of  espionage  was  em- 
ployed by  government  so  early  as  1795, 
and  was  rendered  complete  by  the  end 
of  the  following  year.  Besides  the 
common  gang  of  informers  who,  like 
the  infamous  Jemmy  O'Brien  and  his 
associates,  were  under  the  immediate 
control  of  Town-majors  Sirr  and  Swan, 
there  was  a  "  higher  class"  of  miscreants 
in  the  pay  of  government  for  the  same 


THE  SPY  SYSTEM. 


679 


vile   purposes.     The   foraiei-  were   ex- 
clusively persons  taken  from  the  dregs 
of  society,  and  were  employed  in  the 
lowest  work  of  iniquity.     They  were 
usually   called  "Major   Sirr's   people," 
or  "  the   battalion  of  testimony ;"  but 
among  the  other  class  were  some  in  the 
rank  of  "  gentlemen,"  and  some  whose 
baseness  was  not   divulc^ed  until  lona: 
after  their  death,  when  they  appeared 
in   public  documents  as  the  recipients 
of  secret  service-mone}''  and  of  govern- 
ment pensions.     Some  of  these  "  gentle- 
men" had  expressly  entered  the  society 
and  wormed  themselves  into  the  confi- 
dence of  the  members  for  the  purpose 
of    betraying   their  associates;    others 
were  the  legal  advisers  and  advocates 
of  their  unfortunate  victims,  with  Avhose 
most   intimate   secrets    they  had   thus 
made   themselves    acquainted ;    others 
betrayed    their     bosom     fi'iends     and 
benefactors.      One    of    the    informers, 
M'Guckeu,    was     the   solicitor   of    the 
United     Irishmen     of    Belfast.      Mr. 
Leonard  MacNally,  their  advocate,  was 
in  the  secret  pay  of  the  government, 
and  received  a  pension  of  .£300  a  year 
for  life  ;  but  what  the  precise  service 
was  which  he  rendered  for  the  wages 
we  are  not   informed.     The   notorious 
Thomas  Reynolds,  of  Kilkea  Castle,  in 
Kildare,   became    a   United   Irishman, 
and  got  himself  raised  to  a  high  grade 
in   the   society,  that  he   might  betray 
his  friends.     In  the  same  base  manner 
Captain     Armstrong    of    the     King's 
County   Militia  betrayed    Henry   and 
John   Sheares.     Nicholas   .Maguan,    of 


Saintfield,  in  the  county  of  Down,  was 
a  member  of  the  county  and  provincial 
committees,  and  attended  the  meetings 
of  his  betrayed  dupes  until  June,  1798, 
communicating  all  the  time  the  secrets 
of  the  society  to  government  through 
a  third  person.  John  Huglies,  a  book- 
seller of  Belfast,  another  spy,  was  re- 
peatedly arrested  and  confined  along 
with  members  of  the  society,  in  order 
to  learn  their  secrets  as  a  fellow-victim ; 
and  John  Edward  Newell,  of  the  Bel- 
fast society,  Frederick  Button,  and  a 
man  named  Burd,  or  Smith,  also  figured 
in  the  same  vile  caj^acity. 

On  the  13th  of  March,  1797,  General 
Lake,  commanding   the    northern    dis- 
trict, issued   a   proclamation   virtually 
placing  a  great  part  of  Ulster  under 
martial-law ;    and  his  orders  were  exe- 
cuted with  excessive  rigor  by  the  mili- 
tary.    The  illegal  and  violent  nature 
of    the   proceedings    resorted    to   was 
described   some   months    after  by   the 
earl  of  Moira  in  the  English  House  of 
Lords,  in  a  fruitless  efi^ort  to  elicit  the 
sympathy  of  the  legislature  on  behalf 
of  this  suffering  country.     Among  the 
cruelties   which    he   himself  had    seen 
practised,  Lord  Moira  mentioned,  that 
if  any  man  was  suspected  to  have  con- 
cealed weapons  of  defence,  his   house, 
his  furniture,  and  all  his  property  were 
burned ;  nor  was  this  all,  for  if  it  were 
supposed  that  any  district  had  not  sur- 
rendered   all   the    arms  which   it   cot- 
taiued,  a  party  was  sent  out  to  collect 
the  numbers  at  which  it  was  rated,  and 
in  the  execution  of  this  order,  thirty 


680 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


houses  Avere  sometimes  burned  down 
in  a  single  night;  officers  took  upon 
themselves  to  decide  arbitrarily  the 
quantity  of  arms  which  should  be  forth- 
coming, and  if  this  quantity  Avere  not 
yielded  up,  these  barbarous  cruelties 
were  inflicted.  "  When  a  man  was 
taken  up  on  suspicion,"  said  his  lord- 
ship, "  he  was  put  to  the  torture ;  nay, 
if  he  were  merely  accused  of  conceal- 
ing the  guilt  of  another.  The  punish- 
ment of  picketing,  wliich  had  been  for 
some  years  abolished  as  too  inhuman 
even  in  the  dragoon  service,  was  prac- 
tised.* He  had  known  a  man,  in  order 
to  extort  confession  of  a  supposed 
crime,  or  of  that  of  some  of  his  neigh- 
bors, picketed  until  he  actually  fainted  ; 
picketed  a  second  time  until  he  fainted 
again ;  as  soon  as  he  came  to  himself, 
picketed  a  third  time,  until  he  ouce  more 
fainted  ;  and  all  upon  mere  susj^icion  ! 
Nor  was  this  the  only  species  of  tor- 
ture ;  many  had  been  taken  and  hung 
up  until  they  were  half  dead,  and  then 
threatened  with  a  repetition  of  the  same 
cruel  treatment,  unless  they  made  con- 
fession of  the  imputed  guilt.  These, 
observed  Lord  Moira,  were  not  particu- 
lar acta  of  cruelty,  exercised  by  men 
abusing  the  power  committed  to  them, 
but  they  formed  part  of  our  system. 
They  were  notorious,  and  no  person 
could  say  who  would  be  the  next  vic- 
tim of  this  oppression  and  cruelty." 
On   the   rejection   of   Mr.    Ponsonby's 


*  The  pmushinent  of  picketing  consisted  in  making 
a  man  stand  Tvitli  one  foot  on  a  pointed  stake. 


motion  for  reform  in  1797,  Mr.  Grattan 
and  the  other  leading  members  of  the 
opposition  seceded  from  the  House  of 
Commons.  No  proceeding  could  have 
conveyed  a  stronger  condemnation. 

In  the  autumn  of  1797,  Mr.  William 
Orr,  of  Antrim,  was  tried  at  Carrick- 
fergus  on  a  charge  of  administering  the 
United  Irishmen's  oath  to  a  soldier 
named  Whately,  who  was  the  only  wit- 
ness against  him.  The  jury,  who  were 
locked  up  during  the  night,  were  copi 
ously  supplied  with  spirituous  liquors, 
and  under  the  influence  of  intoxication 
and  of  threats  of  prosecution  as  United 
Irishmen,  if  they  did  not  convict  the 
prisoner,  they  at  length  brought  in  a 
verdict  of  guilty.  Some  of  the  jurors 
at  once  confessed  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  had  been  induced  to 
find  against  tlieir  consciences.  Mr.  Orr, 
who  was  a  man  of  high  character  and 
resj^ectability,  solemnly  protested  his 
innocence,  and  the  soldier,  smitten  with 
remorse,  declared  on  oath  before  a 
magistrate,  that  his  testimony  at  the 
trial  was  false.  Petitions  to  the  lord- 
lieutenant,  prajaug  that  the  prisoner's 
life  might  be  spared,  were  poured  in 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  to  no 
purpose.  Three  times  a  respite  was 
granted,  but,  with  the  most  convincing 
evidence  of  the  prisoner's  innocence 
before  him.  Lord  Camden,  nevertheless, 
ordered  his  execution,  which  took  place 
on  the  14th  of  October.  This  judicial 
murder  destroyed  any  remaining  confi- 
dence the  people  might  have  had  in  the 
law  or  the  government,  and  "  remem- 


A  SYSTEM   OF  TERROR. 


681 


ber   Orr"  became   a   watchword   with 
the  United  L-ishmen. 

Irish  agents  were  actively  engaged 
throughout  the   year   in    France,   en- 
deavoring to  obtain  military  aid  ;    and 
at  home  the  people,  maddened  by  the 
cruelties  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
were   only  restrained   from   rising   by 
assurances    of    an    immediate   French 
invasion,    without    which,   they    were 
told,  it  would  be  utter  folly  to  attempt 
resistance.     Another  expedition  for  the 
Irish  coast  was  indeed  prepared  in  the 
Tex6l,  under  a  Dutch  admiral,  but  was 
prevented  from  sjiiling  by  Lord  Dun- 
can's  victoiy  near    Caraperdown ;  and 
finally,  promises  were  again  held  out 
by  the  French  directory,  that  an  inva- 
sion would  take  place  in  April,  1Y98, 
and  again  the  Irish  were  doomed  to  be 
disappointed.     Bonaparte's  jealousy  of 
Hoche,    and     his     ambitious     designs 
against  Egypt,  were  fatal  to  the  hopes 
of  the  United  Irishmen ;  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  think  that  the  affairs  of 
Ireland  excited  any  interest  with  fhe 
French   government   of  that  day,   be- 
yond the  consideration  of  keeping  Eno-- 
land  occupied   by  a  civil  Avar  in  this 
country. 

Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie,  an  experi- 
enced and  upright  officer,  was  appointed 


*  This  diabolical  design  of  the  government  has  heen 
over  and  over  again  admitted,  and  is  a  fact  as  notorious 
as  any  in  history.  The  reader  will  find  abundant  ad- 
missions of  it  in  the  parliamentary  debates  of  the 
period,  and  in  the  recently  published  papers  of  Lords 
Castlereagh  and  Cornwallis.  For  the  manner  in  which 
the  design  was  carried  out,  we  may  refer  to  the  first 
series  of  Dr.  Madden's  work  already  quoted,  chap,  xii., 
86 


to  the   command   of  the    army  in  Ire- 
laud,  in  December,  1797;  but  he  soon 
became  disgusted  at  the  disorderly  and 
outrageous  conduct  of  the  troops,  and 
at  the  system    of  murder   and   rapine 
which  he  was  expected  to  countenance. 
In  general  orders  which  he  issued  on 
the  26th   of  February,  1798,  he    cen- 
sured the  ii-regularities  and  disgraceful 
conduct   of  the  military,  as  "provincr 
the  army  to  be  in  a  state  of  licentious- 
ness, Avhich  rendered  it  formidable  to 
every  one  but  the  enemy ;"  but  at  the 
close  of  April  he  was  recalled,  to  the 
great  triumph  of  the  Orange  faction, 
and  was  succeeded  by  General  Lake, 
a  man  who  had  already  shown  himself 
to  be  uninfluenced  by  feelings  of  justice 
or  humanity.     A    system   of  coercion 
and   terror  was   now  regularly  estab- 
lished; torture  was  employed;    every 
man's   life  and  property  were  at   the 
mercy  of  informers;  the    country  was 
abandoned  to  the  fury  and   licentious- 
ness of  the  soldiery  in  "  free  quarters ;" 
and  in  a  word  every  thing  was  done 
that  can  be  conveyed  by  the  atrocious 
admission  made   by  Lord  Castlereagh 
himself— namel)^,  that  "  measures  were 
taken    by   government   to    cause    the 
premature    explosion"  of  the  insurrec- 
tion.* 


second  edition ;  but  the  following  passage  from  Lord 
Holland's  Memoirs  of  the  Whig  Party,  gives  a  picture 
of  the  state  of  Ireland  at  this  precise  moment  at  once 
most  vivid  and  of  undoubted  credibility.  After  allud- 
ing to  the  "  burning  cottages,  tortured  backs,  and  fre- 
quent esecutions,"  in  the  midst  of  which  the  Orange 
faction  "were  yet  fuH  of  their  sneers  at  what  they 
whimsically  termed  '  the  demency*  of  the  government. 


682 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


Matters  being  thus  ripe,  government, 
acting  on  the  information  of  the  traitor 
Thomas  Reynolds,  caused  the  Leinster 
delegates  to  he  seized,  when  assembled 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Oliver  Bond,  in 
Bridge-street,*  on  the  12  th  of  March, 
1*798.  The  warrant  was  executed  by 
Justice  Swan.  The  pass-words  were, 
"  Where's  MacCann  ?  Is  Ivers  from 
Carlow  comp  ?"  but  the  officers  rushed 
up  stairs  to  the  place  of  meeting  with- 


and  the  weak  character  of  their  viceroy,  Lord  Camden," 
his  lordship  writes :  "  The  fact  is  incontrovertible,  that 
the  people  of  Ireland  were  driven  to  resistance,  which, 
possibly,  they  meditated  before,  by  the  free  quarters 
and  excesses  of  the  soldiery,  which  were  such  as  are  not 
permitted  in  civilized  warfare,  even  in  an  enemy's  coun- 
try. Trials,  if  they  must  bo  be  called,  were  carried  on 
without  number  under  martial-law.  It  often  happened 
that  three  ofBcers  composed  the  court,  and  that  of  the 
three  two  were  under  age,  and  the  third  an  ofiBcer  of 
the  yeomanry  or  militia,  who  had  sworn  in  his  Orange 
lodge  eternal  hatred  to  the  people  over  whom  he  was 
thus  constituted  a  judge.  Floggings,  picketings,  death, 
were  the  usual  sentences,  and  these  were  sometimes 
commuted  into  banishment,  serving  in  the  fleet,  or  trans- 
ference to  a  foreign  service.  Many  were  sold  at  so 
much  per  head  to  the  Prussians.  Other  more  illegal, 
but  not  more  horrible,  outrages  were  daily  committed 
by  the  different  corps  under  the  command  of  govern- 
ment. Even  in  the  streets  of  Dublin  a  man  was  shot, 
and  robbed  of  £30,  on  the  bare  recollection  of  a  soldier's 
having  seen  him  in  the  battle  of  Kilcalley,  and  no  pro- 
ceeding was  instituted  to  ascertain  the  murder  or  prose- 
cute the  murderer.  Lord  Wycombe,  who  was  in  Dub- 
lin, and  who  was  himself  shot  at  by  a  sentinel  between 
Blackrock  and  that  city,  wrote  to  me  many  details  of 
similar  outrages,  which  he  had  ascertained  to  be  true. 
Dr.  Dickson  (lord-bishop  of  Down)  assured  me  that  he  had 
seen  families  returning  peaceably  from  Mass,  assailed 
without  provocation,  by  drunken  troops  and  yeomanry, 
and  the  wives  and  daughters  exposed  to  every  species  of 
indignity,  brutality,  and  outrage,  from  which  neither 
his  remonstrances  nor  those  of  other  Protestant  gentle- 
men could  rescue  them.  The  subsequent  indemnity 
acts  deprived  of  redress  the  victims  of  this  widespread 
cruelty."  Referring  to  the  "  free  quarters"  barbarity. 
Sir  Jonah  Harrington  {JRise  and  Fall,  Sic,  pp.  430, 431, 
ed.   1843)    Bays:    "This    measure   was    resorted    to. 


out  encountering  any  obstacle.  Fifteen 
persons  were  seized  on  this  occasion, 
including  Mr.  Bond  himself,  who  was  a 
wholesale  woollen  draper,  and,  like  the 
majority  of  the  leaders  of  the  United 
Irishmen,  a  Protestant.f  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  the  head-piece  and  chief  organi- 
zer of  the  society,  and  Dr.  William  James 
MacNeven,  Henry  Jackson,  and  John 
Sweetman  were  taken  the  same  day  at 
their  several  places  of  abode,  and  all 


with  all  its  attendant  horrors  throughout  some 
of  the  best  parts  of  Ireland  previoiis  to  the  insur- 
rection ;"  and  he  adds,  "  Slow  tortures  were  inflicted, 
under  the  pretence  of  extorting  confession  ;  the  people 
were  driven  to  madness ;  General  Abercrombie,  who 
succeeded  as  commander-in-chief,  was  not  permitted  to 
abate  these  enormities,  and  therefore  resigned  with  dis- 
gust. Ireland  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  anarchy,  and 
exposed  to  crime  and  cruelties,  to  which  no  nation  had 
ever  been  subject.  The  people  could  no  longer  bear 
their  miseries  ;  Mr.  Pitt's  object  was  now  efl'ected. 
These  sanguinary  proceedings  will,  in  the  opinion  of 
posterity,  be  placed  to  the  account  of  those  who  might 
liave  prevented  them."  We  can  have  no  difficulty, 
then,  in  accepting  the  statement  unanimously  made  by 
Dr.  MacNevin,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  and  the  other 
State  prisoners,  in  their  examination  before  the  secret 
committee  in  1798,  when,  upon  being  asked  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  the  rising  that  year,  they  replied,  that  it 
was  owing  to  "  the  free  quarters,  the  house-burnings, 
the  tortures,  and  the  military  executions,"  resorted  to  by 
the  government. 

*  The  house  was  then  No.  13,  but  it  is  now  kno^vn  as 
No.  9,  Lower  Bridge  street.  See  Gilbert's  History  of 
Dublin,  vol.  i.,  pp.  336,  &c.,  where  the  particulars  of 
the  arrest  are  given ;  as  also  in  Dr.  Madden's  United 
Irishmen. 

•[■  In  a  list  given  by  Dr.  Madden  of  163  of  the  most 
eminent  or  leading  members  of  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen,  106  are  Protestants  or  Presbyterians,  and  only 
.56  Catholics.  "There  never  was  a  greater  mistake," 
observes  Dr.  Madden,  "  than  to  call  the  attempted  revo- 
lution of  1798  a  '  Popish  rebellion.'  Alike  in  its  origin 
and  organization,  it  was  pre-eminently  a  Protestant  one. 
Neither  the  '  Popish  religion,'  nor  the  Celtic  race  of 
Ireland,  can  lay  any  claim  to  the  great  majority  of 
the  founders  and  organizers  of  the  Society  of  United 
Irishmen." — ^First  series,  pp.  385,  886.    Second  edition. 


ARREST  OF  LORD  EDWARD  FITZGERALD. 


683 


committed  to  Newgate.  Arthur  O'Con- 
nor, a  leading  member  of  the  executive 
directory,  was  at  that  time  in  custody, 
having  been  arrested  in  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  at  Margate,  on  his  "way  to 
France,  in  companj^  with  Father  Coig- 
ley  or  Quigley.  The  latter  was  con- 
victed on  the  22d  of  May,  that  year, 
at  Maidstone,  and  hanged  on  evidence 
so  inconclusive  that  Lord-chancellor 
Thurlow  said :  "  If  ever  a  poor  man 
was  murdered,  it  was  Coigley  !" 

Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  was  still  at 
large.  In  consequence  of  not  attend- 
ing the  meeting  at  Bond's  he  had  es- 
caped capture  on  that  occasion ;  and  a 
reward  of  £1,000  was  offered  for  in- 
formation that  would  lead  to  his  arrest. 
For  some  months  he  had  been  recog- 
nized as  the  military  head  of  the  Union ; 
and  of  all  the  leaders  was  alone  fit- 
ted by  military  experience  to  take  the 
command  in  the  field ;  but  though 
admirably  suited  for  that  purpose,  he 
was  not  the  man  to  organize  a  revolu- 
tion. The  men  fitted  to  project  and 
advise  were  Emmet,  O'Connor,  and 
Wolfe  Tone ;  and  their  services  were 
no  longer  available  for  their  country. 
Those  of  the  leaders  who  were  still  at 
liberty  were  divided  in  opinion.  Lord 
Edward  insisted  that  the  time  for  ac- 
tion had  arrived,  and  that  the  insur- 
rection should  take  place  without  wait- 


*  Aithiur  O'Cormor  affords,  iu  Tiis  sentiments,  a  mel- 
ancholy instance  of  this  spirit  of  disunion  and  distrust. 
He  disliked  the  Catholic  leaders  in  general ;  and  towards 
Emmet,  although,  a  Protestant,  he  entertained  a  posi- 
tive enmity.    It  is  probable  he  would  have  disliked  amy 


mg;  lonQ;er  for  succor  from  France.  He 
held  the  roj^al  troops  in  contempt,  and 
had  great  confidence  in  the  numbere 
who  were  prepared  to  fise,  and  in  the 
strength  which  the  people  would  ac- 
quire by  a  little  experience  in  warfare. 
Some  other  members  entertained  simi- 
lar views,  but  the  more  prudent  were 
wholly  opposed  to  an  immediate  at- 
tempt at  insurrection ;  and  some  felt  so 
strongly  on  this  point  as  to  threaten 
with  denunciation  to  government  any 
one  who  would  insist  upon  raising  the 
standard  of  revolt  under  such  circum- 
stances. There  was  on  the  whole  a 
want  of  harmony  among  the  members, 
and  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  lead- 
ers had  lately  begun  to  feel  distrust  in 
the  firmness  and  ulterior  views  of  each 
other.*    • 

Lord  Edward  was  concealed  for 
some  weeks  in  various  retreats  about 
Dublin,  but  chiefly  at  the  house  of  a 
widow  lady  named  Dillon,  on  the  bank 
of  the  canal  at  Portobello,  where  he 
remained  three  weeks.  After  several 
intermediate  removals  he  was  conveyed 
on  the  night  of  the  18th  of  May,  for 
the  second  time,  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
Nicholas  Murphy,  a  feather  merchant, 
of  153  Thomas-street,  where  he  was 
immediately  tracked  and  arrested  the 
following  day.  It  was  about  seven  in 
the  evening  on  the  19th ;  Lord  Edward, 


man  who  acknowledged  religious  convictions  of  any 
kind  ;  and  some  other  leading  members  of  the  Union, 
were,  like  him,  unhappily  imbued  with  the  infidel  prin- 
ciples which  the  example  of  France  had  rendered  fash- 
ionable at  that  day. 


684 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


■who  was  ill  from  cold,  was  lying  on  the 
bed  in  the  back  room  of  the  attic  story, 
and  Mr.  Murphy,  who  had  just  entered, 
was  speaking  lo  him.  Justice  Swan, 
accompanied  by  a  soldier  in  plain 
clothes,  rushed  into  the  apartment 
and.  exclaimed  to  Lord  Edward,  "You 
are  my  prisoner."  Instantly  Lord  Ed- 
ward sprang  from  the  bed,  and  draw- 
ing a  formidable  zigzag-shaped  dagger 
wounded  Swan  in  the  hand,  but  only 
slightly.  Swan  fired  a  pistol  at  Lord 
Edward  without  effect;  and,  ordering 
the  soldier  to  remove  Murphy,  shouted 
out,  "  I  am  basely  mui'dered."  His 
cries  brought  to  his  assistance  a  Mr. 
Ryan,  who  was  both  a  captain  of  yeo- 
manry and  one  of  the  staff  of  Giffard's 
Orange  newspaper,  the  "  Dublin  Jour- 
nal." Ryan  threw  himself  upon  Lord 
Edward  and  endeavored  to  hold  him 
down  upon  the  bed,  but  in  the  struggle 
received  several  desperate  wounds  from 
Lord  Edward's  daggei-,  one  of  which, 
in  the  stomach,  proved  mortal  a  few 
days  after.  Swan  appears,  at  this  mo- 
ment, to  have  rendered  little  assistance, 
if,  indeed,  as  one  account  has  it,  he 
did  not  leave  the  room  altogether  to 
call  for  help,  and  the  struggle  between 
the  wounded  Ryan  and  the  enraged 
Geraldine  was  fearful ;  but  Town-major 
Sirr,  with  half-a-dozen  soldiers,  now 
rushed  in,  and  Sirr  having  taken  delib- 


*  See  Madden 's  United  Irishmen,  2d  ser.,  pp.  413  to 
437,  2d  ed.,  wliere  Murpliy's  narrative  of  the  capture 
of  Lord  Edward  ia  given,  together  with  the  statement 
of  Mr.  D.  F.  Ryan,  whose  father  lost  his  life  on  the  oc- 
casion, and  accounts  of  the  transaction  on  the  authority 


erate  aim  with  his  pistol,  shot  Lord 
Edward  in  the  right  arm,  and  the  dag- 
ger fell  from  his  hand.  Still  it  required 
the  efforts  of  the  whole  party  of  sol- 
diers to  hold  Lord  Edward  down  with 
their  muskets  crossed  upon  him  until 
he  could  be  secured,  a  drummer  having, 
while  this  was  doing,  wounded  him 
very  severely  in  the  back  of  the  neck 
with  a  sword.  The  deadly  struggle 
did  not  occupy  more  than  a  few  min- 
utes.'* A  large  military  force,  col- 
lected from  different  posts,  was,  by  this 
time,  drawn  up  outside.  An  attempt, 
made  by  the  crowd  assembled,  to  rescue 
Lord  Edward  was  at  once  overcome; 
and  the  noble  prisoner  was  carried  in 
a  sedan  chair  to  the  castle,  where  his 
wounds  were  dressed.  He  was  then 
removed  to  Newgate,  where  none  of 
his  friends  would  be  permitted  to  see 
him  until  a  few  hours  before  his  death, 
when  his  aunt,  Lady  Louisa  Connolly, 
and  his  brother.  Lord  Henry,  obtained 
access  to  his  bedside.  A  few  days  had 
developed  fatal  symptoms ;  on  the  4th 
of  June  he  exj^ired,  and  his  remains 
were  deposited  in  the  vaults  of  St. 
Werburgh's  church.  Thus  perished 
one  of  the  most  disinterested  and  noble- 
hearted  patriots  that  L-eland  had  ever 
produced.  The  greatest  enemies  of  the 
cause  for  which  he  was  immolated  have 
never  ventured  to  cast  a  slur  on  the 


of  Sirr  and  others.  Mr.  Adricn,  an  eminent  surgeon, 
being  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Tighe  in  the  neighborhood, 
was  sent  for  by  the  major,  and  Lord  Edward,  on  learn- 
ing from  him  that  his  wounds  were  not  mortal,  expressed 
regret. 


I 


DEATH  OF  LORD  EDWARD  FITZGERALD. 


685 


memory  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald. 
He  was  virtuous  and  amiable,  open, 
unselfisla,  liigli-minded,  and  cliivalrous. 
His  stainless  character,  and  gentle  and 
genei-ous  disposition,  endeared  him  to  all 
who  knew  him.  Of  all  his  contempo- 
raries he  was,  at  that  fearful  juncture, 
the  best  suited  to  command  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen. He  jDossessed  military  skill 
and  heroism  which  might  have  led  them 
to  victoiy  in  battle ;  and  had  it  pleased 
divine  Providence  to  relieve  Ireland  at 


*  It  is  a  most  singular  fact,  that  for  more  tlian  sixty 
years  the  name  of  the  betrayer  of  Lord  Edward  Fitz- 
gerald remained  a  profound  secret.  Even  the  inde- 
fatigable researches  of  Dr.  Madden  failed  to  unmask 
the  scoundrel,  although  he  made  an  important  step  to- 
wards that  result,  when  he  published  the  "  secret-ser- 
vice money"  accounts,  in  which  occurs  the  item — "  P. 
H.,  discovery  of  L.  E.  F.,  £1,000."  This  disclosure  of 
the  initials  rescued  the  memories  of  several  honorable 
men  from  the  suspicions  that  had  been  cast  upon  them  in 
the  matter  by  other  investigators,  and  by  public  rumor ; 
but  it  was  not  untU  the  appearance,  in  the  course  of 
the  year  1859  of  the  Correspondence  of  the  Marquis  of 
CornwalHs,  edited  by  Charles  Ross,  son  of  General 
Ross,  the  governor  of  Fort  George,  that  the  mystery  of 
F.  H.  was  finally  xmveiled,  and  that  the  infamy  was 
fixed  upon  the  right  owner — namely,  Francis  Higgins, 
a  weU-kuown  character  of  that  day  in  Dublin.  This 
person,  who  was  nick -named  the  "  sham  squire,"  from 
a  very  disgraceful  proceeding,  had  become  the  proprie- 
tor of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  wliich  he  diverted  from 
its  hitherto  steady  advocacy  of  popular  rights,  making 
it  a  base  organ  of  an  unprincipled  government.  He 
was  notorious  for  his  domestic  and  social  misdeeds,  had 
been  convicted  of  public  crimes,  and  was  in  fact  a  man 
who  might  have  been  guUty  of  any  baseness.  These 
disclosures  were  first  made  public  in  the  following  curi- 
ous note  by  the  editor  of  the  Comwallis  correspond- 
ence :  "A  sum  of  £1,500  per  annum  was  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  lord-lieutenant,  by  an  act  passed  in  1799, 
to  be  distributed  as  secret-service.  Towards  the  close 
of  1800,  Mr.  Cooke  drew  up  for  the  use  of  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  the  following  confidential  memorandum,  which 
still  remains  in  the  castle  of  Dublin :  '  Pensions  to 
Royalists — I  submit  to  your  lordship  on  this  head  the 
following:    First,  that  Mac /  (Leonard  MacNally) 


that  time  from  her  heavy  yoke  of  op- 
pression, he  was,  apparently,  the  person 
most  likely  to  have  been  her  deliverer. 
Had  Lord  Edward's  retreat  remained 
undiscovered  one  day  longer,  he  would 
have  been  beyond  the  reach  of  Major 
Sirr  and  his  myrmidons ;  and,  perhaps, 
with  a  very  different  issue  to  the  con- 
test, would  have  been  ready  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  those  brave  men 
of  Kildare  and  Wexford,  who,  a  few 
days  later,  devoted  themselves  so  heroic- 
ally, but  hopelessly,  for  their  country.* 


'  should  have  a  pension  of  £300.  He  was  not  much 
trusted  in  the  rebellion,  and  I  believe,  has  been  faithful. 
Francis  Higgins,  proprietor  of  the  Freeman's  Journal, 
was  the  person  who  procured  for  me  all  the  intelligence 

respecting  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  and  got to 

set  him,  and  has  given  me  much  information,  £300. 
M'Guichen,  who  is  now  in  Belfast,  ought  to  have  £100. 
I  wish  a  man  of  the  name  of  Nicholson,  whom  I  employ 
regularly,  should  have  £.50.  Darragh  ought  to  have 
for  himself  and  his  wife  at  least  £200  (at  first  written 

£300).     Swan Sirr ,  I  think,  it  might  be  right 

to  get  rid  of  many  of  our  little  pensioners,  and  Major 
Sirr's  gang,  by  sums  of  money  instead  of  pensions.' " 

As  to  the  character  of  Lord  Edward,  we  gladly  bor- 
row the  beautiful  words  of  the  late  Lord  Holland,  who, 
in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Wldg  Party,  writes  as  follows  : 
"  More  than  twenty  years  have  now  passed  away. 
Many  of  my  political  opinions  are  softened — my  predi- 
lections for  some  men  weakened,  my  prejudices  against 
others  removed;  but  my  approbation  of  Lord  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald's  actions  remains  unaltered  and  un- 
shaken. His  country  was  bleeding  \mder  one  of  the 
hardest  tyrannies  that  our  times  have  witnessed.  He 
who  thinks  a  man  can  be  even  excused  in  such  circum- 
stances by  any  other  consideration  than  that  of  despair, 
from  opposing  a  pretended  government  by  force,  seems 
to  me  to  sanction  a  principle  which  would  insure  im- 
pimity  to  the  greatest  of  all  human  delinquents,  or,  at 
least,  to  those  who  produce  the  greatest  misery  among 
mankind.  *  *  *  Lord  Edward  was  a  good  officer. 
The  plans  found  among  his  papers  showed  much  com- 
bination and  considerable  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  defence.  His  apprehension  was  so  quick  and  his 
courage  so  constitutional,  that  he  would  have  applied, 
without  disturbance,  aU  the  faculties  he  possessed  to 
any  emergency,  however  sudden,  and  in  the  moment  of 


686 


REIGN    OF    GEORGE   III. 


la  the  face  of  every  possible  discour- 
agement, -with  their  plans  exposed  to 
government,  their  leaders  seized,  and 
the  forces  of  their  enemies  concentrated 
against  them,  the  United  Irishmen  still 
madly  resolved  to  make  their  attempt, 
and  fixed  the  23d  of  May  for  their 
rising.  The  plan  of  insurrection  was 
to  surprise  Dublin,  and  on  the  same 
night  to  take  the  castle,  the  camp  at 
Loughlinstown,  and  the  artillery  bar- 
racks at  Chapelizod.  The  rising  was 
to  be  simultaneous  in  Dublin  and  the 
rural  districts ;  and  the  signal  for  the 
country  was  to  be  the  stoppage  of  the 
mail-coaches  on  the  mornino;  of  the 
24th.  On  the  22d,  Lord  Castlereagh 
delivered  to  parliament  a  message  from 
the  viceroy  announcing  the  design  ;  and 
the  vigilance  and  energy  of  the  execu- 
tive received  a  due  meed  of  praise  from 

the  greatest  danger  or  confusion.  He  was,  among  the 
United  IrisL,  scarcely  less  considerable  for  his  political 
than  his  military  qualifications.  His  temper  was  pe- 
culiarly formed  to  engage  the  affections  of  a  warm- 
hearted people.  A  cheerful  and  intelligent  counte- 
nance, an  artless  gayety  of  manner,  without  reserve, 
hut  without  intrusion,  and  a  careless  ytt  inoffensive 
intrepidity,  both  in  conversation  and  in  action,  fasci- 
nated his  slightest  acquaintances,  and  disarmed  the 
rancor  of  even  his  bitterest  opponents.  These,  indeed, 
were  only  the  indications  of  more  solid  qualities — an 
open  and  fearless  heart,  warm  affections,  and  a  tender, 
compassionate  disposition."  Dr.  Madden  tells  us  that 
Lord  Edward  was  "a  sincere  and  ardent  believer  in 
the  Christian  religion."  Murjihy,  in  his  narrative, 
describing  the  personal  appearance  of  Lord  Edward, 
says  :  "  He  was  about  five  feet  seven  inches  in  height, 
had  a  very  interesting  countenance,  beautiful  arched 
eyebrows,  fine  gray  eyes,  handsome  nose,  high  fore- 
head, and  thick,  dark-colored  hair."  He  was  "  as  play- 
ful and  humble  as  a  child,  as  mild  and  timid  as  a  lady, 
and,  when  necessary,  as  brave  as  a  lion.  Peaco  to  his 
namel"  From  The  Earls  of  Kildare  and  their  Ances- 
tors, edited  by  the  marquis  of  Kildare,  and  printed  for 
private  circulation  in  1857,  wo  obtain   the  following 


both  houses.  But  we  have  here  to 
mention  a  few  incidents  of  a  somewhat 
earlier  date.  It  appears  that  for  a  few 
months  previous  to  this  time  frequent 
visits  were  paid  to  the  shop  of  Mr. 
Byrne,  a  Catholic  bookseller,  of  Grafton- 
street,  by  a  Captain  John  Warneford 
Armstrong,  of  the  King's  county  mili- 
tia, a  corps  in  which  it  was  understood 
that  national  opinions  had  made  some 
progress,  and  which  was  stationed  at  the 
Loughlinstown  camp.  Captain  Arm- 
strong spoke  with  enthusiasm  about  the 
projects  of  the  United  Irishmen,  and 
plainly  intimated  that  not  only  he  but 
his  men  would  be  ready  to  aid  in  any 
enterprise  that  might  be  undertaken 
by  them.  He  induced  Byrne  to  intro- 
duce him  to  the  brothers  Henry  and 
John  Sheares,  barristers  of  respectable 
family,  and  who,  since  the  arrests    at 


authentic  d.ata.  Lord  Edward  was  bom  in  1763,  and 
was  the  twelfth  child,  but  fifth  son,  of  James,  the  20th 
earl  of  Kildare,  and  first  duke  of  Leinster.  "  He  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estate  of  Kilrush,.  in  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare. He  entered  the  army  in  1780,  and  served  with 
distinction  in  America.  In  1783  he  was  elected  M.  P. 
for  Athy,  and  in  1700  for  the  county  of  Kildare.  In 
that  year,  refusing  to  support  the  government  meas- 
ures, he  was  informed  he  would  not  be  permitted  to 
have  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  On  this  ho  took 
the  cockade  from  his  hat,  and  dashing  it  to  the  ground, 
trampled  upon  it  In  1793  he  went  to  France,  where, 
in  December,  he  married  Pamela  Sims,  said  to  be  the 
daughter  of  Madame  de  Genlis  (and  Philip  Egalite, 
duke  of  Orleans).  Whilst  there  ho  was  dismissed  from 
the  army.  In  170G  he  joined  the  United  Irishmen,  and 
having  been  arrested  on  the  19th  of  May,  1798,  he  died 
of  his  wounds  in  Newgate  prison,  on  the  4th  of  June. 
He  had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  After  his  death 
he  was  attainted  by  act  of  parliament,  and  his  estate 
forfeited  and  sold.  This  act  was  repealed  by  a  private 
act  in  1819." — See,  for  ample  details.  Dr.  Madden's 
United  Irishmen,  &e.,  second  series,  second  edition  ;  and 
the  Life  and  Death  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  by 
Thomas  Moore. 


THE  IRISH  REIGN   OF  TERROR. 


687 


Bond's,  had  become  members   of  the 
directory    of    the    United     Irishmen. 
Armstrons:  saw  the   two  brothers  fre- 
quently    during    the    month    of    May, 
1798 ;  dined  at  the  house  of  the  elder 
brother,    Henry,    ia     Baggot     street, 
where     he    was    introduced    to    their 
mother   and  the   other  ladies   of  the 
family ;  and  effectually   wormed   him- 
self into   their   confidence ;    while,    as 
he  himself  afterwards  stated,  for  each 
of  these   interviews  with  the   Sheares 
he  had  one  with  his  colonel  and  Lord 
Castlei'eagh,  to  whom  he  disclosed  all 
the  circumstances  he  had  learned.     On 
Sunday,  the  20th  of  May,  the  base  in- 
former dined  for  the  last  time  at   the 
house  of  his  victims,  knowing  well  that 
the  next  day  they  would  be  arrested 
for  hio^h   treason   on   his   information. 
At  their  trial,  on  the  12th  of  July,  he 
swore  their  lives  away,  and  two  days 
after  they  were  executed.     John,    the 
younger  brother,  was  deeply  involved 
in  the  schemes  of  the  United  Irishmen, 
and   the  night  before  his  arrest  wrote 
the  rough  draft  of  a  proclamation  to 
be  issued  at  the  outbreak.     The  strong- 
est passages  of  this  document  were  pro- 
duced in  evidence  against  both  broth- 
ers.    For   the    sake    of  his   wife    and 
children    he    supplicated    for    mercy. 
His  friend.    Sir  Jonah  Barrington,  at 
his  solicitation,  applied  to    Lord-chan- 
cellor Clare   (Fitzgibbon),   who,  from 
personal  pique,  had  urged  on  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  brothers,  and  had  ap- 
pointed, with   that  view,  as  attorney- 
general,  Toler,  afterwards  the  notori- 


ous Lord  Norbury.  At  the  last  mo- 
ment, however,  a  respite  was  granted 
for  Henry,  but  it  came  a  few  minutes 
too  late.  The  two  brothers,  falling 
hand  in  hand  from  the  drop,  had  been 
just  launched  into  eternity,  and  the 
executioner  having,  according  to  bar- 
barous usage,  added  the  indignity  of 
decapitation,  was  holding  up  the  head 
of  Henry  Sheares,  and  exclaiming, 
"  This  is  the  head  of  a  traitor,"  when 
Sir  Jonah  arrived  with  the  reprieve. 
The  fate  of  the  Sheares  was  one  of 
the  saddest  episodes  in  the  woful  story 
of '98. 

The  23d  of  May  at  length  arrived. 
The  city  of  Dublin  was  placed  under 
martial  law ;  the  guards  at  the  castle 
were  trebled ;  all  the  loyal  citizens 
were  put  under  arms ;  in  the  law 
courts  the  barristers  pleaded  in  regi- 
mentals, with  side-arms,  and  one  of 
the  judges  (Baron  Medge)  sat  on  the 
bench  in  the  same  costume;  and  at 
each  house  the  names  of  the  inmates 
were  posted  on  the  outer  door.  The 
city  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  vast 
barrack,  and  the  people  were  alarmed 
by  false  rumors  of  massacres  and  out- 
rages. Late  in  the  evening  Samuel 
Neilson  rashly  exposed  himself  under 
the  walls  of  Newgate,  as  if  planning  an 
attack  on  that  prison.  He  was  trans- 
ferred at  once  to  a  cell  within  the 
walls.  The  lamp-lighters  rebelliously 
neglected  their  duty  on  that  night, 
leaving  the  city  in  almost  total  dark- 
ness, for  which  treasonable  conduct 
several  of  them  were  hanged  from  their 


688 


REIGX  OP  GEORGE  in. 


own  lamp-posts !  The  country  people 
had  risen  in  the  neighlDorhood,  and 
were  preparing  to  march  on  the  city, 
but  were  attacked  and  slaughtered  at 
Rathfarnham  and  Santry.  At  the 
latter  place,  Lord  Roden  and  his  fox- 
hunters  did  notable  execution;  and  the 
next  morning,  the  killed  and  prisoners 
having  been  taken  into  town  tied  to- 
gether on  carts,  the  dead  bodies  were 
exhibited  in  the  castle-yard — a  ghast- 
ly spectacle ! — and  the  prisoners  were 
hanged  from  lamp-irons,  and  on  the 
scaffolding  at  Carlisle  Bridge. 

The  country  was  now  plunged  in  all 
the  horrors  of  a  sanguinary  civil  war, 
but  the  rising  was  premature  and  par- 
tial: by  the  capture  of  the  leaders  it 
was  reduced  almost  to  a  rising  of  illiter- 
ate peasantry,  without  any  matured 
plans,  or  men  of  the  least  military  skill 
or  knowledge  to  form  a  plan  or  execute 
one,  almost  without  arms  or  ammuni- 
tion, and  altogether  without  money  or 
discipline.     It  was  confined  to  the  coun- 


*  That  the  terms  employed  above  to  characterize  the 
cruelties  and  animosities  of  which  the  unhappy  insur- 
gents of  '98  were  the  objects  are  not  too  strong,  many 
authorities  might  be  adduced  to  show,  but  the  following 
passages  from  the  recently  published  correspondence  of 
the  marquis  of  Cornwallis  will  siilEce.  Lord  Corn- 
waUis  arrived  in  Ireland  on  the  20th  of  June,  1798, 
invested  with  the  twofold  authority  of  lord-lieutenant 
and  commander-in-chief ;  nearly  three  weeks  after,  on 
the  8th  of  July,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  the  duke  of 
Portland :  "  The  Irish  militia  are  totally  without 
discipline,  contemptible  before  the  enemy  when  any 
serious  resistance  is  made  to  them,  but  ferocious  and 
cruel  in  the  extreme  when  any  poor  wretches,  either 
with  or  without  arms,  come  within  their  power ;  in 
short,  murder  appears  to  ie  their  favorite  pastime.  The 
principal  persons  of  this  country,  and  the  members  of 
both  houses  of  parliament,  are,  in  general,  averse  to  all 
acts  of  clemency,  and  although  they  do  not  express. 


ties  of  Kildare,  Wicklow,  and  "Wexford, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  efforts  in 
the  counties  of  Dublin,  Meath,  and 
Carlow ;  and  in  every  instance  it  was 
the  immediate  result  of  the  free  quar- 
ters, burnings,  floggings,  and  other  va- 
rieties of  outrage  practised  by  the 
militar}^,  yeomanrj^,  and  magistrates. 
The  ferocity  of  the  Orange  yeomanry 
was  indescribable :  a  notion  aj)peared 
to  have  generally  prevailed  among 
them  that  the  time  to  extirpate  the 
Catholics  had  arrived,  and  they  acted 
accordingly;  their  conduct  during  the 
insurrection  was  that  of  incarnate 
fiends;  the  ISTorth  Cork,  Armagh,  and 
some  other  militia  regiments,  rivalled 
them  in  inveterate  animosity  against 
the  people ;  the  Ancient  Britons,  com- 
manded by  Sir  Watkins  William 
Wynn,  covered  themselves  with  in- 
famy by  their  mei'ciless  cruelties ;  and 
innumerable  atrocities  were  committed 
by  the  Homsperg  dragoons,-  German 
mercenaries  in  the  kinsr's  service.*     It 

o 

and  are  too  much  heated  to  see  the  ultimate  effects 
which  their  violence  must  produce,  would  pursue  meas- 
ures that  covld  only  terminate  in  tlie  extirpation  of  the 
greater  number  of  the  inhabitants,  and  in  the  utter 
destruction  of  the  country.  The  words  Papists  and 
priests  are  forever  in  their  mouths,  and  by  their  un- 
accountable policy  they  would  drive  four-fifths  of  the 
community  into  irreconcilable  rebellion ;  and  in  their 
warmth  they  lose  sight  of  the  real  cause  of  the  present 
mischief."  Describing  the  feelings  of  the  ascendency 
party  he  continues :  "  The  minds  of  the  people  are  now 
in  a  state  that  nothing  hut  blood  will  satisfy  them,  and 
although  they  wUl  not  admit  the  term,  their  conversa- 
tion and  conduct  point  to  no  other  mode  of  concluding 
this  vnhajipg  business  than  that  of  extermination." 
Again  his  lordship  writes  :  "  /  am  much  afraid  that 
any  man  in  a  brown  coat  who  is  found  near  the  field  of 
action  is  butchered  icithout  diicrimination."  And  writ- 
ing to  General  Eoss,  he  says  :  "  The  violence  of  our 


THE  INSURRECTION  IN  KILDARE. 


689 


was  a  fearful  dragoonade,  iu  which  the 
usages  of  civilized  war  were  set  aside ; 
and  such  being  the  case  on  the  part  of 
the  royal  troops,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  the  undisciplined  peasantry  should 
have  been  guilty  of  many  acts  of  bar- 
barity. The  crimes  of  the  latter,  how- 
ever, were  done  in  retaliation ;  they 
were  often  prompted  by  private  mal- 
ice, and  it  should  be  remembered  that 
they  were  the  work  of  exasperated 
multitudes,  goaded  by  injuries  and  un- 
restrained by  authority.* 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  24th  of 
May,  the  fighting  was  commenced  in 
Kildare  by  a  body  of  insurgents  who 
marched  against  Naas,  but  were  re- 
pulsed with  slaughter :  the  military 
there,  under  the  command  of  Lord 
Gosford,  having  been  re-enforced  and 
prepared  for  the  attack.  The  troops 
had  two  officei-s  and  about  thirty  men 
killed,  but  many  of  the  people  were 
shot  down  while  crowded  together  in 
the  street  or  attempting  to  escape  from 
the  burning  cabins  which  were  set  on 
fire  ;  others  of  them  were  taken  out  of 
the  houses  and  instantly  hanged  in  the 

friends  and  their  folly  in  endeavoring  to  make  it  a  re- 
ligions ■war,  added  to  the  ferocity  of  our  troops,  who 
delight  in  murder,  most  powerfully  covmteract  all  plans 
of  conciliation."  *  *  *  "  yfe  are  engaged,"  he 
writes, "  in  as  war  of  plunder  and  massacre  ;"  and  after 
referring  to  the  horrors  inseparable  from  martial  law, 
he  adds  :  "But  all  this  is  trifling  compared  to  the  nunir 
berless  murders  that  are  hourly  committed  T)y  our  people, 
without  any  process  of  examination  whatever.  *  *  * 
The  conversation  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  coun- 
try aU  tends  to  encourage  this  system  of  blood ;  and 
the  conversation,  even  at  my  table,  where  you  will 
suppose  I  do  all  I  can  to  prevent  it,  always  turns  on 
hanging,  shooting,  burning,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  And  if  a 
priest  has  been  put  to  death,  the  greatest  joy  is  expressed 


streets ;  "  and  such,"  says  Plowden, 
"  was  the  brutal  ferocity  of  some  of  the 
king's  troops,  that  they  half  roasted 
and  eat  the  flesh  of  one  man  named 
Walsh,  who  had  not  been  in  arms." 
The  insurgents  were  more  successful  in 
other  parts  of  Kildare.  At  Prosperous, 
a  party  of  the  North  Cork  militia, 
under  Captain  Swayne,  were  attacked 
in  their  barrack,  which  was  set  on  fire, 
and  these  men  having  made  themselves 
peculiarly  obnoxious  by  their  outrages 
in  free  quarters,  having  burned  the 
Catholic  chapel,  and  several  cabins  and 
farm-houses,  and  frequently  employed 
the  pitch-cap  in  torturing  the  suspected 
rebels,  were  now  in  their  turn  treated 
without  mercy,  and  any  of  them  who 
attempted  to  escape  from  the  flames 
were  piked.  Dr.  Esmond,  of  the  Sal- 
lins  yeomanry  corps,  was  compelled  by 
the  people  to  join  them  in  this  attack  ; 
and  was  immediately  after  tried  by 
court-martial  in  Dublin,  where  he  was 
hanged  on  the  scaflrolding  of  Carlisle 
Bridge.  At  Rathangan  the  peasantry 
also  cut  off  a  military  party  and  took 
possession  of  the  town.     The  same  day 


iy  th.e  whole  company."  These  being  the  words  of  a 
lord-lieutenant  sent  over  to  complete  the  cold-blooded 
project  of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  to  accomplish  the  Union,  it  will 
be  understood  how  inadequately  they  must  describe  the 
actual  state  of  things  as  felt  by  the  persecuted  people 
themselves  ;  but  such  a  testimony  speaks  volumes. 

*  Mr.  Cloney  undertook  the  unpleasant  task  of  mak- 
ing out  a  comparative  statement  of  the  outrages  in 
cold  blood  perpetrated  in  the  county  of  Wex&rd  in  the 
year  1798,  by  the  magistrates,  military,  and  yeomanry 
on  the  one  side,  and  by  the  insurgents  ^on  the  other  ; 
and  on  the  side  of  the  former  there  is  a  fearful  balance 
in  point  of  number  and  enormity.  See  Cloney's  Per- 
sonal Narrative,  pp.  216-219,  and  Madden's  United 
Irishmen,  first  series,  pp.  321-325. 


690 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


Captain  Erskine's  troop  of  dragoons 
were  encountered  by  the  insurgents  at 
Old  Kilcullen,  and  almost  annihilated 
—only  a  sergeant  and  four  men  of  the 
entire  troop  having  escaped,  although 
the  party  of  Irish  were  scarcely  more 
numerous,  and  were  ai-med  only  with 
pikes.  The  insurgents  then  marched 
to  Kilcullen  Bridge,  where  General 
Dundas  had  his  headquarters,  but 
here  they  were  repulsed  with  consider- 
able loss.  Several  minor  affairs  took 
place  about  the  same  time  in  the  coun- 
ties of  Kildare  and  Dublin,  in  all  of 
which  the  country  people  were  re- 
pulsed and  slaughtered;  and  to  dis- 
courage them  the  more,  all  the  pris- 
oners were,  without  any  form  of  trial, 
immediately  hanged.  A  large  body 
of  insurgents  attacked  the  town  of  Car- 
low  in  a  tumultuous  manner,  shouting 
as  they  entered,  and  incautiously  pene- 
trating into  the  interior,  where  they 
were  received  with  a  murderous  fire  by 
the  military.  A  great  number  of  the 
people  then  took  refuge  in  the  houses, 
which,  being  thatched,  were  barbar- 
ously set  on  fire  by  the  soldiers,  and 
eighty  houses,  with  some  hundreds  of 
the  unfortunate  insurgents,  were  con- 
sumed in  the  conflagration.  About 
two  hundred  more  were  made  prison- 
ers, and  hanged  or  shot.  These  mas- 
sacres were  followed  by  the  court-mar- 
tial judicial  murder  of  Sir  Edward 
Crosbie,  on  whose  lawn  the  insurgents 
had  mustered   before    the   attack,   al- 


*  As  an  excuse  for  this  frightfol  massacre  it  was 
Baid  that  when  the  insurgents  were  about  to  deliver  up 


though  it  did  not  appear  that  that  gen- 
tleman was  himself  a  rebel.  The  dis- 
aster at  Carlow  was  one  of  the  most 
deplorable  during  the  outbreak.  Dis- 
heartened by  so  many  reverses,  the 
men  of  Kildare  now  began  to  see  how 
hopeless  was  their  undertaking.  A 
body  of  two  thousand  men,  encamped 
under  a  leader  named  Perkins  on  the 
historic  Hill  of  Allen,  near  the  Cur- 
ragh,  entered  into  a  negotiation  with 
General  Dundas  to  lay  down  their 
arms  and  return  home.  This  arrange- 
ment was  finally  carried  out  on  the 
28th  of  May,  when  some  cartloads  of 
pikes  and  rusty  muskets  were  surren- 
dered ;  General  Dundas  having  on  this 
and  several  other  occasions  during  the 
war  shown  himself  a  man  of  a  humane 
and  honorable  disposition.  The  next 
day  a  multitude  assembled  at  the  Gib- 
bet-Rath on  the  Curragh  of  Kildare, 
for  the  purpose  of  following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  men  of  Knock- Allen ; 
their  arms  were  to  have  been  delivered 
up  to  Major-general  Duff,  then  on  his 
march  from  Limerick,  but  the  troops 
were  ordered  by  that  officer  to  fire  on 
the  defenceless  people,  and  Lord  Ro- 
den's  cavalry  went  in  to  hew  them 
down ;  and  thus  exposed  on  that  vast 
plain,  without  a  hedge  to  shelter  them 
for  miles,  the  wretched  peasantry  were 
slaughtered  without  resistance  and 
without  mercy;  the  number  slain  on 
that  occasion  in  cold  blood  being,  ac- 
cording to  Musgrave,  350.* 


their  arms,  one  of  them  fired  a  gun  which  provoked  the 
military  ;  but  the  shot  appears  to  have  been  discharged 


THE  INSURRECTIOISr  IN  WEXFORD. 


691 


A  military  force  of  over  400  men, 
with  one  cannon,  marched,  on  the  26th 
of  May,  to  attack  a  body  of  some  3,000 
insurgents  encamped  on  the  hill  of 
Tara.  The  latter  were  chiefly  armed 
with  pikes,  yet,  for  about  four  hours  of 
hard  fighting,  they  continued  to  main- 
tain their  ground,  and  at  one  time  had 
surrounded  the  cannon ;  the  steady 
fire  of  the  military,  however,  mowed 
down  their  irregular  masses ;  they  were 
dislodged  from  the  cemetery  near  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  and  obliged  to  re- 
treat with  the  loss,  it  was  said,  of  400 
men  killed  and  wounded.  It  was  the 
bai'barous  practice  of  the  royal  troops 
to  give  no  quarter,  so  that  all  the  un- 
happy Irish  who  were  left  wounded  on 
the  field  or  fell  into  the  hands  of  their 
enemies  were  slaughtered  in  cold  blood 
or  hanged  immediately  after.  This  de- 
feat crushed  the  rebellion  in  that  quar- 
ter.* 

The  insurrection  now  broke  out  in 
the  county  of  Wexford,  with  a  fury 
that  soon  threw  into  the  shade  the 
movements  which  had  taken  place 
elsewhere.  There  was  a  larger  admix- 
ture of  the  old  Anglo-Norman  blood  in 
this  county  than  in  any  other  part  of 
Ireland ;  and  the  ancient  Celtic  race  of 


into  tlie  air,  and  most  probably  hj  accident,  while  it  is 
quite  certain  tbat  the  order  for  the  massacre  was  de- 
liberately given  by  General  Duife. 

*  The  earl  of  Fingall's  yeoman  cavalry  were  the 
meet  prominent  in  the  attack  upon  the  insurgents  at 
Tara.  An  address,  signed  by  Lords  Fingall  and  Ken- 
mare,  the  president  of  Maynooth,  and  other  Catholics 
of  distinction  to  the  number  in  all  of  forty-one,  waa 
presented  about  that  time  to  the  lord-lieutenant,  to 
vindicate  themselves  from  the  attempts  made  to  fasten 
the  charge  of  rebellion  upon  the  whole  Catholic  body. 


Hy-Keinnselaigh  was  always  distin- 
guished for  an  independent  spirit. 
The  people  were  almost  all  Catholics  ; 
they  were  remarkable  for  their  indus- 
try and  peaceable  habits ;  and  the 
organization  of  the  United  Irishmen 
scarcely  made  any  progress  among 
them  till  the  very  eve  of  the  outbreak. 
The  gentry,  however,  were  Protestant 
and  exclusive.  The  North  Cork  mi- 
litia, commanded  by  Lord  Kingsbor- 
ough,  quartered  in  the  county  in 
April,  introduced  the  Orange  system 
there,  and  in  a  brief  space  almost  all 
the  Protestants  had  become  open  and 
sworn  Orangemen.  The  Catholics  were 
terrified  with  rumors  of  intended  mas- 
sacres like  those  of  Ai'magh ;  and  on 
some  occasions  the  people,  for  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty  miles,  deserted  their 
homes  at  night  and  slept  in  the  open 
fields.  The  militia  paraded  in  orange 
ribbons,  fired  at  the  country-people 
when  at  work  in  the  fields,  burned 
their  houses,  and  frequently  applied 
the  pitch-cap  to  the  heads  of  the  "  crop- 
pies," as  the  United  Irishmen  were 
termed,  from  the  practice  which  many 
of  them  adopted  of  cutting  the  hair 
short.f  These  unprovoked  aggressions 
had  the  natural  result :  as  Orangeism 

f  "It  is  said,"  writes  Mr.  Hay,  in  his  history  of 
the  Wexford  insurrection,  "  that  the  North  Cork  regi- 
ment were  the  inventors — they  certainly  were  the 
introducers — of  pitch-cap  torture  into  Wexford.  Any 
person  having  his  hair  cut  short,  and  therefore  called 
a  croppy  (by  which  name  the  soldiery  designated  a 
United  Irishman),  on  being  pointed  out  by  some  loyal 
neighbor,  was  immediately  seized  and  brought  into  a 
guard-house,  where  caps,  either  of  coarse  linen  or 
strong  brown  paper,  besmeared  inside  with  pitch, 
were  always  kept  ready  for  service.    The  unfortunate 


692 


REIGN  OP  GEORGE  ni. 


spread,  so  did  the  principles  of  the 
United  Irishmen.  On  the  27th  of 
April,  the  county  was  proclaimed  by 
a  meeting  of  magistrates  at  Gorey ;  and 
from  that  moment  the  magistracy  acted 
in  the  most  ruthless  manner.  A  few 
days  before  any  outbreak  took  place, 
Mr.  Hunter  Gowan  paraded  Gorey  at 
the  head  of  his  yeomanry  with  a  hu- 
man finger  on  the  point  of  his  sword ; 
and  various  disgusting  freaks  were 
performed  in  the  course  of  the  even- 
ing, among  others,  that  of  using  the 
"  croppy's  finger"  to  stir  punch  !  On 
Whit-Sunday,  the  27th  of  May,  some 
yeomen  burned  the  Catholic  chapel  of 
Boulavogue,  in  the  parish  of  Kilcor- 
raack,  at  the  foot  of  Oulart  Hill,  but 
Father  John  Murphy,  the  parish  priest, 
at  the  head  of  his  parishioners,  fell 
upon  the  miscreants,  several  of  whom, 
with  two  ofl&cers  who  commanded  them, 
were  slain  in  the  conflict.  The  people 
now  flew  to  arms,  and  before  many 
hours  had  elapsed  two  large  bodies 
were  assembled,  one  on  the  hill  of 
Oulart,  and  another  on  that  of  Kil- 
thomas.  The  gathering  at  the  latter 
place  was  scattered  by  a  party  of  200 
yeomen  from  Carnew,  and  150  of 
the  fugitives  were  killed ;  the  yeomen 
burning  in  their  progress  two  other 
Catholic  chapels   and  above    100  cab- 


victim  had  one  of  tliese,  well  heated,  pressed  on  his 
head,  and  when  judged  of  a  proper  coolness,  so  that  it 
could  not  be  easily  pulled  off,  the  sufferer  was  turned 
out  amidst  the  horrid  acclamations  of  the  merciless 
torturers." 

The  same  writer  tells  us  that  a   sergeant  of  the 
North  Cork's  was  called  "Tom  the  Devil,"  from  his 


ins  and  farm-houses  of  Catholics,  and 
shooting  several  of  the  poor  country- 
people  whom  they  called  to  their 
cabin  doors.  At  Oulart  Hill,  where 
Father  Murphy  commanded,  the  result 
was  diiferent.  A  detachment  of  110 
men  of  the  North  Cork  militia  under 
Lieutenant-colonel  Foote  attacked  the 
people,  who,  at  the  onset,  fled ;  but 
300  pikemen  having  been  rallied  by 
Father  Murphy,  bore  down  upon  the 
royalists,  and  in  an  instant  slew  the 
whole  party  except  the  lieutenant-colo- 
nel, a  sergeant,  and  three  privates. 
The  insurgents  marched  next  day  to 
Camolin,  where  they  procured  800 
stand  of  arms  that  had  been  just  de- 
posited there  by  Lord  Mountnorris. 
They  then  marched  to  Enniscorthy, 
which  they  took  after  some  fighting; 
the  garrison  flying  to  Wexford,  to- 
gether with  the  Protestant  inhabit- 
ants. About  the  same  time  Gorey, 
though  not  attacked,  was  evacuated 
by  its  garrison,  which  fled  to  Arklow. 
All  was  consternation,  and  the  country 
smoked  with  the  burning  homesteads 
of  both  parties.  In  Wexford,  the  yeo- 
manry could  with  difficulty  be  pre- 
vented from  entering  the  jail  and  mur- 
dering the  prisoners,  among  whom 
were  Mr.  Beauchamp,  Bagenal  Harvey, 
Mr.  John   Henry  Colclough,  Mr.   Ed- 

ingenuity  in  devising  torments.  Sometimes  this  wretch 
cut  the  hair  of  his  victims  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and 
instead  of  a  pitch-cap,  applied  moistened  gunpowder, 
which  he  rubbed  into  the  seam  and  then  set  on 
fire ;  sometimes  he  applied  a  lighted  candle  until 
all  the  hair  was  singed  off,  and  the  head  covered  with 
blisters  1 


BATTLE  OF  NEW  ROSS. 


693 


ward  Fitzgerald,  and  other  gentlemen 
who  had  been  arrested  on  suspicion. 
Mr.  Colclough  and  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
were  sent  as  messengers  to  Vinegar 
Hill  (a  lofty  eminence  overlooking  En- 
niscorthy,  and  which  the  insurgents 
had  chosen  as  their  principal  rendez- 
vous), for  the  purpose,  if  possible,  of 
persuading  the  people  to  return  to 
their  homes ;  but  the  embassy  had 
quite  a  contrary  effect.  The  insur- 
gents retained  Mr.  Colclough  at  the 
camp,  and  sent  back  Mr.  Fitzgerald  to 
announce  their  intention  of  immediate- 
ly attacking  Wexford  itself  On  the 
morning  of  the  29th,  Colonel  Maxwell, 
with  200  of  the  Donegal  militia  and 
a  field-piece,  arrived  from  Duncannon 
Fort  to  re-enforce  the  Wexford  garrison ; 
and  the  same  evening  General  Faucett, 
with  the  13th  regiment,  four  compa- 
nies of  the  Meath  militia,  and  some  ar- 
tillery, halted  at  Taghmon,  seven  miles 
from  Wexford,  sending  forward  a  de- 
tachment for  the  latter  town.  Early 
on  the  morning  of  the  30th  this  de- 
tachment was  intercepted  by  the  Irish 
at  the  Three  Kocks,  almost  the  whole 
party  slain,  and  two  howitzers  taken. 
Faucett  immediately  returned  to  Dun- 
cannon  Fort,  and  the  same  day  an  offer 
was  made  to  surrender  Wexford  to  the 
insurgents  ;  but  before  any  terms  could 
be  arranged,  the  garrison  disgracefully 
evacuated  the  place,  leaving  it  to  the 
mercy  of  the  people.  Mr.  Bagenal 
Harvey,  who  was  stiU  in  the  jail,  was 
now  chosen  general  by  the  insurgents, 
who  were  regaled  with  drink  by  the 


inhabitants ;  the  town  was  decorated 
with  green  boughs ;  such  houses  as  had 
been  deserted  by  their  owners  were 
pillaged  ;  and  the  flying  troops,  on  their 
side,  signalized  their  retreat  by  plun- 
der, devastation,  and  numerous  mur- 
ders, burning  the  cabins,  and  shooting 
the  country-people  in  their  progress. 

On  the  4th  of  June  a  corps  of  1,500 
men,  under  General  Loftus,  with  five 
pieces  of  artillery,  having  arrived  at 
Gorey,  marched  in  two  divisions  by 
difterent  routes  to  attack  a  position 
taken  up  by  the  Irish  on  Carrigrua 
Hill.  One  of  these  divisions,  under 
Colonel  Walpole,  was  surprised  and 
routed  with  great  loss  at  Tubberneer- 
ing,  near  Gorey,  the  colonel  being 
killed  and  three  cannon  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Irish.  A  party  of  sev- 
enty men  of  the  Antrim  militia,  sent 
across  some  fields  by  General  Loftus 
to  relieve  Walpole,  was  also  cut  oft", 
scarcely  a  man  escaping;  and  the 
general  himself  retreated  to  Carnew, 
and  thence  to  TuUow;  so  that  the 
Irish  were  left  masters  of  the  entire 
county,  except  Duncannon  Fort  and 
New  Ross  at  the  southwestern  extrem- 
ity. An  Irish  force  having  mustered 
at  Carrickburne  Hill,  six  miles  from 
New  Ross,  marched  on  the  4th  of  June 
to  Corbett  Hill,  within  a  mile  of  that 
town  ;  and  Mr.  Harvey,  who  command- 
ed, sent  a  summons  next  morning  to 
the  garrison  to  surrender.  The  mes- 
senger was  shot  by  a  sentinel,  and  this 
so  exasperated  the  Irish,  that  without 
waiting  to  carry  out  General  Harvey's 


694 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


plan  of  attack,  a  column  of  pikemen 
rushed  on  with  irresistible  impetuosity, 
drove  the  British  cavalry  back  in  dis- 
order upon  the  infantry,  and  entering 
the  town  pell-mell  with  both,  pursued 
them  to  the  bridge,  over  which  some 
of  the  royal  troops  fled  in  a  panic, 
leavinsr  the  Irish  masters  of  the  artil- 
lery  and  of  the  principal  part  of  New 
Ross.  This  gallant  exploit,  however, 
was  not  followed  up.  Instead  of  pur- 
suing the  enemy,  the  Irish,  unrestrained 
by  authority  or  discipline,  abandoned 
themselves  to  intoxication.  The  royal 
troops  rallied  and  twice  attempted  to 
recover  the  place,  and  as  often  were 
repulsed ;  but  the  infatuated  insur- 
gents continued  to  drink,  and  late  in 
the  evening  the  military  having  come 
a  third  time  to  the  charge,  drove  them 
with  great  slaughter  from  the  town. 
The  fighting  had  been  sustained  with 
little  intermission  for  ten  hours,  during 
which  Mr.  Harvey  was  merely  a  sj^ec- 
tator  on  a  neighboring  hill ;  the  troops 
had  about  300  men  killed,  and  among 
them  Lord  Mountjoy,  colonel  of  the 
Dublin  militia ;  but  it  was  estimated 
that  the  insurgents  lost  about,  four 
times  that  number,  the  greater  part 
of  them  being  killed  in  cold  blood 
after  the  action  was  over.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  Harvey  had  an  irregular 
army  of  30,000  men  befoi-e  New  Ross  ; 
and  those  of  them  who  took  part  in 
the  battle  fought  with  wonderful  in- 
trepidity. In  the  end  they  owed  their 
defeat  to  insubordination  and  drunken- 
ness. 


Unfortunately,  another  circumstance 
cast  a  slur  on  the  cause  of  the  insur- 
gents that  day.  They  had  left  a  num- 
ber of  prisoners  under  a  guard  at  Scul- 
labogue  house,  near  Carrickburne  Hill ; 
and  in  the  afternoon  some  fugitives 
from  the  Irish  army  at  New  Ross  came 
up,  and  pretended  that  Mr.  Harvey 
had  issued  orders  to  have  the  prisoners 
executed,  assigning,  as  a  reason,  that 
the  royalists  killed  all  the  Irish  pris- 
oners who  fell  into  their  hands  at  Ross, 
Three  successive  messengers  brought 
these  pretended  orders ;  and,  at  length, 
a  tumultuous  mob,  composed  of  per- 
sons who  had,  each  of  them,  bitter  in- 
juries of  their  own  to  revenge,  over- 
came the  resistance  of  the  guard,  and 
commenced  the  massacre.  Thirty-seven 
unfortunate  people  were  shot  or  piked 
at  the  hall-door,  and  the  remainder, 
over  a  hundred  in  number,  being  col- 
lected into  the  barn,  fire  was  applied 
to  the  roof,  and  all  of  them  were  con- 
sumed in  the  flames.  It  is  said,  that 
amons:  them  were  sixteen  Catholics 
who  had  made  themselves  obnoxious, 
and  a  few  of  tlie  Protestants  were  res- 
cued from  destruction.  It  would  be 
most  unfair  to  throw  the  odium  of  this 
inhuman  barbarity  upon  the  Wexford 
insurgents  in  general,  who  were  guilty 
of  few  outrages  under  so  many  provo 
cations  ;  but,  above  all,  if  the  difference 
between  the  infuriated  rabble  who 
committed  this  crime,  and  the  disci- 
plined troops  of  the  royalists  acting 
under  educated  officers  be  considered, 
the  systematic  atrocities  of  the  latter 


BATTLE  OF  NEW  ROSS. 


695 


greatly  eclipse   evea   the  savagery  of 
Scullabogue.* 

Several  miaor  encounters  had  taken 
place  between  the  military  and  people 
in  the  county  of  Wicklow,  where  a 
man  named  Joseph  Holt,  who  had 
been  driven  into  rebellion  by  a  system 
of  frightful  persecution,  was  one  of  the 
most  enterprising  leaders.  The  Wick- 
low men  having  formed  a  junction  with 
some  of  the  Wexford  insurgents  at 
Gorey,  marched  on  the  9th  of  June  to 
attack  Arklow,  which  was  garrisoned 
by  1,600  effective  men  under  Major- 
general  Needham.  In  their  first  charge 
the  pikemen  drove  back  the  pickets  of 
cavalry,  and  the  assailants  came  on  in 
such  numbers  and  in  such  good  order, 
that  General  Needham,  although  very 
strongly  posted,  talked  of  the  propriety 
of  retreating.  This  suggestion  was 
gallantly  opposed  by  Colonel  Skerret, 
who  commanded  the  Durham  fencibles; 
and  to  the  firmness  of  that  ofiicer  in 
the  first  instance,  and  the  death  of 
Father  Michael  Murphy,  who  was 
killed  by  a  cannon-ball,  within  thirty 
yafds  of  the  English  lines,  the  success 
of  the  loyalists  was  mainly  to  be  at- 
tributed.    This    battle   was   the   most 

*  Twenty-eight  persons  were  massacred  by  the  mili- 
tary in  the  ball-alley  of  Carnew,  on  the  25th  of  May,  and 
thirty-four  were  shot  in  cold  blood  at  Dunlavin.  After 
the  battle  of  Vinegar  Hill,  the  hospital  of  the  Irish  at 
Enniscorthy  was  set  on  fire,  and  according  to  one  account, 
over  thirty,  but  according  to  another,  seventy-six 
wounded  men  perished  in  the  flames.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Gordon,  rector  of  KUlegny,  in  Wexford,  says  he  was 
told  by  a  surgeon  that  the  hospital  was  only  accidentally 
Bet  on  fire  by  the  lighted  wadding,  when  the  troops  were 
shooting  the  wounded  men  in  their  beds ! — See  Hay's, 
Cloney's,  and  Gordon's  Histories  of  the  Insurrection. 


regular  in  its  plan  of  any  during  the 
civil  war,  and  it  was  decisive  of  the 
contest  in  Wicklow.f 

After  the  battle  of  Ross  the  Wex- 
ford men  chose  the  Rev.  Philip  Roche 
to  replace  Bagenal  Harvey,  who  re- 
signed the  command ;  and  for  several 
days  the  county  remained  in  their  un- 
disputed possession ;  but  a  powerful 
army  was  being  concentrated  against 
them,  and  the  catastrophe  of  the  war  in 
Wexford  was  near  at  hand.  In  the  in- 
terval, a  scene  of  a  melancholy  and  dis- 
graceful nature  took  place  in  the  town 
of  Wexford.  A  number  of  prisoners, 
among  whom  were  Lord  Kingsborough 
(afterwards  earl  of  Kingston),  colonel 
of  the  North  Cork  militia,  thirteen  mili- 
tary officers,  several  officers  of  yeo- 
manry, and  many  of  the  principal 
gentry  of  the  county  were  confined  in 
the  jail,  chiefly  as  a  place  of  security 
against  the  violence  of  the  exasperated 
populace.  At  the  instigation  of  a  per- 
son named  Dixon,  the  master  of  a 
coasting  vessel  belonging  to  Wexford, 
and  who  has  been  described  by  all 
parties  as  a  sanguinary  monster,  cries 
were  repeatedly  raised  for  the  execu- 
tion of  these  prisoners  ;  but,  for  a  long 

f  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gordon  relates,  that  "  some  soldiers 
of  the  ancient  British  regiment  cut  open  the  dead  body 
of  Father  Michael  Murphy,  after  the  battle  of  Arklow, 
took  out  his  heart,  roasted  his  body,  and  oiled  their 
boots  with  the  grease  which  dripped  from  it."  History 
of  the  Rebellion,  p.  212.  The  authority  of  the  reverend 
writer,  who  was  a  Protestant  clergyman  of  the  highest 
resj)ectability,  and  resided  in  the  very  midst  of  all  the 
horrors  which  he  described,  cannot  be  questioned  on 
this  and  other  acts  of  military  ferocity  which  he 
records. 


696 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


time,  every  attempt  of  the  kind  was 
successfully  resisted  by  the  leading 
men  among  the  people.  At  length, 
on  the  20th  of  June,  while  the  fighting 
men  of  the  Irish  were  mustering  at 
Vinegar  Hill,  preparing  for  the  ex- 
pected battle  of  the  morrow,  Captain 
Dixon  collected  a  number  of  cowardly 
wretches  like  himself  at  Wexford,  and 
having  plied  a  chosen  party  of  them 
with  liquor,  forced  an  entrance  to  the 
jail,  and  selecting  some  of  the  prison- 
ers, marched  them  to  the  bridge,  and 
there,  after  a  mock  trial,  had  them  put 
to  death  one  by  one.  The  unfortunate 
prisoners  were  taken  from  the  jail  in 
batches  of  ten  or  fifteen,  but  when 
thirty-five  of  them  had  been  disposed 
of  in  this  way,  the  slaughter  was 
stoj^ped  by  the  interferenee  of  Father 
Corrin,  a  priest,  who,  after  vainly  sup- 
plicating the  assassins  to  desist,  com- 
manded them  in  an  authoritative  tone, 
to  kneel  down  and  pray  before  they 
proceeded  further  with  the  work  of 
death.  Having  got  them  on  their 
knees  he  dictated,  in  a  loud  voice,  a 
prayer,  that  God  might  show  the  same 
mercy  to  them  which  they  would  show 
to  the  surviving  prisoners.  These  sol- 
emn words  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
the  batch  of  victims,  then  waiting  for 
their  doom,  were  conducted  back  to 
prison. 

At  that  moment  the  rebel  camp  on 
Vinegar  Hill  was  beset  by  the  royal 
troops,  approaching  from  diff"erent  sides. 
Many  of  the  peasantry  had  dispersed 
to  a  distance  through  the  country,  but 


at  the  call  of  their  leaders  they  rallied 
in  great  numbers,  and  with  a  devoted- 
ness  that  was  wonderful  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. Several  women  also  came 
with  the  men ;  and  their  bodies  were 
found  in  the  piles  of  slain  after  the 
battle.  The  Irish  were  almost  desti- 
tute of  gunpowder,  having  been  unsuc- 
cessful in  their  attempts  to  manufacture 
some  at  "Wexford.  The  attack  was 
planned  by  General  Lake,  who  did  not 
think  it  prudent  to  undertake  it  with 
a  smaller  force  than  20,000  men,  be- 
sides a  numerous  artillery  train.  Gen- 
erals Loftus,  Duffe,  Needham,  and 
Moore  acted  under  his  orders  ;  the  hill 
was  to  have  been  surrounded  at  every 
point,  and  the  attack  to  have  commenced 
at  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
21st  of  June.  General  Needham,  how- 
ever, from  some  unexplained  cause,  did 
not  arrive  at  his  appointed  position 
until  two  hours  later,  when  the  fighting 
was  over.  For  an  hour  and  a  half,  the 
Irish  maintained  their  ground  with 
great  intrepidity  under  a  shower  of 
grape-shot  and  a  dense  fire  of  musket- 
ry, while  the  want  of  ammunition  ren- 
dered their  own  artillery  nearly  use- 
less. At  length  they  gave  way;  the 
space  left  unoccuj)ied,  or  "  Needham's 
Gap,"  as  it  was  sarcastically  called, 
afforded  a  means  of  retreat  too  tempt- 
ing for  their  stability  ;  and  with  a  loss 
not  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  en- 
gaged, they  made  good  their  way  to 
Wexford,  unpursued  by  the  enemy. 
The  most  savage  cruelties  were  now 
perpetrated  by  the  soldiery.     A  build- 


THE  INSURRECTION"  IN  ULSTER. 


697 


ing  in  Enniscortliy,  iised  by  the  Irish 
as  a  hospital,  was  set  on  fire,  and  the 
sick  and  wounded  inmates  consumed 
in  the  flames.  Some  hundreds  of 
stracffrlers  were  killed  after  the  battle, 
and  several  loyalists  suffered  in  the 
indiscriminate  carnac'e  and  destruction. 
At  "Wexford  the  gallant  and  humane 
General  Moore  prevented  the  troops 
under  his  command  from  entering  the 
town  while  excited  by  victory :  but 
the  rest  of  the  army  poured  in  the 
following  morning ;  the  vpounded  in 
the  hospital  at  Wexford  were  immedi- 
ately put  to  the  sword,  as  were  also 
many  of  the  inhabitants  and  others, 
who,  owing  to  an  understanding  with 
Lord  Kingsborough  that  protection 
would  be  extended  to  them  on  the 
evacuation  of  the  town  by  the  insm*- 
gent  army,  imagined  themselves  secure. 
General  Lake  refused  to  grant  any 
protection,  unless  all  the  leaders  were 
delivered  into  his  hands;  the  surround- 
ing country  became  a  scene  of  frightful 
destruction  and  slaughter  ;  and  a  court- 
martial,  which  assembled  so  hastily 
that  the  members  were  not  even  sworn, 
proceeded  to  order  the  execution  of  a 
number  of  respectable  persons,  among 
others,  of  the  Rev.  Philip  Roche,  Mr. 
Bagenal  Harvey,  Mr.  Grogan,  of  Johns- 
town (an  aged  gentleman  of  very  large 
fortune,  whom  the  people  had  com- 
pelled to  act  in  the  capacity  of  com- 
missary), Captain  Keogh,  Mr.  Prender- 
gast,  Mr.  Kelly,  of  Killan,  and  others. 

Let  us  now  transfer  our  attention  for 
a  moment  to  Ulster,  where  the  popular 


organization  had  been  most  complete ; 
but  where,  owing  to  some  misunder- 
standing among  the  leaders,  and  the 
betrayal  of  all  their  plans  to  gov- 
ernment, the  rising  did  not  take  place 
simultaneously  with  that  in  other  quar- 
ters, and  where  the  movement,  though 
spirited,  was  brief  and  partial.  In 
Antrim  the  person  chosen  by  the 
United  Irishmen  as  their  adjutant- 
general  having  resigned  his  appoint- 
ment at  the  last  moment,  Mr.  Henry 
Joy  M'Cracken,  a  young  man  respect- 
ably connected,  and  of  an  enterprising 
spirit,  was  induced  to  place  himself  in 
the  hazardous  position  of  chief.  On 
the  7th  of  June  he  led  a  body  of  insur- 
gents in  an  attack  on  the  town  of  An- 
trim, where  a  meeting  of  magistrates 
was  to  have  been  held  that  day.  The 
assault  was  made  with  great  order  and 
steadiness,  and  the  town  was  carried 
after  an  hour's  fighting ;  but  the  mili- 
tary having  obtained  large  re-enforce- 
ments, returned  to  the  charge,  and  dis- 
lodged the  insurgents  after  a  stubborn 
resistance.  M'Cracken  retired  to  the 
heights  of  Sleramish,  with  a  small  band 
of  followers,  who  gradually  dispersed  ; 
he  escaped  arrest  until  the  beginning 
of  July,  when  he  at  length  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  royalists,  and  was 
tried  and  executed  at  Belfast  on  the 
17th  of  the  month.*  Unfortunately, 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  fight  at  An- 
trim,   Lord    O'lSTeill,    a    humane    and 


*  See  the  beautiful  and  affecting  acooimt  given  by  his 
sister  of  his  trial  and  execution  in  Dr.  Madden's  United 
Irishmen. 


698 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IH. 


popular  nobleman,  while  entering  the 
town  with  the  yeomen,  received  some 
wounds  from  the  pikemen,  which 
caused  his  death  a  few  days  after.  In 
Down  the  rising  was  more  consider- 
able, and  the  people  had  several  suc- 
cessful conflicts  with  the  military.  At 
Saintfield  they  cut  off  a  body  of  cavalry, 
and  having  marched  to  Ballinahinch 
they  took  up  a  strong  position  on 
Windmill  Hill,  and  on  some  elevated 
ground  in  Lord  Moira's  demesne,  ad- 
joining that  town.  Their  leader  was 
Henry  Munro,  who  was  of  Scottish 
descent,  and,  like  M'Cracken,  had  been 
engaged  in  the  linen  manufacture.  He 
possessed  some  knowledge  of  military 
matters,  having  been  trained  to  the 
use  of  arms  as  a  volunteer.  In  the 
disposal  of  his  irregular  force  at  Balli- 
nahinch, he  displayed  considerable  tact. 
On  the  12th  of  June  the  royal  troops 
under  Generals  Nugent  and  Barber 
marched  against  him  from  Belfast.  A 
good  deal  of  skirmishing  took  place 
that  evening,  and  the  army  having  set 
fire  to  the  town  passed  the  night  in 
every  kind  of  excess.  Munro  was 
urged  to  attack  them  while  in  the 
midst  of  their  debauch,  but  he  con- 
sidered the  attempt  would  be  disgrace- 
ful, and  declined.  The  action  com- 
menced next  morning.  The  people 
had  eight  small  cannons,  mounted  on 
common  carts,  but  only  a  scanty  supply 
of  ammunition,  while  their  adversaries, 
who  had  some  heavy  artillery,  mowed 
them  down  with  a  terrific  and  well- 
sustained  fire  of  musketry  and  grape. 


One  account  describes  the  Monaghan 
regiment  of  militia,  which  was  posted 
with  two  pieces  of  ordnance  at  Lord 
Moira's  gate,  as  thrown  into  confusion 
by  an  impetuous  charge  of  pikemen, 
and  falling  back  upon  the  Hillsborough 
cavalry,  which  also  reeled  in  disorder ; 
but,  in  the  mean  time,  the  Argyleshire 
fencibles  entered  the  'demesne  and  at- 
tacked the  insurgents  on  another  side, 
and  the  militia  regiments  got  time  to 
rally.  Charles  Teeling,  in  his  personal 
narrative,  states  that  Munro  had  pene- 
trated to  the  centre  of  the  town,  and 
that  the  British  general  had  ordered  a 
retreat,  but  that  the  sound  of  the 
bugle  was  mistaken  by  the  insurgents 
for  the  signal  for  a  fresh  charge,  where- 
upon they  instantly  fled.  In  a  moment 
all  was  lost.  Although  hotly  pursued, 
Munro  endeavored  to  rally  his  men  on 
the  heights  of  Ednavady,  but  the  royal 
troops  almost  surrounded  the  hill,  leav- 
ing but  one  passage  for  retreat,  and  by 
this  Muu'-o  led  off  his  men,  now  not 
exceeding  150  in  number.  As  usual 
on  those  occasions,  the  L'ish  lost  more 
in  the  retreat  than  in  the  battle ;  but 
no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  ac- 
counts of  the  numbers  slain  in  the 
several  conflicts  during  the  rebellion. 
It  was  the  custom  of  the  loyalists  to 
exaggerate  extravagantly  the  losses  of 
the  insurgents,  Avho  of  course  kept  no 
regular  muster-roll;  and  the  number 
of  casualties  on  the  side  of  the  military, 
unless  they  were  trifling,  was  studiously 
concealed  in  the  official  reports.  Soon 
after   the   battle   of  Ballinahinch  the 


THE  INSURRECTION  SUPPRESSED. 


699 


insurgents  of  Down  surrendered  their 
arms;  Muuro  fled  to  the  mountains, 
but  was  betrayed  to  the  military,  tried 
by  court-martial,  and  hanged  at  Lis- 
burn  opposite  his  own  door.  Thus 
was  the  outbreak  in  Ulster  suppressed. 
On  the  21st  of  June  the  marquis  of 
Cornwallis  assumed  the  civil  govern- 
ment and  supreme  militaiy  command. 
The  country  having  been  suflSciently 
dragooned,  he  was  sent  over  with  in- 
structions to  check  the  ferocity  of  the 
Orange  faction,  and  to  substitute  mod- 
eration for  terrorism.  But  before  the 
new  policy  was  carried  out,  a  remnant 
of  the  Wexford  rebellion  was  still  to 
be  crushed.  The  inhuman  tactics  of 
General  Lake  in  refusing  protection 
had  compelled  the  people  to  stand  to- 
gether in  their  own  defence,  and  two 
large  bodies  of  the  armed  peasantry 
quitted  Wexford,  one  entering  Wicklow 
and  the  other  penetrating  into  the 
interior  as  far  as  Castlecomer,  in  the 
county  of  Kilkenny,  where  they  hoped 
to  raise  the  mining  population.  The 
town  of  Castlecomer  was  plundered  on 
the  25th  of  June;  but  early  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  the  insurgents  were 
attacked  on  Kilcomney  Hill  by  a 
strong  military  force  under  General 
Sir  Charles  Asgill,  and  after  standing 


*  For  some  yearg  after  this  the  embers  of  the  iiigiir- 
rection  still  smouldered  in  various  parts  of  the  country  : 
in  Robert  Emmet's  attempted  rising  in  July,  1803, 
they  flickered  for  a  moment  for  the  last  time  ;  and  a 
small  party  of  desperadoes,  amidst  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Wicklow  mountains,  bid  defiance  for  years  to  the  at^ 
tempts  of  government  to  exterminate  them.  The 
captain  of  these  Wicklow  outlaws  was  Michael  Dwyer, 
a  brave,  honorable,  active   and  hardy  man,  the  very 


a  brisk  cannonade  for  about  an  hour, 
they  retreated  by  the  Scollagh  Gap  in 
the  direction  of  the  Wicklow  moun- 
tains. After  their  departure  one  of 
the  most  savage  and  gratuitous  massa- 
cres of  that  sanguinary  contest  was 
perpetrated ;  the  unoffending  people 
of  the  locality,  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  forty,  having  been  put  to 
the  sword  by  Sir  Charles  Asgill's  or- 
ders. It  is  needless  to  follow  any  fur- 
ther the  wanderings  of  the  fugitive 
Wexford  men,  some  of  whom  crossed 
the  Boyne,  and  were  finally  defeated 
on  their  return  southward,  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Swords.  Their  fine  county 
was  nearly  depopulated,  and  in  one  of 
the  districts  of  it  called  the  Macomores, 
the  diabolical  project  of  extirminatiug 
the  last  remnant  of  the  people  was  ac- 
tually undertaken.  The  rebellion  was 
now  extinguished.*  On  the  3d  of  July, 
Lord  Cornwallis  issued  a  proclamation 
of  a  very  questionable  character,  au- 
thorizing the  generals  to  grant  protec- 
tion to  such  of  the  insurgents  as,  being 
guilty  of  rebellion  only,  laid  down  their 
arms,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and 
complied  with  other  conditions.  On  the 
17  th  an  act  of  amnesty  (as  it  was  called) 
was  passed,  including  all  who  had  not 
been  leaders  in  the  insurrection.f 


type  of  an  outlaw  hero,  whose  exploits  and  hair-breadth 
escapes  have  all  the  interest  of  the  wildest  romance. 
He  at  length  surrendered  in  December,  1803,  on  a 
promise  of  pardon,  but  was  sent  to  Botany  Bay,  where 
he  died  in  1826.  See  the  curious  particulars  collected 
about  him  by  Dr.  Madden  in  his  Memoirs  of  Robert 
Emmet. 

t  According  to  the  estimate  generally  received,  the 
losses  in  the  rebellion  of  1798  amounted  to  20,000  men 


TOO 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  HI. 


Anotlier  step  in  tlie  way  of  concili- 
ation on  the  part  of  the  government 
■was,  to  induce  the  principal  state  pris- 
oners confined  in  Dublin  to  enter  into 
a  compromise,  by  which,  on  certain 
conditions,  including  permission  to  emi- 
grate to  some  foreign  land  not  at  war 
with  England,  they  undertook  to  give 
all  the  information  in  their  power  as  to 
the  internal  transactions  of  the  United 
Irishmen,  and  their  negotiations  with 
foreign  States,  without,  however,  im- 
plicating individuals;  and  likewise  to 
give  security  not  to  return  to  Ireland 
without  permission,  or  to  migrate  to 
an  enemy's  country.  This  agreement, 
which  A^as  brought  about  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Mr.  Dobbs,  was 
signed   by  seventy-three  of  the   state 

on  tlie  side  of  tlie  loyalists,  and  50,000  on  that  of  the 
people ;  tlio  number  of  the  latter  who  were  put  to 
death  in  cold  blood  greatly  exceeding  that  of  the  killed 
in  battle.  Had  the  other  counties  risen  like  those  of 
Wexford  and  Kildare,  and  had  the  jieople  had  leaders  of 
organizing  and  military  capacity  and  the  necessary 
resources  of  war,  or  had  they  had  the  co-operation  which 
they  expected  of  adequate  succor  from  France,  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  they  would  have  succeeded 
in  making  their  country  independent.  In  Wexford, 
where  it  is  admitted  that  the  rising  was  not  precon- 
certed, or  connected  with  that  of  Dublin  or  other  places, 
about  35,000  men  are  supposed  to  have  turned  out ;  and 
the  force  which  might  have  been  raised  in  the  whole 
of  Ireland  in  the  same  ratio  to  the  population  would 
have  been  enormous.  Those  who  rose  were  undisci- 
plined, unpaid,  most  imperfectly  armed,  and  without 
even  one  competent  leader  in  the  field  ;  yet  to  suppress 
the  outbreak  required  a  military  force  of  137,000  men — 
regulars,  militia,  and  yeomanry — commanded  by  five 
general  officers,  and  cost  the  government  a  vast  amount 
of  treasure.  The  secret-service  money  paid  to  informers 
from  the  31st  of  August,  1797,  to  the  30th  of  Septem. 
ber,  1801,  was,  according  to  official  reports,  £38,419  ;  and 
the  similar  payments  to  1804,  which  must  be  set  down 
to  the  account  of  suppressing  this  rebellion,  swell  the 
amount  in  that  particular  list  to  £53,547.  The  indem- 
nities paid  to  loyalists  for  destruction  of  property  was 


prisoners  on  the  29th  of  July  ;  and  in 
pursuance  of  it,  Mr.  Arthur  O'Connor, 
Mr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Doctor 
McNeven,  Mr.  Samuel  Neilson,  and 
others,  were  examined  on  oath  before 
secret  committees  of  both  houses  of 
parliament ;  but  it  was  afterwards  con- 
fessed that  government  had  been  al 
ready  in  possession,  through  sinister 
means,  of  all  the  material  information 
elicited  on  this  occasion ;  so  that  con- 
sidering the  little  value  of  the  revela- 
tions they  were  able  to  make,  the 
prisoners  purchased  at  a  cheap  rate 
their  escape  from  the  consequences  of 
an  unsuccessful  insurrection.  They 
originally  stipulated  that  Mr.  Oliver 
Bond  and  Mr.  William  Byrne,  then 
under  sentence  of  death,  should  be  in- 

£1,500,000  ;  the  cost  of  the  military  force  kept  up  in  Ire- 
land for  three  or  four  years  was  estimated  at  £4,000,000 
per  annum.  In  fine,  the  total  cost  of  carrying  the 
union,  towards  which  the  fomenting  of  the  rebellion  was 
the  principal  step,  has  been  estimated  by  some  writers 
at  £21,500,000 ;  by  others  at  30,000,000,  and  by  others 
at  even  a  higher  amount.  No  estimate  has  been  at- 
tempted of  the  destruction  of  the  property  of  Catholics. 
A  list  of  thirty-five  Catholic  chapels  destroyed  by  the 
Orange  yeomanry  and  mUitia  in  the  counties  of  Wex- 
ford, Wicklow,  Kildare,  and  Carlow,  and  the  Queen's 
county,  during  the  rebellion,  was  authenticated  by  the 
Most  Eev.  Dr.  Troy ;  but  this  was  considerably  under 
the  truth,  for  Mr.  Cloney  gives  a  list  of  thirty-three 
chapels  burned  in  the  county  of  Wexford  alone  during 
1708  and  the  three  succeeding  years,  while  it  is  stated 
that  only  one  Protestant  church,  that  of  Old  Ross,  was 
burned  by  the  insurgents.  As  to  the  conduct  of  the 
latter.  Dr.  Madden  observes  that  "  throughout  the  re- 
bellion there  was  an  abundant  evidence  of  their  frenzy 
being  more  the  impulse  of  a  wild  resentment  against 
Orangeism  than  any  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  sovereign 
or  the  State." — First  series,  p.  349,  second  edition.  It  is 
right  to  add,  that  in  all  cases  of  retaliatory  vengeance 
the  insurgents  invariably  respected  female  honor,  while 
numerous  outrages  to  the  contrary  were  committed  by 
the  military. 


THE  FRENCH  AT  KILLALA. 


701 


eluded  in  the  pardon ;  but  while  the 
negotiations  were  still  pending  Byrne 
was  hanged,  as  was  likewise  M'Caun 
and  the  Sheai'es,  and  Bond  did  not 
long  enjoy  the  respite  obtained  for 
him,  having  died  suddenly  in  Newgate 
on  the  16th  of  September.  Fi-om  the 
act  of  amnesty  passed  on  this  occasion 
about  fifty  persons  who  had  already 
fled  beyond  the  seas  were  excluded — 
among  others,  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone 
and  James  Napper  Tandy  ;  and  eighty- 
nine  were  compelled  to  go  into  banish- 
ment :  but  with  respect  to  these  latter, 
the  comjDact  was  broken  by  govern- 
ment, twenty  of  the  leading  men  being 
detained  in  prison  until  the  19th  of 
March,  1799,  when  they  were  shipped 
to  Scotland,  and  there  immured  as  state 
prisoners  in  Fort  George  until  after 
the  peace  of  Amiens,  which  was  signed 
in  March,  1802. 

When  the  insurrection  had  been 
suppressed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  coun- 
try was  once  more  thrown  into  a  state 
of  consternation  by  an  unexpected 
after-claj)  in  the  west.  On  the  2 2d  of 
August,  1798,  a  small  French  force  of 
1,060  men,  besides  oiScei's,  landed  at 
Killala,  under  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Humbert,  an  enterprising  soldier 
who  had  risen  from  the  ranks,  and  who 
had  actually  sailed  with  this  diminu- 
tive armament  without  any  immediate 
instructions  from  his  government.  He 
brought  some  arms  for  distribution 
among  the  people;  hoisted  the  green 
flag  with  the  motto  "  Erin  go  bragh," 
and  invited  the  Irish  to  his  standard. 


The  party  composing  the   garrison  of 
Killala  having  attempted  to  oppose  his 
landing,  were  made  prisoners ;  but  the 
French   evinced   such   excellent    disci- 
pline, that   the  property,  even  of  the 
loyalists,  was  quite  safe  while  the  town 
remained  in  their  hands,  and  by  the 
same  orderly  conduct  and  decorum,  not 
less    than   by    their  gallantry    before 
the  enemy,  the  French  maintained  the 
high  character  of  their  national  army 
during  their  stay  in  Ireland.     It   still 
suited  the  policy  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment to  keep  up  a  feeling  of  terror 
and  alarm  in  Ireland,  and  the  present 
opportunity  was  turned  to  account  for 
that  purpose.     Large  masses  of  troops 
were  moved  to  the  west ;  Majors-gen- 
eral Moore  and  Hunter  marched  to  the 
Shannon   with    7,000   men ;   a  line   of 
posts,  guarded  by  large  bodies  of  yeo- 
manrj-,  was  established  through  Lein- 
ster ;  strong  re-enforcements  were  sent 
to  Sligo,  while  the  troops  at  the  latter 
place  were  ordered  into  Mayo.     Gen- 
eral Lake   got   the    command  in  Con- 
naught,    but  Lord   Cornwallis   himself 
proceeded    towards    the    Shannon   to 
superintend   the   operations.      On  the 
25th  of  August  the  French  took  pos- 
session of  Ballina,  where  they  met  a 
more  spirited  resistance  the  preceding 
day  than  they  were  prepared  to  ex 
pect.     Major-general  Hutchinson,   who 
hitherto    had  the   command  in   Con- 
naught,  mustered  his  troops  at  Castle- 
bar,  where  he  was  joined  on  the  night 
of  the  26th  by  General  Lake,  with  a 
large   re-enforcement.     For  a  yery  in- 


702 


REIGN    OF    GEORGE   III. 


telligible  reason  there  lias  been  a 
studied  silence  observed  in  official  ac- 
counts as  to  the  precise  number  of 
royal  troops  assembled  on  this  occa- 
sion in  Castlebar,  but  there  is  ground 
to  believe  that  it  was  not  under  6,000 
men,  with  13  pieces  of  artillery.  An 
attack  from  the  handful  of  Frenchmen 
and  their  irregular  Irish  auxiliaries 
was  not  anticipated;  but  early  next 
morning  the  alarm  was  given  that  the 
French  were  at  hand.  The  attack 
commenced  about  seven  in  the  morn- 
inc.  The  French,  estimated  at  about 
800,  with  some  1,500  of  the  peasantry, 
appeared  beyond  a  small  lake,  a  short 
distance  from  the  town.  The  British, 
drawn  up  in  front  of  the  town,  pre- 
sented a  formidable  line,  and  their 
artillery,  which  was  well  served,  told 
with  severe  effect  upon  the  foe;  but 
men  who  had  lived  so  long  at  free 
quarters,  and  who  had  displayed  such 
fiendish  activity  in  the  destruction  of 
villages  and  the  slaughter  of  unarmed 
peasantry,  could  not,  as  Sir  Ralph 
Abercrombie  had  foretold,  stand  be- 
fore an  enemy.  Humbert  perceiving 
how  strongly  the  English  were  posted, 
and  how  powerful  they  were  in  artil- 
lery, contemplated  retiring  to  Ballina, 
and  to  cover  his  retreat  ordei-ed  Gen- 
eral Surrazin  to  make  a  feint  attack 
with  some  light  troops  under  his  com- 
mand. This  movement  was  mistaken 
by  the  English  for  an  attemjit  to  turn 
their  flank,  and  produced  an  imme- 
diate panic.  The  opportunity  was 
not    lost    upon    the    French    general. 


who,  changing  his  plan,  pressed  upon 
the  wavering  enemy,  and  turned  their 
disorder  into  a  total  rout.  The  re- 
treat was  most  disirraceful.  All  the 
artillery,  a  great  quantity  of  small- 
arms,  and  five  pair  of  colors  were 
taken  by  the  French.  General  Lake's 
official  return  admitted  a  loss  of  about 
350  men  in  killed,  wounded,  and  miss- 
ing ;  but  the  amount,  in  truth,  was 
much  greatei'.  A  part  of  the  Louth 
and  Kilkenny  regiments  of  militia  re- 
mained not  unwilling  jirisoners,  and 
transferred  their  allegiance  to  the  op- 
posite side,  for  which  offence  ninety  of 
them  were  subsequently  hanged.  The 
only  stand  made  was  by  a  party  of 
Hiijhlanders,  who  defended  the  bridges 
which  the  French  were  obliged  to 
take  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Mr. 
Bartholomew  Teeling,  who,  with  a  few 
other  L'ishmen,  had  accompanied  Hum- 
bert from  France,  pursued  for  some 
distance  the  flying  royalists  in  com- 
pany with  nine  Frenchmen,  and  was 
traversing  a  six-pounder  on  an  emi- 
nence to  harass  the  fugitives,  when  a 
party  of  Lord  Roden's  light  cavalry, 
observino:  the  small  number  of  the 
jjursuers,  turned  and  cut  down  four 
of  the  Frenchmen.  Thus  terminated 
what  has  been  called  the  "  races  of 
Castlebar,"  The  British  retreated  in 
disorder  through  Hollymount  to  Tuam, 
which  place  they  reached  that  night, 
although  nearly  thirty  Irish  miles  dis- 
tant. 

The   news  of  this   disaster  induced 
Lord  Cornwallis  to  hasten  to  Athlone, 


THE  FRENCH  AT  BALLINAMUCK. 


703 


and  move  to  the  west  with  all  the 
troops  he  found  available.  On  the 
2d  of  September  he  reached  Tuam, 
and  having  waited  for  two  regiments 
of  regulars,  he  proceeded  on  the  4th 
to  Hollymount.  Here  he  leai-ned  that 
the  French,  who  had  made  too  long  a 
stay  at  Castlebar,  had  marched  that 
day  to  Foxford.  Humbert  expected 
re-enforcements  from  France,  but  in 
this  he  was  disappointed,  and  his  chief 
reliance  was  now  on  the  United  Irish- 
men, who,  as  he  was  told,  were  pre- 
pared to  rise  in  Roscommon  and  some 
of  the  northern  counties.  It  appeared, 
however,  that  both  French  and  Ii'ish 
were  deceiving  each  other  by  vain 
promises.  The  leader  of  the  Roscom- 
mon United  Irishmen  gave  himself  up 
to  the  Protestant  bishop  of  Elphin  on 
the  eve  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  rising, 
which,  consequently,  did  not  take  place. 
Humbert  marched  through  Foxfoi-d, 
Swineford,  Ballaghy,  and  Tobercurry 
to  Colooney,  where,  in  a  brisk  skir- 
mish, he  routed  a  part  of  the  gari-ison 
of  Sligo,  which  Colonel  Vereker  had 
led  against  him ;  but  supposing  this 
to  have  been  the  vanguard  of  a  large 
army,  the  French  general  abandoned 
his  plan  of  marching  to  Sligo  and  thus 
penetrating  to  Ulster,  and  proceeded 
by  Ballintogher  to  Manor  Hamilton, 
whence  he  took  a  southerly  course  by 
the  shore  of  Lough  Allen.  Humbert's 
rapid  and  irregular  movements  pei'- 
plexed  the  English  commanders;  but 
he  was  closely  pursued  by  General 
Lake    and    Colonel    Crawford,    while 


Lord  Cornwallis,  with  the  bulk  of  the 
army,  crossed  the  Shannon  at  Carrick, 
for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  his 
progress  towards  Granard.  On  the 
morning  of  the  8th  of  September,  at 
Ballinamuck,  a  village  in  the  county 
of  Longford,  near  the  borders  of  Lei- 
trim,  Humbert  prepared  to  give  battle 
to  his  pursuers.  His  band  was  now 
reduced  to  about  800  men,  and  his  un- 
disciplined Irish  auxiliaries  could  ren- 
der but  little  assistance,  while  the  army 
which  was  closins:  round  him  exceeded 
20,000  men.  "Regarding  their  posi- 
tion as  hopeless,  200  of  the  French 
laid  down  their  arms  at  the  first  at- 
tack; but  the  remainder  made  a  gal- 
lant resistance  for  a  short  time,  cap- 
turing Lord  Roden,  who  charged  at 
the  head  of  his  cavalry ;  and  General 
Lake  then  coming  up  with  the  bulk 
of  the  English  army,  Humbert  was 
'  obliged  to  surrender  at  discretion. 
The  French,  to  the  number  of  96 
officers  and  748  rank  and  file,  became 
prisoners  of  war;  but  no  stipulation 
was  made  for  their  unfortunate  auxil- 
iaries, who  were  pursued  and  slaugh- 
tered without  m£rcy,  the  number  of 
Irish  slain,  accordmg  to  Gordon,  being 
500.  Lord  Cornwallis  in  his  dispatch 
says,  "  numbers  of  them  were  killed  on 
the  field  and  in  their  flight."  Bar- 
tholomew Teeling  and  Mathew,  the 
brother  of  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  were 
taken  pinsoners  and  sent  to  Dublin, 
where  they  were  tried  and  executed. 
Mr.  Richard  Blake,  of  Galway,  was 
also    among    the    prisoners,   and    was 


704 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  ni. 


hanged.  He  had  been  a  cavalry  offi- 
cer in  the  British  service.  All  the 
horrors  of  the  rebellion  were  renewed  ; 
executions  were  multiplied.  On  the 
22d  a  body  of  1,200  men,  under  the 
command  of  Major-general  Trench, 
with  five  pieces  of  cannon,  arrived  at 
Killala,  and  the  insurgents,  who  still 
held  the  town,  having  disjiersed  after 
a  short  but  spirited  resistance,  the 
cavalry  entered  the  place  along  with 
the  crowds  of  the  dismayed  and  flying 
people,  and  hewed  them  down  in  the 
street  without  resistance :  about  400  men 
were  thus  slaughtered,  and  when  there 
had  been  sufficient  carnage  to  sate  the 
most  sanguinary  appetites,  the  viceroy 
proclaimed  an  armistice,  and  allowed 
the  people  sufficient  time  to  come  in 
and  surrender  their  arms.  Seventy- 
five  persons  were  tried  by  court-mar- 
tial at  Killala,  and  a  hundred  and  ten 
at  Ballina.  Such  was  the  boasted 
"lenity"  of  Lord  Cornwallis. 

Humbert's  quixotic  enterprise  was 
part  of  a  plan  that  had  been  concerted 
by  the  French  directory  with  some  of 
the  Irish  refugees,  to  send  small  de- 
tachments from  diiferent  ports  into 
Ireland;  and  although  he  had  actually 
sailed  without  orders,  and  had  on  his 
own  responsibility  levied  contributions 
on  the  merchants  of  Rochelle  for  the 
outfit  of  his  ships  and  men,  still  it  was 
resolved  that  he  should  not  be  aban- 
doned, and  another  small  expedition, 
consisting  of  one  74  gun  ship,  eight 
frigates,  and  two  smaller  vessels,  with 
a  land  force  of  3,000  men,  imder  Gen- 


eral Hardy,  was  got  ready  for  sea,  and 
sailed  from  Brest  on  the  20th  of  Sep- 
tember, before  the  news  of  Humbert's 
surrender  had  reached  France.     Four 
Ii'ish   refugees  accompanied  this  expe- 
dition, one  of  whom,  Theobald  Wolfe 
Tone,   embarked  in   the   commodore's 
ship,  the  Hoche.     Such  paltry  attempts 
at  invasion,  could,  at  best,  only  serve 
to  keep  alive  the  embers  of  the  Irish 
insurrection.    They  were  unworthy  the 
great  nation  by  which  they  were  made, 
and  were  fraught  with  ruin  to  the  un- 
happy Irish,  who  felt  that  they  had 
been  deserted  by  the  only  country  to 
which   they   could   look   for    aid,    and 
which,   by   inspiring    delusive    hopes, 
had   hurried  them  into  a  most  disas- 
trous civil  war.     On  the  other  hand, 
we  know  that  the  revenue  of  France 
was   at  that  time  in  a  crippled  state, 
that  her  military  resources  were  wield- 
ed by  Bonaparte  for  his  own  ambitious 
pui'poses  elsewhere ;  that  her  navy  was 
in  so  wretched  a  condition  that  no  ar- 
mament could  be  shipped  with  safety 
from  her  coast,  and  that  in   fact  she 
was  not   in  a  position   to   render  effi- 
cient aid  to  Ireland,  however  inclined 
to  do  so.     The  English  had  notice  of 
Hardy's    expedition    before   it    sailed, 
and  when  four  ships  of  the  squadron, 
after    encountering    heavy    gales,    ar- 
rived off  Lough   Swilly  on  the   12th 
of  October,  they  were  encountered  by 
four   British   sail    of  the   line   and   a 
frigate.     A  tei-rific  action  ensued  ;  the 
Hoclie  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the 
battle    alone.      "During    six    hours," 


DEATH  OP  THEOBALD  WOLFE  TONE. 


705 


says  Wolfe  Tone's  son,  "  she  sustained 
the  whole  fire  of  the  fleet,  till  her 
masts  and  rigging  were  swept  away, 
her  scuppers  flowed  with  blood,  her 
wounded  filled  the  cockpit,  her  shat- 
tered ribs  yawned  at  each  new  stroke, 
and  let  in  five  feet  of  water  in  the 
hold,  her  rudder  was  carried  ofi^,  and 
she  floated  a  dismantled  wreck  on  the 
waters."  At  length  she  struck.  Dur- 
ing the  action  Wolfe  Tone  commanded 
one  of  the  batteries,  fiofhtinof  with  des- 
peration  and  courting  death,  but  still 
untouched  in  the  shower  of  balls.  For 
some  time  after  the  capture  he  was 
confounded  with  the  French  officers, 
but  being  recognized  among  them  at 
the  earl  of  Cavan's  table  by  an  old 
fellow-student.  Sir  George  Hill,  was 
ironed,  sent  to  Dublin,  and  tried  by 
court-martial  on  the  10th  of  Novem- 
ber. He  made  no  attempt  to  deny 
the  charge  against  him,  but  read  a 
vindication  of  his  motives,  and  only 
requested  that  he  might  be  shot,  not 
hanged.  This  request  was  not  grant- 
ed, and  rather  than  submit  to  the  ig- 
nominy of  dying  like  a  felon,  he  at- 
tempted to  destroy  his  own  life  by 
cutting  his  throat  with  a  pen-knife 
the  morning  fixed  for  his  execution. 
The  wound  was  not  mortal,  and  he 
would  have  been  taken  to  the  scaf- 
fold had  not  the  court  of  kind's  bench 
interfered.  On  a  motion  grounded  on 
the  afiidavit  of  the  prisoner's  father, 
Mr.  Curran  argued  in  a  powerful 
speech  that  the  sentence  was  illegal. 
He    showed    that    the    prisoner,   not 

89 


holding  any  commission  in  the  British 
army,  should  have  been  tried  before 
the  ordinary  tribunals,  and  not  by  a 
court-martial,  and  finally  an  order  was 
made  by  the  chief-justice.  Lord  Kil- 
warden  (Wolfe),  to  stay  the  execu- 
tion. Eight  day*  after  poor  Tone 
died  from  the  effects  of  the  wound  in 
his  throat. 

"  Mr.  Pitt,"  says  Sir  Jonah  Barring- 
ton,  "  now  conceived  that  the  moment 
had  arrived  to  try  the  eifect  of  his 
previous  measures  to  promote  a  legis- 
lative unisn,  and  annihilate  the  Irish 
legislature.  The  royalists  were  still 
struggling  through  the  embers  of  a  re- 
bellion, scarcely  extinguished  by  the 
torrents  of  blood  which  had  been 
poured  upon  them  ;  the  insurgents 
were  artfully  distracted  between  the 
hopes  foi-  mercy  and  the  fear  of  pun- 
ishment; the  viceroy  had  seduced  the 
Catholics  by  delusive  hopes  of  eman- 
cipation, whilst  the  Protestants  were 
equally  assured  of  their  ascendency, 
and  every  encouragement  was  held  out 
to  the  sectarians.  Lord  Cornwallis 
and  Lord  Castlereagh  seemed  to  have 
been  created  for  such  a  crisis  and  for 
each  other.  An  unremitting  perse- 
verance, an  absence  of  all  political 
compunctious,  an  unqualified  contempt 
of  public  opinion,  and  a  disregard  of 
every  constitutional  piiuciple,  were 
common  to  both."*  The  Union  was 
first  projDOsed  indirectly  in  a  speech 
fi'om  the  throne   on  the   22d   of  Jan- 


■  Bise  and  FaU  of  the  Irish  Nation,  pp.  463,  465,  ed. 


1843. 


706 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE   III. 


uai-y,  1799.  The  project  was  next 
announced  openly  in  a  pamplilet  writ- 
ten by  Mr.  Under-secretary  Cooke, 
wbicli  was  replied  to  in  one  by  Mr. 
(afterwards  lord-chancellor)  Plunkett. 
The  question  was  discussed  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Irish  Ijar,  on  the  9th  of 
December  that  year  ;  when  the  division 
was,  against  the  union,  166;  in  favor 
of  it,  32.  Five  debates  on  the  subject 
took  place  in  the  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons. On  the  one  side,  it  was  pre- 
tended that  there  was  no  safety  for 
Ireland  except  in  the  arms  of  Eng- 
land ;  on  the  other,  it  was  insisted  by 
the  ablest  lawyers  that  the  parliament 
was  incompetent  even  to  entertain  the 
question  of  a  union.  "  Such,"  says  Bar- 
rington,  "  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Sau- 
rin,  since  attorney-general ;  Mr.  Plun- 
kett, since  lord-chancellor;  Sergeant 
Ball,  the  ablest  lawyer  of  Ireland ; 
Mr.  Fitzgerald,  prime  sergeant  of  Ire- 
land; Mr.  Moore,  since  a  judge;  Sir 
John  Parnell,  then  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer;  Mr.  Bushe,  since  chief- 
justice  ;  and  Lord  Oriel,  the  then 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons." 
Such  was  also  the  opinion  of  Grattan, 
Curran,  Ponsonby,  Burrowes,  and  other 
eminent  men.  But  the  statesmen  who 
had  waded  to  this  measure  throue:h 
the  blood  of  a  nation  were  not  to  be 
diverted  from  it  now  by  the  arguments 
of  la^vyer3  in  or  out  of  parliament. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  many  of 

*  See  the  important  statement  made  on  this  sutject 
in  the  preface  to  the  ComwaZlis  Correspondence,  to 
which  publication,  and  that  of  the  letters  and  papers  of 


those  persons  who  were  officiall)''  con- 
cerned in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
union  destroyed -their  papers,  for  the  ob- 
vious purpose  of  burying,  if  possible,  in 
oblivion  the  flagitious  means  employed 
to  carry  it  ;*  but  these  means  were  too 
notorious  at  the  time,  and  too  many 
historic  evidences  of  them  have  been 
preserved,  to  leave  the  matter  in  any 
obscurity.  The  most  nefarious  cor- 
ruption was  openly  practised.  Votes 
were  publicly  bought  and  sold.-  Money, 
titles,  offices,  wei'e  given  as  bribes  in 
the  face  of  day.  Whatever  the  public 
conduct  of  Lord  Cornwallis  might  have 
been,  and  it  was  bad  enough,  he  was 
capable  of  feeling  and  acknowledging 
in  private  the  abominable  nature  of 
the  work  he  was  obliged  to  do.  Wri- 
ting to  his  friend.  General  Ross,  he  uses 
the  following  most  significant  expres- 
sions :  "  I  trust  I  shall  live  to  get  out  of 
this  most  cursed  of  all  situations,  and 
most  repugnant  to  my  feelings.  How 
I  long  to  kick  those  whom  my  public 
duty  obliges  me  to  court !"  And, 
again,  addressing  the  same  friend  on 
the  8th  of  June,  1799,  he  writes:  "My 
occupation  is  now  of  the  most  un- 
pleasant nature,  negotiating  and  job- 
bing with  the  most  corrupt  people 
under  heaven.  I  despise  and  hate 
myself  every  hour  for  engaging  in  such 
dirty  work,  and  am  sup2:)orted  only  by 
the  reflection  that  without  a  union  the 
British    empire    must    be    dissolved." 

Lord  Castlereagh,  the  reader  is  referred  for  a  great  deal 
of  important  information  relative  to  the  passing  of  the 
union. 


THE  UNION. 


707 


The  now  published  correspondence  of 
both  Lord  Castlereagh  and  Lord  Coru- 
wallis  contain  abundant  disclosures  to 
show  the  dark  and  disgraceful  nature 
of  these  transactions.*  Lord  Castle- 
reagh publicly  announced  a  tariff  of 
corruption  under  the  guise  of  "  com- 
pensation." For  each  rotten  borough 
the  price  fixed  was  from  £14,000  to 
£16,000 ;  each  member  who  had  pur- 
chased his  seat  was  to  be  repaid  the 
amount  of  the  purchase-money  from 
the  public  treasury ;  all  who  might 
be  otherwise  losers  by  the  union  were 
to  be  compensated  for  their  losses,  and 
for  that  purpose  a  vote  of  £1,500,000 
was  demanded;  but  these  sums  were 
quite  distinct  from  those  paid  for  the 
private  purchase  of  votes,  which  in 
some  instances  were  enormous.  The 
entire  amount  paid  for  the  rotten 
boroughs,  at  an  average  of  £15,000 
each,  was  £1,260,000,  of  which  tlie 
marquis  of  Downshire  received  £52,000 
for    his    share,    the   marquis    of   Ely, 


*  The  attempts  of  the  English  ministers  to  repudiate 
the  promises  made  by  their  agents  in  Ireland  elicited 
some  strange  admissions  on  the  part  of  the  latter. 
Thus,  in  a  letter-of  the  21st  June,  1800,  to  Mr.  Cooke, 
■who  was  then  in  England,  Lord  Castlereagh  permits 
himself  to  use  some  strong  and  significant  expressions. 
"  It  will  be  no  secret, "  writes  the  unprincipled  states- 
man, "what  has  been  promised,  and  hy  ichat  means  the 
union  has  been  carried.  Disappointment  will  encour- 
age, not  prevent,  disclosures;  and  the  only  eifect  of 
Buch  a  proceeding  on  their  (the  ministers')  part  will  be, 
to  add  the  weight  of  their  testimony  to  that  of  the 
ante-unionists,  in   proclaiming  the   profligacy  of  the 

means  by  which  the  measure  has  been  accomplished 

I  should  hope,  if  Lord  Cornwallis  has  been  the  person 
to  buy  out  and  secure  to  the  crown  forever  the  fee- 
Bimple  of  Irish  corruption,  that  he  is  not  to  be  the  first 
Bacrifice  to  his  own  exertions."    And  writing  to  Lord 


£45,000,  the  earl  of  Shannon  as  much, 
Lord  Clanmorris,  £23,000  and  a  peer- 
age. Lord  Belvidere,  £15,000,  and 
other  great  proprietors  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  boroughs  at  their 
disposal. 

The  last  session  of  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment was  opened  on  the  15th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1800.  The  viceroy's  speech  con- 
tained no  allusion  to  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  day,  and  the  omission  gave 
rise  to  many  conjectures  ;  but  on  the 
5th  of  Februaiy  Lord  Castlereagh 
read  a  message  from  the  lord-lieuten- 
ant to  the  House  of  Commons,  for- 
mally bringing  forward  the  measure  of 
a  legislative  union.  Every  preparation 
had  been  made  during  the  preceding 
year  for  this  event,  and,  on  the  motion 
foi-  taking  the  message  into  considera- 
tion, the  ministry  had  a  majority  of 
158  to  115;  27  members  being  absent. 
This  division  was  decisive  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  government ;  but,  consider- 
ing all  the  engines  of  corruption,  per- 


Camden  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  his  lordship 
delicately  alludes  to  the  corruption  in  which  they  had 
60  deeply  dealt  in  order  to  carry  the  union  :  "  The  Irish 
government  is  certainly  now  liable  to  the  charge  of 
having  gone  too  far  in  complying  ^vith  the  demands  of 
individuals;  but  had  the  union  miscarried,  and  the 
failure  been  traceable  to  a  reluctance  on  the  part  of 
government  to  interest  a  sufficient  number  of  sap- 
porters  in  its  success,  I  am  inclined  to  think  we  should 
have  met  with,  and  in  fact  deserved,  less  mercy.  Sev- 
eral of  our  supporters  were  speculating  on  which  side 
the  strength  would  ultimately  lie,  and  things  were  so 
balanced  as  to  enable  single  individuals,  conversant 
with  cabal,  to  produce  a  very  serious  impression.  If 
reluctance  is  felt  on  your  side  of  the  water  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  proposed  favors,  be  assured  they 
were  not  entertained  and  promised  without  much  pain 
by  Lord  Cornwallis." 


708 


REIGN    OF   GEORGE   III. 


suasion,  and  intimidation  tLat  had  been 
so  long  at  work,  it  is  woudeiiul  that 
the  minority  was  so  large.  The  incor- 
ruptible purity  of  115  members,  under 
such  extraordinary  circumstances,  re- 
dounds to  the  honor  of  that  Irish 
House  of  Commons  which,  with  a 
proper  measure  of  i-eform,  might  have 
been  rendered  so  excellent.  In  the 
upper  house,  where  Lord  Clare  domi- 
neered with  a  browbeating  style  of 
oratory  that  was  peculiar  to  himself, 
the  ministerial  majority  was  75  to  26. 
The  progress  of  the  measui'e  through 
its  A'arious  stages  occupied  the  interval 
to  the  1st  of  August,  on  which  day 
the  royal  assent  was  given  to  the  Act 


of  Union.  On  the  1st  of  January, 
1801,  the  act  came  into  operation,  and 
from  that  date  Ireland  ceased  to  be  a 
distinct  kingdom ;  for  an  independent 
legislature  she  received  an  inoperative 
minority  in  the  imperial  parliament; 
her  local  interests  were  no  longer  un- 
der  the  care  of  her  own  representa- 
tives ;  her  debt  accumulated  ;  her  taxa- 
tion multiplied  to  an  excessive  amount ; 
her  commerce  fell  into  decay;  her  no- 
bility and  gentry  became  absentees ;  her 
wealth  was  drained  into  another  coun- 
try, with  scarcely  any  appreciable  re- 
turn; and  in  exchange  for  all  these  sacri- 
fices she  acquired — the  honor  of  being  an 
integral  portion  of  the  British  /■•.mpire ! 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION. TWO   TEARS    OF   THE   XINION. 


Influence  of  the  Union  measure  upon  politics. — Deception  of  the  English  government. — ^William  Pitt  and  King 
George  III. — Course  of  Lord  Cornwallis. — Michael  Dwyer  in  the  mountains  of  Wicklow. — Alarm  as  to 
French  invasion, — Catholic  emancipation. — Views  of  the  king  and  \\'alliam  Pitt. — Pitt  resigns. — Cornwallia 
also. — Addington  ministry. — General  state  of  the  country. — Military  force  in  Ireland. — Debates  in  parlia- 
ment as  to  martial  law  and  suspension  of  habeas  corpus. — Peace  of  Amiens. — Efforts  of  United  Irishmen  in 
Paris. — Lord  Eedcsdale  succeeds  Earl  of  Clare. — Relief  of  disabilities  sought  by  Presbyterians  and  Cath- 
olics.— Lord  Castlereagh's  statements  on  the  subject. — Extracts  from  his  letter  to  Mr.  Addington.-i^Ap- 
prehensions  of  a  renewed  invasion  by  the  French. — Fears  as  to  Ireland. — Military  force  in  the  country. — 
Outbreak  in  Limerick  and  Tipperary. — Need  of  raising  militia  and  yeomanry. — Doubts  as  to  numbers  to 
be  sent  by  the  French,  and  the  effect  produced. 


(A.  D.  1800  TO  A.  D.  1803.) 


^T^HUS,  as  has  been  related  in  the 
-^  preceding  chapter,  was  effected  the 
Union  between  the  kingdoms  of  Eng- 


land and  Ireland.  "We  need  not 
dwell  upon  the  means  which  were 
used,   nor  upon    the  .  many  questions 


DECEPTIVE  POLICY  TOWARDS  IRELAND. 


709 


which  arise  out  of  this  act  of  Union  ; 
but  it  deserves  to  be  noted,  that  the 
course  whicli  had  been  pursued  gave 
birth  to  new  subjects  of  discord,  and 
gave  a  new  character  to  the  political 
agitations  of  subsequent  years.  As  we 
have  seen,  William  Pitt  and  his  col- 
leafjues  left  no  means  untried  to  ac- 
complish  the  end  they  had  in  view, 
and  George  III.,  equally  eager  to  ac- 
complish the  same  object,  did  not 
scruple  to  allow  promises  to  be  made 
which  lie  probably  never  intended  to 
keep.  The  apiDointment  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  in  June,  1*793,  to  the  lord-lieu- 
tenancy of  Ireland  had  been  considered 
as  indicating  a  more  popular  and  gen- 
tler line  of  policy  than  had  heretofore 
been  pursued ;  but  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  king  or  the  ministry  meant 
to  carry  out  this  policy  in  good  faith. 
Thus  there  was  more  or  less  deception 
everywhere ;  and  there  was,  beneath 
the  surface,  distrust  between  the  king 
and  his  cabinet,  and  no  less  distrust 
between  the  heads  of  government  in 
England  and  Lord  Cornwallis  in  Ire- 
land. It  is  in  the  private  correspond- 
ence of  Lord  Castlereagh  (see  note, 
page  ),  who  was  so  largely  influen- 
tial in  bringing  about  the  Union,  that 
we  get  a  full  view  of  the  distrust  and 
lack  of  confidence  which  existed.  From 
the  same  quarter  we  learn  that  Corn- 
wallis, the  successor  of  the  harsh  and 
unpopular  Camden,  was  by  no  means 
acceptable  to  the  tory  party,  and  was 
rather  tolerated  than  approved  by  the 
king. 


The  point  on  Avhich,  no  doubt,  a 
great  deception  was  practised  by  the 
English  government  was  that  of  Cath- 
olic emancipation,  which,  if  it  was  not 
directly  promised  in  plain  words,  was 
so  openly  held  out  as  a  consequence  to 
result  from  the  Union,  that  no  one  could 
understand  it  otherwise  than  as  an  im- 
plied condition.  Yet  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  Pitt  knew  well  enough  that  it 
would  never  be  granted,  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  George  III.,  while  he  allowed 
it  to  be  promised,  was  fully  resolved 
that  the  promise  should  not  be  fulfilled. 
Cornwallis  remonstrated  against  this 
unhandsome  course,  and  felt  himself 
placed  in  a  very  embarrassing  and  vex- 
atious position.  Lord  Castlereagh  also 
wrote,  in  plain  and  strong  terms,  as  to 
what  must  result  if  the  ministry  re- 
pudiated the  engagements  which  had 
been  entered  into  by  the  lord-lieu- 
tenant.* 

These  earnest  remonstrances  pro- 
duced considerable  effect,  and  the  king, 
alarmed  at  the  opposition  which  he 
met  with,  subsequently  waved  or  kept 
in  abeyance  his  objections.  Cornwallis, 
however,  sensible  that  he  was  in  an 
awkward  position,  soon  after  took 
measures  to  obtain  his  recall.  His 
government  was  marked  by  a  general 
tranquillity.  The  implied  promise  of 
emancipation  had  done  much  to  secure 
this  tranquillity,  and  none  yet  knew, 
even  if  they  suspected,  that  this  prom- 
ise was  deceptive. 


*  See  cliapter  sliii.,  note  p.  707. 


710 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


Michael  Dwyer,  with  a  few  follow- 
ers in  the  mountains  of  Wicklow,  was 
all  that  remained  of  the  late  formidable 
rebellion,*  and  the  symptoms  of  dis- 
content in  other  parts  of  the  country 
were  few  and  inconsiderable  ;  yet  the 
government  was  well  aware  that  the 
elements  of  insurrection  were  still  ready 
at  hand,  and  that  the  disaffected  were 
kept  in  subjection  only  by  fear  or  want 
of  means  to  carry  out  their  plans. 
Hence  the  utmost  alarm  was  excited, 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1800, 
by  new  threats  of  invasion  from  France. 
In  this  connection,  Cornwallis  avowed 
his  conviction  that,  if  foreign  enemies 
lauded  in  Ireland,  a  great  portion  of  the 
population  would  rise  up  and  join  them. 

The  question  of  making  concessions 
to  the  Catholics  assumed  great  import- 
ance at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century.  The  unwillingness  of  George 
m.  to  make  these  concessions  is  well 
known ;  and  though  he  allowed  and 
encouraged  promises  and  expectations 
to  be  held  out  as  an  inducement  to 
support  the  iueasure  of  the  Union,  yet 
he  seems  to  have  made  up  his  mind 
from  the  first  not  to  do  any  thing  fur- 
ther in  this  respect  than  he  was  com- 
pelled. Just  before  the  opening  of 
parliament  the  question  Kegan  to  be 
pul)licly  agitated,  and  the  intentions 
of  the  English  government  were  grad- 
ually made  known.  Mr.  Pitt,  the 
prime  minister,  was,  to  all  appearance, 
in  favor  of  allowing,  to  some  extent. 


*  Dwyer  surrendered  in  December,  1803,  on  a  prom- 
ise of  pardon,  but  was  sent  to  Botany  Bay,  wliere  lie 


the  claims  and  hopes  of  those  who  had 
supported  the  Union  on  these  grounds  ; 
but  when  the  matter  came  up  in  cab- 
inet council  it  met  -with  such  strong 
opposition,  especially  on  the  part  of 
the  king,  that  Pitt  felt  it  necessary  to 
resign.  His  retirement  from  the  min- 
istry was  followed,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, by  the  resignation  of  Lord 
Cornwallis.  There  were  many,  how- 
ever, who  believed  that  Pitt  was  not 
sincere.  Thej^  said  that  he  had  gone 
out  of  office  merely  to  save  appear- 
ances ;  that  he  would  pretend  to  sup- 
port the  Catholics  until  their  opponents 
had  consolidated  their  strength ;  and 
that  when  they  had  no  longer  any  hope 
of  obtaining  their  desires,  he  would 
return  to  the  cabinet  and  resist  them 
on  the  plea  of  expediency.  The  Ad- 
dington  administration  succeeded  in 
Enijland,  and  Lord  Hardwicke  was 
sent  to  take  charge  of  the  government 
in  Ireland. 

Daring  the  two  years  which  followed 
the  accomplishment  of  the  Union  few 
events  of  importance  occurred  in  Ire- 
land. The  country  remained  tolei-ably 
tranquil,  though  it  had  been  much  dis- 
tressed by  the  exhaustion  consequent 
upon  long  political  agitation  and  by 
the  failure  of  the  crops,  especially  of 
the  potatoes  ;  yet  all  serious  expression 
of  discontent  was  checked  by  the  great 
military  force  now  established,  and  the 
Catholics  had  formed  new  hopes  from 
Pitt's  retirement  from  office,  and  there- 


died  in  183G.    See  chapter  xlv.,  pp.  715,  710,  for  some 
of  liis  adventures. 


PEiS^AL  ACTS.    PEACE  OF  AMIENS. 


711 


fore  refraiued  from  active  measures. 
Under  tliese  circumstances,  the  ques- 
tion of  Catholic  emancipation  was  not 
brought  directly  before  the  imperial 
parliament  during  its  first  session  ;  but 
there  were  some  warm  debates  in  both 
houses  on  the  bills  for  the  continuance 
of  martial  law  in  Ireland,  and  for  the 
suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus.  These 
had  been  among  the  last  acts  of  the 
Irish  parliament,  and  had  been  called 
for  by  the  state  of  the  country  at  the 
close  of  the  rebellion.  The  first  em- 
powered the  lord-lieutenant  and  council 
to  declare  any  county  in  a  state  of  in- 
surrection, on  a  report  to  that  eftect  by 
a  certain  number  of  the  magistrates ; 
and  upon  this  the  magistrates  were 
authorized  to  apprehend  a  person  ac- 
cused of  being  abroad  after  nine  o'clock 
at  night,  or  of  aiding  in  any  disturb- 
ance, and  bring  him  before  a  petty 
session  of  two  or  three  justices  of  the 
peace,  by  whom,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  a  jury,  he  might  be  condemned 
to  transportation  as  a  disorderly  per- 
son. There  was  reserved  to  the  pris- 
oner a  right  of  appeal  to  a  general 
sessions  ;  but  a  very  brief  period  was 
given  for  this  appeal,  which  rendered 
it  almost  nugatory  to  the  Irish  peas- 
antry, who  were  in  general  ignorant 
of  the  mode  of  proceeding,  and  not  in 
a  position  to  obtain  advice.  By  strong 
ui'gency  and  fearful  pictures  of  the  ac- 
tual state  of  Ireland,  in  regard  to  the 
safety  of  person  and  property,  martial 
law  was  continued  in  force  in  the 
country. 


Soon  after  the  Addington  ministry 
entered  upon  ofiice  negotiations  were 
commenced  with  France,  which  ended 
in  the  peace  of  Amiens,  concluded 
in  March,  1802.  During  these  nego- 
tiations opportunities  were  afforded  to 
the  leaders  of  the  United  Irishmen  in 
Paris  to  send  agents  secretly  to  Ireland, 
and  initiate  new  movements  of  resist- 
ance against  the  English  government. 
On  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Clare, 
Mitford,  speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, was  I'aised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord 
Redesdale,  and  was  appointed  the  Earl 
of  Clare's  successor  as  lord-chancellor 
of  Ireland ;  Chai-les  Abbott  was  elected 
speaker  in  his  place,  and  the  chief  sec- 
retaryship in  Ireland  was  conferred 
upon  Mr.  Wickham. 

A  question  of  moment  was  at  this 
time  brought  forward  with  regard  to 
the  Irish  Church.  The  hopes  held  out 
to  the  Catholics  naturally  excited  sim- 
ilar hopes  in  the  Presbyterians  and 
other  dissenters  from  the  Church  of 
England,  and  they  also  sought  relief 
from  disabilities  under  which  they  la- 
bored. The  question  alluded  to  was 
that  of  making  a  government  provision 
for  the  clergy  of  these  two  great  bod- 
ies, Catholics  and  Presbyterians,  in 
L'eland.  The  Presbyterians,  however, 
on  this  occasion  separated  their  claims 
from  those  of  the  other  Protestant  dis- 
senters, and  desired  to  obtain  such 
benefits  as  they  could  without  connec- 
tion with  others.  The  sentiments  of 
Lord  Castlereagh,  as  being  one  of  the 
most  active  and  efficient  agents  of  the 


712 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


English  government  in  carrying  out  its 
plans,  are  worthy  of  note  in  this  con- 
nection. Writing  to  Mr.  Addington, 
under  date  of  July  21,  1802,  he  says: 
"  There  is  much  in  this  body  (the  Pres- 
byterian synod)  which  requires  amend- 
ment, and  much  may  be  done  by  an 
efficient  protection  and  support  given 
on  the  part  of  the  government  to  those 
who  have  committed  themselves  in  sup- 
port of  the  State  against  a  democratic 
party  in  the  synod,  several  of  whom, 
if  not  engaged  in  the  rebellion,  were 
deeply  infected  with  its  principles.  In 
the  English  Church,  which  is  naturally 
attached  to  the  State,  schism  might  be 
dreaded  as  weakening  its  interests  ;  but 
in  such  a  body  as  the  Presbyterians  of 
Ireland,  who,  though  consequently  a 
branch  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  have 
partaken  so  deeply,  first,  of  the  pop- 
ular, and  since,  of  the  democratic  pol- 
itics of  the  country,  as  to  be  an  object 
much  more  of  jealousy  than  of  support 
to  government,  I  am  of  opinion  that  it 
is  only  through  a  considerable  internal 
fermentation  of  the  body,  coupled  with 
some  change  of  system,  that  it  will  put 
on  a  different  temper  and  acquire  bet- 
ter habits You  will  naturally 

infer,  from  what  I  have  stated,  that  ray 
opinion  still  continues  strongly  in  favor 
of  coupling  regulation  with  the  pro- 
posed increase  of  the  Regium  Donum." 
Much  correspondence  ensued  on  this 
particular  point,  and  men  of  note 
among  the  Presbyterians,  like  Alex- 
ander Knox  and  others,  favored  the 
plan  proposed ;    but  the  subject   was 


dropped  amid  the  excitement  caused 
by  renewed  threats  of  a  French  in- 
vasion. 

Lord  CastlereaQ:h,  under  the  date 
given  above,  applies  the  same  general 
remarks,  which  he  has  already  made, 
to  the  Catholics,  a  far  more  numerous 
body,  and,  as  he  believed,  much  more 
easily  reconciled  to  the  plans  and 
wishes  of  the  government.  "  Having," 
he  says,  "  a  hierarchy  of  their  own, 
they  are  less  alive  upon  the  principle 
of  subordination  than  the  Presbyte- 
rians. Since  I  last  had  the  pleasure  of 
conversing  with  you  on  this  measure, 
I  have  endeavored  to  find  out  what 
the  temper  and  wishes  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  and  laity  ai'e  upon  this  sub- 
ject      I  mentioned   to  you  that 

Dr.  Moylan,  whom  I  look  upon  as  one 
of  the  most  discreet  and  respectable  of 
the  body,  had  expressed  to  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  in  London,  a  conviction  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  would,  under 
the  present  circumstances,  gratefully 
accept  a  provision  from  the  State.  I 
have  since  had  reason  to  know  that 
Dr.  Troy,  titular  archbishop  of  Dublin, 
holds  the  same  language.  I  am  in- 
clined to  infer  that  these  two  persons 
speak  the  sentiments  of  the  body  of 
their  clei-gy.  Lord  Fingall  lately,  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  expressed  similar  opin- 
ions and  wishes  on  his  own  part  that 

the  measure  was  taken  up The 

well-disposed  Catholics,  both  clergy 
and  laity,  are  sincerely  desirous  that 
this  measure  should  be  accomplished, 
and  would  solicit  it  in  the  most  earnest 


OUTBREAKS   IN"   LIMERICK  AND   TIPPERART. 


713 


manner  from  government,  if  they  had 
reason  to  know  that  their  wishes  would 
be  gratified  ;  yet,  as  things  now  stand, 
I  do  not  conceive  that  it  could  be 
either  expected  or  indeed  desired  that 

they  should  make  the  application 

To  soften  religious  contention  and  an- 
imosity in  Ireland,  and  to  bring  it 
gradually  to  a  temper  which  shall,  in 
future  wars,  deprive  our  foreign  enemies 
of  a  certain  ally  in  the  resentful  feelings 
of  one  of  two  contending  parties,  some 
effort  must  be  made  by  the  State  to 
mitigate  the  struggle,  which  I  see  no 
means  it  has  of  accomplishing,  if  seven- 
eighths  of  our  population  are  to  re- 
main, wholly  out  of  the  reach  of  any 
species  of  influence  or  authority,  other 
than  that  of  the  mere  operation  of  the 
law." 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1802 
apprehensions  of  a  renewal  of  the  war 
with  the  French  began  to  be  generally 
prevalent,  and  the  preparations  known 
to  be  going  on  in  France  caused  the 
English  government  to  suspect  that 
Bonaparte  meditated  some  hostile  at- 
tack upon  England.  As  Ireland  was 
considered  to  be  the  weak  point,  and 
it  was  known  that  a  few  United  Lish- 
men  in  Paris  were  in  communication 
with  the  French  government,  the  alarm 
was  greatest  in  the  sister  kingdom,  and 
the  private  correspondence  of  its  min- 
isters at  this  period  relates  chiefly  to 
the  necessity  of  increasing  its  defensive 
force.  The  effective  military  force  in 
that  kingdom  was  rated  at  twenty 
thousand  men.     It  was  said  to  be  the 

90 


intention  of  the  English  ministry  to  in- 
crease it  to  twenty-five  thousand;  but 
it  was  considered  also  necessaiy  to  arm 
again  either  the  militia  or  the  volunteers. 
The  objection  to  the  volunteers  was 
the  strong  religious  animosity  which 
they  had  shown  in  the  late  outbreak,* 
while  the  militia  had  been  far  from 
steady  in  their  loyalty.  Numbers  of 
them  had,  in  1798,  joined  the  ranks  of 
the  insurgents,  and  at  this  very  mo- 
ment disbanded  militia-men  were  ac- 
tively engaged  in  exciting  and  organ- 
izing insurrection  in  the  south.  The 
alleged  grounds  for  rebellion  were  the 
dearness  of  potatoes,  and  a  grievance 
in  Ireland,  the  right  of  the  old  tenants 
to  retain  possession  of  their  farms. 
The  peasantry  were  urged  to  rise  and 
demand  that  a  fixed  price  should  be 
established  for  potatoes,  and  to  oppose 
the  introduction  of  strangers  to  the  oc- 
cupation of  farmers.  The  disturbances 
were  very  general  throughout  the  coun- 
ties of  Limerick  and  Tipperary,  and 
extended  partially  into  that  of  Water- 
ford  ;  but  they  were  suppressed  at  the 
close  of  the  year. 

Although  this  insurrection  was  sup- 
pressed without  serious  difficulty,  yet 
the  government  was  aware  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  raising  militia  and  yeomanry 
to  aid  in  preserving  order,  while  the 
regular  troops  were  employed  against 
the  invaders,  who  w^ere  expected  ere 
long  to  appear.  It  was  felt  and  avowed 
by  the  authorities  in  Ireland,  that  if 


»  See  chapter  xliii.,  p.  663. 


il4 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


the  French  were  able  to  send  over 
15,000  to  25,000  men,  they  were 
wholly  unable  to  oppose  their  prog- 
ress. It  was  also  felt  that  any  success 
on  the  part  of  the  invading  force  would 
be  fatal  to  the  reputation  and  influence 
of  the  existing  government  in  Ireland. 


At  the  time,  however,  when  there 
was  an  anxious  estimating  of  the  avail- 
able military  force  in  Ireland,  an  at- 
tempt at  revolution  had  been  made  in 
the  capital,  the  particulars  of  which 
will  be  given  in  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

ENSTJRKECTION   UNDEE   ROBERT   EMMET. 


Early  life,  family,  and  education  of  Robert  Emmet. — ^Visits  the  continent. — Joins  the  United  Irishmen  in  Paris. 
— Fate  of  Colonel  Despard's  conspiracy. — Emmet  returns  to  Dublin. — His  labors,  resources,  and  hopes. — 
Contrivances  in  his  country-house  and  in  Dublin. — His  confidants  and  co-workers. — Michael  Dwyer  and 
his  adventures. — Emmet's  expectations. — Reasons  for  hastening  the  insurrection. — Plans  of  Emmet. — Re- 
markable address  of  the  provisional  government  "  to  the  people  of  Ireland." — On  the  day  appointed,  few 
come  forward  to  join  in  the  outbreak.^Events  of  the  evening  of  July  23d. — Cruel  murder  of  Lord 
Kilwarden. — Course  of  the  authorities. — Emmet's  flight. — Arrested. — Russell  arrested  and  executed. — Trial 
of  Emmet. — Speech  of  Plunkett. — The  prisoner's  eloquent  address  to  the  court. — Executed  the  next  day. — 
Numerous  arrests  and  imprisonments. 


(A.  D.  1803.) 


ROBERT  EMMET,  the  son  of  Dr. 
Robert  Emmet,  physician  to  the 
lord-lieutenant,  was  one  of  the  United 
Irishmen,  and  partook  largely  of  the 
spirit  which  animated  that  association. 
His  elder  brother  was  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  who  had  been  brought  up  to 
the  bar,  and  who,  in  consequence  of  his 
share  in  the  rising  of  1798,  had  been 
placed  in  confinement  at  Fort  George, 
in  Scotland.  Robert  Emmet  was  one 
of  the  nineteen  students  expelled  from 
Trinity  College,  in  1798,  by  order  of 


the  visitors.  Lord  Clare  and  Dr.  Dui- 
genan.  His  reputation  as  a  scholar 
and  debater,  and  his  earnest,  ardent 
temperament,  naturally  gav^e  rise  to 
high  expectations  as  to  the  part  he  was 
destined  to  play  in  his  country's  affairs. 
In  1800  he  visited  his  brother  at  Fort 
George,  and  soon  afterwards  passed 
over  to  the  continent,  where  he  trav- 
elled in  Switzerland,  Holland,  and 
France.  Having  joined  his  brother's 
family  in  Paris,  he  entered  heartily 
into   the   plans   and   purposes   of    the 


T.  rARB-ElX  Sc  SON. 


EMMET'S  INSURRECTION. 


715 


United  Irishmen,  and  became  sanguine 
of  success  under  tbe  promises  of  Bona- 
parte and  Talleyrand.  Acting  upon 
these  sentiments,  and  also  aware  that 
war  would  speedily  break  out  again 
between  England  and  Fi'ance,  Emmet 
returned  to  Dublin,  in  October,  1802, 
and  set'himself  diligently  at  work  to 
accomplish  the  great  object  of  his 
desires. 

Previously  to  this,  a  conspiracy  had 
been  set  on  foot  by  Colonel  Despard, 
in  London.  He  had  sent  over  to  Ire- 
land a  person  named  Dowdall  as  his 
agent,  and  to  see  what  were  the  pi'os- 
pects  of  success  for  the  contemplated 
outbreak.  Dowdall  seems  to  have 
acted  imprudently,  and  indulged  in  too 
great  freedom  of  speech ;  the  conse- 
quence of  which  was  that  the  govern- 
ment soon  knew  all  about  the  plot 
going  on  in  London.  DesjDard  was  ar- 
rested, and  in  February,  1803,  with 
nine  of  his  followers,  was  put  to  death. 
Dowdall  escaped  to  Paris,  and  aided 
his  fellow-laborei's  in  their  prepara- 
tions to  the  extent  of  his  ability  and 
influence. 

Emmet,  undismayed  by  the  fate  of 
Despard's  conspiracy,  worked  unceas- 
ingly in  carrying  out  his  plans.  By  the 
recent  death  of  his  father  he  had  come 
into  possession  of  about  £2,000.  Mr. 
Long,  a  merchant  in  Dublin,  had  placed 
at  his  disposal  some  J6l,500.  With  such 
slender  financial  resources  the  ardent 
young  Irishman  was  ready  to  under- 
take the  overthrow  of  the  government, 
and  the  emancipation  of  his  country 


from  English  rule.  His  conviction  was, 
soon  after  his  return  to  Dublin,  that 
nineteen  out  of  the  thirty-two  counties 
would  rise ;  and  he  counted  largely 
upon  help  from  France  to  accomplish 
this  end,  and  render  it  effective  through- 
out Ireland. 

For  a  time,  Emmet  concealed  himself 
in  his  father's  country-house  at  Clon- 
sheagh  on  the  Dundrum  road.  "An 
old  and  faithful  servant  of  Dr.  Emmet," 
says  the  writer  of  the  memoirs  of  the 
United  Irishmen,  "  Michael  Leonard,  a 
gardener,  informed  me,  in  1836,  that 
after  the  doctor's  death  a  member  of 
the  family  still  resided  there,  and 
Robert  Emmet  remained  there  for 
some  time  ;  he  had  made  trap-doors, 
and  a  passage  under  the  boards  of  one 
of  the  rooms  on  the  ground-floor,  which 
could  not  be  detected  by  any  one  who 
was  not  aware  of  their  existence,  which 
he  thought  he  would  be  able  to  still 
point  out  to  me.  I  visited  the  house 
with  Leonard,  and  found  his  account 
was  in  every  respect  true.  In  the  ceil- 
ing, over  the  passage  leading  from  the 
hall  door  towards  the  kitchen,  he 
pointed  out  to  me  the  place  where  the 
boards  overhead  were  sawed  through ; 
the  square  portion  thus  cut  was  suffi- 
ciently large  to  allow  a  person  to  pass 
throufirh,  when  the  boards  were  re- 
moved  which  formed  the  trap-door, 
communicating  from  the  upper  part  of 
the  house  to  the  hall.  If  attention 
had  not  been  directed  to  it,  no  one 
would  have  observed  the  cutting  in 
the  boards.      On  the  ground-floor,  on 


716 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


the  left  hand  side  of  the  hall,,.there  is  a 
small  room  adjoiuing  the  kitchen,  which 
was  called  '  Master  Robert's  bedroom.' 
In  this  room  Leonard  likewise  pointed 
out  to  me  the  place  where  boards  had 
been  evidently  cut  through,  in  a  sim- 
ilar way  to  the  trap-door  in  the  ceiling 
in  the  passage.  This  aperture,  he  said, 
led  to  a  cavity  under  the  parlor  floor, 
sufficiently  large  to  admit  of  a  person 
being  placed  there  in  a  sitting  posture, 
and  was  intended  to  communicate,  un- 
der the  flooring,  with  the  lawu.  A 
servant  woman  of  Mr.  Stapleton,  the 
present  jjossessor  of  the  house,  said 
there  were  some  old  things  in  a  cellar, 
which  were  said  to  have  served  for 
•enabling  Mr.  Emmet  to  descend  from 
the  upper  floor  to  the  passage  near  the 
hall  door,  through  the  aperture  in  the 
ceiling.  On  examining  those  things 
they  turned  out  to  be  two  pulleys, 
with  ropes  attached  to  them,  nearly 
rotten." 

In  March,  1803,  Emmet  left  the 
house  just  spoken  of,  and  took  up  his 
residence,  under  a  feigned  name,  in  a 
small  building  at  Harold's  Gross,  near 
the  canal  bridge,  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood where  once  Lord  Edward  Fitzger- 
ald had  concealed  himself.  The  same 
contrivances  were  resorted  to  for  carry- 
ing out  his  designs ;  but  in  April  he 
removed  to  a  house  in  Butterfield  Lane, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Rathfarnham,  where 
he  went  by  the  name  of  Ellis.  This 
spot  was  chosen,  probably,  because  it 
was  convenient  for  communicating  with 
the  mountains  of  Wicklow. 


Emmet  had  among  his  confidants 
and  helpers  Thomas  Russell  and  James 
Hope,  the  former  of  whom  went  into 
Ulster  to  reunite  the  republicans  in 
the  north.  He  had  also  entered  into 
communication  with  Michael  Dwyer, 
who  still  held  out  at  the  head  of  a  few 
desperate  followers  in  the  Wicklow 
Mountains,  and  who  was  to  assemble 
the  peasantr}^,  and  to  march  down 
upon  Dublin  to  his  assistance,  on  the 
signal  being  given  that  his  help  was 
wanted  for  the  cause.- 

The  adventures  of  Dwyer  were  of 
the  most  romantic  description,  and  fur- 
nish a  graphic  picture  of  the  troubled 
state  of  Ireland  at  this  period.  His 
principal  place  of  refuge  was  a  deep 
glen  called  Email  or  Innel,  where  he 
lived  with  his  followers  in  a  subterra- 
nean cave,  lined  with  wood  and  moss, 
the  entrance  to  which  was  covered 
with  a  large  sod  cut  out  of  a  tuft  of 
heath.  They  remained  in  this  retreat 
all  day,  and  took  to  the  mountains  at 
night.  One  of  Dwyer's  adventures  at 
this  time,  which  has  been  often  told, 
and  furnished  the  subject  of  a  j^opular 
little  poem  by  Mrs.  Tighe,  shows  us  the 
fidelity  with  which  the  outlawed  chief 
was  served  by  his  men.  One  stormy 
nisht  he  and  nine  of  his  comrades  Avere 
out  in  the  glen,  and  had  taken  shelter 
in  two  houses,  communicating  with 
each  other,  six  in  one  and  four  in  the 
other,  Dwyer  himself  being  one  of  the 
four.  It  a2:)pears  that  they  had  gone 
to  bed,  unconscious  of  danger ;  but  a 
traitor  had  carried  intelligence  of  their 


DWYER'S  ESCAPE. 


717 


place  of  retreat  to  a  barrack  at  no  great 
distance.  A  little  before  break  of  day 
the  house  iu  which  Dwyer  slept  was 
surrounded  by  a  party  of  Highland- 
ers, commanded  by  Colonel  McDonald. 
Dwyer  heard  the  tramp  of  the  soldiers, 
and  he  immediately  aroused  his  com- 
panions, who  were  some  of  his  most 
devoted  followers ;  a  deserter  from  the 
Antrim  militia,  named  Samuel  McAlis- 
ter,  a  man  named  Savage,  and  another 
named  Costello,  who  had  been  a  tailor. 
On  being  summoned  to  surrender, 
Dwyer  first  bargained  that  the  family 
who  occupied  the  house  should  be  al- 
lowed to  quit  it ;  and  when  they  were 
gone,  he  prepared  for  a  desperate  de- 
fence. He  and  McAlister  had  each  a 
blunderbuss  and  a  case  of  pistols,  with 
which  they  fired  a  number  of  times, 
and  several  of  the  military  were  killed 
or  wounded.  The  latter  had,  however, 
succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the  house, 
and  when  it  was  becoming  no  longer 
tenable,  a  musket-shot  broke  McAlis- 
ter's  arm.  He  then  said  to  Dwyer,  "  I 
am  done ;  but  you  have  a  chance  of 
escape.  Load  your  blunderbuss,  and 
give  it  to  me ;  and  while  you  crouch 
on  your  hands  and  feet,  I  will  open  the 
door  and  discharge  the  blunderbuss ; 
they  will  fire  at  me,  and  you  may 
escape  before  they  can  load  again.'" 
Dwyer  acted  upon  his  brave  friend's 
suggestion,  who,  as  he  prepared  to 
open  the  door,  said  to  him,  "  Now  let 
me  see  how  you  can  spring!"  As 
McAlister  expected,  the  soldiers  dis- 
charged their  volley  at  the  door,  and 


he  and  the  two  others  were  killed. 
Dwyer  made  a  desperate  spring  across 
a  little  stream  which  ran  near  by ;  but 
he  slipped  down  on  some  ice  which  had 
formed  near  a  barn-door.  Shots  were 
fired  at  him,  one  of  which  grazed  his 
shoulder.  D.wyer,  however,  recovered 
his  feet,  and  fied  across  an  adjoining 
field ;  and  one  of  the  Highlanders 
threw  down  his  musket  and  followed 
him.  This  circumstance  saved  Dwyer's 
life,  for  the  soldiers  were  afraid  to  fire 
again  lest  they  should  kill  their  com- 
rade, who  followed  Dwyer  so  close 
that  he  was  obliged  to  stop  suddenly 
and  trip  him  up.  The  Highlanders  had 
been  joined  by  another  body  of  sol- 
diers, and  they  continued  the  pursuit 
through  the  glen  of  Email,  until  at 
Slauey  they  were  obliged  to  desist,  on 
account  of  the  flooded  state  of  the  river 
across'  which  he  had  passed.  The  six 
men  in  the  other  house  having  been 
captured,  one  of  them  turned  informer, 
and  the  other  five  were  hanged. 

It  seems  hardly  credible  that  Emmet 
could  hope  to  accomplish  his  design  of 
making  Ireland  free  and  independent, 
considering  the  very  inadequate  means 
he  possessed  for  such  a  purpose  ;  never- 
theless, firmly  persuaded  that  the  coun- 
try at  large  would  join  in  the  insurrec- 
tion, he  persevered  in  manufacturing 
arms,  ammunition,  and  stores,  and  es- 
tablished in  Dublin  several  secret  mag- 
azines and  workshops.  An  accidental 
explosion  of  combustibles  in  one  of 
these  depots  in  Patrick-street,  on  the 
16th  of  July,  nearly  led  to  the  discov- 


718 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


ery  of  the  conspiracy.  The  authorities 
were  excited  to  fresh  vigilance,  and 
vague  suspicions  were  entertained  of 
some  plot  against  public  order  and 
tranquillity. 

Alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  discovery, 
Emmet  seems  to  have  resolved  upon 
anticipating  the  date  originally  fixed 
for  the  commencement  of  the  outbreak. 
On  communicating  with  his  co-workers, 
he  determined  to  proceed  to  action  on 
the  night  of  the  23d  of  July.  His 
plans  were  set  forth  quite  at  large  in  a 
pajier  sent  to  his  brother  in  Paris.  It 
evinces  the  care  and  study  which  he 
had  given  to  the  subject,  and  is  worthy 
of  examiilation  by  the  student  of  his- 
tory. We  are  sorry  that  our  limits  do 
not  admit  of  quoting  the  paper  in  .full; 
for  it  is  an  extraordinary  and  curiously 
complicated  plan  of  getting  possession 
of  Dublin,  formed  by  a  young  man 
without  military  experience,  and  with 
preparations  unequal  to  the  end  jjro- 
posed. 

There  is,  however,  another  document, 
elaboi-ately  drawn  up,  and  very  char- 
acteristic of  the  tone  and  sj^irit  of  Rob- 
ert Emmet.  It  is  so  interesting  in  itself, 
as  well  as  sua:2:estive  to  all  who  love 
Ireland,  that  we  give  the  document 
entire.     It  was  entitled : 

"  The  Provisional  Government  to  the 
People  of  Ireland: 
"  You  are  now  called  upon  to  show 
the  world  that  you  are  competent  to 
take  your  place  among  nations ;  that 
you  have  a  right  to  claim  their  recog- 


nizance of  you  as  au  independent  coun- 
try, by  the  only  satisfactory  proof  you 
can  furnish  of  your  capability  of  main- 
taining your  independence — your  wrest- 
ing it  from  England  with  your  own 
hands. 

"  In  the  development  of  this  system, 
which  has  been  organized  within  the 
last  eight  months — at  the  close  of  in- 
ternal defeat,  and  without  the  hope  of 
foreign  assistance — which  has  been  con- 
ducted with  a  tranquillity  mistaken  for 
obedience,  which  neither  the  failure  of 
a  similar  attempt  in  England  has  re- 
tarded, nor  the  renewal  of  hostilities 
has  accelerated  ;  in  the  development  of 
this  system  you  will  show  to  the  peo- 
ple of  England  that  there  is  a  spirit  of 
perseverance  in  this  country  beyond 
their  power  to  calculate  or  repress  ;  you 
will  show  to  them  that  as  long  as  they 
think  to  hold  unjust  dominion  over 
Ireland,  under  no  change  of  circum- 
stances can  they  count  on  its  obedience, 
under  no  aspect  of  affairs  can  they 
judge  of  its  intentions  ;  you  will  show 
to  them  that  the  question  which  it  now 
behooves  them  to  take  into  serious  con- 
sideration is  not  whether  they  will 
resist  a  separation,  which  it  is  our  fixed 
determination  to  effect,  but  whether  or 
not  they  will  drive  us  beyond  separa- 
tion— whether  they  will,  by  a  sangui- 
nary resistance,  create  a  deadly  national 
antipathy  between  the  two  countries,  or 
whether  they  will  take  the  only  means 
still  left  of  drivins:  such  a  sentiment 
from  our  minds,  by  a  prompt,  manly, 
and  sagacious  acquiescence  in  our  just 


PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT'S  ADDRESS. 


Y19 


and  reasonable  determination.  If  the 
secrecy  with  wlaicli  the  present  effort 
has  been  conducted  shall  have  led  our 
enemies  to  suppose  that  its  extent  must 
have  been  partial,  a  few  days  will  un- 
deceive them.  That  confidence,  which 
was  once  lost  by  trusting  to  external 
support,  and  suffering  our  own  means 
to  be  gradually  undermined,  has  been 
again  restored.  We  have  been  mutu- 
ally pledged  to  each  other  to  look  only 
to  our  own  strength,  and  that  the  first 
introduction  of  a  system  of  terror,  the 
first  attempt  to  execute  an  individual 
in  one  county,  should  be  the  signal  of 
insurrection  in  all.  We  ha-ve  now, 
without  the  loss  of  a  man — with  our 
means  of  communication  untouched — 
brought  our  plans  to  the  moment  when 
they  are  ripe  for  execution  ;  and  in  the 
promjDtitude  with  which  nineteen  coun- 
ties will  come  forward  at  once  to  exe- 
cute them,  it  will  be  found  that  neither 
confidence  nor  communication  are  want- 
ing to  the  people  of  Ireland. 

"  In  calling  on  our  countrymen  to 
come  forward,  we  feel  ourselves  bound, 
at  the  same  time,  to  justify  our  claim 
to  their  confidence  by  a  precise  declara- 
tion of  our  views.  We  therefore  sol- 
emnly declare  that  our  object  is  to  estab- 
lish A  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT  KEPUBLIC 

EST  IRELAND ;  that  the  pursuit  of  this 
object  we  will  relinquish  only  with  our 
lives ;  that  we  will  never,  unless  at  the 
express  call  of  our  country,  abandon 
our  posts  until  the  acknowledgment  of 
its  independence  is  obtained  from  Eng- 
land ;    and    that   we   will    enter   into 


no  negotiation,  but  for  exchange  of 
prisoners,  with  the  government  of  that 
country,  while  a  British  army  remains 
in  Ireland.  Such  is  the  declaration  on 
which  we  call  first  on  that  part  of  Ire- 
land which  was  once  paralyzed  by  the 
want  of  intelligence,  to  show  that  to 
that  cause  only  was  its  inaction  to  be 
attributed ;  on  that  part  of  Ireland 
which  was  once  foremost  in  its  forti- 
tude in  suffering ;  on  that  part  of  Ire- 
land which  once  offered  to  take  the 
salvation  of  the  country  on  itself;  on 
that  part  of  Ireland  where  the  flame  of 
liberty  first  glowed  :  we  call  upon  the 
North  to  stand  up  and  shake  off  their 
slumber  and  their  oppression. 

"  Men  of  Leinster !  stand  to  your 
arms ;  to  the  courage  which  you  have 
already  displayed  is  your  country  in- 
debted ;  for  the  confidence  which  truth 
feels  in  its  own  strength ;  and  for  the 
dismay  with  which  our  enemies  will  be 
overcome  when  they  find  this  effort  to 
be  universal.  But,  men  of  Leinster, 
you  owe  more  to  your  country  than 
the  having  animated  it  by  your  past 
example ;  you  owe  more  to  your  own 
courage  than  the  having  obtained  pro- 
tection by  it.  If,  six  years  ago,  you 
rose  without  arms,  without  plan,  vnth- 
out  co-operation,  with  more  troops 
against  you  alone  than  are  now  in  the 
country  at  large,  you  were  able  to  re- 
main six  weeks  in  open  defiance  of  the 
government,  and  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  capital,  what  will  you  now  effect, 
with  that  capital  and  every  other  part 
of  Ireland  ready  to  support  you  ? 


720 


REIGN  OP  GEORGE    III. 


"  But  it  is  not  on  this  head  we  have 
need  to  address  you.  No,  we  now  speak 
to  yon,  and  through  you  to  the  rest  of 
Ireland,  on  a  subject  dear  to  us,  even  as 
the  success  of  our  country — its  honor. 
You  are  accused  by  your  enemies  of 
having  vioLated  that  honor  hj  excesses, 
which  they  themselves  had  in  their 
fullest  extent  provoked,  but  which  they 
have  grossly  exaggerated,  and  which 
have  been  attriV)uted  to  you.  The  op- 
portunity for  vindicating  yourselves  by 
actions  is  now,  for  the  first  time,  in 
your  power ;  and  we  call  upon  you  to 
give  the  lie  to  such  assertions,  by  care- 
fully avoiding  all  appearance  of  intox- 
ication, plunder,  or  revenge,  recollecting 
that  you  lost  Ireland  before,  not  from 
want  of  courage,  but  from  not  having 
that  courage  rightly  directed  by  disci- 
pline. But  we  trust  that  your  past 
sufferings  have  taught  you  experience, 
and  that  you  will  respect  the  declara- 
tion we  now  make,  which  we  are  deter- 
mined, by  every  means  in  our  power, 
to  enforce.  The  nation  alone  has  the 
right,  and  alone  possesses  the  power  of 
punishing  individuals ;  and  whosoever 
shall  put  another  to  death,  excej^t  in 
battle,  without  a  fair  trial  by  his  coun- 
try, is  guilty  of  murder.  The  intention 
of  the  provisional  government  of  Ire- 
land is  to  claim  from  the  English  gov- 
ernment such  Irishmen  as  have  been 
sold  or  transported  by  it  for  their  at- 
tachment tc  freedom ;  and  for  this  pur- 
pose it  will  retain,  as  hostages  for  their 
safe  return,  such  adherents  of  that  gov- 
ernment as  shall  fall  into   its   hands. 


It  therefoi'e  calls  upon  the  people  to 
respect  such  hostages,  and  to  recollect 
that  in  spilling  their  blood  they  would 
leave  their  own  countrymen  in  the 
hands  of  their  enemies. 

"  The  intention  of  the  jjrovisional 
government  is  to  resign  its  functions  as 
soon  as  the  nation  shall  have  chosen 
its  delegates ;  but  in  the  mean  time  it 
is  determined  to  enforce  the  regulations 
hereunto  subjoined  :  it,  in  consequence, 
takes  the  property  of  the  country  un- 
der its  protection,  and  will  punish  with 
the  utmost  rigor  any  person  who  shall 
violate  that  property,  and  thereby  in- 
jure the  resources  and  future  prosperity 
of  Ireland. 

"  Whosoever  refuses  to  march  to  any 
part  of  the  countrjr  he  is  ordered,  is 
guilty  of  disobedience  to  the  govern- 
ment, which  alone  is  competent  to  de- 
cide in  what  place  his  service  is  neces- 
sary, and  which  desires  him  to  recollect 
that  in  whatever  part  of  Ireland  he  is 
fighting,  he  is  still  fighting  for  freedom. 
Whoever  presumes,  by  act  or  other- 
wise, to  give  countenance  to  the  cal- 
umny propagated  by  our  enemies,  that 
this  is  a  religious  contest,  is  guilty  of 
the  grievous  crime — that  of  belying 
the  motive  of  the  country.  Keligious 
disqualifications  are  but  one  of  the 
many  grievances  of  which  Ireland  has 
to  complain.  Our  intention  is  to  re- 
move not  that  only,  but  every  other 
oppression  under  which  we  labor.  We 
fight  that  all  of  us  may  have  our  coun- 
try ;  and  that  done,  each  of  us  shall 
have  our  religion. 


PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT'S  ADDRESS. 


721 


"  "We  are  aware  of  the  apprehensions 
whicli  you  have  expressed,  that  in  quit- 
ting your  own  counties  you  leave  your 
wives  and  your  children  in  the  hands 
of  your  enemies  ;  but  on  this  head  have 
no  uneasiness.  If  there  are  still  men 
base  enough  to  persecute  those  who 
are  unable  to  resist,  show  them  by 
your  victories  that  you  have  the 
power  to  punish ;  and  by  your  obe- 
dience that  you  have  the  power  to 
protect;  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to 
you,  that  these  men  shall  be  made  to 
feel  that  the  safety  of  every  thing  they 
hold  dear  depends  on  the  conduct  they 
observe  to  you.  Go  forth,  then,  with 
confidence ;  conquer  the  foreign  ene- 
mies of  your  country,  and  leave  to  us 
the  care  of  j^reserving  its  internal  tran- 
quillity: recollect  that  not  only  the 
victory,  but  also  the  honor  of  your 
country  is  placed  in  your  hands.  Give 
up  your  private  resentments,  and  show 
to  the  world  that  the  Irish  are  not  only 
a  brave,  but  also  a  generous  and  for- 
giving people. 

"  Men  of  Munster  and  Connaught ! 
you  have  your  instructions ;  you  will 
execute  them.  The  example  of  the 
rest  of  your  countrymen  is  now  before 
you ;  your  own  strength  is  unbroken ; 
five  months  ago  you  were  eager  to  act 
without  any  other  assistance ;  we  now 
call  upon  you  to  show  what  you  then 
declared  you  only  wanted — the  oppor- 
tunity of  proving  that  you  possess  the 
same  love  of  liberty  and  the  same  cour- 
age with  which  the  rest  of  your  coun- 
tiymen  are  animated. 

91 


"  We  now  turn  to  that  portion  of 
our  countrymen  whose  prejudices  we 
had  rather  overcome  by  a  frank  decla 
ration  of  our  intentions,  than  conquer 
in  the  field  ;  and  in  making  this  decla- 
ration we  do  not  wish  to  dwell  on 
events,  which,  however  they  may 
bring  tenfold  odium  on  their  authors, 
must  still  tend  to  keep,  alive  in  the 
minds,  both  of  the  instruments  and  vic- 
tims of  them,  a  spirit  of  animosity 
which  it  is  our  wish  to  destroy.  We 
will  enter  into  no  detail  of  the  atro- 
cities and  oppressions  which  Ireland  has 
labored  under  during  its  connection 
with  England  ;  but  we  justify  our  de- 
termination to  separate  from  that  coun- 
try on  the  broad  historical  statement, 
that  during  six  hundred  years  she  has 
been  unable  to  conciliate  the  affections 
of  the  people  of  Ireland ;  that  during 
that  time  five  rebellions  were  entered 
into  to  shake  off  the  yoke  ;  that  she  has 
been  obliged  to  enter  into  a  system  of 
unprecedented  torture  in  her  defence ; 
that  she  has  broken  every  tie  of  volun- 
tary connection  by  taking  even  the 
name  of  independence  from  Ireland, 
through  the  intervention  of  a  parlia- 
ment notoriously  bribed,  and  not  rep- 
resenting the  will  of  the  people ;  that 
in  vindication  of  this  measure  she 'has 
herself  given  the  justification  of  the 
views  of  the  United  Irishmen,  by  de- 
claring, in  the  words  of  her  ministers, 
'that  Ireland  never  had  and  never 
could  enjoy,  under  the  then  circum- 
stances, the  benefits  of  British  connec- 
tion ;  that  it  necessarily  must  happen, 


722 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


when  one  country  is  connected  with 
another,  that  the  interests  of  the  lesser 
will  be  borne  down  by  the  greater; 
that  England  had  supported  and  en- 
couraged the  English  colonists  in  their 
oppression  towards  the  natives  of  Ire- 
land ;  that  Ireland  had  been  left  in  a 
state  of  ignorance,  rudeness,  and  bar- 
barism, worse  in  its  effects,  and  more 
de2:radin2:  in  its  nature,  than  that  in 
which  it  was  found  six  centuries  be- 
fore.' 

"  Now,  to  what  cause  are  these  things 
to  be  attributed  ?  Did  the  curse  of  the 
Almighty  keep  alive  a  spirit  of  obsti- 
nacy in  the  minds  of  the  Irish  peojjle 
for  six  hundred  years  ?  Did  the  doc- 
trines of  the  French  Revolution  pro- 
duce five  rebellions  ?  Could  the  mis- 
representations of  ambitious,  designing 
men  drive  from  the  mind  of  a  whole 
people  the  recollection  of  defeat,  and 
raise  the  infant  from  the  cradle  Avith 
the  same  feelings  with  which  his  father 
sank  to  the  grave  ?  ,  Will  this  gross 
avowal,  which  oiir  enemies  have  made 
of  their  own  views,  remove  none  of  the 
calumny  that  has  been  thrown  upon 
ours  ?  Will  none  of  the  credit  which 
has  been  lavished  on  them  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  solemn  declaration  which 
we  now  make  in  the  face  of  God  and 
our  country  ? 

"  We  war  not  against  property  ;  we 
war  against  no  religious  sect ;  we  war 
not  against  party  opinions  or  preju- 
dices ;  we  war  against  English  do- 
minion. 

"  We  will  not,  however,  deny  that 


there  are  some  men  who,  not  because 
they  have  'supported  the  government 
of  our  oppressors,  but  because  they 
have  violated  the  common  laws  of  mo- 
rality, which  exist  alike  under  all  or 
under  no  government,  have  put  it  be- 
yond our  power  to  give  to  them  the 
protection  of  a  government.  We  will 
not  hazard  the  influence  we  may  have 
with  the  people,  and  the  power  it  may 
give  us  of  preventing  the  excesses  of 
revolution,  by  undertaking  to  place  in 
tranquillity  the  men  who  have  been 
guilty  of  torture,  free  quarter,  rape, 
and  murder,  by  the  side  of  the  sufferers 
or  their  relations  ;  but  in  the  frankness 
with  which  we  warn  those  men  of  their 
danger,  let  those  who  do  not  feel  that 
they  have  passed  this  boundary  of  me- 
diation count  on  their  safety. 

"  We  had  hoped,  for  the  sake  of  our 
enemies,  to  have  taken  them  by  sur- 
prise, and  to  have  committed  the  cause 
of  our  country  before  they  could  have 
time  to  commit  themselves  against  it ; 
but  though  we  have  not  been  altogether 
able  to  succeed,  we  are  yet  rejoiced  to 
find  that  they  have  not  come  forward 
with  promptitude  on  the  side  of  those 
who  have  deceived  them ;  and  we  now 
call  upon  them,  before  it  is  yet  too  late 
not  to  commit  themselves  against  a 
people  which  they  are  unable  to  resist, 
and  in  support  of  a  government  which, 
by  their  own  declaration,  had  forfeited 
its  claims  to  their  allegiance.  To  that 
government  in  whose  hands,  though 
not  the  issue,  at  least  the  features  with 
which  the  present  contest  is  marked  or 


PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT'S  ADDRESS. 


723 


placed,  we  now  turn.  How  is  it  to  be 
decided  ?  Is  open  and  honorable  force 
aloue  to  be  resorted  to  ? — or  is  it  your 
intention  to  employ  those  laws  which 
custom  has  placed  in  your  hands,  and 
to  force  us  to  emjjloy  the  law  of  retali- 
ation in  our  defense  ? 

"  Of  the  inefficacy  of  a  system  of  ter- 
ror, in  preventing  the  people  of  Ireland 
from  comins:  forward  to  assert  their 
freedom,  you  have  already  had  expe- 
rience. Of  the  effect  which  such  a  sys- 
tem will  have  on  our  minds,  in  case  of 
success,  we  have  already  forewarned 
you.  We  now  address  to  you  another 
consideration.  If  in  the  question  which 
is  now  to  receive  a  solemn,  and,  we 
trust,  final  decision,  if  we  have  been 
deceived,  reflection  would  point  out 
that  conduct  should  be  resorted  to 
which  was  best  calculated  to  produce 
conviction  on  our  minds. 

"  What  would  that  conduct  be  ? 

"  It  would  be  to  show  us  that  the 
difference  of  strength  between  the  two 
countries  is  such  as  to  render  it  unne- 
cessary for  you  to  bring  out  all  your 
forces;  to  show  that  you  have  some- 
thing in  reserve  to  crush  hereafter ;  not 
only  a  greater  exertion  of  the  people, 
but  one  rendered  still  greater  by  for- 
eign resistance.  It  would  be  to  show 
Tis  that  what  we  vainly  supposed  to  be 
prosperity  growing  beyond  your  grasp, 
is  only  a  piratical  exuberance,  requir- 
ing but  the  pressure  of  your  hands  to 
reduce  to  form. 

"  But,  for  your  own  sakes,  do  not  re- 
sort to  a  system  which,   while   it   in- 


creased the  acrimony  of  our  minds, 
would  leave  us  under  the  melancholy 
delusion  that  we  had  been  forced  to 
yield,  not  to  the  sound  and  temperate 
exertions  of  our  superior  strength,  but 
to  the  frantic  struggle  of  weakness, 
concealing  itself  under  desperation. 
Consider  that  the  distinction  of  rebel 
and  enemy  is  of  a  very  fluctuating  na- 
ture ;  that  during  the  course  of  your 
own  experience,  you  have  already  been 
obliged  to  lay  it  aside  ;  that  should  you 
be  obliged  to  abandon  it  towards  Ire- 
land, you  cannot  hope  to  do  so  as  tran- 
quilly as  you  have  done  towards  Amer- 
ica ;  for  in  the  exasperated  state  to 
which  you  have  roused  the  minds  of 
the  Irish  people — a  people  whom  you 
profess  to  have  left  in  a  state  of  bar- 
barism and  ignorance — with  what  con- 
fidence can  you  say  to  that  people, 
'  While  the  advantage  of  cruelty  lay 
upon  our  side  we  slaughtered  you  with- 
out mercy,  but  the  measure  of  your 
own  blood  is  beginning  to  preponder- 
ate. It  is  no  longer  oui-  interest  that 
this  bloody  sj'stem  should  continue. 
Show  us,  then,  that  forbearance  which 
we  never  taught  you  by  precept  or  ex- 
ample ;  lay  aside  your  resentment ;  give 
quarter  to  us ;  and  let  us  mutually  for- 
get we  never  gave  quarter  to  you.' 
Cease,  then,  we  entreat  you,  uselessly 
to  violate  humanity,  by  resorting  to  a 
system  inefficacious  as  a  mode  of  de- 
fence, inefficacious  as  a  mode  of  convic- 
tion, ruinous  to  the  future  relations  of 
the  two  countries  in  case  of  our  success, 
and  destructive  of  those  instruments  of 


724 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE  III. 


defence  which  you  will  then  find  it 
doubly  necessary  to  have  preserved  un- 
impaired. But  if  your  determination 
be  otherwise,  hear  ours.  We  will  not 
imitate  you  in  cruelty  ;  we  will  put  no 
man  to  death  in  cold  blood ;  the  pris- 
oners which  first  fall  into  our  hands 
shall  be  treated  with  the  respect  due 
to  the  unfortunate ;  but  if  the  life  of  a 
single  unfortunate  Irish  soldier  is  taken 
after  the  battle  is  over,  the  order 
thenceforth  to  be  delivered  to  the  Irish 
army  is,  neither  to  give  nor  to  take 
quarter.  Countrymen,  if  a  cruel  neces- 
sity force  us  to  retaliate,  we  will  bury 
our  resentment  in  the  field  of  battle  ; 
if  we  fall,  we  will  fall  where  we  fight 
for  our  country.  Fully  impressed  with 
this  determination,  of  the  necessity 
of  adhering  to  which  past  experience 
has  but  too  fatally  convinced  us  ; 
fully  impressed  with  the  justice  of 
our  cause,  which  we  now  put  to  is- 
sue, we  make  our  last  and  solemn 
appeal  to  the  sword  and  to  Heaven  ; 
and,  as  the  cause  of  Ireland  deserves 
to  prosper,  may  God  give  us  the  vic- 
tory. 

"  Conformably  to  the  above  procla- 
mation, the  Provisional  Government  of 
Ireland  decree  that,  as  follows : 

"  1.  From  the  date  and  joromulgation 
hereof  tithes  are  forever  abolished,  and 
church  lands  are  the  property  of  the 
nation. 

"  2.  From  the  same  date  all  transfers 
of  landed  property  are  prohibited,  each 
person  paying  his  rent  until  the  na- 
tional government  be  established,  the 


national  will  declared,  and  the  courts 
of  justice  be  organized. 

"  3.  From  the  same  date  all  transfer 
of  bonds,  debentures,  and  all  public  se- 
curities are  in  like  manner  forbidden, 
and  declared  void  for  the  same  time  and 
the  same  reasons. 

"  4.  The  Irish  generals  commanding 
districts  shall  seize  such  of  the  partisans 
of  England  as  may  serve  as  hostages, 
and  shall  apprise  the  English  command- 
ers opposed  to  them,  that  a  strict  retal- 
iation shall  take  place  if  any  outrages 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  war  shall  be 
committed  by  the  troops  under  com- 
mand of  each,  or  by  the  partisans  of 
Eno;land  in  the  district  which  he  oc- 
cupies. 

"  5.  That  the  Irish  generals  are  to 
treat  (except  where  retaliation  makes 
it  necessary)  the  English  troops  which 
may  fall  into  their  hands,  or  such  Irish 
as  serve  in  the  regular  forces  of  Eng- 
land, and  who  shall  have  acted  con- 
formably to  the  laws  of  war,  as  pris- 
oners of  war;  but  all  Irish  militia,  yeo- 
men, or  volunteer  corps,  or  bodies  of 
Irish,  or  individuals  who,  for  ten  days 
after  the  promulgation  and  date  hereof, 
shall  be  found  in  arms,  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  rebels,  committed  for  trial, 
and  their  property  confiscated. 

"  6.  The  generals  are  to  assemble 
court-martials,  who  are  to  be  sworn  to 
administer  justice,  who  are  not  to  con- 
demn without  suflicient  evidence,  and 
before  whom  all  military  ofl:enders  are 
to  be  sent  instantly  for  trial. 

"7.  No  man  is  to  suffer  death  by 


PROVISIONAIr  GOVERNMENT'S  ADDRESS. 


725 


tlieir  sentence  but  for  mutiny  ;  the  sen- 
tence of  sucli  others  as  are  judged 
worthy  of  death  shall  not  be  put  into 
execution  until  the  provisional  govern- 
ment declare  its  will ;  nor  are  court- 
martials,  on  any  pretence  or  sentence, 
nor  is  any  officer,  to  suffer  the  punish- 
ment of  flogging,  or  any  species  of  tor- 
ture to  be  inflicted. 

"  8.  The  generals  are  to  enforce  the 
strictest  discipline,  and  to  send  offend- 
ers immediately  to  the  court-martial ; 
and  are  enjoined  to  chase  away  from 
the  Irish  armies  all  such  as  shall  dis- 
grace themselves  by  being  drunk  in 
presence  of  the  enemy. 

"  9.  The  generals  ai'e  to  apprise  their 
respective  armies  that  all  military  stores 
and  ammunition  belonging  to  the  Eng- 
lish government  be  the  property  of  the 
captors,  and  the  value  equally  divided, 
without  respect  of  rank,  between  them, 
except  that  the  widows,  orphans,  pa- 
rents, or  other  heirs  of  those  who  glo- 
riously fall  in  the  attack  shall  be  enti- 
tled to  a  double  share. 

"  10.  As  the  English  nation  has  made 
war  on  Ireland,  all  English  property, 
in  ships  or  otherwise,  is  subject  to 
the  same  rule,  and  all  transfer  of 
them  forbidden  and  declared  void,  in 
like  manner  as  is  expressed  in  Wos.  2 
and  3. 

"  11.  The  generals  of  the  different 
districts  are  hereby  empowered  to  con- 
fer rank  up  to  colonels,  inclusive,  on 
such  as  they  conceive  merit  it  from  the 
nation ;  but  are  not  to  make  more  col- 
onels than  one  for  fifteen  hundred  men. 


nor  more  lieutenant-colonels  than  one 
for  every  thousand  men. 

"  12.  The  generals  shall  seize  on  all 
sums  of  public  money  in  the  custom- 
houses in  their  districts,  or  in  the  hands 
of  the  dififerent  collectors,  county  treas- 
urers, or  other  revenue  officers,  whom 
they  shall  render  responsible  for  the 
sums  in  their  hands.  The  generals  shall 
pass  receipts  for  the  amount,  and  ac- 
count to  the  provisional  government 
for  them. 

"  13.  When  the  people  elect  their 
officers  up  to  the  colonels,  the  general 
is  bound  to  confirm  it,  No  officer  can 
be  broke  but  by  sentence  of  court- 
martial. 

"  14.  The  generals  shall  correspond 
with  the  provisional  government,  to 
whom  they  shall  give  details  .of  all 
their  operations.  They  are  to  corres- 
pond with  the  neighboring  generals,  to 
whom  they  are  to  transmit  all  neces- 
sary intelligence,  and  to  co-operate  with 
them. 

"  15.  The  generals  commanding  in 
each  county  shall,  as  soon  as  it  is  cleared 
of  the  enemy,  assemble  the  county  com- 
mittee, who  shall  be  elected  conforma- 
bly to  the  constitution  of  United  Irish- 
men. All  the  requisitions  necessary 
for  the  army  shall  be  made  in  writing 
by  the  generals  to  the  county  commit- 
tee, who  are  hereby  empowered  and  en- 
joined to  pass  receij^ts  for  each  article 
to  the  owners,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
receive  their  full  value  from  the  nation. 

"16.  The  county  committee  is 
charged  with  the  civil  direction  of  the 


726 


REIGN  or  GEORGE  III. 


county,  the  care  of  tlie  national  prop- 
erty, and  the  preservation  of  order  and 
justice  in  tlie  county;  for  wliicli  pur- 
pose the  county  committee  are  to  ap- 
point a  high-sheriff  and  one  or  more 
sub-sheriffs  to  execute  their  orders,  a 
sufficient  number  of  justices  of  the 
peace  for  the  county,  a  high  and  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  petty  constables 
in  each  barony,  who  are  respectively 
charged  with  the  duties  now  performed 
by  those  magistrates. 

"  17.  The  county  of  Cork,  on  account 
of  its  extent,  is  to  be  divided,  conform- 
ably to  the  boundaries  for  raising  mi- 
litia, into  the  counties  of  North  and 
South  Cork ;  for  eacli  of  which  a  county 
constable,  high-sheriff,  and  all  magis- 
trates above  directed  are  to  be  ap- 
pointed. 

"  18.  The  county  committee  are 
hereby  empowered  and  enjoined  to 
issue  warrants  to  apprehend  such  per- 
sons as  it  shall  appear,  on  sufficient  ev- 
idence, perpetrated  murder,  torture,  and 
other  breaches  of  the  ackuoAvledged 
articles  of  war  and  morality  on  the 
people,  to  the  end  that  they  may  be 
tried  for  these  offences  so  soon  as  the 
competent  courts  of  justice  are  estab- 
lished by  the  nation. 

"  19.  The  county  committee  shall 
cause  the  sheriff  or  his  officers  to  seize 
on  all  the  personal  property  of  such, 
to  put  seals  on  their  effects,  to  appoint 
proper  persons  to  preserve  all  such 
property  until  the  national  courts  of 
justice  shall  have  decided  on  the  fate  of 
the  proprietors. 


"  20.  The  county  committee  shall  act 
in  like  manner  with  all  state  and  church 
lands,  parochial  estates,  and  all  public 
lauds  and  edifices. 

"21.  The  county  committee  shall,  iu 
the  interim,  receive  all  the  rents  and 
debts  of  such  persons  and  estates,  and 
give  receipts  for  the  same  ;  shall  trans- 
mit to  the  government  an  exact  account 
of  their  value,  extent,  and  amount,  and 
receive  the  directions  of  the  provisional 
government  thereon. 

"  22.  The  county  committee  shall  ap- 
point some  proper  house  in  the  counties 
where  the  sheriff  is  j^ermanently  to  re- 
side, and  where  the  county  committee 
shall  assemble.  They  shall  cause  all 
the  records  and  papers  of  the  county 
to  be  there  transmitted,  ai-ranged,  and 
kept,  and  the  orders  of  the  government 
to  be  there  transmitted  and  received. 

"23.  The  county  committee  are 
hereby  empowered  to  pay  out  of  these 
effects,  or  by  assessment,  reasonable 
salaries  for  themselves,  the  sheriffs,  jus- 
tices, and  other  magistrates  whom  they 
shall  appoint. 

"  24.  They  shall  keep  a  written  jour- 
nal of  all  their  proceedings,  signed  each 
day  by  members  of  the  committee,  or 
a  sufficient  number  of  them,  for  the  in- 
spection of  government. 

"  25.  The  county  committee  shall 
cori-espond  with  government  ou  all 
subjects  with  which  they  are  charged, 
and  transmit  to  the  general  of  the  dis- 
trict such  information  as  they  shall  con- 
ceive useful  to  the  public. 

"  26.   The    county   committee    shall 


EMMET'S  FURTHER  PROCEEDIISrGS. 


727 


take  care  that  all  State  prisoners,  how- 
ever great  their  offences,  shall  be 
treated  with  humanity;  and  allow  them 
sufficient  support,  to  the  end  that  all 
the  world  may  know  that  the  Irish 
nation  is  not  actuated  by  a  spirit  of 
revenge,  but  of  justice. 

"27.  The  provisional  government 
wishing  to  commit,  as  soon  as  possible, 
the  sovereign  authority  to  the  people, 
direct  that  each  county  and  city  shall 
elect,  agreeably  to  the  constitution  of 
United  Irishmen,  representatives  to 
meet  in  Dublin,  to  Avhom,  the  moment 
they  assemble,  the  provisional  govern- 
ment shall  resign  its  functions;  and, 
vpithout  presuming  to  dictate  to  the 
people,  they  beg  leave  to  suggest  that 
for  the  important  purposes  to  which 
these  electors  are  called,  integrity  of 
character  should  be  the  first  object, 

"  28.  The  number  of  representatives 
being  arbitrary,  the  provisional  govern- 
ment have,  adopted  that  of  the  late 
House  of  Commons,  three  hundred ; 
and,  according  to  the  best  returns  of 
the  population  of  the  cities  and  coun- 
ties, the  following  number  are  to  be 
returned  from  each :  Antrim,  13  ;  Ar- 
magh, 9  ;  Belfast-town,  1  ;  Carlovv,  3  ; 
Cavan,  7 ;  Clare,  8 ;  Cork  County, 
north,  14;  Cork  County,  south,  14; 
Cork  City,  6  ;  Donegal,  10  ;  Down,  16  ; 
Drogheda,  1 ;  Dublin  County,  4  ;  Dub- 
lin City,  14  ;  Fermanagh,  5  ;  Galway, 
10;  Kerrj^,  9;  Kildare,  14;  Kilkenny, 
7  ;  King's  County,  6  ;  Leitrim,  5  ;  Lim- 
erick County,  10 ;  Limerick ,  City,  3  ; 
Londonderry  9  •   Longford,  4 ;   Louth, 


4;  Mayo,  12;  Meath,  9;  Monaghan, 
9  ;  Queen's  County,  6  ;  Koscommon,  8  ; 
Sligo,  6;  Tipperary,  13;  Tyrone,  14; 
Waterford  County,  6  ;  Waterford  City, 
2 ;  Westmeath,  5 ;  Wicklow,  5. 

"  29.  In  the  cities  the  same  regula- 
tions as  in  the  counties  shall  be  adopted. 
The  city  committees  shall  appoint  one 
or  more  sheriffs,  as  they  think  proper, 
and  shall  take  jDossession  of  all  the  pub- 
lic and  corporation  properties  in  their 
jurisdiction,  in  like  manner  as  is  directed 
in  counties. 

"  30.  The  provisional  government 
strictly  exhort  and  enjoin  all  magis- 
trates, officers,  civil  and  military,  and 
the  whole  of  the  nation,  to  cause  the 
law  of  morality  to  be  enforced  and  re- 
spected, and  to  execute,  as  far  as  in 
them  lies,  justice  with  mercy,  by  which 
liberty  alone  can  be  established,  and 
the  blessings  of  Divine  Providence  se- 
cured." 

In  addition  to  the  preceding,  Emmet 
had  prepared  an  address  to  the  citizens 
of  Dublin,  calling  on  them  for  aid  and 
co-operation.  He  was  busily  employed 
in  his  depots  up  to  the  very  last,  and 
was  full  of  sanguine  hope  of  success ; 
but  on  the  day  appointed,  greatly  to 
his  chagrin,  only  a  very  few  allies  came 
to  his  assistance,  and  these  chiefly  from 
Kildare  and  Wexlbrd.  His  associates, 
also,  were  harassed  with  doubts  and 
fears,  and  wished  to  defer  action  ;  but 
Emmet  was  resolved  to  push  onward. 
About  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  some 
e^hty  men  were  in  one  of  his  depots, 


728 


REIGlSr  OF  GEORGE  IH. 


and  a  number  of  others  were  in  the 
taverns,  drinking  and  talking.  A  re- 
port being  made  that  the  troops  were 
marching  against  them,  Emmet  got  his 
men  together,  considerably  less  than 
two  hundred  in  all,  and  set  out,  resolved 
to  take  Dublin  Castle.  A  strange  piece 
of  folly  and  delusion !  His  men  were 
undisciplined,  as  well  as  more  or  less 
under  the  influence  of  liquor;  so  that 
instead  of  following  Emmet  they  en- 
gaged in  the  perpetration  of  disgraceful 
outrasres  in  the  streets. 

Among  these,  the  most  shocking  was 
the  murder  of  Lord  Kilwarden,  Chief- 
Justice  of  Ireland.  This  aged  and  re- 
spected nobleman  had  a  countrj'-seat 
about  four  miles  from  Dublin,  on  the 
Wicklow  side  of  the  town.  The  dread- 
ful scenes  of  1798  are  said  to  have 
made  a  deep  impression  on  Lord  Kil- 
warden's  mind ;  and  in  the  belief  that 
his  life  was  in  danger,  he  had  only  re- 
cently ventured  to  sleep  at  his  country 
residence.  He  had  passed  the  week  in 
fulfilling  the  duties  of  his  judicial  ca- 
pacity, and  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
the  23d  of  July,  he  went  as  usual  to  his 
house  in  the  country  to  pass  the  Sab- 
bath with  his  family.  Towards  evening 
he  was  alarmed  by  reports  that  num- 
bers of  suspicious-looking  pereons  were 
observed  hurrying  into  Dublin,  and  it 
was  soon  rumored  abroad  that  an  in- 
surrection was  intended  that  night. 
The  personal  apprehensions  of  Lord 
Kilwarden  were  immediately  excited, 
and  he  came  to  the  hasty  and  unfortu- 
nate determination  of  returning  imme- 


diately to  town.  With  this  purpose, 
about  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  he  set 
out  in  a  post-chaise,  taking  with  him 
his  daughter  and  his  nephew,  the  Rev. 
Richard  Wolfe.  They  met  with  no 
obstacle  till,  on  reaching  the  entrance 
of  the  town.  Lord  Kilwarden,  imagining 
that  the  most  frequented  sti'eets  would 
be  the  safest,  directed  the  coachman  to 
drive  throucrh  St.  James'  and  Thomas 
streets,  which  were  at  that  moment  in 
the  undisturbed  possession  of  the  in- 
surgents. He  arrived  in  the  latter 
street  just  as  they  were  attacking  the 
custom-house  officer  in  the  hackney- 
coach,  which  they  left  immediately  for 
the  post-chaise,  under  the  impression, 
it  is  supposed,  that  the  obnoxious  and 
hated  Lord  Norbury  was  in  it.  When 
Lord  Kilwarden  saw  that  his  carriage 
was  surrounded,  he  shouted  out,  per- 
haps in  the  hope  of  being  allowed  to 
pass  on,  "  It  is  I,  Kilwarden,  chief-jus- 
tice of  the  kinoj's  bench !"  One  of  the 
mob  immediately  answered,  "  You  are 
the  man  I  want !"  and  stabbed  him 
with  a  pike,  and  he  was  then  dragged 
out  and  covered  with  wounds  and  in- 
sult. Mr.  Wolfe  jumj)ed  out  of  the 
carriage  and  attempted  to  make  his  es- 
cape ;  but  he  was  pursued,  brought 
back,  and  instantly  dispatched.  Miss 
Wolfe  remained  inside  the  cai-riage,  in 
a  state  of  indescribable  teiTor  and  dis- 
tress, until  one  of  the  insurgent  leaders 
came  and  took  her  out,  and  conducted 
her  through  the  crowd  to  an  adjoining 
house,  where  she  waited  a  while,  and 
then  made  her  escape  on  foot  to  the 


TRIAL  OF  ROBERT  EMMET. 


729 


castle,  where  she  gave  the  first  intelli- 
gence of  her  father's  murder.  The 
authorities  seem  to  have  paid  little  at- 
tention to  what  was  going  on,  although 
they  had  been  informed  that  insurrec- 
tion was  planned  for  that  night.  They 
treated  the  whole  matter  with  appa- 
rent contempt,  notwithstanding  after- 
wards they  w^ere  much  frightened,  and 
resorted  to  severe  measures.  Emmet 
seems  to  have  lost  hope  very  soon,  on 
seeing  how  his  men  behaved,  as  well 
as  how  inefficient  and  unreliable  they 
were.  A  day  or  two  after,  he  escaped 
from  Dublin.  Within  a  week  he  re- 
turned to  the  city,  and  lay  concealed 
for  a  month.  He  was  subsequently 
tracked  out,  arrested,  and  imprisoned 
to  await  his  trial.  Russell,  having  met 
with  no  success  in  Ulster,  returned  to 
Dublin,  hoping  to  escape  to  France. 
Some  months  later  he  was  arrested, 
and  suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the 
law. 

The  trial  of  Robert  Emmet  took 
place  on  the  19th  of  September,  before 
a  special  commission,  consisting  of  Lord 
Norbury,  Barons  George  and  Daly,  and 
Justice  Finucane.  The  case  was  stated 
at  length  by  the  attorney-general,  Mr. 
Pluukett,  and  the  evidence  relied  on  to 
convict  him  was  that  of  a  few  persons 
employed  in  the  depots  at  Dublin. 
Curran  was  Emmet's  counsel;  and  al- 
though the  prisoner  pleaded  not  guilty, 
he  was  not  permitted  by  Emmet  to 
exert  his  eloquence  in  defence  of  his 
friend.  The  speech  of  the  attorney- 
general  was  extremely  severe  and  harsh, 

93 


and  was  animadverted  upon  by  Em- 
met's friends  in  no  measured  terms. 
When  called  upon  for  his  defence,  he 
rose  and  addressed  the  court  in  words 
worthy  of  being  here  put  on  record : 

"  Why  sentence  of  death  and  execu- 
tion should  not  be  pronounced  against 
me,  I  have  nothing  to  say ;  for  that 
had  been  determined  on  ere  this  trial 
had  taken  place.  But  why  my  name 
and  character  should  not  be  transmit- 
ted to  posterity  loaded  with  the  foul- 
est obloquy,  I  have  much  to  say, 

"  A  man  in  my  situation  has  to  com- 
bat with  not  only  the  difficulties  of 
fortune,  but  those,  too,  of  prejudice. 
The  sentence  of  the  law,  which  delivers 
over  his  body  to  the  executioner,  con- 
signs his  name  to  obloquy.  The  man 
dies,  but  his  memory  lives ;  and  that 
mine  may  not  forfeit  all  claim  to  the 
respect  of  my  countrymen,  I  use  this 
occasion  to  vindicate  myself  from  some 
of  the  charges  brought  aofainst  me. 
Let  what  I  have  to  say,  and  the  few 
observations  I  shall  make  as  to  my 
principles  and  motives,  glide  down  the 
surface  of  the  stream  of  your  recollec- 
tion, till  the  storm  shall  have  subsided 
with  which  it  is  already  buffeted. 

"Were  I  to  suffer  death  only  after 
having  been  adjudged  guilty  of  crime, 
I  should  bow  my  neck  in  silence  to  the 
stroke;  but — (Interruption  from  Lord 
Norbury.)  Why  did  your  lordship 
insult  me — or,  rather,  why  insult  jus- 
tice— in  demanding  of  me  why  sentence 
of  death  should  not  be  pronounced? 
I  know,  my  lord,  that  form  prescribes 


730 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE   III. 


that  you  sliould  ask  the  question ;  the 
form  also  presumes  a  right  of  answer- 
ing. It  is  true,  this  might  be  dispensed 
with,  and  so  might  the  whole  ceremony 
of  the  trial,  since  sentence  was  already 
pronounced  at  the  castle  before  your 
jury  was  empanelled.  Your  lordships 
are  but  priests  of  the  oracle,  and  I  sub- 
mit to  the  sacrifice  ;  but  I  insist  on  the 
whole  of  the  forms. 

"  I  am  accused  of  being  an  emissary 
of  France ;  of  being  an  agent  for  that 
country  in  the  heart  of  my  own.  It  is 
false  !  I  am  no  emissary !  I  did  not 
wish  to  deliver  up  my  country  to  a 
foreign  power,  and,  least  of  all,  to 
France.  I  am  charged  with  being  a 
conspirator !  with  being  a  member  of 
the  provisional  government.  I  avow 
it !  I  am  a  conspirator !  I  am  and  have 
been  engaged  in  a  conspiracy,  of  which 
the  whole  object  is  the  disenthralment 
of  my  beloved  country. 

"  It  never  was,  never  could  be  our 
design  to  deliver  over  our  country  into 
the  hands  of  the  French  !  No  !  From 
the  proclamation  of  the  provisional 
government,  it  is  evident  that  every 
hazard  attending  an  independent  effort 
was  deemed  preferable  to  the  more 
fatal  risk  of  introducing  a  French  force 
into  our  country.  What !  yield  to  the 
French  ?  Heaven  forbid  !  No  !  Look 
to  the  proclamation  of  the  provisional 
government — to  the  military  articles 
attached  to  it.  Is  there  a  sentence 
there  that  will  warrant  such  a  con- 
struction ?  Had  I  been  in  Switzerland, 
I    should    have     fought    against    the 


French !  In  the  dignity  of  freedom  I 
would  have  expired  on  the  threshold 
of  that  country,  and  their  only  entrance 
to  it  should  have  been  over  my  lifeless 
corpse !  "Were  I  in  any  country  whose 
people  were  adverse  to  their  principles, 
I  would  take  up  arms  against  them. 
But  if  the  peojile  were  not  adverse  to 
them,  neither  would  I  fight  against  the 
people.  Is  it,  then,  to  be  supposed  I 
would  be  slow  to  make  the  same  sac- 
rifice to  my  native  land  ?  Am  I,  who 
have  lived  but  to  be  of  service  to  my 
country,  who  would  subject  myself 
even  to  the  bondage  of  the  grave  to 
give  her  independence — am  I  to  be 
loaded  with  the  foul  and  grievous  cal- 
umny of  being  an  emissary  of  France  1 
Were  my  country  once  freed  from  the 
yoke  of  England,  had  my  countrymen 
a  country  to  defend,  then,  should  a 
foreign  foe  attempt  to  invade  their 
shores,  would  I  call  on  them,  '  Be 
united  !  be  firm  !  and  fear  no  force 
without!  Look  not  to  your  arms. 
Oppose  them  with  your  heai'ts.  Wait 
not  their  attack,  but  run  to  your  shores 
and  meet  them.  Receive  them  with 
all  the  destruction  of  war,  and  immo- 
late them  in  their  very  boats,  nor  let 
your  land  be  polluted  by  the  foe ! 
With  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  the 
torch  in  the  other,  oppose  and  fight 
them  with  patriotism,  love  of  liberty, 
and  with  courage.  Should  you  fail, 
should  your  love  of  country,  your  love 
of  liberty,  and  courage  not  prevail,  in 
your  retreat  lay  waste  your  country. 
With  your  torch  burn  up  every  blade 


EMMET'S  ELOQUENT  SPEECH. 


in 


of  grass.  Raze  every  house.  Contend 
to  the  last  for  every  inch  of  ground  in 
ruin.  Conduct  your  women  and  chil- 
dren to  the  heart  and  centre  of  your 
country.  Place  them  in  the  strongest 
hold.  Surround  and  defend  them  till 
but  two  of  you  remain ;  and  when  of 
these  two  one  shall  fall,  let  him  that 
survives  apply  the  torch  to  the  funeral- 
pile  of  his  country,  and  leave  the  in- 
vader nothing  but  ashes  and  desolation 
for  his  plunder. 

"I  am  also  accused  of  ambition.  O 
my  countrymen,  was  it  ambition  that 
influenced  me,  I  might  now  rank  with 
the  proudest  of  your  oppressors — (In- 
terruption from  the  judge.) 

"  My  lord,  I  have  always  understood 
it  was  the  duty  of  a  judge,  when  a 
prisoner  was  convicted,  to  pronounce 
the  sentence  of  the  law.  I  have  also 
understood  that  a  judge  sometimes 
thought  it  his  duty  to  hear  with  pa- 
tience and  speak  with  humanity — to 
deliver  an  exhortation  to  the  prisoner. 
I  appeal  to  the  Immaculate  God!  I 
swear  by  the  throne  of  Heaven,  before 
which  I  must  shortly  appear ;  by  the 
blood  of  the  martyred  patriots  who 
have  gone  before  me,  that  my  conduct 
has  been,  through  all  this  peril  and 
through  all  my  j)urposes,  governed  only 
by  the  convictions  which  I  have  uttered, 
and  by  no  other  motive  but  the  eman- 
cipation of  my  country  from  the  op- 
pression under  which  she  has  too  long 
and  too  patiently  travailed. 

"  You  say  I  am  the  keystone,  the 
life-blood  and  soul  of  the  conspiracy. 


On  my  return  to  Ireland  this  conspir- 
acy was  already  formed.  I  was  soli- 
cited to  join  it.  I  asked  for  time  to 
consider,  and  the  result  of  my  deliber- 
ation was  that  it  appeai-ed  to  me  the 
only  means  of  saving  my  country.  My 
lord,  I  acted  but  a  subaltern  part. 
There  are  men  who  manage  it  far 
above  me.  You  say  that  in  cutting  me 
off  you  cut  off  its  head,  and  destroy  the 
germ  of  future  conspiracy  and  insur- 
rection. It  is  false !  This  conspiracy 
will  exist  when  I  am  no  more.  It  will 
be  followed  by  another  more  strong, 
and  rendered  still  more  formidable  by 
foreign  assistance.  (Interruption  from 
the  judge.) 

"  What,  my  lord,  shall  you  tell  me, 
on  the  passage  to  that  scaffold  which 
tyranny  has  erected  for  my  murder, 
and  of  which  you  are  only  the  inter- 
mediary executioner,  that  I  am  account- 
able for  all  the  ])lood  that  has  and  will 
be  shed  in  this  struggle  of  the  op- 
pressed against  the  oppressor  ?  Shall 
you  tell  me  this,  and  must  I  be  so  very 
a  slave  as  not  to  repel  it  ?  I,  who  fear 
not  to  approach  the  Omnipotent  Judge 
to  answer  for  the  conduct  of  my  whole 
life — am  I  to  be  appalled  and  falsified 
by  a  mere  remnant  of  mortality  here  ? 
by  you,  too,  who,  if  it  were  possible 
to  collect  all  the  innocent  blood  that 
you  have  shed  during  your  unhallowed 
ministry  into  one  great  reservou",  your 
lordships  might  swim  in  it!  (Inter- 
ruption from  the  judge.)  Think  not, 
my  lord,  that  I  say  this  for  the  petty 
gratification  of  giving  you  a  transitory 


732 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


uneasiness.  A  man  who  never  yet 
raised  his  voice  to  assert  a  lie,  will  not 
hazard  his  character  with  posterity  by 
advancing  a  falsehood  on  a  subject  so 
important.  Again  I  say,  that  what  I 
have  spoken  is  not  intended  for  your 
lordship.  It  is  meant  as  a  consolation 
to  my  countrymen.  If  there  be  a  true 
Irishman  present,  let  my  last  words 
cherish  him  in  the  hour  of  affliction. 
(He  was  here  interrupted  again  by 
Lord  IN'orbury,  who  told  him  that,  in- 
stead of  advancing  any  thing  in  his 
justification,  he  continued  to  speak 
nothing  but  treason  and  sedition  ;  said 
his  (Emmet's)  family  had  produced 
men  of  great  talent,  and  that  he  him- 
self was  not  the  meanest  of  them.  He 
had  j  ust  then  afibrded  them  proof,  and 
lamented  the  situation  lie  had  reduced 
himself  to,  etc.  After  thanking  the 
judge  for  his  compliments  to  his  family, 
he  jDroceeded.) 

"  My  lord,  I  did  not  mean  to  utter 
treason.  I  did  not  mean  to  use  sedi- 
tious language.  I  did  not  even  seek  to 
exculpate  myself  I  did  only  endeavor 
to  explain  the  obvious  princij)les  on 
which  I  acted,  without  even  so  much 
as  an  attempt  at  their  application. 
Where  is  the  boasted  freedom  of  your 
constitution  ?  Where  the  impartiality, 
mildness,  and  clemency  of  your  courts 
of  justice,  if  a  wretched  culprit,  about 
to  be  delivered  over  to  the  executioner, 
be  not  suffered  to  vindicate  his  motives 
from  the  aspersions  of  calumny  ?  You, 
my  lord,  are  the  judge  ;  I  am  the  cul- 
prit.    But   you,  my  lord,  are    a  man. 


and  I  am  another.  And  as  a  man  to 
whom  fame  is  dearer  than  life,  I  will 
use  the  last  moments  of  that  life  in 
rescuing  my  name  and  memory  from 
the  foul  and  odious  imputations  thrown 
upon  them.  If  the  spirit  of  the  illus- 
ti'ious  dead  can  witness  the  scenes  of 
this  transitory  life,  dear  shade  of  my 
venerable  father,  look  down  with  a  vir- 
tuous scrutiny  on  your  suffering  son, 
and  see,  has  he  deviated  for  a  moment 
from  those  moral  and  patriotic  lessons 
which  vou  taufjht  him,  and  which  he 
now  dies  for  ?  As  to  me,  my  lords,  I 
have  been  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of 
truth  and  liberty.  There  have  I  ex- 
tinguished the  torch  of  friendship,  and 
offered  up  the  idol  of  my  soul,  the  ob- 
ject of  my  affections.  There  have  I 
parted  with  all  that  could  be  dear  to 
me  in  this  life,  and  nothing  now  re- 
mains to  me  but  the  cold  honors  of  the 
grave.  My  lamp  of  life  is  nearly  ex- 
tinguished. My  race  is  finished,  and 
the  grave  opens  to  receive  me.  All  I 
request  at  my  departure  from  this 
world  is  the  charity  of  its  silence.  Let 
no  man  write  my  epitaph.  No  man 
can  write  my  epitaph.  And  as  no 
man  who  knows  my  motives  dares  to 
vindicate  them,  so  let  no  man  who  is 
ignorant  of  them  with  prejudice  asperse 
them.  When  my  country  takes  her 
rank  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
then  only  can  my  epitaph  be  written, 
and  then  alone  can  my  character  be 
vindicated.     I  have  done." 

The  next  day,  September  20th,  this 
remarkable    young   man,   only   in   his 


ROBERT  EMMET'S  DEATH. 


733 


twenty-fourtli  year,  was  executed  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  body  of  specta- 
tors. He  met  his  fate  with  fortitude, 
and  in  a  manner  which  excited  strongly 
the  sympathies  of  his  countrymen  ev- 
erywhere. Although  a  portion  of  those 
engaged  with  Emmet  in  this  ill-starred 
emeute  made  their  escape  abroad,  there 
were  eighteen  who  suffered  with  him 


the  penalty  of  death.  Numerous  ar- 
rests were  made,  and  the  jDrisons  were 
filled  with  persons  charged  with  being 
concerned  in  the  conspiracy.  Dwyer 
and  his  companions  in  Wicklow  sur- 
rendered soon  after,  and  the  last  re- 
maining spark  of  the  famous  rebellion 
of  1Y98  was  finally  extinguished. 


CHAPTEI^  XLVI. 

LOPvD     HAEDWICKE's     AMinnSTRATION. — POLICY     OF     PITT     AND     FOX. — CATHOLIC 

PETITION. 


Suspension  of  Mheas  corpus  act. — Martial  law. — Investigation  into  the  state  of  Ireland  eaUed  for. — Pitt  again 
in  power. — Disappointment  of  the  Catholics. — Agitation  in  Ireland. — Great  meeting  in  Dublin. — Position 
of  England. — Debate  on  renewing  habeas  ccn'pus  suspension  act. — Arguments  advanced. — Catholics  deter- 
mined to  appeal  to  parliament. — The  petition  in  fuU. — Action  in  the  House  of  Lords. — Fox  in  the  House  of 
Commons. — Strong  vote  against  the  petition. — State  of  affairs. — Death  of  William  Pitt. — "  The  ministry  of 
all  the  talents." — Revival  of  spirit  among  Catholics. — Disputes  as  to  the  "  Catholic  committee." — Duke  of 
Bedford  lord-lieutenant. — Complaints  as  to  his  administration. — Disturbances  in  Ireland. — "  The  Thresh- 
ers," and  their  lawless  course. — Death  of  Fox. — Meetings  in  Dublin. — Petition  drawn  up. — The  Maynooth 
grant. — Course  of  the  ministry  in  favor  of  the  Catholics. — Lord  Howick's  biU. — Opposition  of  the  king. — 
Bill  withdrawn. — Ministers  dismissed. — "  No  popery  cabinet"  formed. — Prospect  in  the  future. 


(A.  D.  1803  TO  A.  D.  1807.) 


THE  recent  attempt  at  insurrection, 
narrated  in  the  previous  chapter, 
caused  some  surprise  and  anxiety  in 
England,  and  new  powers  were  asked 
to  be  conferred  on  the  lord-lieutenant, 
to  enable  him  to  meet  the  supposed 
emergency.  A  warm  debate  ensued  in 
parliament,  in  August,  1803,  which  was 
resumed  again  in  December.  The  sus- 
pension of  habeas  corjms  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  martial-law  were  demanded 


by  government,  on  the  ground  of  neces- 
sity as  well  as  policy  ;  the  object  being 
to  encourage  and  strengthen  the  loyal 
part  of  the  community,  and  to  repress 
the   designs   of  the   disaftected.      The 

a  O 

Irish  authorities  were  severely  censured 
in  the  course  of  the  debates,  and  earn- 
est attempts  were  made  to  defeat  the 
measures  proposed ;  but  the  bills  were 
nevertheless  passed  by  large  majorities. 
In  Ireland  the  condition  of  affairs  did 


134. 


REIGN    OF    GEORGE   III. 


not  improve,  as  was  expected  ;  distrust 
and  suspicion  arose  anew,  and  the  old 
hostility  between  Protestants  and  Cath- 
olics was  revived  with  additional  bit- 
terness. 

Early  in  the  year  1804,  the  conduct 
of  the  Irish  government  under  Lord 
Hardwicke  was  again  brought  before 
parliament.  A  motion  was  made  in 
the  House  of  Commons  to  go  into  an 
investigation  of  the  state  of  Ireland, 
especially  in  reference  to  the  late  insur- 
rection. This  motion  was  supported 
by  Mr.  Canning,  who  made  a  pungent 
and  telling  speech  in  its  favor.  Fox 
also  advocated  the  investigation  ;  but 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  others  strongly 
opposed  the  present  movement ;  and  as 
the  ministerial  majority  was  large,  the 
motion  was  lost. 

The  events  of  the  present  year 
(1804)  were  calculated  to  disappoint 
and  irritate  the  Irish  Catholics,  who 
had  based  their  hopes  of  relief  on  the 
sentiments  avowed  by  Mr.  Pitt.  This 
distinguished  man  was  restored  to 
power  on  the  12th  of  May,  by  the 
overthrow  of  the  weak  ministry  under 
Mr.  Addington  ;  but  in  taking  office, 
he  accepted  the  condition  insisted  upon 
by  the  king,  that  he  should  abandon 
the  question  of  Catholic  emancipation. 
The  new  ministry  seem  to  have  thought 
it  necessary  to  adopt  a  policy  repulsive 
to  the  Catholics  in  Ireland  ;  and  there 
was  an  evident  partiality  shown  to- 
wards the  Orangemen,  and  an  inclina- 
tion to  push  the  Catholics  into  intem- 
perate acts,  which  might  serve  to  excite 


and  keep  alive  suspicion  against  them. 
As  might  have  been  expected,  there 
was  a  renewal  of  agitation  in  Ireland, 
and  the  discontent  had  been  increased 
by  commercial  embarrassments  caused 
by  an  exaggerated  issue  of  bank-notes, 
and  by  some  partiality  believed  to  be 
shown  in  the  distribution  of  the  rev- 
enue. Discontent  increased  towards 
the  autumn ;  and  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember a  great  meeting  was  held  in 
Dublin,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
Catholic  grievances  and  petition  jjar- 
liament  for  relief.  It  was  expected 
that  this  meeting  would  have  led  to 
some  violent  expression  of  dissatisfac- 
tion ;  but  Lord  Fin  gall  took  the  lead, 
and  under  his  influence  its  proceedings 
were  calm  and  temperate.  The  meet- 
ing was  adjourned  from  time  to  time, 
at  his  recommendation,  that  its  final 
resolutions  might  be  cautious  and  de- 
liberate. 

The  government  thought  or  supposed 
that  these  manifestations  on  the  part 
of  this  large  and  numerous  body  in 
Ireland  indicated  a  new  rebellion  ;  and 
the  disaifected  were  certainly  encour- 
ao^ed  to  fresh  effi)rts  against  Eno-lish 
rule.  England  herself  was  threatened 
by  Bonaparte  with  invasion ;  and  se- 
cret emissaries  were  again  sent  into  Ire- 
land to  communicate  with  whatever  re- 
mained of  the  rejiublican  party,  while 
a  committee  of  United  Irishmen  re- 
newed its  activity  in  Paris.  This  was 
assumed  by  the  English  ministers  as  a 
sufficient  reason  for  again  asking  par- 
liament to  renew  the  bill  for  the  sus- 


HABEAS  CORPUS   SUSPENDED. 


735 


pension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act,  a 
measure  which,  under  all  circumstances, 
was  probably  i^rudent;  but  it  met 
with  a  very  warm  opposition  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  measure  was 
brought  forward  on  the  8th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1805 ;  and  it  was  urged  that  the 
bill  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  ex- 
istence of  considerable  disaffection  in 
Ireland ;  by  the  avowed  determination 
of  the  French  to  invade  that  country, 
and  the  preparations  made  for  that 
purpose ;  and  by  the  fact  of  the  collec- 
tion and  association  of  a  number  of 
Irishmen  with  the  forces  desisrned  for 

O 

that  purpose,  and  the  actual  sitting  of 
a  committee  of  United  Irishmen  at 
Paris,  corresponding  with  the  United 
Irishmen  of  Ireland,  and  stimulating 
them  to  insurrection.  The  bill  was 
opposed  by  several  eminent  gentlemen, 
who  demanded,  as  usual,  fuller  infor- 
mation on  the  state  of  Ireland,  as  a 
justification  of  such  a  measure. 

Pitt,  now  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
replied  with  some  warmth.  He  denied 
that  it  was  necessary  or  customary  to 
produce  such  information  as  the  op- 
position required,  when  it  had  been 
thought  expedient  to  suspend  for  a 
time  the  action  of  the  habeas  corpus 
act.  It  was  well  known  that  a  revolu- 
tionary spirit  was  still  widely  spread 
through  Ireland,  and  this  was  intended 
as  a  measure  of  precaution  to  defeat 
the  designs  of  an  enemy  who  was  pre- 
paring to  take  advantage  of  that  spirit. 
Fox  combated  the  doctrines  avowed 
by  Pitt,  and  declared  that  he  was  not 


convinced  of  the  necessity  of  the  rigor- 
ous measure  adopt-ed  by  government 
towards  Ireland  during  the  last  war, 
and  now  again  asked  for. 

Although  warmly  opposed  in  all  its 
stages  through  parliament,  the  bill  was 
carried  by  large  majorities.  Ou  mo- 
tion to  go  into  committee  on  it,  on  the 
15th  of  February,  1805,  the  demand 
for  inquiry  and  information  was  re- 
newed, and  resisted  on  the  same  ground 
— that  the  notoriety  of  the  danger  Avas 
a  sufficient  justification.  The  opposi- 
tion denied  entirely  any  such  notoriety. 
Dr.  Duigenan,  in  behalf  of  the  govern- 
ment side  of  the  question,  affirmed  that 
Irish  witnesses  could  not  come  with 
safety  to  London  to  appear  before  a 
committee,  without  serious  risk  of  as- 
sassination ;  and  that  various  parts  of 
Ireland  were  in  such  a  shockius:  state, 
that  plots  and  conspiracies  were  all  the 
time  being  formed  and  carried  out. 
Lord  Temple,  on  the  other  hand,  de- 
nounced these  statements  as  libellous 
in  the  extreme,  and  as  coming  with  a 
very  ill  grace  from  any  one  represent- 
ing that  country  in  the  imperial  parlia- 
ment. 

During  these  debates,  the  Catholics 
of  Ireland  continued  to  meet  and  dis- 
cuss the  important  question  then  before 
them.  In  the  month  of  March,  1805, 
they  finally  embodied  their  grievances 
in  the  form  of  a  petition,  which  was 
signed  by  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury, 
and  Lords  Waterford,  Wexford,  Fin- 
gall,  Kenmare,  Germanstown,  South- 
well, and  others.     The  ministry  were 


736 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IH. 


in  ratlier  an  embarrassing  position,  since 
more  than  one  member  had  in  former 
years  advocated  the  cause  of  the  Cath- 
olics. Nevertheless,  government  de- 
termined to  oppose  the  petition  to  the 
extent  of  their  power.  Pitt,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  understanding  with  the 
king,  was  of  no  service  to  the  petition- 
ers.* They,  therefore,  turned  their  at- 
tention to  Lord  Grenville,  who  consent- 
ed to  act  in  their  behalf,  and  on  the 
25th  of  March  laid  their  petition  before 
the  House  of  Lords.  We  give  the  docu- 
ment in  full,  as  well  because  of  the  in- 
terest it  possesses  in  itself,  as  because 
it  shows  clearly  the  grounds  on  which 
the  Catholics  placed  their  claims  for 
emancipation : 

"  The  humble  petition  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  Ireland,  whose  names  are 
hereunto  subscribed,  on  behalf  of  them- 
selves and  of  others,  his  majesty's  sub- 
jects, professing  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion, 

"  Showeth,  That  your  petitioners  are 
steadfastly  attached  to  the  person,  fam- 
ily, and  government  of  their  most  gra- 
cious sovei'eign ;  that  they  are  im- 
pressed with  sentiments  of  affectionate 
gratitude  for  the  benign  laws  which 
have  been  enacted  for  ameliorating 
their    condition    during    his    paternal 


*  Principle  and  truth  have  often  been  sacrificed  to 
temporary  difEciilties  and  the  exigencies  of  a  particular 
occasion  ;  but  they  ivere  never  surrendered  with  a 
bolder  and  more  mistaken  firmness  than  by  Mr.  Pitt  at 
this  moment.  He  might,  had  he  been  so  detennined, 
have  surpassed  the  glory  of  all  preceding  statesmen  ; 
he  might  have  spared  the  empire  years  of  subsequent 


reign ;  and  they  contemplate  with  ra- 
tional and  decided  predilection  the  ad- 
mirable jirinciples  of  the  British  con- 
stitution. 

"  Your  petitioners  most  humbly  state, 
that  they  have  solemnly  and  publicly 
taken  the  oath  by  law  prescribed  to 
his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects, 
as  tests  of  political  and  moral  princi- 
ples ;  and  they  confidently  appeal  to 
the  sufferings  which  they  have  long 
endured,  and  the  sacrifices  which  they 
still  make,  rather  than  violate  their 
consciences  (by  taking  oaths  of  a  reli- 
gious or  spiritual  import,  contrary  to 
their  belief),  as  decisive  proofs  of  their 
profound  and  scrupulous  reverence  for 
the  sacred  obligation  of  an  oath. 

"  Your  petitioners  beg  leave  to  rep- 
resent, that  by  those  awful  tests  they 
bind  themselves,  in  the  presence  of  the 
All-seeing  Deity,  whom  all  classes  of 
Christians  adore,  '  to  be  faithful  and 
bear  true  allegiance  to  their  most  gra- 
cious sovereign  lord.  King  George  IH., 
and  him  to  defend,  to  the  utmost  of 
their  power,  against  all  conspiracies 
and  attempts  whatsoever,  that  shall  be 
made  against  his  person,  crown,  or  dig- 
nity ;  to  do  their  utmost  endeavors  to 
disclose  and  make  known  to  his  ma- 
jesty and  his  heirs  all  treasons  and 
traitorous  conspiracies  which  may  be 


misgovemment,  distraction,  and  weakness  ;  and  saved 
Ireland  from  a  complication  of  evils,  the  terror  of  crimes, 
and  a  depth  of  misery  which  in  this  world  never  have 
been  and  never  will  be  fully  recorded." — Ireland :  Siji- 
tarical  and  Statutical,  by  George  Lewis  Smyth,  vol.  iii. 
p.  406. 


THE  CATHOLIC  PETITION, 


n2>\ 


formed  against  him  or  them ;  and  faith- 
fully to  maintain,  support,  and  defend, 
of  their  powej-,  the  succession  to  the 
crown  in  his  majesty's  family  against 
any  person  whatsoever.'  That,  by 
those  oaths,  they  renounce  and  abjure 
obedience  and  allegiance  unto  any 
other  person  claiming  or  pretending  a 
right  to  the  crown  of  this  realm ;  that 
they  reject  and  detest,  as  unchristian 
and  impious,  to  believe  that  it  is  lawful 
in  any  way  to  injure  any  person  or 
persons  whatsoever,  under  pretence  of 
their  being  heretics,  and  also  that  un- 
christian and  impious  principle  that  no 
faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics  ;  that 
that  is  no  article  of  their  faith ;  and 
that  they  renounce,  reject,  and  abjure 
the  opinion,  that  princes  excommuni- 
cated by  the  pope  and  council,  or  by 
any  authority  whatsoever,  may  be  de- 
posed or  murdered  by  their  subjects, 
or  by  any  other  person  whatsoever; 
that  they  do  not  believe  that  the  pope 
of  Rome,  or  any  other  foreign  prince, 
prelate,  state,  or  potentate  hath,  or 
ought  to  have,  any  temporal  or  civil 
jurisdiction,  power,  superiority,  or  pre- 
eminence within  this  realm ;  that  they 
firmly  believe  that  no  act,  in  itself  un- 
just, immoral,  or  wicked,  can  ever  be 
justified  or  excused  by  or  under  pre- 
tence or  color  that  it  was  done  for  the 
good  of  the  Church,  or  in  obedience  to 
any  ecclesiastical  power  whatsoever ; 
and  that  it  is  no  article  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  neither  are  they  thereby  required 
to  believe  or  profess,  that  the  pope  is 
infallible,  or  that  they  are  bound  to 

93 


any  order,  in  its  own  nature  immoral, 
although  the  pope,  or  any  ecclesiastical 
power,  should  issue  or  direct  such  or- 
der, but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they 
hold  that  it  would  be  sinful  in  them  to 
pay  any  respect  or  obedience  thereto ; 
that  they  do  not  believe  that  any  sin 
whatsoever  committed  by  them  can  be 
forgiven  at  the  mere  will  of  any  pope, 
or  of  any  priest,  or  of  any  person  or 
persons  whatsoever,  but  that  any  pei*- 
son  who  receives  absolution  without  a 
sincere  sorrow  for  such  sin,  and  a  firm 
and  sincere  resolution  to  avoid  future 
guilt  and  to  atone  to  God,  so  far  from 
obtaining  thereby  any  remission  of  his 
sin,  incurs  the  additional  guilt  of  vio- 
lating a  sacrament ;  and,  by  the  same 
solemn  obligation,  they  are  bound  and 
firmly  pledged  to  defend,  to  the  utmost 
of  their  power,  the  settlement  and  ar- 
rangement of  property  in  their  country, 
as  established  by  the  laws  now  in  be- 
ing; that  they  have  disclaimed,  disa- 
vowed, and  solemnly  abjure  any  inten- 
tion to  subvert  the  present  Church 
establishment,  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
stituting a  Catholic  establishment  in  its 
stead ;  and  that  they  have  also  sol- 
emnly sworn  that  they  will  not  exercise 
any  privilege,  to  which  they  are  or 
may  become  entitled,  to  disturb  or 
weaken  the  Protestant  religion  or  Prot- 
estant government  in  L-eland. 

"  Your  petitioners  most  humbly  beg 
leave  to  show  that,  however  painful  it 
is  to  their  feelings  that  it  should  still 
be  thought  necessary  to  exact  such  tests 
from  them  (and  from  them  alone  of  all 


738 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III. 


bis  majesty's  subjects),  they  can  with 
perfect  truth  affirm,  that  the  political 
and  moral  principles,  which  are  thereby 
asserted,  are  not  only  conformable  to 
their  opinions,  but  expressly  inculcated 
by  the  religion  which  they  profess ; 
and  your  petitioners  most  humbly  trust 
that  the  religious  doctrines  which  per- 
mit such  tests  to  be  taken  will  be  pro- 
nounced by  this  honorable  house  to  be 
entitled  to  a  toleration,  not  merely  par- 
tial, but  complete,  under  the  happy 
constitution  and  government  of  this 
realm ;  and  that  his  majesty's  Roman 
Catholic  subjects,  holding  those  princi- 
ples, will  be  considered  as  subjects 
upon  whose  fidelity  the  State  may  im- 
pose the  firmest  reliance. 

"  Your  petitioners  further  most  hum- 
bly show,  that  twenty-six  years  have 
now  elapsed  since  their  most  gracious 
sovereign  and  the  honorable  houses  of 
parliament  in  Ireland,  by  their  public 
and  deliberate  act,  declared  that '  from 
the  uniform  peaceable  behavior  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  Ireland  for  a  long 
series  of  years,  it  appeared  reasonable 
and  expedient  to  relax  the  disabilities 
and  incapacities  under  which  they  la- 
bored ;  and  that  it  must  tend  not  only 
to  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of 
this  kingdom,  but  to  the  prosperity 
and  strength  of  all  his  majesty's  domin- 
ions, that  his  majesty's  subjects  of  all 
denominations  should  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  a  free  constitution,  and  should 
be  bound  to  each  other  by  mutual  in- 
terest and  mutual  affection ;'  a  declara- 
tion founded  upon  unerring  principles 


of  justice  and  sound  policy,  which  still 
remains  to  be  carried  into  full  effect, 
although  your  petitioners  are  impressed 
with  a  belief  that  the  apprehensions 
which  retarded  its  beneficial  operation, 
previous  to  the  union,  cannot  exist  in 
the  parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

"  For  your  petitioners  most  humbly 
show  that,  by  virtue  of  divers  statutes 
now  in  force,  his  majesty's  Roman 
Catholic  subjects,  who  form*  so  great  a 
proportion  of  the  population  of  Ireland, 
and  contribute  so  largely  to  the  re- 
sources of  the  State,  do  yet  labor  under 
many  incapacities,  restraints,  and  pri- 
vations, which  affect  them  with  peculiar 
severity  in  almost  every  station  of  life ; 
that  more  especially  they  are  denied 
the  capacity  of  sitting  or  voting  in 
either  of  the  honorable  houses  of  par- 
liament, the  manifold  evils  consequent 
upon  which  incapacity  they  trust  it  is 
unnecessary  to  unfold  and  enumerate 
to  this  honorable  house. 

"  They  are  disabled  from  holding  or 
exercising  (unless  by  a  special  dispen- 
sation) any  corporate  office  whatsoever 
in  the  cities  or  towns  in  which  they  re- 
side ;  they  are  incapacitated  and  dis- 
qualified from  holding  or  exercising 
the  offices  of  sheriffs  and  sub-sheriffs, 
and  various  offices  of  trust,  honor,  and 
emolument  in  the  State,  in  his  ma^ 
jesty's  military  and  naval  service,  in 
their  native  land. 

"  Your  petitioners,  declining  to  enter 
into  the  painful  detail  of  the  many  in- 
capacities and  inconveniences  avowedly 
inflicted    by   those   statutes   upon   his 


THE  CATHOLIC  PETITION. 


'739 


majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects,  beg 
leave,  liowever,  most  earnestly  to  so- 
licit the  attention  of  this  honorable 
house  to  the  humiliating  and  ignomin- 
ious sj^stem  of  exclusion,  reproach,  and 
suspicion  which  those  statutes  generate 
and  keep  alive. 

"For  your  petitioners  most  humbly 
show  that,  in  consequence  of  the  hostile 
spirit  thereby  sanctioned,  their  hopes 
of  enjoying  even  the  privileges  -which, 
through  the  benignity  of  their  most 
gracious  sovereign  they  have  been  ca- 
pacitated to  enjoy,  are  nearly  altogether 
frustrated,  insomuch  that  they  are,  in 
effect,  shut  out  from  almost  all  the  hon- 
ors, dignities,  and  offices  of  trust  and 
emolument  in  the  State,  from  rank 
and  distinction  in  his  majesty's  army 
and  navy,  and  even  from  the  lowest 
situations  and  franchises  in  the  several 
cities  and  corporate  towns  throughout 
his  majesty's  dominions. 

"  And  your  petitioners  severely  feel 
that  this  unqualified  interdiction  of 
those  of  their  communion  from  all  mu- 
nicipal situations,  from  the  franchise  of 
all  guilds  and  corporations,  and  from 
the  patronage  and  benefits  annexed  to 
those  situations,  is  an  evil  not  terminat- 
ing in  itself;  for  they  beg  leave  to 
state  that,  by  giving  an  advantage  over 
those  of  their  communion  to  others,  by 
whom  such  situations  are  exclusively 
possessed,  it  establishes  a  species  of 
qualified  monoply,  universally  operat- 
ing in  their  disfavor,  contrary  to  the 
spirit,  and  highly  detrimental  to  the 
freedom  of  trade. 


"  Your  petitioners  likewise  severely 
feel  that  his  majesty's  Roman  Catholic 
subjects,  in  consequence  of  their  exclu- 
sion from  the  offices  of  sheriff  and  sub- 
sherifi',  and  of  the  hostile  spirit  of  those 
statutes,  do  not  fully  enjoy  certain 
other  inestimable  privileges  of  the  Brit- 
ish constitution,  which  the  law  has 
most  jealously  maintained  and  secured 
to  their  fellow-subjects. 

"  Your  petitioners  most  humbly  beg 
leave  to  solicit  the  attention  of  this 
honorable  house  to  the  distinction 
which  has  conceded  the  elective  and 
denies  the  representative  franchise  to 
one  and  the  same  class  of  his  majesty's 
subjects ;  which  detaches  from  property 
its  proportion  of  political  power,  under 
a  constitution  whose  vital  principle  is 
the  union  of  the  one  with  the  other ; 
which  closes  every  avenue  of  legalized 
ambition  against  those  who  must  be 
presumed  to  have  great  credit  and  in- 
fluence among  the  mass  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country ;  which  refuses  to 
peers  of  the  realm  all  share  in  the  legis- 
lative representation,  either  actual  or 
virtual,  and  rendere  the  liberal  profes- 
sion of  the  law  to  Roman  Catholics  a 
mere  object  of  pecuniary  traffic,  de- 
spoiled of  its  hopes  and  of  its  honors. 

"  Your  petitioners  further  most  hum- 
bly show  that  the  exclusion  of  so  nu- 
merous and  efficient  a  portion  of  his 
majesty's  subjects,  as  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  the  realm,  from  civil  honors 
and  offices,  and  from  advancement  in 
his  majesty's  army  and  navy,  actually 
impairs,  in  a  very  material  degree,  the 


740 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IH. 


most  valuable  resources  of  the  British 
empire,  by  impeding  his  majesty's  gen- 
eral service,  stifling  the  most  honorable 
and  powerful  incentive  to  civil  and 
military  merit,  and  unnecessarily  re- 
stricting the  crown,  which  encourages 
good  subjects  to  promote  the  public 
welfare,  and  excite  them  to  meritorious 
•actions  by  a  well-regulated  distribution 
of  public  honor  and  reward. 

"Your  petitioners  beg  leave  most 
humbly  to  submit,  that  those  manifold 
incapacities,  restraints,  and  privations 
are  absolutely  repugnant  to  the  liberal 
and  comprehensive  principles  recog- 
nized by  their  most  gracious  sovereign 
and  the  parliament  of  L'elaud ;  that 
they  are  impolitic  restraints  upon  his 
majesty's  prerogative;  that  they  are 
hurtful  and  vexatious  to  the  feelings 
of-  a  loyal  and  generous  people ;  and 
that  the  total  abolition  of  them  will 
be  found  not  only  comp)atible  with,  but 
highly  conducive  to  the  perfect  security 
of  eveiy  establishment,  religious  or  po- 
litical, now  existing  in  this  realm. 

"  For  your  petitioners  most  explicitly 
declare  that  they  do  not  seek  or  wish, 
in  the  remotest  degree,  privileges,  im- 
munities, possessions,  or  revenues  ap- 
pertaining to  the  bishops  and  clergy  of 
the  Protestant  religion,  as  by  law  es- 
tablished, or  to  the  churches  committed 
to  their  charge,  or  to  any  of  them,  the 
sole  object  of  your  petitioners  being  an 
equal  participation,  upon  equal  terms 
with  their  fellow-subjects,  of  the  full 
benefits  of  the  British  laws  and  consti- 
tution. 


"  Your  petitioners  beg  leave  most 
humbly  to  observe  that,  although  they 
might  well  and  justly  insist  upon  the 
firm  and  unabated  loyalty  of  his  ma- 
jesty's Roman  Catholic  subjects  to  their 
most  gracious  sovereign,  their  profound 
respect  for  the  legislature  and  their 
dutiful  submission  to  the  laws ;  yet 
they  most  especially  rest  their  humble 
claims  and  expectations  of  relief  upon 
the  clear  and  manifest  conduciveness  of 
the  measure  which  they  solicit  to  the 
general  and  permanent  tranquillity, 
strength,  and  happiness  of  the  British 
emjDire ;  and  your  petitioners,  enter- 
taining no  doubt  of  its  final  accomplish- 
ment, from  its  evident  justice  and 
utility,  do  most  solemnly  assure  this 
honorable  house  that  their  earnest  so- 
licitude for  it,  at  this  peculiar  crisis, 
arises  principally  from  their  anxious 
desire  to  extinguish  all  motives  to  dis- 
union, and  all  means  of  exciting  dis- 
content. 

"  For  your  jietitioners  humbly  state 
it  as  their  decided  opinion,  that  the 
enemies  of  the  British  empire,  who 
meditate  the  subjugation  of  Ireland, 
have  no  hope  of  success  save  in  the 
disunion  of  its  inhabitants;  and  there- 
fore it  is  that  your  petitioners  are 
deeply  anxious  at  this  moment  that  a 
measure  should  be  accomplished  which 
will  annihilate  the  principles  of  reli- 
gious animosity,  and  animate  all  descrip- 
tions of  his  majesty's  subjects  in  an 
enthusiastic  defence  of  the  best  con- 
stitution that  has  ever  yet  been  estab- 
1  lished. 


DEBATE  AND  ACTION  ON  THE  PETITION. 


Y41 


"  Your  petitioners,  therefore,  most 
bumbly  presume  to  express  their  earn- 
est but  respectful  hope  that  this  hon- 
orable house  will,  in  its  wisdom  and 
liberality,  deem  the  several  statutes 
now  in  force  against  them  no  longer 
necessary  to  be  retained ;  and  that  his 
majesty's  loyal  and  dutiful  subjects, 
professing  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
may  be  eifectually  relieved  from  the 
operation  of  those  statutes ;  and  that  so 
they  may  be  restored  to  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  the  benefits  of  the  British  con- 
stitution, and  to  every  inducement  of 
attachment  to  that  constitution,  equally 
and  in  common  with  their  fellow-sub- 
jects throughout  the  British  empire." 

The  petition  just  given  was  not 
brought  up  for  direct  consideration 
until  May,  1805,  The  claims  of  the 
Catholics  were  warmly  advocated  by 
Lord  Grenville,  Earl  Spencer,  and 
others;  they  were  opposed  by  Lord 
Redesdale,  the  bishop  of  Durham,  the 
earl  of  Limerick,  and  others ;  and  after 
a  long,  animated,  and  full  debate.  Lord 
Grenville's  motion  was  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  three  to  one. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  Fox  made 
an  eloquent  speech  in  support  of  the 
claims  of  the  petitioners.  Grattan  also, 
who  was  now  a  member  of  the  imperial 
parliament,  pleaded  earnestly  and  for- 
cibly in  favor  of  concession  to  the  rea- 
sonable demands  of  the  Catholics ;  but 
despite  all  the  eloquence  and  earnest- 
ness of  the  speakers  in  favor  of  the 
petition,  the  house  refused  to  accede  to 
their  wishes.     Three  hundred  and  thir- 


ty-sis votes  were  given  against  the 
motion,  and  only  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  in  its  support.  Thus,  for 
the  present,  at  least,  a  quietus  was 
put  upon  the  discussion  in  parliament 
of  the  question  of  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion. 

Although  matters  glided  along  ap- 
parently in  their  usual  course,  there 
was  beneath  the  surface  more  or  less 
discontent  and  disappointment  at  the 
condition  of  affairs ;  and  the  prominent 
leaders  among  the  Catholics  were  set- 
tling down  in  the  determination  to 
continue  to  agitate  the  question  of 
their  claims  until  some  favorable  result 
was  reached.  Lord  Hardwicke  gained 
considerable  popularity  in  Ireland,  by  " 
taking  ground  in  opposition  to  certain 
measures  of  the  prime-minister.  This 
led  to  a  determination,  on  the  part  of 
the  home  government,  that  he  should 
retire  from  of&ce.  The  decease,  how- 
ever, of  that  eminent  man,  who  had  so 
long  guided  and  controlled  England 
and  her  policy,  especially  with  regard 
to  continental  affairs,  caused  a  number 
of  unexpected  changes,  some  of  which 
materially  affected  Ireland.  William 
Pitt  died  on  the  23d  of  January,  1806  ; 
and  after  a  brief  interval  a  liberal  min- 
istry, "  the  ministry  of  all  the  talents," 
was  formed  by  a  coalition  between 
Lord  Grenville  and  Fox.  Ponsonby 
was  made  lord-chancellor,  and  John 
Philpot  Curran,  the  defender  of  the 
United  Irishmen,  became  master  of  the 
rolls.  Lord  Hardwicke  was  superseded, 
and  the  duke  of  Bedford,  in  March  of 


742 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  III. 


tliis  year,  went  to  Ireland  as  lord  lieu- 
tenant. 

The  spirit  of  the  Catholics  began  to 
revive.  Younger  and  more  energetic 
men  were  coming  forward ;  among 
whom  Daniel  O'Connell  soon  became 
the  recognized  chief.  Agitation  was 
renewed,  and  the  question  of  the  repeal 
of  the  Union  was  strenuously  urged  by 
Ii-ish  patriots.  Meetings  were  held  in 
Dublin,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  get 
up  a  petition  in  favor  of  repeal;  but 
other  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  design 
was  postponed.  The  new  ministry, 
however,  made  itself  quite  popular  in 
Ireland,  by  allowing  the  Jiaheav  corpus 
suspension  act  to  expire  without  re- 
newal, and  by  removing  Lord  Redes- 
dale,  who  was  considered  very  obnox- 
ious to  the  Irish  Catholics,  from  the 
office  of  lord-chancellor. 

It  was  unfortunate  at  this  time  that 
dissensions  found  place  among  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  Catholic  party.  Dis- 
putes, more  ardent  than  wise,  occurred 
on  the  subject  of  the  "  Catholic  com- 
mittee," and  its  position  as  represent- 
ing and  guiding  the  Catholic  part  of 
the  community.  Lord  French  and 
John  Keogh  were  finally  agreed  upon 
as  the  principal  men  to  take  the  lead 
in  support  of  the  cause  they  all  wished 
to  advance.  The  duke  of  Bedford  was 
welcomed  as  usual  in  Dublin  by  the 
Roman  Catholics ;  but  they  soon  began 
to  complain  of  remissness  on  the  part 
of  his  administration.  They  wished  for 
a  change  in  the  magistracy  of  the  isl- 
and, which    consisted    largely  of  men 


with  strong  Orange  feelings  and  views, 
and  who,  it  was  asserted,  denied  full 
and  equal  justice  to  the  Catholic,  and 
screened  the  Protestant  in  a  course  of 
outrage  and  insult  towards  his  neighbor. 
The  government,  however,  showed  no 
great  disposition  to  accede  to  their 
wishes.  Little,  indeed,  had  been  done 
to  restore  quietness  to  Ireland,  and  agi- 
tation and  agrarian  outrage  jirevailed 
everywhere.  The  summer  of  1806 
was  marked  by  no  occurrence  of  much 
importance  in  Ireland ;  yet  there  were 
many  indications  of  popular  discontent. 
In  the  city  of  Armagh,  where  the  Lim- 
erick militia  was  quartered,  very  alarm- 
ing symptoms  of  discontent  displayed 
themselves  on  several  different  days  in 
July.  Most  of  the  men  of  that  regi- 
ment were  Catholics;  and  the  yeomaniy 
of  the  city  of  Armagh,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  townsmen,  who  were  Prot- 
estants and  mostly  Orangemen,  had  ar- 
rayed themselves  on  one  side,  and  held 
provoking  and  insulting  language  to- 
wards them.  The  militia  drew  up,  and 
were  joined  by  most  of  the  Catholics  of 
Armagh  ;  but  providentially  they  com- 
mitted no  further  excesses  than  some 
personal  assaults,  in  which  many  were 
severely  wounded.  An  affray  of  a  sim- 
ilar kind  occurred  at  TuUamore,  but 
was  repressed  without  serious  results. 
The  peasantry  in  the  west  indulged  in 
tumultuous  proceedings,  especially  in 
regard  to  the  exactions  of  the  tithe 
proctors  ;  and  the  "  Threshers,"  as  they 
called  themselves,  formed  a  sort  of  con- 
federacy in  carrying  out  their  plans. 


.*. 


"1^ 


MEASURES  OF  CONCESSION. 


'743 


Sometimes  they  met  in  bodies  of  sev- 
eral hundreds,  dressed  in  white  shirts 
or  frocks;  but  they  were  easily  dis- 
persed by  the  military.  As  the  win- 
ter approached,  these  agrarian  insur- 
gents became  more  active,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  pursue  rigorous 
measures  against  them.  Many  were 
arrested  and  committed  to  prison ;  and 
a  special  commission  having  been  is- 
sued for  their  trial,  and  some  of  them 
being  hanged,  these  executions  put  a 
stoj)  to  their  lawless  proceedings. 

The  death  of  Fox,  in  September, 
1806,  threw  a  damper  upon  the  hopes 
of  many  among  the  Catholics;  but 
there  was  a  strong  disposition  to  press 
their  claims  at  once.  Frequent  meet- 
ings were  held  in  Dublin  during  the 
months  of  January  and  February,  1807, 
and  communications  were  had  with  the 
Irish  ministers ;  and  it  was  finally  re- 
solved that  a  petition  should  be  drawn 
up  and  presented  to  parliament  during 
the  session  then  commencing.  This 
petition  was  a  moderate  and  temperate 
one.  The  petitioners  complained  that 
they  were  excluded  from  many  of  the 
most  important  offices  of  trust,  power, 
and  emolument  in  the  country,  whereby 
they  were  made  to  appear  like  aliens 
and  strangers  in  their  native  land ;  that 
not  less  than  four-fifths  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Ireland,  by  the  system  of  ex- 
clusion which  had  been  pursued,  were 
made,  as  it  were,  a  distinct  people,  and 
placed  in  a  position  of  degrading  infe- 
riority towards  the  rest ;  and  they  rep- 
resented "that,  from  the  uniform  and 


peaceable  behavior  of  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  for  a  long  series  of  years,  it  ap- 
peared reasonable  and  expedient  to  re- 
lax the  disabilities  and  incapacities 
under  which  they  labor ;  and  that  it 
must  tend  not  only  to  the  cultivation 
and  improvement  of  this  kingdom,  but 
to  the  prosperity  and  strength  of  all 
his  majesty's  dominions,  that  his  ma- 
jesty's subjects  of  all  denominations 
should  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  free 
constitution,  and  should  be  bound  to 
each  other  by  mutual  interest  and  mu- 
tual affection."  The  earl  of  Fingall 
and  Mr.  Grattan  were  appointed  to 
present  the  petition  to  the  two  houses 
of  parliament. 

The  ministry  were  somewhat  embar- 
rassed on  this  question,  the  king  being, 
in  reality,  as  reluctant  as  evei'  to 
yield  a  point.  It  was  proposed  in 
parliament  to  grant  Maynooth  College 
£13,000.  Grattan  advocated  the  grant, 
and  it  was  carried ;  but  Mr.  Perceval 
and  others  tried  to  have  the  amount 
greatly  reduced.  It  was  felt  that 
somethins:  must  be  done  in  favor  of 
concession,  and  the  ministry  resolved 
to  begin  with  the  army  and  navy  de- 
partments of  the  public  service.  On 
the  5th  of  March,  180T,  Lord  Howick 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to 
open  the  naval  and  military  services 
indiscriminately  to  all  his  majesty's 
subjects  who  should  take  an  oath  to 
be  thereby  prescribed.  In  recommend- 
ing this  measure  to  the  house,  Lord 
Howick  urged  that,  at  a  season  of  dif- 
ficulty and  danger  such  as  then  existed, 


T44 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE   III. 


when  it  was  desirable  to  unite  every 
heart  and  hand  in  the  cause  of  the 
country,  it  was  unwise  to  exclude  from 
that  union  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
people  as  the  Catholics  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  amounting  to  nearly  a 
fourth  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
empire,  and  to  prevent  them  from  shar- 
ing in  the  danger  and  the  glory  of  their 
countrymen.  Various  arguments  of 
expediency  as  well  as  justice  were  ahly 
urged  by  the  mover;  but  the  opposi- 
tion, led  by  Mr.  Perceval,  was  very 
strong.  King  George  III.,  though  at 
first  assenting,  was  roused ;  and  peti- 
tions against  the  bill  came  from  various 


parts  of  the  country.  The  ministers 
soon  after  withdrew  the  bill ;  and  the 
king  having  required  of  them  a  written 
pledge  not  to  address  him  again  on 
the  subject,  they  refused,  and  the  re- 
sult was  their  dismissal  from  office. 
A  strong  anti-Catholic  ministry  was 
formed — the  "  no-popery  cabinet,"  as  it 
was  designated — with  the  duke  of  Port- 
land at  its  head.  Mr.  Canning  and 
Lord  Castlereagh  were  the  principal 
secretaries  of  state;  and  so  far  as  ap- 
pearances went,  there  was  little  room 
to  hope  for  attention  to  the  claims  of 
the  Catholics,  as  presented  in  their  late 
petition  to  parliament. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

PKOGKESS   OF   AFFAIES. — DUKE   OF   KICKMOND  S   ADMINISTKATION. 


Opposition  of  the  king. — Presentation  of  Catholic  petition  postponed. — Duke  of  Richmond,  lord-lieutenant.— 
Insurrection  act. — Sir  Arthur  Wellesley. — State  of  Ireland. — The  veto  question. — Course  of  the  Catholics.— 
Agitation  renewed. — Meeting  in  Dublin. — Orange  lodges  and  doings. — English  Roman  Catholics  on  veto 
question. — Grattan's  efforts. — Government  policy. — Question  of  the  veto  in  1810. — Catholic  committee's 
circular. — Extracts  from. — Movement  for  repeal  of  the  Union. — Meeting  in  Dublin. — O'Connell's  speech. — 
Convention  act  enforced  against  Catholic  committee. — Proceedings  of  government. — "Aggregate  meet- 
ings."— Petition  to  prince  regent  proposed. — Catholic  board  organized. — Mr.  (Sir  Robert)  Peel,  chief  secre- 
tary in  Ireland. — His  policy  and  acts. — Famous  parliamentary  debate  in  1813.— Position  of  Ireland  at  this 
date. — Earnest  working  for  the  cause. — The  prince  regent  said  to  be  in  favor  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
claims. — Hopes  and  expectations  excited. — Ministry  denounced. — Protestants  roused. — Feelings  and  views 
manifested. — Various  acts  of  outrage  in  Ireland. — The  state  of  things  adverse  to  Catholic  claims. — Mr. 
Perceval  assassinated. — Result  in  general. 


(A.  D.  1807  TO  A.  D.  1813.) 


T^HE  decided  opposition  manifested  there  was  no  indulgence  to  be  looked 

for  by  them  at  his  hands.     Their  only 
course  henceforth  seemed  to  be  to  agi- 


-■-     by  King  George  III.  to  the  claims 
of  the  Catholics  made  it  evident  that 


JUSTICE  TO  IRELAND  DEMANDED. 


Y45 


tate  persistently,  and  by  steady,  judi- 
cious efforts  to  compel,  in  due  time, 
attention  to  their  just  rights  and  priv- 
ileges. 

As  stated  on  a  previous  page  (see  p. 
743),  Grattan  had  been  asked  to  pre- 
sent the  petition  drawn  up  by  the 
Catholic  committee.  But  the  change 
in  the  ministry  and  in  parliament,  and 
the  bitter  contentions  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  as  well  as  the  acrimony  of 
the  public  press,  rendered  necessary 
reconsideration  and  some  further  ac- 
tion. A  general  meeting  was  held  in 
Dublin,  April  18, 180Y,  the  earl  of  Fin- 
gall  presiding  ;  at  which  it  was  under- 
stood by  letter  from  Mr.  Grattan,  that 
in  his  opinion  it  would  be  inexpedi 
ent  to  bring  the  Catholic  question  at 
present  before  parliament.  Mr.  Keogh, 
O'Connell,  and  others  advised  this 
course ;  at  the  same  time  it  was  warmly 
urged  by  several  gentlemen  that  the 
petition  be  presented  at  once,  without 
further  delay.  The  resolution  proposed 
by  Mr.  Keogh  prevailed,  and  under  the 
circumstances  it  was  judged  best  to 
publish  an  address  explanatory  of  the 
principles  and  motives  of  the  Catholic 
body  in  regard  to  that  which  they 
were  now  seeking  to  attain. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1807,  the  duke 
of  Kichmond  arrived  in  Dublin,  as  the 
successor  of  the  duke  of  Bedford  in  the 
lord-lieutenancy.  Sir  Arthur  "Wellesley 
(afterwards  duke  of  Wellington)  was 
chief  secretary,  and  Lord  Manners  lord- 
chancellor.  The  new  parliament  met 
in    June,    and    Sir   Arthur   Wellesley 

94 


brought  in  a  bill,  early  in  July,  to  sup- 
press insurrection  and  prevent  disturb- 
ance of  public  peace  in  Ireland.  The 
debates  were  long  and  ardent,  and  the 
offensive  and  oppressive  features  of  the 
act  were  pointed  out  by  a  number  of 
speakers,  particularly  Sheridan.  It 
was  passed,  however,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  was  followed  by  other  acts 
of  less  interest  and  importance.  On 
the  14th  of  August,  Sheridan  made  an 
eloquent  speech  in  favor  of  a  motion  to 
go  into  an  inquiry  as  to  the  state  of 
Ireland.  "  Justice,"  he  said,  "  was  all 
that  Ireland  asked  for  or  looked  for  at 
their  hands ;  if  they  were  prepared  to 
do  justice  to  Ireland,  they  would  gain 
an  ally  more  faithful  and  more  import- 
ant than  any  they  had  lost  upon  the 
contiaent."  The  motion  was  nega- 
tived, and  parliament  prorogued  with- 
out further  notice  of  Ireland  and  her 
claims. 

During  the  autumn  of  1807,  Ireland 
was  in  a  state  of  agitation.  Meetings 
were  held,  resolutions  were  passed,  all 
looking  to  the  great  end  of  emancipa- 
tion. In  January,  1808,  a  meeting  was 
held  in  Dublin,  and  a  petition  drawn 
up,  which  was  intrusted  to  Grattan  to 
present,  as  usual. 

The  veto  question  now  came  promi- 
nently into  notice.  Lord  Fingall,  on 
behalf  of  the  Irish  Catholic  body,  as- 
serted their  willingness  to  allow  the 
crown  to  exercise  a  direct  control  in 
the  appointment  of  bishops  and  clergy. 
Dr.  Milner  sustained  the  statements  of 
Lord  Fingall,  and  was  authorized  to 


•746 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE   III. 


say  that  the  Irish  bishops  would  agree 
to  the  negative  or  veto  power  of  the 
government  in  nomination  to  bishoprics 
in  Ireland.  When,  then,  Grattan,  in 
May,  1808,  brought  forward  the  Cath- 
olic petition,  he  stated  that  he  was 
able  to  assure  the  house  explicitly  that 
the  Catholics  were  ready  and  willing 
to  concede  to  the  crown  a  veto  on  the 
election  of  bishops.  Mr.  Perceval,  on 
the  part  of  the  ministry,  opposed  the 
petition,  notwithstanding  this  assurance, 
and  it  was  rejected.  Lord  Grenville, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  discussed  the 
veto  question,  declaring,  among  other 
things,  that  it  was  Pitt's  view  and  de- 
sire to  have  some  such  arrangement  as 
that  "  the  king  should  have  a  negative 
in  the  nomination  of  those  of  the  Cath- 
olic clergy  who  are  allowed  to  exercise 
episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  no  one  should 
act  in  that  capacity  without  the  appro- 
bation of  the  crown." 

Dr.  Milner  subsequently  protested 
against  the  use  made  of  his  name  in 
this  matter  ;  and  the  consequence  was 
a- division  among  the  Catholic  party, 
many  of  whom  were  in  favor  of  the 
negative  power  which  was  to  be  given 
to  the  crown  by  this  suggested  meas- 
ure, while  the  greater  number  were  as 
■warmly  opposed  to  it.  Thus  a  contro- 
versy arose,  which  lasted  for  several 
years.  It  produced  an  immediate  agi- 
tation among  the  Catholic  body  in  Ire- 
land ;  and  the  bishops  met  in  synod  in 
Dublin,  on  the  14th  and  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, and  passed  resolutions :  "  That 
it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  the  Eoman 


Catholic  prelates  of  Ireland  that  it  is 
inexpedient  to  introduce  any  alteration 
in  the  canonical  mode  hitherto  observed 
in  the  nomination  of  the  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  bishops,  which  mode  long  ex- 
perience has  proved  unexceptionably 
wise  and  salutary.  That  the  Roman 
Catholic  prelates  pledge  thsmselves  to 
adhere  to  the  rules  by  which  they 
have  been  hitherto  uniformly  guided — 
namely,  to  recommend  to  his  holiness 
only  such  persons  as  are  of  unimpeach- 
able loyalty  and  peaceable  conduct." 
Other  meetings  were  held,  and  the  pre- 
vailing opinion  among  the  Catholics  in 
Ireland  ajjpears  to  have  been  against 
the  veto. 

During  the  present  session  (1808) 
various  matters  were  urged  upon 
parliament  with  reference  to  Ireland. 
Prison  abuses  of  a  disgraceful  and 
shocking  character  were  pointed  out ; 
petitions  against  the  tithe  system  were 
very  numerous  and  pressing ;  and  the 
government  gave  a  reluctant  promise 
to  look  into  the  subject. 

The  agitation  against  the  Catholic 
claims,  which  was  encouraged  by  the 
government,  and  a  feeling  of  resent- 
ment against  the  whole  body  of  Cath- 
olics on  account  of  promised  indul- 
gences from  government,  produced  an 
irritable  state  of  mind  and  temper  in 
the  country.  In  several  districts  hostil- 
ity broke  out  into  serious  collisions,  at- 
tended by  loss  of  life  ;  and  the  Orange 
yeomanry  were  guilty  of  outrage  of  a 
rery  shameful  description,  wherever  and 
whenever  they  had  an  opportunity. 


EXCITED  STATE  OF  FEELING. 


747 


In  May,  1809,  the  Catholics  held  a 
large  meeting  in  Dublin,  and  earnestly- 
debated  the  expediency  of  petitioning 
parliament  at  its  present  session.  The 
majority  were  in  favor  of  pressing  for- 
ward, and  never,  even  in  appearance, 
faltering  or  giving  up  their  claims.  The 
Catholics  also  gathered  fresh  vigor  by 
reviving  the  Catholic  committee.  Their 
activity  provoked  the  government,  and 
was  responded  to  by  an  increase  of 
violent  language  in  the  Orange  lodges, 
which,  reckoning  on  the  countenance  of 
the  ministers,  acted  in  a  manner  which' 
was  most  insulting  and  aggravating  to 
their  opponents,  and  which  sometimes 
led  to  lamentable  outbreaks.  In  fact, 
Orangeism  was  at  this  moment  in- 
creasing rapidly,  and  a  great  number 
of  new  lodges  had  been  established 
during  the  past  and  present  j^ear.  This 
extension  was  attributed  partly  to  the 
exertions  of  a  meeting  of  deputies  from 
all  the  Orange  lodges  in  the  autumn  of 
1808,  in  Dublin.  Several  outrages 
which  were  perpetrated  by  the  Orange- 
men  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
during  the  summer  of  1809,  increased 
the  popular  irritation.  At  Enniscor- 
thy  a  magistrate  had  rendered  himself 
obnoxious  to  the  Orangemen  by  his 
tolerant  feelings  ;  and  at  the  celebration 
of  their  festival  in  July  they  cut  down 
a  tree  and  erected  it  in  the  market- 
place, with  an  eflSgy  of  the  magistrate 
hanging  to  its  branches.  This  insult 
led  to  a  riot,  in  which  many  persons 
were  severely  wounded.  At  Enniskil- 
len  an  Orangeman  was  executed  for  the 


murder  of  a  Catholic,  and  it  was  found 
necessary  to  guard  him  at  the  execu- 
tion with  a  strong  militaiy  force  against 
the  Orange  yeomanry,  who  had  mani- 
fested an  intention  to  rescue  him.  A 
similar  feeling  was  strongly  manifested 
in  many  places. 

The  question  of  the  veto  aroused 
considerable  feeling  in  England  early 
in  1810.  At  a  meeting  of  the  English 
Roman  Catholics  in  London,  on  the  1st 
of  February,  the  following  resolution 
was  adopted,  and  subsequently  added 
to  the  English  Catholic  petition  to 
parliament.  This  resolution,  it  will  be 
seen,  was  expressed  in  very  general, 
terms.  It  stated,  "that  the  English 
Roman  Catholics,  in  soliciting  the  at- 
tention of  parliament  to  their  petition, 
are  actuated,  not  more  by  a  sense  of 
the  hardshij^s  and  disabilities  under 
which  they  labor,  than  by  a  desire  to 
secure  on  the  most  solid  foundation  the 
peace  and  harmony  of  the  British  em- 
pire ;  and  to  obtain  for  themselves  op- 
portunities of  manifesting,  by  the  most 
active  exertions,  their  zeal  and  interest 
in  the  common  cause  in  which  their 
country  is  engaged  for  the  maintenance 
of  its  freedom  and  independence ;  and 
that  they  are  firmly  persuaded  that 
adequate  provision  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  civil  and  religious  establishments 
of  this  kingdom  may  be  made  consis- 
tently with  the  strictest  adherence,  on 
their  part,  to  the  tenets  and  discipline 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  ;  and 
that  any  arrangement  founded  on  this 
basis  of  mutual  satisfaction  and  secu- 


748 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IH. 


rity,  and  extending  to  them  tlie  full 
enjoyment  of  the  civil  constitution  of 
their  country,  will  meet  with  their 
grateful  concurrence."  The  English 
Catholics  wished  to  prevail  upon  their 
Irish  brethren  to  accept  of  this  clause, 
but  in  vain ;  and  it  was  urged  that 
they  were  wavering  in  their  allegiance 
to  the  pope.  The  subject  was  discussed 
in  several  meetings  of  the  Catholics  in 
Ireland  during  the  earlier  months  of 
1810,  and  the  proposal  was  everywhere 
rejected.  In  the  meanwhile  liberal 
sentiments  towards  the  Catholics  were 
gaining  ground  among  the  Protestants, 
and  a  large  meeting  in  the  county  of 
Tyrone,  in  the  beginning  of  April, 
which  was  attended  by  many  of  the 
Orangemen  in  that  county,  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  in  favor  of  eman- 
cipation. 

Grattan,  in  njaking  his  annual  mo- 
tion in  favor  of  petition  from  the 
Catholics,  spoke  of  the  veto,  and 
frankly  stated  that,  in  his  judgment, 
some  proviso  of  the  kind  was  called  for, 
and  was  just  and  reasonable.  The 
Irish  Catholics,  however,  much  as  they 
appreciated  his  devotion  to  their  inter- 
ests, did  not  approve  his  views  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  House  of  Commons.  A 
resolution  was  passed  by  them,  March 
2,  1810,  stating  that,  "as  Irishmen  and 
as  Catholics,  we  never  can  consent  to 
any  dominion  or  control  whatsoever 
over  the  appointment  of  our  prelates 
on  the  part  of  the  crown  or  the  ser- 
vants of  the  crown."  Later  in  the  ses- 
sion, in  May,  Grattan  expressed  him- 


self more  fully  on  the  same  subject. 
He  was  ably  supported  in  his  ai-gu- 
ments  and  appeals  on  behalf  of  the 
Catholics  and  their  claims;  but  to  nc 
practical  purpose.  The  petition  was 
rejected. 

Government,  however,  thought  it  ex- 
pedient to  relax  a  little  of  their  rigor- 
ous policy,  and  early  in  June  a  bill 
was  brought  into  parliament  to  repeal 
the  Irish  Insurrection  Act  (see  p.  745). 
This  was  done  on  the  ground  that  the 
authorities  felt  that  they  could  govern 
the  country  without  it,  and  were  strong 
enough  to  maintain  peace  and  public 
tranquillity  without  continuing  in  force 
a  law  justified  only  by  the  most  urgent 
necessity.  Other  acts  were  passed  for 
preventing  improper  persons  from  hav- 
ing arms  in  Ireland ;  for  preventing 
the  administration  of  unlawful  oaths, 
and  the  protection  of  magistrates ;  for 
regulating  trade  and  management  of 
the  revenue,  etc. 

The  question  of  the  veto  gave  rise  to 
bitter  discussions  among  the  Catholics 
during  the  year  1810,  from  the  circum- 
stance that  some  of  their  ablest  advo- 
cates in  parliament,  such  as  Lord  Gren- 
ville,  Grattan,  and  Ponsonby,  had  not 
only  advocated  that  measure,  but  de- 
clared that  they  considered  it  a  neces- 
sary condition.  One  of  the  most  vio- 
lent and  unflinching  writers  against  the 
veto  at  this  time  was  Dr.  Milner,  the 
agent  in  England  of  the  Catholic  pre- 
lates, who  had  at  first  been  in  favor  of 
it.  His  earnest  opjiosition  to  it  was 
rewarded  by  the  thanks  of  the  Irish 


GENERAL   COMMITTEE'S  ADDRESS. 


Y49 


Catholic  bishops,  conveyed  in  a  resolu- 
tion passed  in  a  synod  held  at  the  end 
of  February,  1810.  A  few  days  after- 
wards the  Catholic  committee  passed  a 
resolution  condemning  the  veto.  Many, 
however,  were  not  only  laboring  to 
obtain  the  consent  of  the  Catholics  to 
the  veto,  but  they  intrigued  to  pro- 
mote divisions  and  disputes  among 
the  Catholic  body;  and  pamphlets 
and  newspaper  articles  were  circulated 
largely,  and  were  full  of  recriminations 
and  personal  abuse.  The  committee 
exerted  itself  to  restore  and  maintain 
unanimity;  and  at  the  end  of  July  a 
circular  was  prepared  and  sent  to  all 
the  leading  Catholics  in  Ireland.  An 
extract  or  two  will  show  its  force  and 
pertinency : 

"  The  general  committee  of  the  Cath- 
olics of  Ireland,  having  consulted  to- 
gether upon  the  best  interests  of  Cath- 
olic freedom,  deem  it  proper  to  address 
the  following  considerations  to  their 
Catholic  fellow-sufferers  at  this  import 
ant  juncture.  It  is  notorious  that  the 
Catholic  cause  has,  within  the  last  two 
years,  gained  considerably  upon  the 
public  mind  in  Great  Britain,  as  well 
as  in  Ireland.  The  nature  of  public 
events,  their  consequences,  the  growing 
exigencies  of  the  empire,  the  policy, 
nay,  the  necessity  of  domestic  concord 
and  general  conciliation,  have  wrought 
a  happy  change  in  the  minds  of  our 
fellow-subjects.  But  still  more  to  the 
public  discussion  of  the  Catholic  sub- 
ject, which  has  so  frequently  occupied 
the  press  and  the  parliament,  and  called 


forth  beneficial  inquiries  and  luminous 
reasonings,  enforced  by  the  high  and 
increasins:  authorities  of  the  best  and 
ablest  men  in  the  empire,  may  the 
Catholics  justly  attribute  the  immense 
progress  which  their  cause  has  lately 
made. 

"However,  though  the  argument  has 
triumphed,  its  practical  results  in  our 
fevor  are  yet  to  be  obtained.  The 
fruits  of  victory  may  be  lost  through 
the  impolicy  of  the  victors.  Apathy 
and  lethargy  may  prove  as  ruinous  on 
the  one  hand,  as  indiscreet  energy  on 
the  other.  Our  fellow-subjects,  though 
no  longer  deaf  to  the  justice  of  our* 
cause,  or  blind  to  the  wisdom  of  con- 
cession, have  yet  much  to  learn.  They 
are  not  yet  aware  of  the  extent  and  va- 
riety of  Catholic  sufferings ;  the  mental 
and  pei-soTial  thraldom  in  which  we  are 
bound ;  the  immense  means  of  continual 
annoyance,  insult,  and  contumely  to 
which  we  and  our  families  are  exposed. 
Nor  are  they  yet  competent  to  appre- 
ciate the  soreness,  irritation,  and  im- 
patience which  consequently  exist  in 
Ireland,  or  to  calculate  the  probable 
mischiefs  and  disastrous  effects  which 
result  from  such  an  order  of  things,  and 
may  possibly  soon  become  irremediable. 
The  Catholics  alone  can  enlighten  their 
fellow-subjects,  by  disclosing  and  fre- 
quently repeating  the  necessary  infor- 
mation, and  pouring  forth  fresh  remon- 
strances. The  committee,  far  from  pre- 
suming to  dictate,  or  even  to  urge  any 
specific  proceeding  to  the  wisdom  of 
their   fellow-Catholics,   desire   nothing 


^50 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE  III. 


more  ardently  than  to  promote  free 
and  serious  discussion  amongst  all. 
With  unaffected  earnestness  and  honest 
zeal  in  pursuit  of  emancipation,  they 
are  conscious  that  their  countrymen  will 
give  them  credit  for  the  honorable  and 
worthy  motives  which  actuated  them. 
Every  honest  and  reflecting  Catholic  feels 
with  anguish  his  abject  depression,  his 
systematic  vassalage  under  the  existing 
penal  laws.  H-is  fairest  hopes  are  de- 
pressed; his  industry  circumscribed; 
his  most  honorable  exertions  frustrated ; 
his  energies  paralyzed ;  his  person,  fame, 
and  property,  and  those  of  his  family, 
exposed  to  the  mercies  of  uncontrolled 
oligarchy ;  his  servitude  not  merely 
base  already,  but  in  annual  hazard  of 
fresh  degradation ;  the  passing  genera- 
tion withering  away  in  inglorious  tor- 
por ;  the  rising  youth  bereft  of  all 
happy  promise — of  all  incentive  to 
laudable  industry — of  all  excitement  to 
honorable  deeds. 

"  The  committee  hope  that  Catholics 
will  take  frequent  opportunities,  and 
as  early  as  possible,  of  holding  local 
meetings  for  these  purposes  ;  and  there, 
unfettered  by  external  authority  and 
unaffected  by  dictation,  apply  their 
most  serious  consideration  to  subjects 
of  common  and  weighty  concern  with 
the  candor  and  directness  of  mind 
which  appertain  to  the  national  char- 
acter. The  establishment  of  perma- 
nent boards,  holding  communication 
with  the  general  committee  in  Dublin, 
has  been  deemed  in  several  counties 
highly  useful   to  the  interests  of  the 


Catholic  cause.  Nothing  is  more  neces- 
sary amongst  us  than  self-agency ;  it 
will  produce  that  system  of  coherence 
of  conduct  which  must  insure  success. 

"  In  this  solemn  appeal  to  the  Cath- 
olic mind  of  Ireland,  the  committee 
feel  a  deep  and  natural  anxiety ;  they 
wish  to  collect  and  follow  the  senti- 
ments of  their  fellow  Catholics,  but 
they  wish  that  those  sentiments  may 
spring  from  as  general  and  as  active 
a  discussion  as  circumstances  will  per- 
mit ;  measures  grounded  upon  such  dis- 
cussion must  be  honest,  most  probably 
will  be  judicious,  and  cannot  possibly 
be  prejudicial. 

"  With  a  fellowshiji  in  suffering  and 
in  affection,  in  sorrow  and  in  hope, 
with  common  sympathy,  common  pros- 
pects, and  common  wishes,  in  perfect 
union  with  you  and  every  other  up- 
right Catholic,  the  general  committee 
trust  to  your  personal  indulgence  for 
their  address,  and  rely  upon  your  good 
sense  and  feeling  for  its  liberal  recep- 
tion. 

"  Upon  you  and  other  Catholics,  co- 
operating effectually  at  the  present 
time,  and  openly  avowing  your  senti- 
ments, collected  by  convenient  meetings 
for  the  purpose,  the  eyes  of  the  com- 
mittee will  remain  watchfully  fixed. 
With  due  exertions,  a  few  months  may, 
perhaps,  crown  our  joint  efforts  with 
success. 

"  Signed,  by  order, 

"  DANIEL  O'CONNELL,  Chairman." 

In  the  summer  of  1810  a  movement 
was  made  to  see  if  something  could  not  ■ 


COUESE   OF  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


751 


be  done  towards  effecting  a  repeal  of 
the  Union.  Several  members  of  the 
coi-poration  of  Dublin,  looking  upon 
the  question  as  one  in  wbich  the  com- 
mercial prosperity  of  Ireland  was  deeply 
concerned,  determined  to  have  prepared 
a  petition  to  parliament  in  behalf  of 
repeal.  The  high-sheriffs  were  asked 
to  call  a  meeting  of  the  freemen  and  free- 
holders of  the  city,  "  to  prepare  an  hum- 
ble petition  to  his  majesty  and  the  par- 
liament, praying  for  a  repeal  of  the  Act 
of  Union,  as,  in  common  with  all  our  un- 
biased countrymen,  we  look  upon  that 
act  as  the  root  and  origin  of  all  our 
misfortunes."  One  of  the  sheriffs  re- 
fused ;  the  other  agreed  to  call  the 
meeting.  It  assembled  on  the  18th  of 
September,  1810,  when  Sir  James  Red- 
dell,  the  sheriff*  presided.  An  im- 
mense assemblage  was  gathered,  and 
the  business  formally  entered  upon. 
The  petition,  as  prepared,  was  read  and 
agreed  to,  O'Connell  making  a  spirited 
address  in  its  favor,  and  condemning 
the  Union  and  its  results  in  the  most 
unmitigated  terms.  His  speech  was 
printed  and  spread  abroad  by  the 
thousand  all  over  the  island,  and  it 
certainly  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
his  countrymen.  The  repeal  petition 
was  forcibly  written,  and  urged  the 
point  at  issue  with  great  cogency  and 
earnestness,  affirming,  in  conclusion, 
"  that  to  the  repeal  of  the  legislative 
union  can  the  people  of  this  country 
look,  as  the  only  efficient  means  of  pro- 
curing its  present  relief,  of  securing  its 
future  prosperity,  and  securing  its  per- 


manent connection  with  Great  Britain." 
The  time,  however,  had  not  yet  arrived 
when  this  subject  could  receive  its  full 
share  of  attention.  Just  now,  other 
and  more  immediately  pressing  topics 
engaged  the  thoughts  of  the  Catholics 
in  Ireland. 

The  government  looked  with  some 
concern  upon  the  proceedings  of  the 
Catholic  committee,  and  it  was  resolved 
to  enforce  the  Convention  act  (passed 
in  1793)  against  that  body.  The  mat- 
ter was  allowed  to  rest  for  a  brief  pe- 
riod, Lord  French  and  othere  declaring 
that  they  were  only  individuals  met  to 
petition  parliament  in  a  legal  way  ;  but 
iu  March,  1811,  Mr.  Ponsonby  brought 
the  subject  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  some  very  severe  remarks 
were  made  on  the  conduct  of  the  Irish 
o-overnment.  In  the  course  of  the  ses- 
sion  several  other  warm  debates  took 
place  on  Irish  affairs  ;  but  all  attempts 
to  obtain  relief  or  investigation  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  ministerial  major- 
ities. 

On  the  31st  of  May,  Grattan  brought 
the  Catholic  petition  before  the  House 
of  Commons,  but  in  vain.  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson announced  his  intention  of  mov 
ing  for  the  repeal  of  the  Convention 
act;  and  on  the  11th  of  June,  Mr. 
Parnell  repeated  his  motion  for  an  in- 
quiry into  the  Irish  tithe  system. 

The  Catholic  committee  having  re- 
solved to  hold  a  general  convention  of 
that  bod}'-,  delegates  were  chosen  fi-om 
the  several  councies  to  meet  in  Dublin. 
This  brought  the  Catholics  within  the 


V52 


REIGN"  OF  GEORGE  III. 


scope  of  the  Convention  act,  and  the 
magistrates  were  directed  to  enforce 
the  law.  A  number  of  arrests  were 
made  of  persons  acting  or  being  elected 
as  delegates.  When,  on  the  19th  of 
October,  the  delegates,  to  the  number 
of  three  hundred,  met  in  Dublin,  the 
magistrates  interfered,  and  would  have 
proceeded  to  further  severity  had  not 
the  meeting  dispersed  in  quiet.  Later 
in  the  season,  December  23d,  the  ma- 
gistrates broke  up  the  meeting  entirely. 
The  government  also  proceeded  to  take 
a  more  stringent  course.  In  November 
the  attorney-general  filed  information 
against  the  earl  of  Fingall  for  presiding 
over  Catholic  meetings,  against  several 
persons  for  attending  them,  and  against 
the  proprietoi'S  of  the  "  Freeman's  Jour- 
nal" and  the  "  Correspondent,"  for  pub- 
lishing reports  of  their  proceedings. 
On  the  23d  of  November,  the  attorney- 
general  applied  for  an  attachment  against 
Mr.  Magee,  the  proprietor  of  the  "  Du^ 
lin  Evening  Post,"  for  a  paragraph  in 
that  paper  relating  to  the  recent  prose- 
cutions, which  the  attorney-general  said 
tended  to  interfere  with  the  course 
of  justice.  He  at  the  same  time  an- 
noijnced  that  the  court  had  come  to 
the  opinion  that  the  Catholic  commit- 
tee was  an  illegal  assembly,  and  that 
the  prosecutions  would  not  be  persisted 
in  if  that  body  offered  no  further  re- 
sistance. Immediately  afterwards  the 
Irish  Catholics  gave  a  grand  dinner  in 
Dublin,  which  was  attended  not  only 
by  some  of  the  principal  Catholic  no- 
blemen,  but    by   many   distinguished 


Protestants,  among  whom  were  Grattan 
and  Curran.  Early  in  the  year  1812, 
it  may  be  here  mentioned,  the  govern- 
ment carried  forward  the  prosecutions, 
which  resulted  in  several  convictions, 
sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  power 
and  determination  of  the  public  authoi'- 
ities  on  this  subject. 

An  "  aggregate  meeting,"  as  it  was 
very  aptly  called,  came  together  on  the 
26th  of  December,  1811,  Lord  Fingall 
being  in  the  chair.  A  petition  to  the 
prince  regent  was  determined  on ;  strong 
I'esolutions,  condemnatory  of  the  duke  of 
Richmond's  government,  were  passed ; 
the  general  committee  was  dissolved ; 
and  the  "  Catholic  Board"  established  in 
its  stead.  The  principle  on  which  this 
board  was  formed  was  to  have  a  coun- 
cil always  in  action,  but  without  any 
delegative  power  such  as  was  forbidden 
in  the  Convention  act,  and  to  get  up 
"  aggregate  meetings"  for  the  purpose 
of  arousing  and  informing  the  people. 

During  1812,  Mr,  (afterwards  Sir 
Robert)  Peel  became  chief  secretary 
of  Ireland,  an  office  which  he  held, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  the  Irish,  for  six 
years.  Peel  had  little  or  no  sympathy 
with  the  Catholic  claims  and  demands, 
and  his  superior  abilities  were  devoted 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  English  su- 
premacy, and  the  carrying  out  of  the 
laws  against  all  offenders.  He  avowed 
plainly  that,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned, 
the  Roman  Catholics  should  remain  as 
they  were,  and  the  Protestant  ascend- 
ency not  at  all  be  lowered  or  dimin- 
ished.    Some  Catholic  writers  speak  of 


DEBATE  IN   PARLIAMENT. 


Y53 


Peel  and  bis  measures  Avith  exceeding 
seventy,  and  affirm  that,  during  his 
secretaryship,  "the  business  of  spies, 
informers,  and  police  flourished."  They 
denounced  his  attendants  as  made  up 
of  "  spies,  informers,  expectants,  place- 
hunters,  Orange  magistrates,  Orange 
judges.  Orange  sheriffs,  Orange  juries. 
Orange  attorney-generals;"  and  they 
tell  us  "  that  his  iniquitous  organiza- 
tion kept  Ireland  for  twenty  yeara  in  a 
state  which  no  description  can  picture." 
Other  writers  admit  his  great  abilities 
in  various  steps  which  he  took  during 
his  term  of  office.  "  After  a  half  cen- 
tury's experience,"  remarks  McGee,  "  we 
may  safely  say  that  the  Irish  constabu- 
lary have  shown  themselves  to  be  a 
most  valuable  police,  and  as  little  de- 
serving popular  ill-will  as  any  such 
body  can  ever  expect  to  be  ;  but  they 
were  judged  very  differently  during  the 
secretaryship  of  their  founder ;  for  at 
that  time,  being  new  and  intrusive, 
they  may,  no  doubt,  have  deserved 
many  of  the  hard  and  bitter  things 
which  were  generally  said  of  them."* 

An  earnest  and  long  debate,  famous 
in  parliamentary  annals,  took  place 
early  in  1812,  on  the  state  of  Ireland 
and  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 
But,  on  the  whole,  the  result  of  the  de- 
bate was  rather  prejudicial  than  other- 
wise to  the  Irish  hopes  and  wishes. 
AU  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  day 
had  taken  part  in  the  discussion,  and 
the  majority  in  both  houses  had  been 


*  The  term  Peeler   (derived   from   the   secretary's 
name)  ■was  in  use  as  a  bitter  reproach;  it  was  sy- 
95 


decisive.  A  feeling,  moreover,  seems 
to  have  grown  up  in  the  public  mind, 
that  the  whigs  were  not  altogether  sin- 
cere in  their  advocacy  of  the  Catholic 
cause,  and  that  they  rather  used  it  as 
a  means  of  advancing  their  party  pur- 
poses than  for  any  other  effect.  Then 
there  was  a  potent  influence  in  the  fact 
that  the  regent  had  abandoned  his 
early  friends,  and  thrown  the  weight  of 
his  countenance  into  the  scale  of  their 
opponents ;  and  this  was  sufficient,  for  a 
long  season,  to  swell  the  hostility  on  the 
English  side  of  the  channel,  at  least 
against  the  emancipation  of  the  Cath- 
olics, in  which  the  general  welfare  of 
Ireland  was  for  so  many  years  in- 
volved. 

Ireland,  however,  was  assuming  more 
and  more  importance  in  public  estima- 
tion, and  questions  relating  to  her  po- 
sition and  claims  could  not  longer  be 
put  aside  without  a  hearing.  Concili- 
ation was  demanded,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent obtained. 

Difficulties  occurred  in  regard  to  the 
cabinet,  which  rendered  it  hard  to 
agree  upon  the  men  who  were  to  retain 
the  reins  of  power.  Lord  Wellesley 
came  out  against  the  ministerial  policy 
as  to  the  Catholics.  Grattan  displayed 
his  eloquence  and  ability  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  where  he  had  so  often 
advocated  emancipation.  As  a  late 
writer  observes :  "  Men  were  in  earnest 
in  that  day  of  1812,  when  prejudice, 
political  rancor,  and    national  danger 


nonymoM  with  spy,  iofoimer,  and  every  thing  detest- 
able. 


754 


REIGN   OF  GEORGE  in. 


threw  a  misty  halo  over  all  objects  that 
the  miad  could  contemplate ;  and  when, 
whether  right  or  wi'ong,  they  were 
working  disinterestedly  for  the  best 
object  that  human  ingenuity  could  at- 
tain. Whether  right  or  wrong,  both 
sides  were  in  earnest ;  and  few  discus- 
sions have  taken  place  in  the  world's 
history,  in  which  greater  powers  of  de- 
bate, deeper  philosophical  knowledge 
of  human  interests,  or  broader  concep- 
tions of  the  world's  advantage  were 
entertained,  than  those  exhibited  in 
the  course  of  these  disquisitions." 

The  debate  just  spoken  of  produced 
a  great  and  powerful  impression ;  but 
there  was  another  occurrence  which 
surpassed  it  in  the  sensation  it  excited 
in  England  and  Ireland.  This  was  the 
statement  made  by  Mr.  Ponsouby,  that 
the  prince  regent  was  in  favor  of  con- 
cession to  the  Catholics.  The  senti- 
ments and  views  of  the  regent  being 
thus  authoritatively  stated,  it  awoke 
to  new  life  and  energy  the  hopes  and 
expectations  of  those  in  Ireland  who 
were  studying  to  promote  their  coun- 
try's welfare ;  and  it  was  at  once  con- 
cluded by  the  Catholics,  that  all  the 
prince  regent's  influence  would  be  given 
in  support  of  their  claims.  He  was 
looked  upon  as  their  benefactor,  and 
even  advocate,  and  they  counted  to  an 
extravagant  extent  upon  his  patriotic 
and  enlarged  views  and  promises.  His 
ministers  were  denounced  as  being  the 
only  obstacles  to  the  concession  of  their 
claims,  and  no  epithet  was  too  vile 
for  adoption  when  stigmatizing  their 


characters,  their  principles,  and  their 
proceedings.  In  England,  among  the 
more  earnest  of  the  Protestant  portion 
of  the  population,  the  declaration  ex- 
cited very  great  alarm  ;  and  there  was, 
on  their  part,  a  settled  determination 
to  uphold  every  thing  in  Church  and 
State  by  which  they  conceived  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  country  to  be  guarded, 
and  the  liberties  of  the  people  to  be 
secured.  It  was  a  great  blow  and  se- 
vere discouragement  to  that  great  party 
who  had  hitherto  acted  as  the  conserv- 
ative supports  of  the  government,  and 
upon  whom  the  reliance  of  those  in 
power  principally  rested.  The  conduct 
of  the  duke  of  Bedford  and  Mr.  Pon- 
sonby  was  severely  canvassed,  and  al- 
most universally  reprobated,  as  in  pal- 
pable violation  of  the  duty  owed  to 
the  king,  whose  sentiments  were  well- 
known  to  be  immovable  on  this  subject. 
Their  conduct  was  felt,  on  its  exposure, 
to  be  absolutely  militating  against  the 
cause  which  they  professed  to  serve. 
No  great  cause  was  ever  permanently 
successful,  except  through  the  action  of 
perfect  truth  and  uninterrupted  hon- 
esty. The  cause  of  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  needed  no  such  pandering  to 
popular  clamor.  It  was  great  in  itself, 
great  in  its  principles,  great  in  its  ac- 
tion on  the  public  mind,  great  in  the 
time  in  which  it  was  brought  before 
the  legislature,  and  great  in  the  men 
by  whom  it  was  advocated  and  en- 
forced. 

Not  only  the  public  press,  properly 
so-called,  but  men  in  every  grade  of 


CHARACTER   OF  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


T55 


society,  were  aroused  by  a  sense  of  the 
peril  of  the  country,  and  the  disadvan- 
tage to  which  the  British  government 
might  be  exposed  by  the  admission  of 
Catholics  to  seats  in  the  legislature, 
and  to  the  other  high  offices  in  the 
service  of  the  State.  Pamphlets,  books, 
and  appeals  abounded ;  and  not  only 
ordinary  writers,  but  men  whose  posi- 
tion was  eminent  lent  their  talents  to 
the  promotion  of  the  popular  feelings 
and  views,  and  by  animated  appeals, 
from  day  to  day,  and  week  to  week, 
the  attention  of  the  Protestants  in  both 
countries  was  kept  alert  and  active. 
On  the  continent  the  war  was  raging 
with  violence ;  in  Ireland,  acts  of  out- 
rage and  cruelty  were  perpetrated, 
and  a  system  of  lawless  disregard  to- 
wards person  and  property  was  inaug- 
urated. 

It  was  an  unfortunate  time  to  be 
seeking  favors  or  concessions  at  the 
hands  of  the  English  government.    The 


course  of  Bonaparte,  in  his  celebrated 
Milan  and  Berlin  decrees,  had  produced 
great  distress  in  the  manufacturing 
districts  in  England,  where  riot  and 
violence  prevailed  to  an  alarming  de- 
gree. The  present  ministry,  too,  under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Perceval,  aided 
by  Lord-Chancellor  Eldon,  possessed  a 
weight  of  influence  never  surpassed,  if 
ever  equalled  ;  and  the  Catholics  were 
at  disadvantage  in  pressing  their  claims 
upon  a  government  who  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  them. 

The  assassination  of  Mr.  Perceval,  in 
May,  1812,  gave  somewhat  of  a  new 
turn  to  jDublic  affairs.  It  produced  a 
good  deal  of  difficulty  in  the  ministerial 
ranks,  owing  to  personal  rivalry  among 
the  Whig  leaders,  without,  however, 
eftecting  any  material  change.  The 
hopes  of  the  Catholics  were  again 
doomed  to  disappointment,  and  the 
day  of  emancipation  was  postponed  for 
the  present. 


756 


llEIGN   OF   GEORGE   lU. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 


LEADEKSniP   OF   O  CORNELL. — EMANCIPATION   EFFECTED. 


State  of  affairs  at  tliis  date. — Qrattan'a  omancipation  bill. — Canning's  clatises. — Opinions  in  Ireland  as  to  tlie 
veto. — O'Connoll's  course. — Speech  at  aggregate  meeting  in  DuWin. — Prosecution  of  Maghee. — Outrages 
in  Ireland. — Severe  measures  resorted  to. — Petitions. — Veto  question. — Inquiries  into  the  state  of  Ireland. 
— Distress,  discontent,  etc. — O'Connell's  statement  as  to  veto  question. — George  IV.  and  his  queen. 
— Plunkett's  motion. — The  king's  visit  to  Ireland. — WeUesley,  lord-lieutenant. — Whiteboys  and  Captain 
Rock's  men. — Their  excesses  and  cruelties. — Famine  and  its  terrors. — Help  afforded  by  England. — 
WeUesley  insulted  in  Dublin  Theatre. — Moral  degradation  of  witnesses. — Tithe  composition  act. — State  of 
education  in  Ireland. — Use  of  the  Bible  in  schools. — The  Catholic  association  in  1833. — Its  power  and  in- 
fluence.— Catholic  rent. — Association  suppressed. — New  one  formed. — O'Connell's  threat. — Sir  F.  Burdett's 
resolution. — O'Connell's  activity  and  influence. — Canning's  ministry  and  death. — March  of  events. — O'Con- 
nell  elected  for  County  Clare. — Test  and  corporation  acts  repealed. — Wellington's  and  Peel's  policy. — 
Measures  adopted. — Emancipation  carried. — O'Connell  in  the  House. — Seat  denied  him. — Re-elected,  and 
victory  at  last  complete. 


(A.  D.  1813  TO  A.  D.  1829.) 


IN  pursuing  tlie  course  of  Irisli  his- 
tory, for  a  number  of  years  to  come, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  attempt  to  go  into 
any  lengthy  details.  The  one  great 
object  of  the  Catholic  leaders,  especially 
O'Connell,  the  chief,  was  patent  to  all, 
and  it  was  persistently  carried  forward. 
The  question  of  the  Catholic  claims,  in 
all  their  length  and  breadth,  was  con- 
stantly brought  before  parliament,  and 
the  patriots  whose  names  have  often 
been  mentioned  in  these  pages,  the 
Grattans,  Cannings,  Piunketts,  and  oth- 
ers, still  raised  their  voices  and  gave 
their  best  efforts  to  secure  the  end 
desired.  Concession  was  again  and 
again  promised,  debated,  almost  with- 
in the  grasp  of  the  friends  of  Ire- 
land;   but   it    was    again    and 


agam 


postponed  to  a  later  day.  Evils  were 
complained  of,  with  steady  determina- 
tion to  have  them  abated,  if  possible ; 
and  yet  the  government  as  steadily 
opposed,  and  threw  every  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  the  demands  made  by  the 
Catholics  to  abolish  the  penal  laws  in 
their  various  oppressive  features.  Nev- 
ertheless, although  slowly,  the  course 
was  onward ;  and  however  much  hin- 
dei-ed  by  folly,  outbreaks  of  passion, 
and  lawlessness,  it  was  destined,  in  due 
time,  to  reach  the  goal  of  success. 

At  the  close  of  November,  1812,  a 
new  parliament  met,  and  the  prince 
regent,  in  his  opening  speech,  spoke  of 
the  war  on  the  continent,  the  war  re- 
cently begun  by  the  United  States, 
etc.,  but  made  no  allusion  to  the  Cath- 


EMANCIPATION  BILL  IN  PARLIAMENT. 


157 


olic  claims.  Canning,  the  previous 
summer,  had  carried  a  motion  in  favor 
of  "such  a  final  and  conciliatory  adjust- 
ment as  may  be  conducive  to  the  peace 
and  strength  of  the  United  Kingdom," 
by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  to  one  hundred  and  six.  Encour- 
aged by  this  success,  Grattan,  on  the 
30th  of  April,  1813,  introduced  his 
Emancipation  bill  into  parliament.  It 
contained  several  important  enactments, 
vphich  may  here  be  briefly  noted.  The 
preamble  declared  the  Protestant  suc- 
cession to  the  throne  and  the  Protestant 
Church  establishment  to  be  inviolable  ; 
and  also,  the  expediency  of  conferring 
upon  the  Roman  Catholics  the  bless- 
ings enjoyed  by  the  Protestants.  The 
bill  then  went  on  to  enact  that  it 
should  be  lawful  for  persons  professing 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith  to  sit  and 
vote  in  either  house  of  parliament, 
upon  making  a  declaration  of  oath, 
instead  of  the  usual  oaths  of  allegiance, 
abjuration,  and  supremacy,  and  the 
declarations  against  transubstantiation 
and  the  invocation  of  saints.  The  oath, 
which  was  very  long,  promised  alle- 
giance to  the  king,  and  renunciation  of 
all  temporal  power  or  jurisdiction  in 
the  pope.  On  taking  this  oath,  in  its 
plain  natural  sense,  Roman  Catholics 
were  eligible  to  hold  and  exercise  all 
civil  and  mihtary  offices,  or  places  of 
trust  or  profit,  with  the  exceptions  of 
the  offices  of  lord-high-chancellor,  lord- 
keeper,  or  lord-commissioner  of  the 
great  seal  of  Great  Britain;  or  lord- 
lieutenant,    or   lord-deputy,   or    other 


chief  governor  or  governors  of  Ireland ; 
also  to  be  a  member  of  a  lay  body  cor- 
porate, 1  A  to  hold  any  civil  office  or 
place  of  trust  therein. 

Canning  introduced  some  clauses 
which  secured  the  veto  power  to  the 
government.  Lord  Castlereagh  also  fa- 
vored this  course.  When  the  bill  came 
up  for  decision,  the  ministry  had  a 
small  majority ;  and  so  IVIi-.  Ponsonby 
moved  to  withdraw  it,  and  the  bill  was 
accordingly  withdrawn. 

Opinions  were  much  divided  in  L-e- 
land  upon  this  result.  The  desire  for 
emancipation,  and  for  the  numerous 
openings  that  it  would  give  the  Cath- 
olics in  every  branch  of  the  jiublic  ser- 
vice, was  so  intense  amongst  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  that  they  were  indig- 
nant in  the  extreme  that  their  views 
should  be  opposed  by  what  they  termed 
only  a  mere  matter  of  discipline.  If 
they  did  but  grant  a  veto  to  govern- 
ment, emancipation  was  certain,  and  all 
its  consequences  were  theirs.  But  they 
were  strenuously  opposed  by  the  lower 
classes,  the  priesthood  generally,  and 
most  of  the  popular  leaders  of  the  day. 
In  this  conflict  O'Connell  was  particu- 
larly active,  and  his  influence  great; 
and,  indeed,  he  was,  throughout  the 
whole  of  this  period,  apparently  not 
less  disinterested  and  patriotic  than  he 
was  earnest  and  diligent.  Amid  much 
opposition  and  personal  reproach,  he 
adopted  the  views  and  policy  of  the 
priesthood  in  Ireland,  who  steadily  re- 
fused any  connection  with  the  State 
in  appointments  to  vacant  bishoprics. 


15S 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE   III. 


The  ^reat  mass  of  the  E-oioau  Catliolics 
went  with  them. 

Afjojreo-ate  meetinsrs  followed ;  irri- 
tation  and  excitement  were  prevalent. 
O'Connell's  course,  as  the  exponent  and 
advocate  of  the  masses,  was  denounced 
by  some  of  the  gentry.  Mr.  Grattan's 
bill  was  criticized,  and  in  many  respects 
disapproved ;  and  the  old  bone  of  con- 
tention, the  veto  power,  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  Roman  Catholic  pre- 
lates, Ma}^  27th,  "utterly  incompati- 
ble with  the  discipline  of  the  Roman 
Church,  and  with  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion  ;"  they  also  declared  that 
"  they  could  not,  without  incurring  the 
guilt  of  schism,  accede  to  such  regula- 
tions," as  were  contemplated  by  Mr. 
Grattan's  bill. 

A  passage  or  two  from  O'Connell's 
speech  at  the  aggregate  meeting,  held 
in  June  in  Dublin,  will  illustrate  his 
views  and  position  at  this  date.  He 
was  received  with  immense  popular 
demonstration,  for  which  he  returned 
abundant  thanks.  "  Your  enemies  say," 
he  went  on,  "  and  let  them  say,  that 
I  wish  for  a  separation  between  Eng- 
land and  Ireland.  The  charge  is  false  ; 
it  is,  to  use  a  modern  quotation,  '  as 
folse  as  hell ;'  and  the  men  who  orig- 
inated it,  and  the  men  who  inculcate 
it,  know  its  falsehood.  Tliere  lives 
not  a  man  less  desirous  of  a  separation 
between  the  two  countries ;  there  lives 
not  a  man  more  deeply  convinced  that 
the  conoection  between  them,  based  on 
one  king  and  two  separate  parliaments, 
would  be  of  the  utmost  value  to  the 


happiness  of  both  countiles,  and  the 
liberties  of  the  civilized  world.  Next, 
your  enemies  accuse  me  of  a  desire  for 
the  independence  of  Ireland.  I  admit 
the  charge;  and  let  them  make  the 
most  of  it.  I  have  seen  Ireland  a  king- 
dom ;  I  rejoroach  myself  with  having 
lived  to  behold  her  a  province.  Yes, 
I  confess  it;  I  have  an  ulterior  object. 
It  is  the  repeal  of  the  JJvion.  and  the 
restoi'ation  of  old  Ireland  to  her  inde- 
pendence. I  am  told  that  it  is  indis- 
creet to  avow  this  intention.  It  va?c^ 
be  so  ;  but  in  public  affiiirs  indiscretion 
amounts  to  dissimulation  ;  and  if  to  re- 
peal the  Union  be  the  first  service,  as 
it  clearly  is,  that  can  be  rendered  to  Ire- 
land, I,  for  one,  most  readily  offer  to 
postpone  our  emancipation,  in  order  to 
promote  the  cause  of  our  country. 

"  The  delay  of  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion I  hail  with  joy,  because  in  that 
delay  lies  the  only  jirospect  of  attaining 
my  gi-eat,  my  ultimate  object — tlie  legis- 
lative independence  of  my  native  land. 
Emissaries  are  abroad.  Agents  have 
been  employed.  Abundance  of  money 
and  great  encouragement  are  held  out 
to  those  who  may  seduce  you  from 
your  allegiance.  Should  you  allow 
yourselves  to  be  so  seduced,  you  would 
have  no  friends,  no  supporters.  We, 
who  now  join  you  in  bearing  down 
upon  your  oppressors ;  we,  who  expose 
the  hypocrites  that  cover  their  bigotry 
in  the  stolen  garments  of  religion  ;  we, 
who  are  ready  to  brave  every  dangei', 
to  sustain  every  calumny,  and  every 
loss,  and  every  personal  inconvenience 


TROUBLED  STATE  OF  IRELAND. 


759 


iu  your  cause,  so  long  as  you  conduct 
that  cause  within  the  limits  of  the  con- 
stitution ;  we,  in  whom  you  confide, 
would  and  must  be  found,  if  you  vio- 
late the  law,  in  the  ranks  of  your  ene- 
mies, and  in  arms.  For  myself,  I  will 
tell  you  honestly,  that  if  ever  that  fatal 
day  arrives  you  will  find  me  arrayed 
against  you." 

In  1814,  aggregate  meetings  were 
held  in  various  parts  of  Ireland.  The 
Catholic  board  fell  into  insignificance, 
and  was  suppressed  by  the  government. 
O'Connell  was  the  head  and  soul  of  the 
democratic  movement  for  arousing  the 
people  of  Ireland,  not  simjoly  the  aris- 
tocracy or  gentry.  Maghee,  of  the 
"  Dublin  Evening  Post,"  in  which  cer- 
tain resolutions  passed  at  one  of  the 
aggregate  meetings  were  published, 
was  prosecuted  anew,  and  a  fine  of 
£1,000  added,  with  two  years'  impris- 
onment* This  roused  up  more  ill- 
blood,  and  deeper  hatred  of  the  Eng- 
lish government.  Agrarian  outrages, 
against  which  O'Connell  exerted  all  his 
infl-uence,  and  which  so  long  and  so  se- 
riously disturbed  and  injured  the  coun- 
try, were  continued  with  increased  vi- 
olence, so  that  neither  life  nor  projD- 
erty  became  safe.  Political  feeling  was 
roused  to  the  utmost  degree  of  rancor, 
and  secret  societies  were  formed  which 
were  most  treasonable  in  their  nature, 
and  fraught  with  the  greatest  danger 
to  the  country,  and  which,  no  doubt, 
were  guided  and  controlled  by  men  in 


*  The  year  before  this  same  person  had  been  proa- 
ecuted   for  libel  and  convicted,  although  O'Connell 


higher    positions    than    was   generally 
supposed. 

The  Irish  government,  Lord  Whit- 
worth  being  now  lord-lieutenant  in 
place  of  the  duke  of  Eichmond,  felt 
unable  to  grajiple  with  existing  difficul- 
ties. Peel  consequently  called  for  the 
passage  of  an  Insurrection  bill,  which 
was  promptly  carried  through  parlia- 
ment in  July,  1814.  The  result  of 
this  severe  measure  was  only  partially 
beneficial.  Outrage  and  disorder  were 
by  no  means  suppressed,  and  a  deeper 
gloom  seemed  to  be  settling  over  un- 
happy Ireland. 

The  next  year,  in  May,  1815,  a  pe- 
tition of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Ire- 
land was  presented  in  parliament,  and 
redress  of  grievances  was  earnestly  be- 
sought. A  petition  of  like  import  was 
brought  in  from  Catholics  in  England. 
Nothing,  however,  was  effected  at  this 
time.  The  old  trouble  of  the  veto 
power  was  not  yet  at  rest.  For  months 
the  fire  smouldered,  and  at  last  the 
prelates  of  their  Church  met,  and  agreed 
upon  a  petition  to  the  prince  regent, 
demanding,  in  somewhat  imperative 
terms,  a  redress  of  the  grievances  under 
which  they,  and  their  fellow-country- 
men of  the  same  persuasion,  labored ; 
and  expressing  their  feeling  that  eman- 
cipation, with  the  veto  attached,  would 
only  be  changing  one  form  of  oppres- 
sion for  another.  An  appeal  was  at 
the  same  time  made  to  the  pope  for 
his  sanction  to  their  proceedings ;  but 


made  a  most  powerful  and  able  defence  in  his  be- 
half. 


760 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  HI. 


tlie  pope  declined  giving  any  posi- 
tive rejjly  just  then.  Parliament  was 
opened  by  commission,  February  1, 
1816,  Ireland  being  in  a  distracted 
and  unsettled  state,  and  requiring  a 
large  body  of  troops  to  repress  tlie 
spirit  of  insubordination  in  almost  ev- 
ery part  of  the  island. 

In  April,  Sir  John  Newport  made  a 
motion  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  Ire- 
land, especially  as  to  the  reasons  why 
it  was  necessary  to  support  an  army  of 
twenty-five  thousand  men  to  keep  that 
country  in  order.  Peel's  amendment 
was  to  the  effect  of  asking  fi'om  the 
prince  regent  a  statement  of  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  disturbances  latelj' 
prevalent  in  Ireland,  and  the  measures 
taken  to  put  an  end  to  them.  The 
amendment  was  carried  by  a  large  ma- 
jority ;  and  Lord  Whitworth,  in  June, 
sent  a  dispatch  going  at  large  into  the 
subject.  The  document  was  long,  and 
presented  a  fearful  catalogue  of  out- 
breaks against  peace,  and  life,  and 
property,  as  well  as  the  stringent 
course  pursued  by  the  government  in 
their  efforts  to  maintain  law  and  order. 

Other  petitions  were  presented  ;  but 
they  met  with  the  usual  fate,  Ireland 
continuing  in  a  state  of  disquietude  and 
resistance  to  the  government.  There 
was  additional  reason  for  disturbances 
in  this  year,  for  the  people  of  Ireland 
had  been  peculiarly  affected  by  the 
commercial  and  agricultural  distress 
which  pervaded  the  whole  of  the  em- 
pire. The  necessaries  of  life  had  be- 
come exceedingly  dear,  and  great  mel- 

96 


ancholy  was  thrown  over  the  national 
spirit  from  the  little  prospect  held  out 
that  the  evils  which  the  people  endm-ed 
were  likely  to  be  mitigated  by  any 
speedy  alleviation.  No  gain  had  been 
made  in  the  way  of  parliamentary  re- 
lief for  the  Catholic  disabilities,  and  as 
much  discord  prevailed  among  the 
councils  of  the  Catholic  leaders  as  had 
ever  distinguished  the  chief  adherents 
of  their  faith.  To  one  thing  only  did 
they  commonly  consent,  and  that  was 
an  unremitted  continuance  of  applica- 
tion to  parliament  for  admittance  to 
seats  in  both  houses  of  the  legislature. 
Grattan,  in  the  House,  and  Lord  Don- 
oughmore,  in  the  Lords,  pressed  the 
Catholic  claims.  This  was  in  181Y. 
Again  the  next  year  the  subject  was 
resumed,  and  debated  by  such  men  as 
Grattan,  Earl  Grey,  Lord  Liverpool, 
etc.,  but  to  no  real  purpose.  The  Prot- 
estant ascendency  was  too  strong  to  be 
moved. 

The  condition  of  things  for  several 
years  was  disheartening  in  the  extreme. 
General  prostration  of  business,  discon- 
tent, suffering,  and  poverty  of  the 
masses,  influence  of  demagogues,  sever- 
ity of  taxation,  and  such  like,  kept  Ire- 
land in  a  state  which  can  only  be 
imagined,  not  described.  England, 
likewise,  suffered  from  similar  causes, 
and  its  history,  too,  shows  how  pro- 
foundly depressed  was  the  English 
nation  by  its  struggles  with  Napoleon 
and  its  contest  with  America.  No 
wonder  that  the  prince  regent  was 
hooted  at  in  the  street,  and  his  carriage 


GEORGE  IV.  VISITS  IRELAND. 


761 


stoned,  in  January,  1817,  as  lie  was 
returning  from  the  opening  of  parlia- 
ment. No  wonder  that  Ireland  exhib- 
ited so  widely  the  spirit  of  discontent, 
and  a  fierce  determination  t(^  return 
evil  for  evil.* 

The  tenacity  of  the  Irish  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  veto  was  astonishing ;  but 
it  was  mainly  owing  to  O'Connell  and 
the  priesthood.  O'Connell  himself, 
some  years  later  (in  1832),  afiirmed 
this  very  decidedly  :  "  The  Catholic 
laity  were  totally  repugnant  to  allow 
the  crown  any  power  to  nominate  the 
Catholic  bishops  of  Ireland.  We  stead- 
ily opposed  the  court  of  Rome,  as  well 
as  the  inclination  shown  by  om-  own  pre- 
lates ;  we  resolutely  resisted  the  wishes 
of  our  nobility,  and  of  so  many  of 
our  merchants,  backed,  as  they  were, 
by  the  almost  universal  voice  of  the 
Catholics  of  England ;  and  we  firmly, 
loudly,  and  emphatically  declared  that 
we  would  not  accept  of  emancipation 
upon  terms  so  derogatory  to  public 
liberty,  as  the  power  of  nominating  the 
bishops  of  another  Church  must  be  if 
vested  in  the  crown — that  is,  in  the 
ministers  of  the  day.  For  this  we  de- 
serve the  thanks  of  every  lover  of  con- 
stitutional freedom ;  and,  for  my  own 
part,  I  do  believe  that  the  reform  bill 
would  never  have  been  carried  if  we 
had  yielded  that  additional  influence 
to  the  ministers  of  the  crown.  Those 
who    recollect    how    much    the   Irish 


*  John.  Pliilpot  Curran,  the  orator  and  wit,  died  in 
1817.  Henry  Grattan,  equally  eminent  in  his  devotion 
to  Ireland's  cause,  died  in  1820. 


members  contributed  to  carrying  that 
bill,  will  probably  accede  to  the  truth 
of  my  opinion." 

King  George  III.  died  January  29, 

1820,  aged  eighty-two,  having  been 
king  for  nearly  sixty  years.  George 
IV.  succeeded  him,  and  his  wife,  from 
whom  he  had  been  separated  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  came  to  England  to 
claim  her  rank  as  queen  consort.  Her 
case  excited  great  sympathy;  and  the 
trial  which  was  brought  by  the  king, 
resulted,  in  Novembei-,  in  her  acquittal. 
The  king  was  a  profligate  rouey  and  had 
disgusted  the  people  by  his  immorality 
and  vice.  Public  indignation  ran  high, 
and  serious  outbreaks  were  apprehend- 
ed ;  but  Queen  Caroline  died  in  Au- 
gust, 1821,  and  her  wrongs  were  bmied 
with  her  in  the  grave. 

In  the  session  of  1821,  Mr.  Plunkett 
renewed  the  movement  in  favor  of 
Catholic  emancipation.  Petitions  came 
in  abundantly  from  Protestants  against 
and  from  Catholics  in  favor  of  the  mo- 
tion. This  was  in  England ;  but  in 
Ireland  there  was  little  spirit  on  the 
subject,  for  Mr.  Plunkett,  being  a  sup- 
porter of  the  veto,  was  not  looked 
ujion  with  much  esteem  by  the  masses. 
The  measure  was  warmly  debated  in 
both  houses,  the  Duke  of  York,  among 
others,  throwing  the  weight  of  his  in- 
fluence against  it.  Of  course,  it  failed 
of  obtaining  approval. 

Parliament  was  prorogued  in  July, 

1821,  and  George  IV.,  considering  it  a 
good  stroke  of  policy,  resolved  to  visit 
Ireland.     The  people,  with  that  impul- 


^62 


REIGN   OF   GEORGE  IV. 


siveness  whicli  characterizes  them,  were 
enthusiastic  in  receiving  the  king,  and 
they  counted  extravagantly  upon  the 
good  which  was  to  flow  from  his  visit. 
The  king  made  his  public  entry  into 
Dublin,  August  17th,  amidst  all  the 
magnificence  of  a  State  procession,  and 
applauded  by  the  "tens  of  thousands 
that  attended  his  progress.  During 
the  day  he  held  a  drawing-room,  at 
which  all  the  nobility  and  gentry  of 
any  note,  at  that  time  in  the  country, 
attended.  Nothing  could  be  more  en- 
thusiastic or  cordial  than  his  reception, 
and  he  remained  a  month  dispensing 
and  enjoying  hospitality,  appai-ently 
perfectly  satisfying  his  own  and  his 
people's  feelings*  Addresses,  breath- 
ing the  utmost  loyalty,  were  presented 
by  the  city  of  Dublin ;  the  clergy,  with 
the  bishops  and  archbishops  at  their 
head ;  the  university,  with  all  its  digni- 
taries ;  and  yet,  after  the  departure  of 
the  king  in  September,  the  most  violent 
outrages  were  perpetrated,  in  the  three 
last  months  of  the  year,  that  had  ever 
been  known  in  Ireland.  The  bubble 
of  conciliation  soon  burst,  and  a  system 
of  assassination  was  commenced,  which 
the  pen  refuses  to  attempt  to  delineate. 
The  masses,  with  blind  fury,  rushed  into 
every  kind  of  outrage  and  cruelty,  not 
being  able  apparently  to  perceive  that 
every  act  of  the  kind  only  put  further 
and  further  off  the  day  of  emancipation 
and  freedom. 


*  Lord  Castlereagli  (now  Marquis  of  Iiondonderry), 
■whom  the  Irish  Catholics  hated  and  revOed  with  in- 
tense bitterness,  accompanied  the  king  in  his  visit  to 


Lord  Wellesley,  who  succeeded  Lord 
Talbot  in  the  vice-royalty  in  Ireland, 
was  looked  upon  as  a  more  than  usually 
liberal  ruler.  He  had  not  any  preju- 
dices against  the  Catholics,  but  was 
rather  disposed  to  favor  them  all  he 
could.  Plunkett,  also,  now  took  the 
place  of  Saurin,  the  decided  Protestant, 
as  attorney-general ;  and  so  far  as  ap- 
pearances went,  the  Catholic  cause  had 
gained  ground.  But  the  Protestants 
in  Ireland  were  active  and  zealous  in 
their  opposition.  Addresses  were  pre- 
sented to  the  new  lord-lieutenant  in 
January,  1822,  and  it  was  hoped  that 
a  better  state  of  things  was  already 
begun  ;  but  he  found  himself  unable  to 
reconcile  the  strife  and  faction  among 
the  richer  and  higher  classes ;  still  less 
was  he  able  to  control  the  fierce  pas- 
sions and  outbreaks  among  the  poorer 
and  more  disaffected  of  the  people. 

The  "  White-boys,"  so  called  from 
wearing  white  shirts  or  frocks  over 
their  clothes  in  order  to  prevent  iden- 
tification, were  especially  active  and 
unsparing  in  their  deeds  of  cruelty. 
These,  and  "  Captain  Rock's  Men,"  in 
the  South  and  West  of  Ireland,  kept 
the  country  in  a  continual  alarm,  and, 
despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  police  and 
military,  committed  outrages  in  great 
numbers.  A  Koman  Catholic  wi'iter, 
lamenting  the  impediment  which  con- 
duct of  this  kind  threw  in  the  way  of 
O'Connell  and  emancipation,  remarks : 


Ireland.    The  next  year,  August  13,  1833,  he  put  an 
end  to  his  own  life  in  a  temporary  fit  of  insanity. 


(D)3L3IVIE]E  (EdDlLBSM: 


DISTRESS  AMOXG  THE  PEOPLE. 


i63 


"The  object  of  these  societies  was  to 
procure  the  lowering  of  rents,  the  mit- 
igation of  the  tithe  system,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  ejectment  of  the  tenantry  by 
the  great  landlords.  They  legislated 
at  midnight,  and  enforced  their  decrees 
with  terrible  celerity.  They  grew  into 
importance  in  the  years  ranging  from 
1821  to  1825,  and  derived  either  their 
origin  or  principal  support  from  the 
oppressions  practised  by  the  agents  of 
the  '  Courteuay  Estates,'  a  considerable 
landed  property  in  the  county  of  Clare, 
the  agent  of  which  began  a  wholesale 
ejection  of  the  small  tenants  from  the 
lands.  These  dispossessed  men,  mad. 
dened  by  despair,  plotted  together  for 
the  destruction  of  those  whom  they 
looked  on  as  the  authors  of  their  ruin 
Several  murders  by  assassination  were 
the  consequence,  and  a  full  crop  of  ap- 
provers, hangings,  and  transportations 
followed  in  regular  succession.  The 
peasantry  in  the  South  and  West,  op- 
pressed almost  to  death  by  rack-rents, 
ejectments,  and  tithes,  leagued  with  the 
Captain  Rock  societies  to  intimidate 
the  gentry.  Vast  districts  became  in- 
fected, disturbed,  *or  subject  to  insur- 
rection laws;  special  commissions  for 
the  trial  of  offenders,  and  a  long  train 
of  congenial  evils,  followed  as  the  only 
remedies  at  the  disj^osal  of  govern- 
ment." 

At  the  opening  of  parliament,  in 
February,  1822,  immediate  steps  were 
taken  with  reference  to  the  state  and 
condition  of  affairs  in  Ireland.  The 
suspension  act  was  re-enacted,  and  the 


habeas  corpus  was  suspended,  to  last 
for  a  period  of  six  months.  Violence 
and  disorder,  however,  continued,  and 
murders  were  not  infrequent.  The 
Irish  government  acted  with  energy, 
and  there  was  speedily  some  abatement 
of  the  terrible  lawlessness  of  these  de- 
luded men.  Various  causes  operated, 
in  addition  to  those  already  named,  for 
rousing  up  and  keeping  alive  these 
shocking  exhibitions  of  passion  and  vi- 
olence; but  probably  no  one  was  so 
powerful  for  evil  as  the  practice  of  il- 
licit distillation,  which  rapidly  demor- 
alized the  peasantry,  and  brought  ad- 
ditional trials  upon  the  Irish  jieople. 

About  the  end  of  April,  something 
of  an  aspect  of  tranquillity  was  restored 
to  the  country ;  but  a  new  and  more 
terrifying  visitation  was  at  hand.  In 
consequence  of  the  heavy  and  incessant 
rains  of  the  jjreceding  year,  the  jiota- 
toes,  which  formed  the  staple  of  the 
food  of  the  people  in  the  South,  decayed 
and  perished  in  the  ground.  This  at- 
tracted but  little  attention  for  a  time 
among  men  who  had  grown  their  own, 
and  they  went  on  consuming  as  usual 
so  long  as  their  stores  lasted,  each  be- 
lieving that  when  his  own  sujiply 
should  be  exhausted  he  would  easily 
be  able  to  purchase  more  in  the  mar- 
ket through  the  means  of  his  labor. 
But  when  their  stock  was  really  fin- 
ished, and  they  applied  to  the  public 
vendors,  they  found  that  potatoes, 
which  were  usually  three  halfpence  a 
stone,  had  risen  to  sixpence-halfpenny, 
while,  from  the  distress  of  the  country. 


764 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IV. 


their  labor  was  little  required.  Pota- 
toes being  thus  placed  quite  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  lower  orders,  they  were 
compelled  to  resort  to  oatmeal  mixed 
with  water;  and  happy  was  he  who 
could  procure  one  scanty  repast  of  that 
sustenance  during  the  day,  for  this  re- 
source also  shortly  failed  them.  Before 
the  beginning  of  May,  the  whole  of 
Connaught  and  Munster  was  in  a  state 
of  starvation.  The  peasantry,  leaving 
their  cabins  and  the  little  allotments  of 
ground  whence  they  had  derived  their 
scanty  subsistence,  crowded  into  the 
villages,  in  vain  seeking  for  employ- 
ment or  to  be  relieved  by  the  charity 
of  those  who  were  in  almost  as  bad  a 
position  as  themselves.  There  was 
scarcely  a  town  in  the  South,  the  streets 
of  which  were  not  filled  with  hundreds 
of  able-bodied  men,  wandering  in  quest 
of  food,  or  the  means  wherewith  it 
mieht  be  obtained.  Nor  was  this  evil 
by  any  means  confined  to  the  lowest 
class  of  the  population,  for  Sir  Edward 
O'Brien  asserted  that  fully  one-third 
of  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  the 
county  of  Clare  w^ere  reduced  to  a  con- 
dition little  short  of  actual  starvation  ; 
and  all  the  neighboring  counties,  more 
especially  Cork,  Limerick,  Kerry,  Mayo, 
Roscommon,  and  Sligo,  were  in  a  sim- 
ilar position.  It  was  not,  however,  the 
present  suffering  only,  with  which  the 
people  had  to  contend.  There  was  the 
prospect  of  the  mischief  becoming  per- 
manent, for,  under  the  constraining 
power  of  hunger,  the  poor  were  com- 
pelled to  consume  those  potatoes  which 


they  had  saved  for  seed.  The  hay  also 
became  scarce,  and  a  great  mortality 
consequently  ensued  among  the  cattle, 
and  then  came  typhus,  with  its  hideous 
train  of  horrors,  to  darken  the  aspect 
of  national  distress.  Nothing  could 
be  perceived  but  a  sad  alternation  of 
misery ;  and  the  districts  which  had, 
only  a  few  weeks  before,  been  the 
scenes  of  nightly  assassination  and  plun- 
der, now  presented  but  one  oppressive 
spectacle  of  famine  and  disease. 

In  this  dire  calamity  happily  aid  was 
not  wanting.  Not  only  the  government 
but  more  especially  individuals  came  for- 
ward, and  large  sums  were  contributed 
to  help  the  starving  population.  Cargoes 
of  potatoes,  oats,  and  other  cheap  kinds 
of  food  were  sent.  "Work  was  afforded 
by  the  authorities  as  widely  as  i:»ossible, 
and  a  spirit  of  warm  sympathy  every- 
where manifested.  In  June,  1822,  it 
was  estimated  that  in  the  county  of 
Clare,  with  a  population  of  two  hundred 
thousand,  one-half  were  subsisting  on 
charity  from  day  to  day.  In  other 
counties  the  proportion  was  even  great- 
er than  this,  of  those  who  were  the  re- 
cipients of  the  bounty  so  generously 
bestowed. 

Lord  Wellesley,  whose  policy  was 
that  of  conciliation,  discouraged  the 
anti-Catholic  party  in  every  way  in  his 
power.  This  stirred  up  an  ill-feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  Orangemen,  who 
used  regularly,  on  the  4th  of  Novem- 
ber, to  decorate  the  statue  of  William 
III.,  in  College  Green,  Dublin.  The 
lord-lieutenant  having   forbidden   this 


STATE   OF  EDUCATION. 


765 


annual  proceeding,  so  oflfensive  to  the 
Catholics,  he  soon  had  a  practical  proof 
of  loss  of  popularity.  One  evening,  De- 
cember 14,  he  was  grossly  insulted  at 
the  theatre  by  hisses,  and  old  bottles 
and  other  things  thrown  at  the  state- 
box.  Prosecutions  were  set  on  foot, 
but  to  little  purpose  ;  for,  on  a  general 
investigation  into  the  administration  of 
justice,  it  was  found  that  witnesses 
could  not  be  relied  on,  that  they  were 
partisans  wherever  religious  or  political 
sentiments  were  in  question.  So  strik- 
ingly was  this  the  case,  that  at  the 
Carrickfergus  Assizes  the  judges  refused 
to  take  the  testimony  of  either  side, 
Catholics  or  Protestants,  and  dismissed 
the  case  with  a  well-deserved  reproof 
to  all  concerned.  Insults  of  every  de- 
scription were  bandied  from  one  to  the 
other,  riots  ensued,  and  the  hatred  be- 
tween the  Orangemen  and  the  Ribbon- 
men  seemed  unquenchable.  The  pen 
wearies  in  recounting  the  outrage  and 
desolation  which  resulted,  and  made 
1823  almost,  if  not  quite,  equal  its  pre- 
decessor. 

The  tithe  composition  act,  passed  in 
the  previous  session,  began  to  work  at 
the  latter  end  of  1823,  and  in  the 
course  of  February,  1824,  so  anxious 
were  the  owners  of  tithes  to  avoid  any 
pretence  for  predial  outrage,  that  a  re- 
turn was  made,  stating  that  out  of  a 
thousand  applications  from  different 
parishes  to  carry  its  arrangements  into 
effect,  more  than  five  hundred  had  pro- 
ceeded from  the  different  incumbents. 
Several  discussions  took  place,  in  the 


course  of  the  present  session,  on  the 
state  of  education,  and  it  was  generally 
agreed  that  in  this  respect  the  country 
was  in  an  improving  state.  In  1773, 
as  appeared  by  a  return  in  the  west 
and  southwest  parts  of  teland,  there 
were  only  eight  schools,  while  in  1816 
there  were  eight  hundred,  and  in  this 
year,  1824,  there  were  as  many  as  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-two. 
The  poorer  part  of  the  population 
seemed  to  be  alive  to  the  benefit  placed 
within  their  reach,  for  their  children 
were  readily  sent  to  be  instructed.  The 
Bible,  without  note  or  comment,  Avas 
used  in  the  schools ;  but  no  attempt, 
it  was  stated,  was  made  to  derive  any 
particular  doctrine  from  its  contents — - 
the  children  were  simply  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  text.  This  was  not 
consonant  with  the  views  of  the  Cath- 
olic clergy  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church.  They  therefore  discouraged 
the  attendance  of  the  children  ;  and,  in 
the  course  of  March,  their  bishops  pre- 
sented a  petition  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  which  they  complained  that  the 
public  money  granted  for  the  promotion 
of  education  in  Ireland  was  applied  in 
such  a  manner  that  Roman  Catholics 
could  not  conscientiously  avail  them- 
selves of  the  instruction  thereby  pro- 
vided. 

The  astute  leader  of  the  Catholics 
was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  the 
existing  state  of  things.  In  the  spring 
of  1823  he  organized  the  "Catholic 
Association,"  at  an  aggregate  meeting 
held   in   Dublin,   and   in   due  time  it 


766 


REIGN    OF   GEORGE   IV. 


Worked  well  for  the  nol)le  cause  on 
which  his  heart,  as  well  as  the  hearts 
of  all  patriotic  lovers  of  their  native 
land  were  firmly  set.  The  Association 
held  regular  sessions  in  Dublin ;  nom- 
inated committees  ;  received  petitions ; 
referred  them  to  a  committee  of  griev- 
ance ;  ordered  a  census  of  the  popula- 
tion to  be  taken  ;  assessed  cities,  towns, 
and  parishes,  and  appointed  collectors 
in  every  district  for  the  receipt  of  what 
was  called  the  "  Catholic  rent."  By 
this  rent  was  meant  the  subscription  of 
one  penny  per  month  from  each  Cath- 
olic. At  first  the  proposal  did  not 
meet  with  favor  or  success  ;  but  after  a 
year  or  two,  by  persevering  efforts,  the 
o'ent  became  a  settled  and  important 
part  of  the  plans  which  O'Connell  was 
carrying  out.  It  gave  life  and  interest 
to  the  cause,  and  in  less  than  two  years 
it  amounted  to  £500  a  week.  News- 
papers were  set  a  going,  lawyers  were 
paid  to  defend  cases  in  court,  subsidies 
were  voted  for  Catholic  poor-schools, 
electioneering  agents  and  expenses  were 
paid,  etc. 

Government  became  alarmed  at  the 
progress  and  course  of  the  Association,* 
and  stejis  were  taken  to  suppress  this 
and  other  like  societies.     A  bill  passed 


*  In  a  speech  of  O'Connell's,  at  this  date,  lie  used  the 
following  language :  "  I  -warn  the  British  minister 
against  either  intimidating  or  coercing  the  people  of 
Ireland.  They  are  a  brave  and  a  chivalrous  race, 
whose  valor  the  history  of  all  Europe  attists.  If  ever 
they  shall  be  driven  to  the  field  to  vindicate  their  lib- 
erties, they  may  not  want  another  Bolivar  to  animates 
their  efforts !"  The  Government  desired  to  punish 
O'Connell  for  such  language ;  but  the  Dublin  grand 
jury  refused  to  find  a  true  bill  against  him. 


both  houses  of  parliament  to  this  effect, 
and  the  Association  quietly  dissolved. 
But  a  "  veiv  Catholic  Association"  was 
formed  immediately,  ostensibly  for 
"charitable  and  other  purposes,"  but 
in  reality  to  add  fresh  energy  to  the 
cause  of  emancipation  and  freedom. 

Early  in  March,  1825,  and  while  the 
unlawful  societies'  bill  was  pending  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  Sir  Francis  Bur- 
dett  submitted  a  series  of  resolutions 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  the  effect  of 
which  was  that  it  was  desirable  and 
expedient  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
should  be  admitted  to  the  same  politi- 
cal privileges  as  their  Protestant  fellow- 
subjects.  The  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  a  considerable  majority,  and  a  bill 
was  founded  upon  them,  which,  after  a 
long  and  stormy  debate  and  several 
adjournments,  passed  its  third  reading 
on  the  10th  of  May,  by  a  majority  of 
nineteen  in  a  very  full  house.  There 
was  every  prospect  of  its  passing  the 
Lords  also;  but,  on  the  second  reading 
of  the  bill,  the  Duke  of  York  went 
down  to  the  house  and  emphatically 
declared  himself  against  it.f  Such 
an  intimation  from  the  heir  presump- 
tive to  the  throne  had  naturally 
great  weight,  and  the  bill  was  conse- 


f  "  I  have  been,"  said  the  duke,  "  for  five-and-twenty 
years,  ever  since  the  question  has  been  agitated,  advo- 
cating the  cause  of  Protestant  ascendency.  I  have 
been  brought  up  from  my  earliest  years  in  these  prin- 
ciples ;  and  from  the  time  when  I  began  to  reason  for 
myself,  I  have  entertained  them  from  conviction  ;  and 
in  every  situation  I  may  be  placed  in  during  my  future 
life,  I  ^yill  ntaiijtain  them,  so  help  me  God!" 


O'CONNELL  ELECTED  TO  PARLIAMENT. 


V67 


queutly   negatived   by   a   majority   of 
forty-eight. 

O'Connell  and  several  other  dele- 
gates appeared  in  London,  and  gave 
audience  before  committees  of  both 
houses  on  the  state  of  Ireland.  The 
great  leader  lost  some  popularity  by 
his  course  in  England ;  but  on  his  re- 
turn to  Ireland  he  readily  persuaded 
his  countrymen  that  he  was  acting  all 
the  time  for  their  best  interests.  He 
exerted  his  enoi'mous  influence  at  the 
general  election  of  1826,  and  succeeded 
in  defeating  the  candidates  of  the  op- 
position in  various  quarters.  The  ma- 
chinery of  the  Association  worked  ex- 
cellently ;  there  was  no  lack  of  money, 
and  every  thing  betokened  that  the 
day  of  success  was  not  far  distant.  The 
Earl  of  Liverpool  died  in  February, 
1827,  and  the  king  invited  Canning  to 
form  a  cabinet.  This  was  attended 
with  several  trying  difliculties,  Peel, 
Lord  Eldon,  and  the  Duke  of  AVelling- 
ton  declining  to  be  associated  with 
him.  Canning  seems  to  have  felt  keenly 
the  desertion  of  his  old  allies ;  and  it 
preyed  upon  his  spirit  so  much  that 
serious  illness  began  to  undermine  his 
system.  During  his  short  administra- 
tion several  acts  were  passed  for  the 
regulation  aud  improvement  of  the 
prisons  and  lunatic  asylums  in  Ix'eland, 
and  several  other  details  were  rectified, 
which  contributed  much  to  the  general 
welfare  of  the  country.  After  the  ses- 
sion he  went  to  the  Duke  of  Devon- 


*  Tlie  Nortli  of  Ireland  did  not  respond  according  to 
the  wishes  of  the  Association.    Mr.  Lawless  thereupon 


shire's  villa  at  Chiswick,  for  change  of 
air  and  rest ;  but  it  was  to  no  purpose. 
After  a  few  days  of  suffering,  he  expired 
on  the  8th  of  August. 

Events  were  now  rapidly  progressing 
towards  the  end,  which  it  was  evident 
must  soon  be  attained.  On  Canning's 
death  the  Duke  of  Wellington  became 
premier,  and  O'Connell  and  his  co- 
workers bent  themselves  vigorously  in 
opposition.  By  a  haj^py  discovery,  it 
was  found  that  the  act  which  forbade 
Catholics  to  sit  in  parliament  did  not  for- 
bid them  to  be  elected  meniber-s.  Hence, 
actins:  on  this  shrewd  view  of  the  state 
of  things,  O'Connell  himself  became  a 
candidate  for  the  county  of  Clare,  in 
the  summer  of  1828,  and  announced 
that,  in  case  of  his  election,  he  could 
pass  to  the  speaker's  table  in  the  House 
of  Commons  without  taking  any  ob- 
jectionable oath.  After  a  spirited  con- 
test he  was  declared  by  the  sheriff  to 
be  elected,  much  to  the  joy  of  the 
Catholics,  and  not  a  little  to  the  sur- 
prise and  alai-m  of  the  Government. 

At  the  opening  of  parliament,  in 
February,  1828,  Lord  John  Russell 
moved  for  the  repeal  of  the  test  and 
corporation  acts.  As  these  were  at 
this  date  of  little  effect,  being  practi- 
cally obsolete,  the  motion  was  carried 
without  difficulty.  The  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation, meanwhile,  continued  its  active 
efforts;  meetings  were  held  almost 
daily,  aud  the  o'cnt  came  in  at  the  rate 
of  £1,000  a  week.*     The  Marquis  of 


went  on  a  mission  to  rouse  up  the  people  of  that  re- 
gion ;  but  the  principal  result  was  the  renewal  of  old 


768 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IV. 


Anglesea,  the  lord-lieutenant,  favored 
most  decidedly  the  claims  of  emancipa- 
tion, and  he  communicated  his  views 
to  the  Government  in  England.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  found  that  he 
must  act  with  promptness  and  firmness, 
and  either  j^ut  down  by  military  force 
the  Catholic  agitation,  or  consent  to 
the  demands  which  they  made  so  stead- 
ily and  so  perseveringly.  He  chose 
the  latter  alternative,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  Mr.  Peel,  and  proceeded  at 
once  to  carry  out  into  action  his  present 
design. 

Parliament  met  early  in  February, 
1829,  and  the  king  recommended  early 
attention  to  the  claims  of  the  Catholics. 
As  "Wellington  was  determined  to  legis- 
late rather  than  negotiate,  various  meas- 
ures were  proposed  and  carried  through 
parliament  despite  the  earnest  opposi- 
tion of  the  Protestants  in  both  coun- 
tries. A  bill  suppressing  the  Catholic 
Association  was  passed  in  March ;  the 
Catholic  Relief  Bill  was  warmly  de- 
bated in  both  houses,  but  became  a  law 
on  the  13th  of  April,  three  weeks  only 
after  it  was  introduced  into  the  legisla- 
ture ;  the  bill  abolishing  the  forty-shil- 
ling freeholders  was  next  passed,  by 
raising  the  county  franchise  to  ten 
pounds  for  every  freeholder. 

Thus,  after  thirty  years'  agitation 
and  pressure,  by  the  irresistible  prog- 
ress of  events,  and  by  that  necessity 
which  Peel  urged  as  an  excuse  for  his 
complete  change  of  opinion  and  action 


feuds  and  disputes.     The  Order  of  Paeijkators  was 
started,  and  it  is  stated  tliat  they  were  very  successM 


in  less  than  a  year — thus  emancipation 
was  effected,  and  the  Protestant  ascend- 
ency destroyed  forever. 

O'Connell,  though  member  elect,  did 
not  hurry  himself  to  take  a  seat  in  parlia- 
ment. On  the  15th  of  May,  1829,  he 
was  introduced  into  the  House  by  Lords 
Ebrington  and  Dungannon,  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  speaker's  table.  On  the 
oaths  being  tendered  to  him,  he  passed 
his  fingers  over  those  of  abjuration  and 
supremacy,  and  refused  to  take  them. 
The  circumstance  was  reported  to  the 
speaker,  who  immediately  ordered  him 
to  withdraw.  O'Connell  stood  for  a 
few  moments  in  i^erfect  silence,  when 
the  order  was  repeated,  and  he  claimed 
a  right  to  be  heard  in  his  place  in  de- 
fence of  his  seat.  The  speaker  again 
repeated  his  order  to  withdraw,  which 
O'Connell,  bowing  to  the  chair,  imme- 
diately obeyed.  A  long  debate  ensued, 
which  was  postponed  for  a  few  days. 
On  the  18th,  Peel  moved  that  O'Con- 
nell be  heard  at  the  bar.  The  success- 
ful leader  of  the  Catholics  made  a 
speech  of  two  hours,  very  eloquent,  and 
full  of  argumentative  appeals.  O'Con- 
nell was  sent  back  to  Ireland,  owing  to 
a  clause  in  the  Eelief  Bill,  which  did 
not  admit  of  his  then  taking  his  seat. 
He  was  received,  as  may  be  supposed, 
with  the  most  unbounded  enthusiasm, 
as  the  great  champion  of  national  rights 
and  glory.  A  new  writ  was  issued  for 
County  Clare,  and  O'Connell  was  re- 
turned without  opposition.     His  prog- 

in  reconciling  enemies,  and  removing  long-standing 
animositieB. 


IRELAI^D,  INTELLECTUALLY  AND  MORALLY. 


769 


ress  from  Eanis  to  Dublin,  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,  was  one 
grand   triumphal   procession ;    and,  at 


last,  he  had  gained  the  victory  of  his 
life,  and  vindicated  his  right  to  sit  in 
parliament. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

Ireland's  intellectual  and  moral  position. 


jji 


Ireland  distinguished  for  brilliant  orators,  poets,  ■writers,  etc. — ^Her  contributions  to  literature  and  science. — 
Her  Burkes,  Qrattans,  Currans,  Edgewortbs,  etc. — Thomas  Moore,  the  poet  par  excellence  of  Ireland. — 
Birth  and  education. — Visits  America. — Duel  with  Jeffrey.— Marriage. — His  ''Irish  Melodies." — "Lalla 
Eookh,"  and  biographical  and  historical  works. — Receives  a  pension  of  £300. — Death,  in  1853,  and  charac- 
ter.— Thomas  Datis,  a  poet  and  prose  writer  of  note. — Connected  with  the  "Nation."— Object  of  this 
journal. — Davis's  labors. — Death  in  1845. — Extracts  from  his  literary  and  historical  essays. — Fatht.b  Ma- 
THEW. — Birth  and  education. — Becomes  a  priest. — Labors  among  the  poor  in  and  around  the  city  of  Cork. — 
Enters  on  the  temperance  movement. — Marvellous  effects  of  his  labors.—  Visits  other  cities  with  great 
success. — Goes  to  England. — Thence  visits  the  United  States. — Returns  to  Ireland,  and  dies  in  1856. — Ben- 
eficial results  of  his  life  and  career. — Statements  of  Mr.  Smyth  on  Father  Mathew's  devotion  to  temper- 
ance.— All  honor  to  his  name ! 


AS  a  relief  to  the  ordinary  and 
somewhat  tedious  details  of  civil 
and  political  history,  in  which  strug- 
gles for  liberty  and  aspirations  after 
freedom  occupy  almost  entire  attention, 
it  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  pause 
awhile,  and  invite  the  reader's  consider- 
ation to  some  other  matters,  more  es- 
pecially those  which  relate  to  the 
poets,  prose  writers,  philanthropists, 
etc.,  of  Ireland. 

Though  so  oppressed  and  down-trod- 
den by  centuiies  of  misrule  and  injus- 
tice, Ireland  has  always  been  distin- 
guished for  the  brilliancy  and  fervor  of 
her  poets,  orators,  and  statesmen.  Ire- 
land has  given  birth  to  men  of  the 
loftiest  genius,  of  the  most  wide-spread 


fame,  and  of  the  largest  influence  in 
the  forum,  as  well  as  in  the  domain  of 
learning  and  science ;  and  while  we  are 
far  from  having  any  wish  to  disparage 
or  nndervalue  the  great  men  and  the 
noble  productions  of  other  lands,  we 
maintain  that  Ireland  has  done  her 
share,  and  more  than  her  share,  in  her 
contributions  to  the  wealth  of  the 
world's  literature. 

As  illustrating  these  general  remarks, 
we  shall  call  the  reader's  attention  to  a 
few  of  the  great  names  on  the  roll  of 
honor  of  Ireland's  sons.  We  need  not 
attempt  here  to  speak  at  all  at  large  of 
such  names  as  Burke,  Grattan,  Curran, 
Sheridan,  Flood,  Wellington,  Eosse, 
and  the  like.,;  We  have  not  space  at 


110 


REIGN"  OF  GEORGE   IV. 


command  to  enter  into  any  disquisition 
upon  the  lives  and  writings  ©f  Gold- 
smith, Lady  JMorgan,  Miss  Edgeworth, 
Maginn,  Lover,  Carleton,  and  others. 
It  must  suffice  that  "we  now  merely  al- 
lude to  these  gifted  sons  of  Ireland, 
and  use  the  page  or  two  we  have  to 
spare  in  speakiug  first  of  one  who  is, 
2)a7'  excellence,  the  most  honored  bard 
of  his  native  land. 

Thomas  Moore  stands  pre-eminent 
among  the  poets  in  the  former  half  of 
the  present  century.  Born  May  28, 
1779,  in  Dublin,  of  parents  in  moderate 
position  in  life,  he  became  in  due 
time  a  fellow-student  at  Trinity  College 
with  Eobert  Emmett,  and  other  active 
spirits  of  the  day.  Almost  in  the  nur- 
sery he  began  to  rhyme,  and  to  give 
expression  to  his  conceptions  by  singing 
them  aloud.  He  wrote  odes  at  school, 
and  translated  Anacreon  in  ColleEfe. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  he  went  to  Lon- 
don to  study  law  in  the  Middle  Tem- 
ple ;  but  having  published  his  Anac- 
reon the  next  year,  and  thereby  been 
introduced  into  literary  and  fashionable 
society,  he  gave  but  slight  attention  to 
the  law  and  its  dry  and  dull  details.  In 
1803  he  went  to  Bermuda  as  registrar 
to  the  admiralty ;  but  not  liking  the 
place,  and  pining  after  life  in  the  me- 
tropolis, he  left  liis  office  in  the  hands 
of  a  deputy,  and  made  a  rapid  visit  to 
the  United  States  and  Canada.  He 
was  severe  upon  American  institutions 
and  the  like,  but  rather  through  want 
of  knowledge  than  malice  ;  and  in  later 
life  he  was  quite  ashamed,  and  wished 


to  recall  every  unpleasant  word.  The 
"  Odes  and  Epistles,"  in  which  Moore 
thus  vented  his  satire,  contained  woi'se 
things  than  satire,  indecency  and  very 
doubtful  morality.  Jeffrey  handled 
him  very  sharply  in  the  Edinburg  Re- 
view, and  Moore  challenged  the  re- 
viewer to  a  duel  in  consequence.  They 
met  at  Chalk  Farm,  August  12,  1806, 
but  were  prevented  by  the  police  from 
taking  one  another's  lives.  Subse- 
quently, these  two  men,  so  unlike,  be- 
came warm  friends. 

For  some  years  Moore  lived  a  gay 
life,  and  was  much  in  the  company 
of  Lord  Moira,  Lord  Lansdowne,  and 
other  "Whig  peers ;  but  did  little  or 
nothing  with  his  pen.  In  1811  he 
married  Miss  Dyke,  a  young  actress, 
with  whom  he  lived  happily,  and  for 
whom  he  began  to  make  literature  a 
profession.  Besides  jeux  cC e-s]i)rit  and 
political  squibs,  Moore  wrote  many 
songs  adapted  to  the  ancient  music  of 
Ireland,  and  entitled  "  Irish  Melodies." 
These  brought  him  great  fame,  and 
will  probably  always  remain  the  most 
popular  of  his  productions.  Between 
1814  and  1816  he  devoted  himself  to 
"Lalla  Rookh,"  an  oriental  romance, 
overflowing  with  Eastern  imagery  and 
melodiousness  of  composition.  Long- 
man paid  him  £3,000  for  it,  and  it 
attained  immense  popularity  and  suc- 
cess 

Without  undertaking  to  give  a  full 
list  of  Moore's  works,  we  may  mention 
that  he  wrote  the  "  Life  of  Sheridan" 
(1825);   "Memoii-3  of  Captain  Rock*' 


JJ  Majziise,  ix.  i 


Kogers 


THOMAS  MOORE,  THE  POET. 


7Y1 


(1824),  a  witty  political  effort;  "No- 
tices of  the  Life  t>f  Lord  Byron,"  2  vols. 
(1830);  "Memoirs  of  Lord  Edward 
Fitzgerald"  (1831) ;  "  A  History  of 
L-eland"  (1835),  for  Larduer's  Cabinet 
Cyclopasdia ;  made  a  collection  of  his 
poetical  works  in  10  vols.  (1842) ; 
wrote  occasionally  some  poetiy  for  the 
columns  of  the  London  Times,  etc.  In 
1835  a  pension  of  £300  was  conferred 
on  him,  and  in  1850  £100  a  year  was 
settled  on  his  wife.  Moore  lived  most 
of  his  life  out  of  his  native  eountry ; 
but  when  occasional  visits  were  paid  to 
L'eland,  he  was  received  with  enthusi- 
astic admiration  and  pride  ;  for  his 
countrj'men  felt  that  at  heart  he  was 
their  staunch  advocate  and  friend,  and 
that  he  had  more  than  once  displayed 
patriotism,  courage,  and  Independence 
worthy  of  his  name  and  origin. 

Moore  died  February  26,  1852,  and 
his  Memoirs,  Journal,  and  Correspond- 
ence were  published  in  eight  volumes 
(1853-56),  edited  by  Lord  John  Kus- 
sell  at  Moore's  special  request.  We  shall 
not  attempt  any  summing  up  of  the 
character  and  ability  of  Thomas  Moore ; 
but  shall  content  ourselves  with  quoting 
the  words  of  an  ardent  countryman  of 
the  Bard  of  Erin  : 

"Who  has  not  banqueted  on  the 
melody  of  his  inspired  muse?  Who 
has  not  plucked  wisdom  from  his  wit, 
delight  from  his  sentiment,  or  spirit 
from  his  strains?  Who  has  not  felt 
his  griefs  or  his  joys  expressed  by 
Thomas  Moore  ?  What  sentiment  has 
he  not  enrobed  in  the  lovely  drapery 


of  his  brilliant  fancy?  It  was  Moore 
who  won  homage  from  our  02:)pressors, 
while  he  told  them  unwelcome  truths, 
and  evoked  resistance  to  their  sway ; 
the  doing  which  any  other  man  would 
have  expiated  with  his  life  upon  the 
scaffold.  He  wrote  in  a  season  when 
it  was  literally  "  treason  to  love  and 
death  to  defend"  his  country.  The 
beauty  and  power  of  his  strains  para- 
lyzed the  uplifted  arm  of  his  enemies, 
and,  as  he  well  expressed  it —    ;' 

'  The  stranger  sTiall  tear  tliy  lament  on  Ms  plains ; 

The  sigh  of  tky  harp  shall  be  sent  o'er  the  deep ; 
Till  thy  masters  themselves,  as  they  rivet  thy  chains, 

Shall  pause  at  the  song  of  their  captive,  and  weep.' 

All  this,  and  much  more,  has  been  re- 
alized for  Erin  by  the  .poetiy  of  her 
own  immortal  bard." 

Another  name,  akin  to  Moore's  in 
poetic  fervor  and  ability,  and  even  su- 
perior to  him  in  the  keenness  and 
power  of  his  pen  in  poetic  composition, 
demands  brief  notice  at  our  hands. 
Thomas  Davis,  born  at  Mallow^,  County 
Cork,  in  1814,  is  one  of  Ireland's  sons 
who  will  live  in  his  country's  history. 
An  ardent  and  whole-souled  patriot, 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  Ireland  with 
every  faculty  of  body  and  mind,  he 
stands  forth  as  one  hot  among  the  least 
of  those  who  have  lived  and  breathed 
only  to  effect  the  rej^eal  of  the  hated 
Union  with  England,  and  the  entire 
independence  of  their  native  land.  Dis- 
tinguished as  a  poet,  as  well  as  a  prose 
writer,  Davis  has  contributed  some  of 
the  most  stirring  and  pathetic  pieces 
which  have  ever  appeared  in  the  pub- 


T72 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  lY. 


lie  press.  Journalism  is  now  so  potent 
an  instrument  in  the  world's  affairs,  so 
muclL  more  is  now  accomplished  by  it 
than  by  almost  any  other  mode,  that 
Thomas  Davis,  having  received  a  thor- 
ough education  at  Trinity  College,  early 
joined  himself  to  the  corps  of  wiitei-s 
for  the  "  Nation."  This  powerful  paper, 
as  is  well  known,  is  the  oracle  and  hope 
of  Ireland.  It  has  awakened  every 
Irish  heart,  and  its  whole  aim  ia  to  se- 
cure the  freedom  of  the  land  whidi 
gave  birth  to  the  O'Neils,  and  Sars- 
fields,  and  Tones,  and  Emmetts,  and 
thousands  of  other  patriots  and  states- 
men. And  for  years,  Davis  devoted 
himself  to  adding  force  and  vigor  to  its 
regular  issues.  Indeed,  his  life  was 
expended  in  its  service,  and  up  to 
the  last,  called  away  as  he  was  when 
only  comparatively  a  young  man,  Da- 
vis thought,  and  wi'ote,  and  labored 
through  its  columns  for  the  good  of  his 
beloved  country. 

Thomas  Davis  died  September  16, 
1845,  and  several  volumes  of  his  poetic 
and  other  contributions  to  the  "Na- 
tion" have  been  published  by  sorrow- 
ing friends,  who  had  counted  largely 
upon  the  increased  and  increasing  field 
of  usefulness  which  he  was  yet  to  fill. 
As  specimens  of  his  ability,  we  give  an 
extract  or  two  from  a  volume  of  "  Lit- 
erary and  Histoiical  Essays,"  gathered 
from  the  "  Nation."  They  will  help, 
better  than  any  thing  else  we  can  say, 
to  illustrate  the  spirit  and  enei-gy  of 
the  man. 

In  speaking  of  "  The  History  of  To- 


Day,  Mr.  Davis  says:  "  From  1793  tp 
1829 — for  thirty-six  years — the  Irish 
Catholics  struggled  for  emancipation. 
That  emancipation  was  but  admission 
to  the  bench,  the  inner  bar,  and  parlia- 
ment. It  was  won  by  self-denial,  ge- 
nius, vast  and  sustained  labors,  and 
lastly  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  forty-shil- 
ling freeholders — the  poor  veterans  of 
the  war — and  by  submission  to  insult- 
ing oaths ;  yet  it  was  cheaply  bought. 
Not  so  cheaply,  perchance,  as  if  won 
by  the  sword ;  for,  on  it  were  expended 
more  treasures,  more  griefs,  more  intel- 
lect, more  passion,  more  of  all  which 
makes  life  welcome,  than  had  been 
needed  for  war ;  still  it  was  cheaply 
bought,  and  Ireland  has  glorified  her- 
self, and  will  through  ages  triumph  in 
the  victory  of  '29.  Yet  what  was  eman- 
cii^ation  compared  to  repeal  ?  The  one 
put  a  silken  badge  on  a  few  members 
of  one  profession ;  the  other  would 
give  to  all  professions  and  all  trades 
the  rank  and  riches  which  resident 
proprietors,  domestic  legislation,  and 
flourishing  commerce  infallibly  create. 
Emancipation  made  it  possible  for  Cath- 
olics to  sit  on  the  judgment-seat ;  but 
it  left  a  foreign  administration  which 
has  excluded  them,  save  in  two  or 
three  cases,  where  over-toj^ping  emi- 
nence made  the  acceptance  of  a  judg- 
ship  no  promotion  ;  and  it  left  the  lo- 
cal judges — those  with  whom  the  peo- 
ple had  to  deal — as  partial,  ignorant, 
and  bigoted  as  ever ;  while  repeal 
would  give  us  an  Irish  code  and  Irish- 
hearted  judges  in  every  court,  from  the 


li: 


lARRTlLL    S:   SON 


THOMAS  DAVIS'S  ESSAYS. 


'773 


clianceiy  to  the  petty  sessions.  Eman- 
cipation dignified  a  dozen  Catholics  with 
a  senatorial  name  in  a  foreign  and  hos- 
tile legislature.  Eepeal  would  give  us 
a  senate,  a  militia,  an  administration,  all 
our  own.  The  penal  code,  as  it  existed 
since  1793,  insulted  the  faith  of  the 
Catholics,  restrained  their  liberties,  and 
violated  the  public  Treaty  of  Limerick. 
The  Union  has  destroyed  our  manufac- 
tures, prohibits  our  flag,  prevents  our 
commerce,  drains  our  rental,  crushes 
our  genius,  makes  our  taxation  a  trib- 
ute, our  representation  a  shadow,  our 
name  a  by-word.  It  were  nobler  to 
strive  for  repeal  than  to  get  emancipa- 
tion. 

"  The  world  attended  us  with  its 
thoughts  and  prayers.  The  graceful 
genius  of  Italy  and  the  profound  intel- 
lect of  Germany  paused  to  wish  us 
well.  The  fiery  heart  of  France  tol- 
erated our  unarmed  effort,  and  prof- 
fered its  aid.  America  sent  us  money, 
thought,  love — she  made  herself  a  part 
of  Ireland  in  her  passions  and  her  or- 
ganization. From  London  to  the  wild- 
est settlement  which  throbs  in  the 
tropics,  or  shivers  nigh  the  pole,  the 
empire  of  our  misruler  was  shaken  by 
our  effort.  To  all  earth  we  proclaimed 
our  wrongs.  To  man  and  God  we 
made  oath  that  we  would  never  cease 
to  strive,  till  an  Irish  nation  stood 
supreme  on  this  island.  The  genius 
which  roused  and  organized  us,  the 
energy  which  labored,  the  wisdom  that 
taught,  the  manhood  which  rose  uj?, 
the  patience  which  obeyed,  the  faith 


which  swore,  and  the  valor  that  strained 
for  action,  are  here  still,  experienced, 
recruited,  resolute.  The  future  shall 
realize  the  promise  of  the  past." 

Ireland's  people  are  depicted  with  a 
master-hand  :  "  We  have  never  con- 
cealed the  defects  or  flattered  the  good 
qualities  of  our  countrymen.  We  have 
told  them  in  good  faith  that  they 
wanted  many  an  attribute  of  a  free 
people,  and  "that  the  true  way  to  com- 
mand happiness  and  liberty  was  by 
learning  the  arts  and  practising  the 
culture  that  fitted  men  for  their  enjoy- 
ment. Nor  was  it  until  we  saw  them 
thus  learning  and  thus  practising,  that 
our  faith  became  perfect,  and  that  we 
felt  entitled  to  say  to  all  men,  here  is 
a  strife  in  which  it  will  be  stainless 
glory  to  be  even  defeated. 

"In  a  climate  soft  as  a  mother's 
smile,  on  a  soil  fruitful  as  God's  love, 
the  Irish  peasant  mourns.  Consider 
his  griefs  !  They  begin  in  the  cradle  ; 
they  end  in  the  grave.  Suckled  by  a 
bi'east  that  is  supplied  from  unwhole- 
some or  insufficient  food,  and  that  is 
fevered  with  anxiety;  reeking  with 
the  smoke  of  an  almost  chimneyless 
cabin  ;  assailed  by  wind  and  rain  when 
the  weather  rages ;  breathing,  when  it 
is  calm,  the  exhalations  of  a  rotten 
roof,  of  clay  walls,  and  of  manure, 
which  gives  his  only  chance  of  food — 
he  is  apt  to  perish  in  his  infancy.  Or 
he  survives  all  this  (happy  if  he  have 
escaped  from  gnawing  scrofula  or  fa- 
miliar fever),  and,  in  the  same  cabin, 
with  rags  instead  of  his  moliher's  breast. 


(74 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IV. 


and  lumpers  instead   of  his   mother's 
milk,  he  spends  his  childhood. 

"Aristocracy  of  Ireland,  will  ye  do 
nothing  ?  Will  ye  do  nothing  for  fear  ? 
The  body  who  best  know  Ireland,  the 
body  that  keep  Irelalid  within  the  law 
— the  repeal  committee — declare  that 
unless  some  great  change  take  place, 
an  agrarian  war  may  ensue !  Do  ye 
know  what  that  is,  and  how  it  would 
come  ?  The  i-apid  multiplication  of 
outi'ages,  increased  violence  by  magis- 
trates, collisions  between  the  peoj^le 
and  the  police,  coercive  laws  and  mil- 
itary force,  the  violation  of  houses,  the 
suspension  of  industry,  the  conflux  of 
discontent,  pillage,  massacre,  war,  the 
gentry  shattered,  the  peasantry  con- 
quered and  decimated,  or  victorious 
and  ruined  (for  who  could  rule  them  ?) 
— tlwe  is  an  agrarian  insurrection  ! 
May  Heaven  guard  us  from  it !  May 
the  fear  lie  vain  !" 

•Another  of  Ireland's  honored  sons, 
and  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of 
his  countrymen  which  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  was  that  distinguished  re- 
former and  philanthropist,  the  Reverend 
Theobald  Mathew,  familiarly  known, 
in  Europe  and  America,  as  "  Father 
Mathew."  He  was  born  in  Tipperary, 
October  10,  1T90.  Though  left  an  or- 
phan at  an  early  age,  he  was  adopted 
by  an  aunt,  and  helped  forwaixl  in  his 
education ;  and  after  a  course  of  study 
at  Maynooth,  he  was  ordained  a' priest 
in  Dublin,  in  1814.  '  ^.The  chief  scene  of 
his  labors  was  in  Cork,  where  for  more 
than  twenty  years  he  devoted  himself 


to  the  interests  of  his  fleet,  with  a 
zeal  and  patience  worthy  of  his  high  vo- 
cation. The  love  and  reverence  of 
the  poor  were,  we  are  assured,  almost 
boundless  ;  the  fovor  and  countenance 
of  those  among  the  higher  ranks  were 
also  freely  bestowed  upon  him ;  and 
had  he  done  no  more  than  labor  in  his 
quiet,  obscure  position  in  Cork  and  its 
vicinity,  he  would  have  been  entitled 
to  all  honor  and  praise. 

But  when  the  subject  of  temperance, 
or  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks, 
became  a  matter  of  public  interest  (in 
1838  and  1839),  Father  Mathew  en- 
tered into  it  with  all  his  heart.  He 
had  seen  too  much  of  the  misery  and 
wretchedness  consequent  upon  drunken- 
ness, he  had  noted  too  often  the  hard 
lot  of  the  drunkard's  wife  and  children, 
not  to  have  all  his  sympathies  aroused 
to  seek  out  some  way  and  means  by 
which  the  downward,  degrading  course 
of  thousands  upon  thousands  could  be 
arrested.  He  began  with  the  people 
immediately  around  and  about  him, 
and  was  very  successful.  A  pledge 
was  prejiared  and  administered,  and, 
what  was  better,  was  Tcept,  to  the  won- 
derful improvement  of  those  brought 
under  Father  Mathew's  influence. '  "  Con- 
firmed drunkards,  whose  days  and 
nights  were  passed  in  a  maze  of  intox- 
ication, profane  swearing,  and  every 
species  of  crime,  wej-e  seen  suddenly 
awakened  from  their  stupor  of  infamy 
^were  seen  becoming  industrious, 
cleanly,  better  clothecl,  more  frequently 
in  the  church,  and  never  in  the  public 


FATHER  MATHEW  A.ND  TEMPERANCE. 


775 


Louse.  Their  wives  and  little  children 
proclaimed,  in  their  cheerful  eyes,  the 
happy  results  of  temperance.  Father 
Mathew,  who  had  been  the  agent  of 
this  change,  was  looked  upon  by  the 
people,  and  not  without  reason,  as  a 
thrice-blessed  man.  His  words  were 
the  words  of  a  prophet;  and  the  pledges 
plighted  in  his  presence  were  vows  to 
Heaven  which  it  were  perdition  to 
break."  This  great  and  good  man  was 
ere  long  called  on  to  labor  in  a  wider 
sphere.  Jle;  visited  Limerick,  and  ad- 
ministered tlie  pledge  to  more  than 
fifty  thousand.  At  Gal  way  one  hun- 
dred thousand  took  the  pledge  in  two 
days.  His  greatest  triumph  was  in 
Dublin,  which  he  visited  in  March, 
1840.  Crowds  flocked  to  hear  him, 
and  listen  to  his  persuasive  appeals  in 
favor  of  teetotalism.  Ten  thousand 
were  enrolled  on  the  first  day.  The 
whole  city  was  stirred  up ;  thousands 
upon  thousands,  filled  with,  ejxthusiasm, 
flocked  around  him,  vowing,  upon  their 
bended  knees,  under  the  wide  canopy 
of  heaven,  and  before  their  God  and 
their  country,  to  be  temperate  for  ever- 
more. 

Thenceforth,  Father  Mathew  became 
the  "  Apostle  of  Temperance,"  and  con- 
verts, numbered  by  the  million,  have 
been  enrolled  among  those  vowing 
never  to  touch  liquor  in  any  shape  or 
form.  He  next  went  to  London,  Liver- 
pool, Manchester,  and  other  places  in 
England,  where  he  was  listened  to  with 


*  The  following  is  the  form  of  Father  Mathew's 
pledge :  "  I  promise,  bo  long  as  I  shall  contiaue  a  mem- 


earuest  and  increasing  interest.  Sub- 
sequently he  extended  his  philanthropic 
labors  to  the  United  States,  and  lec- 
tured in  the  principal  cities  with  very 
great  success.  He  returned  to  L-eland 
in  the  autumn  of  1851,  and  five  years 
afterwards,  December  8,  1856,  he  died. 

The  beneficial  results  of  Father  Ma- 
thew's labors  can  hardly  be  fully  esti- 
mated. In  Ireland,  especially,  he  has 
accomplished  that  for  millions  of  his 
countrymen,  without  which,  if  they 
were  to  gain  entire  independence  of 
England's  control,  they  could  neither 
enjoy  nor  retain  their  freedom.  A 
brighter  day  has  dawned  upon  Ireland 
since  that  long-suffering  country  has 
begun  to  realize  the  value  and  import- 
ance of  the  labors  of  the  zealous,  single- 
hearted,  devoted  Father  Mathew. 

Mr.  George  Lewis  Smyth,  in  his 
"Ireland:  Historical  and  Statistical," 
speaks  of  the  movement  associated  with 
Father  Mathew's  name  in  terms  worthy 
of  being  quoted.  Writing  in  1849,  he 
says ;  "  This  movement  is  one  of  the 
most  striking,  significant,  and  satisfac- 
tory of  modern  times.  A  whole  j)op- 
ulation,  obedient  to  the  pious  sohcita- 
tion  of  a  simple  fi'iar,  fall  down  on 
their  knees  in  the  public  streets,  and 
renounce,  before  heaven  and  the  world, 
a  debasing  vice.  They  carry  away 
with  them  the  friar's  blessing,  and 
an  approving  conscience,  to  strengthen 
them  in  the  keeping  of  their  pledge, 
and    these    suffice    for  the   purpose.* 


ber  of  the  Teetotal  Temperance  Society,  to  abstain 
from  all  intoxicating  liquors,  unless  recommended  for 


770 


REIGN  OF  GEORGE  IV. 


And  they  will  suffice.  The  temper  of 
the  people,  the  exigencies  of  their  con- 
dition, and  the  salutary  effects  produced 
by  the  improvement,  are  the  sure  guar- 
antees of  its  continuance.  We  have 
only  to  glance  at  the  other  changes 
which  have  taken  place  of  late  years  in 
the  condition  of  the  mass  of  the  Irish 
people,  to  be  satisfied  that  this  one  will 
be  maintained.  They  have  ceased  to 
appear  as  a  distinct  and  disqualified 
caste  ;  they  have  commanded  the  exer- 
cise of  political  rights  in  A  manner  new 
and  far  more  independent  than  a  short 
time  ago  they  could  have  believed  pos- 
sible ;  they  have  felt  themselves  rising 
in  the  scale  of  society,  and  heard  the 
public  voice  in  all  directions  sympa- 
thizing aloud  with  their  remaining 
grievances,  and  emphatically  demand- 
ins:  their  removal.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances  the  humblest  Irishman  must 
have  taken  up  a  fresh  idea  of  his  own 
value,  and  have  felt  himself  impelled 
\o  offer  some  public  test  or  demonstra- 
tion of  the  sense  growing  within  him 
of  acquired  superiority.    But  that,  while 


medical  purposes,  and  to  discourage,  by  all  means  in 
my  power,  the  practice  of  intoxication  in  otliers."  Af- 
ter having  said  this  slowly  and  distinctly,  Father  Ma- 
thew  passed  from  person  to  person,  and  making  the 


he  continued  a  drunkard,  would  always 
be  impossible.  Intoxication  reduces  all 
grades  and  minds  to  the  same  low  level, 
and  there  confounds  them.  Considera- 
tion in  society,  which  an  Irishman  pri- 
zes, was  thus  unattainable ;  and  long 
before  good  Father  Mathew  appeared, 
the  Irishman  must  have  had  a  longing 
desire  urging  upon  his  heart  the  aban- 
donmenj^  of  so  vile  a  habit,  and  freedom 
from  the  enslaving  bonds  that  prevent- 
ed him  from  enjoying  the  full  and  un- 
disputed reputation  of  being  a  regener- 
ated individual Rescued  for  the 

future  from  the  danger  of  being  dragged 
into  this  whirlpool  of  ruin  (i.  e.,  drunk- 
ehness),  the  Irishman  will  find  that  he 
has  a  legitimate  claim  to  a  distinct 
grade  in  society,  and  he  will  maintain 
and  improve  the  claim,  because  he  will 
not  be  slow  to  discover  that  by  so  do- 
ing he  will  add  to  his  fortune,  while  he 
gratifies  his  pride." 

All  honor,  then,  be  to  this  good 
man,  this  noble  philanthropist,  and 
may  his  name  from  henceforth  and  ever 
be  held  in  perpetual  memory ! 


sign  of  the  cross  on  the  forehead,  repeated  the  usual 
form  of  Eoman  Catholic  hlessing  :  "  I  bless  thee  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.     Amen." 


O'CONNELL  AS  A  LEADER. 


777 


CHAPTER  L. 

o'cOOTfELL   IN   PAKLIAJrENT,    AND   IKELANd's   STRUGGLES. 


Position  and  influence  of  O'Connell  in  Parliament. — Death  of  George  IV. — Succeeded  by  William  IV. — Excite- 
ment about  reform. — Change  of  ministry. — Marquis  of  Anglesca  lord-lieutenant. — Decides  against  public 
meetings  for  repeal. — O'Connell  and  others  arrested,  tried,  and  convicted,  but  not  sentenced. — Reform-bill 
introduced  into  Parliament. — O'Connell's  actiTitj,  popularity,  and  demands. — Reform-bill  carried  in  1832. — 
Not  much  satisfaction  to  Ireland. — Agitation  on  the  subject  of  tithes. — Abolition  of  ten  bishoprics,  etc. — 
Earl  Grey's  coercion  bill. — Agitation  not  stopped. — Discussion  in  Parliament  on  the  Repeal  question. — The 
"  Experiment"  proposed  and  attempted  to  be  carried  out. — Of  no  real  benefit. — Orange  lodges  and  other 
societies  supjiressed. — Bills  for  reform  of  municipal  corporations,  for  poor-laws,  for  abolition  of  tithes,  etc., 
1836. — Mr.  Nichols'  Report  on  the  condition  of  the  poor  in  Ireland. — Lord  John  Russell's  bill. — Passed  in 
1838. — Result. — O'Connell's  labors  for  years. — Death  of  William  IV. — Accession  of  Queen  Victoria. — Ex- 
pectations.— Demands  in  behalf  of  Ireland. — Reform  in  Irish  corporations. — Good  results. — Lord  Fortescne 
lord-lieutcnant. — His  policy. — Repeal  Association  formed  in  1840. — O'Connell  lord-mayor  of  Dublin. — 
Petition  of  city  corporation  for  repeal  of  the  Union. — "  Monster  meetings." — Immense  gatherings. — Bold 
language  of  O'Connell  and  Bishop  Higgins. — Government  preparations. — Meeting  at  Mullaghmast. — One 
appointed  to  be  held  at  Clontarf. — Forbidden  by  the  lord-lieutenant. — O'Connell  and  sis  others  arrested, 
tried,  and  convicted. — Sentence  and  imprisonment,  1844. — HI  effects  upon  O'Connell. — His  views  as  to  using 
force  in  carrying  forward  repeal. — The  "Young  Ireland"  party. — O'Connell's  sickness  and  death,  1847. — 
Estimate  of  his  character  and  career. — Determination  of  the  British  Government. — Macaulay's  expressions. 
— Eulogj'  on  O'Connell. — The  potato  rot  or  disease. — Terrible  famine  in  Ireland. — Maynooth  endowment) 
1845. — Queen's  Colleges. — Denounced  by  the  Catholic  hierarchy. — Catholic  University  founded. — Govern- 
ment efforts  to  relieve  distress. — Bill  for  constructing  public  works  so  as  to  employ  the  poor. — The  famine 
of  1846-7. — Poor-law  amended. — Large  contributions  for  relief. — Private  benevolence. — Sad  picture  of  the 
state  of  the  country. — Places  for  relief. — Extensive  emigration. — Increased  for  years. — Diminution  of  popu- 
lation between  1841  and  1851. 


(1829—1847.) 


'T^HE  position  of  Daniel  O'Connell 
-*-  in  the  English  parliament  was 
looked  upon  as  a  very  important  one 
for  the  interests  of  Ireland.  Lofty  ex- 
pectations were  entertained  in  regard 
to  what  he  was  about  to  accomplish, 
and  the  confidence  and  enthusiastic  de- 
votion of  his  countrymen  were  un- 
bounded. His  great  ability,  his  bold- 
ness, his  zeal,  and  his  eloquence  had 
proven   his   admirable   fitness  for  the 

98 


position  of  the  leader  of  Irishmen  in 
their  own  land ;  it  now  remained  to  be 
demonstrated  in  how  far  his  remark- 
able powers  could  be  employed  in  the 
imperial  legislature  in  furthering  the 
one  great  object  of  his  life,  the  repeal 
of  the  Union  and  the  i-estoration  of  a 
parliament  for  his  native  country. 

O'Connell's  course  in  parliament  was 
characterized  by  his  usual  sagacity  and 
shrewdness,  and  was  well  calculated  to 


778 


REIGN    OF    WILLIAM    IV 


promote  the  ends  to  wliicli  he  had 
pledged  himself.  It  was  not  long, 
moreover,  before  his  influence  began 
to  make  itself  manifest  in  various  ways. 
In  May,  1830,  O'Connell  introduced  a 
motion  for  reform  in  parliament,  uni- 
versal suffrage,  and  vote  by  ballot  at 
elections.  This  motion,  though  it  met 
with  no  favor  or  support  at  the  time, 
was  a  significant  indication  of  the 
spirit  of  O'Connell,  and  the  far-reaching 
aims  had  in  view  by  himself  and  his 
compeers. 

George  IV.  ended  a  vicious  and  al- 
most worthless  life  on  the  26th  of 
June,  1830,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  the  duke  of  Clarence,  William 
IV.  Parliament  was  prorogued  in  July, 
and  writs  issued  for  an  election  of  mem- 
bers for  the  new  parliament  to  meet  in 
November.  Much  excitement  pre- 
vailed, both  in  England  and  Ireland, 
and  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to 
have  members  returned  so  as  to  sup- 
port the  views  of  the  tories  and  oppo- 
nents of  reform  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
carry  forward  the  extension  of  popular 
priyileges  on  the  other.  In  fact,  reform 
was  loudly  called  for,  and  great  agita- 
tion and  excitement  prevailed. 

When  parliament  met  again,  No- 
vember, 1830,  the  Wellington  and  Peel 
ministry  speedily  found  themselves  in 
a  minority,  and  so  of  course  resigned. 
Earl  Grey  then  became  prime-minister. 
Lord  Melbourne  was  made  home  secre- 
tary. Brougham  became  lord-chancellor, 
the  Marquis  of  Anglesea  was  again  sent 
to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant,  with  Mr. 


Stanley  ms  his  cliief  secretary,  and  Plun- 
kett  was  made  Irish  chancellor.  The 
appointment  of  the  Marquis  of  Angle- 
sea  it  was  supposed  would  prove  of 
great  service  to  the  government,  as  he 
had  been  very  popular  in  Ireland,  be- 
cause of  his  favoring  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion (see  p.  768)  ;  but  the  result  did  not 
answer  the  expectation  of  government. 
Dublin  was  full  of  agitation  and  ex- 
citement on  political  questions,  and  in 
nearly  -all  parts  of  the  country  there 
seemed  to  be  a  determination  to  pro- 
ceed to  ulterior  movements.  Eman- 
cipation was  only  a  part  of  what  the 
Catholics  wanted  and  were  resolved  to 
attain.  Repeal,  as  O'Connell  announ- 
ced, was  the  grand  object  to  be  reached, 
and  repeal  O'Connell  bent  all  his  ener- 
gies to  favor  and  push  forward.  In 
January,  1829,  he  said,  that  in  order  to 
accomplish  rej^eal  he  would  give  up 
emancipation  and  every  other  measure, 
and  that  his  exertions  for  such  an  ob- 
ject Avould  meet  with  the  co-operatioa 
of  all  sects  and  parties. 

The  lord-lieutenant  met  with  a  cold 
reception  on  his  arrival  in  Dublin  ;  and 
when  he  took  the  ground  of  putting  a 
stop  to  all  public  meetings  for  agitating 
repeal,  as  seditious  and  iinlawfu],  he 
found  arrayed  against  him  all  the  in- 
fluence of  O'Connell  and  the  other 
leaders  of  the  Catholics  in  Ireland. 

In  January,  1831,  O'Connell  and 
seven  of  his  fellow-workers  were  arrest- 
ed as  trespassers  against  the  lord-lieu- 
tenant's proclamation  forbidding  as- 
semblages for  discussing  political  topics. 


REFORM  AND  THE  REFORM-BILL. 


779 


Soon  after,  the  grand-jury  found  true 
bills  against  O'Connell  and  tlie  others, 
and  the  trial  was  had  iu  February.  It 
resulted  in  their  conviction,  but  judg- 
ment was  deferred.  O'Couuell  asserted 
boldly  that  the  government  would  not 
proceed  to  sentence  him  ;  and  he  was 
right  in  so  saying,  for  the  government 
was  so  situated  in  parliament  as  to  need 
all  the  support  and  help  of  O'Connell 
and  the  Irish  members.  The  act  under 
which  the  Liberator  ay  as  tried  expired 
in  June,  and  his  legal  criminality  ex- 
pired of  course  with  it.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  this  prosecution  greatly 
increased  O'Connell's  popularity  with 
the  masses  of  the  people,  and  he  used 
the  power  he  possessed  in  urging  on 
the  cry  for  repeal  of  the  Union. 

In  parliament,  the  ministry  intro- 
duced a  plan  for  reform  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  of  England. 
The  necessity  of  some  action  on  this 
subject  was  universally  felt,  and  Lord 
John  Eussell's  bill,  which  was  brought 
into  the  Commons  iu  March,  1831, 
passed  the  house  by  a  considerable 
majority.  In  the  Lords,  however,  it 
met  with  determined  opposition,  and 
was  thrown  out  in  October.  Immense 
excitement  prevailed  in  consequence. 
The  houses  of  various  noblemen  were 
attacked,  and  their  owners  who  op- 
posed the  bill  were  hooted  at  in  the 
streets  of  London.  The  ministry  had 
no  alternative,  and  so  parliament  was 
dissolved. 

O'Connell  was,  as  usual,  actively  en- 
gaged in  rousing  the  people  to  contend 


earnestly  for  their  rights,  and  so  great 
was  the  enthusiasm  which  his  presence 
excited  everywhere,  that  the  Marquis 
of  Anfjlesea  and  ffovernment  in  Ireland 
were  able  to  make  but  feeble  opposition 
to  his  commandino:  influence  and  his 
eloquent  appeals  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  at  the  trials  for  political  of- 
fences, held  at  Limerick,  Galway,  Ros- 
common, and  other  places.  In  fact, 
O'Connell's  popularity  was  unbounded. 
Wherever  he  went  through  England  or 
Scotland,  thousands  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  greeted  his  approach.  He 
proclaimed  the  necessity  of  a  further 
reform  in  the  British  Constitution ; 
demanded  the  reform  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  by  the  abolition  of  hereditary 
privileges;  demanded  annual  or  trien- 
nially  elected  parliaments,  the  ballot 
and  universal  suffrage,  and  for  his  na- 
tive country  the  fullest  measures  of 
equal  political  privileges  with  England, 
or  the  restoration  of  her  native  parlia- 
ment ;  and  these  demands  were  second- 
ed and  heartily  approved  by  millions  of 
the  English  people. 

Parliament  met  in  December,  1831, 
and  the  subject  of  reform  came  up  al- 
most immediately.  So  strong  had  been 
the  public  expression  throughout  the 
kingdom  of  the  necessity  of  this  reform, 
that  parliament  felt  it  a  duty  to  give 
the  matter  the  earliest  attention  and 
settlement.  The  debate  was  protracted 
and  earnest  in  the  House,  but  the  bill 
passed,  March  22d,  1832.  In  the 
House  of  Lords  the  duke  of  Wellington 
and  others  strongly  opposed  the  reform 


780 


REIGN   OF   WILLIAM   IV. 


measures.  The  bill  was  read  the 
second  time,  April  14tli,  and  discussed 
in  committee  early  in  May.  The  min- 
istry resigned ;  but  as  a  new  one  could 
not  be  formed  with  any  prospect  of 
success,  Earl  Grey  and  his  fellow-work- 
ers were  recalled,  and  on  the  4th  of 
June,  1832,  the  reform-bill  passed  the 
House  of  Lords. 

The  bill  for  parliamentary  reform,  as 
applicable  to  Ireland,  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Stanley,  May  22d,  and  was  car- 
ried through  both  houses  by  the  begin- 
ning of  August.  It  gave  five  new 
members  to  Ireland  ;  but  as  the  leaders 
and  agitators,  in  behalf  of  reform,  de- 
manded at  least  twenty-five  additional 
members,  as  well  as  an  extension  of  the 
franchise,  there  was  great  disappoint- 
ment at  this  meagre  resvdt,  and  consid- 
erable indignation  at  the  course  pursued 
by  the  government*  O'Connell,  who 
had  laid  aside,  for  the  time,  the  agita- 
tion of  the  repeal  question,  in  order  to 
obtain  all  the  possible  benefits  of  par- 
liamentaiy  reform,  now  resumed  his 
active  interest  and  efforts  in  this  and 
all  other  movements  calculated  to  in- 
crease the  political  power  and  influence 
of  the  Catholics  in  Ireland.  The  bur- 
den of  tithes  was  denounced,  the  de- 
mand for  abolition  of  these  oppressive 
and  odious  exactions,  as  they  were  held 


*  "Ireland,"  says  Mr.  O'Brennan,  "got  only  five  addi- 
tional members,  who  increased  our  representatives  to 
105.  About  40  members  were  returned  at  the  general 
election,  pledged  to  support  the  Repeal  of  the  Union. 
Had  not  the  elective  franchise  been  \injustly  withheld 
from  the  people,  nearly  all  the  constituencies  would  have 
returned  repealers,  aU  sects  and  parlies' being  convinced 
that  nothing  short  of  a  parliament  in  College  Green, 


to  be,  was  warmly  discussed,  and  much 
and  vigorous  exertion  was  bestowed  in 
endeavoring  to  agree  upon  a  settlement 
of  this  vexed  question.  In  fact,  the 
whole  subject  of  the  established  church 
in  Ireland  was  gone  into,  in  this  and 
subsequent  sessions  of  parliament ;  and 
the  ministry  finally  gave  way  so  far  as 
to  abolish  ten  bishoprics  and  throw  off 
one-fourth  of  the  entire  tax. 

The  new  parliament,  under  the  re- 
form act,  met  in  January,  1833.  The 
Irish  representation  Vt^&s  largely  made 
up  of  friends  and  followers  of  O'Con- 
nell, who  had  been  particularly  active 
in  connection  with  the  Trades'  Union, 
the  Volunteers,  and  other  associations 
engaged  in  political  movements  in  Ire- 
land. 

In  February,  Earl  Grey  introduced 
the  coercion  bill  for  Ireland,  based  upon 
the  fact  that  disturbances  and  violations 
of  law  were  so  prevalent  that  decided 
measures  must  be  taken  to  repress 
them.  The  bill  was  strongly  opposed 
by  O'Connell  and  others,  who  moved 
various  and  important  amendments; 
but  it  became  a  law  by  the  close  of  the 
month  of  March.  The  lord-lieutenant 
acted  upon  the  powers  given  him,  put- 
ting a  stop  to  political  gatherings,  Vol- 
unteers' associations,  etc.  Agitation,  it 
was  hoped,  would  gradually  diminish ; 

Dublin,  could  restore  this  country  to  a  secure  and  per- 
manent condition  of  national  prosperity.  Such  an  as- 
sembly would  check  the  drain  of  absenteeism,  which  is 
one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  our  poverty,  and  would 
cherish  and  enlarge  our  manufactures,  make  trade 
flourish,  and  keep  the  gentry  at  home  to  watch  over 
and  encourage  native  industry.  An  Irish  parliament 
would  heal  all  our  miseries." 


DEBATE  OjST  THE  REPEAL  QUESTIOjST. 


T81 


but  every  sucli  hope  was  delusive ;  for 
O'Connell  and  the  Irish  patriots  who 
were  joined  with  him  were  determined 
never  to  cease  agitating  the  subject  of 
a  Repeal  of  the  Union,  until  success 
crowned  their  efforts.  At  the  opening 
of  parliament  in  1834,  the  king  declared 
that  he  would  uphold  the  Union  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Ireland  at  the 
utmost  cost,  and  with  all  the  power  of 
the  State.  /This  declaration  O'Connell 
met  some  time  after  by  a  resolution  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  that  the  Union 
had  not  only  been  singularly  disastrous 
to  Ireland,  but  also  greatly  injurious  to 
England,  and  that  it  was  expedient  that 
it  be  immediately  repealed.  The  great 
discussion  on  the  Kepeal  question  took 
place,  April  22,  1834,  when  O'Connell 
made  one  of  his  noblest  efforts,  2:ivin<2: 
a  history  of  the  connection  between 
England  and  Ireland  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  detailing  the  oppressions  in- 
flicted on  his  native  country  during  600 
years  by  the  tyrannical  Saxon.  Mr. 
Spring  Rice  and  Mr.  E.  Tennant,  both 
Irish  members,  spoke  in  behalf  of  the 
government,  and  undertook  to  show 
how  greatly  Ireland  had  advanced  in 
wealth,  commerce,  and  resources,  since 
the  Union ;  how  Cork,  Belfast,  Gal  way, 
and  Wexford  had  increased  their  ship- 
ping; and  what  a  prospect  for  the 
future  lay  open  before  Ireland,  if  she 
could  only  be  freed  from  the  mischiev- 
ous political  agitation,  which  lay  as  an 
insuperable  incubus  on  her  prosperity. 
The  debate  was  kept  up  for  a  week ; 
but,  on  a  division,  there  were  five  hun- 


dred and  twenty-three  votes  against  the 
motion,  and  only  thirty-eight  in  its 
favor.  Ministers,  immediately  after  the 
division,  brought  forward  a  series  of 
resolutions,  declaring  the  Union  at 
present  existing  with  Ireland  forever 
indissoluble ;  but  pledging  parliament 
and  the  king  to  redress  all  proved 
abuses  to  be  found  there. 

On  a  change  in  the  ministry,  in  1835, 
Earl  Grey  having  retired  and  Lord 
Melbourne  having  assumed  the  pre- 
miership, the  Earl  of  Mulgrave  was 
sent  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant,  -with 
Lord  Morpeth  as  chief  secretary.  O'Con- 
nell had  certain  overtures  made  to  him, 
on  condition  of  his  giving  up  repeal 
agitation,  to  introduce  and  cai-ry  out 
the  most  thorough  and  complete  reform 
in  Ireland.  O'Connell  was  not  unwil- 
ling to  listen  to  these  advances,  as  we 
learn  in  a  letter  written  by  him  in 
May,  1835: 

"  Here  I  am,  for  one,  fully  determin- 
ed to  contribute  all  I  can  to  the  success 
of  this  experiment.  The  union,  fairly 
tried,  may,  as  some  expect,  jiroduce 
honest  and  good  government,  and  con- 
sequent tranquillity  and  prospei-ity,  in 
Ireland.  If  it  do  so,  all  that  we  desire 
to  obtain  by  the  Repeal  will  be  realized 
— a  result  which  I  fervently  hope  foi-, 
but  cannot  bring  myself  to  say  I  confi- 
dently anticipate.  But  such  a  result 
would  please  everybody,  and,  in  the 
comfort  and  prosperity  of  Ireland,  her 
patriots  would  have  their  glorious  re- 
ward. If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ex- 
periment fails,  and  then,  after  honestly 


782 


REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  IV. 


applying  all  the  powers  of  a  friendly 
but  united  le2;islature  to  the  ameliora- 
tiou  of  the  condition  of  the  Irish  people, 
it  is  proved  to  demonstration  that  no- 
thing can  cure  the  evils  arising  from 
provincial  degradation,  from  the  ab- 
sence of  the  nobility,  gentry,  and  great 
landed  proprietors,  but  a  domestic  le- 
gislature in  a  nation  of  more  than  eight 
millions  of  inhabitants,  why,  then  we 
will  demand  'the  rej)eal'  in  a  voice  of 
thunder,  and  we  shall  be  joined  in  the 
cry  by  all  the  rational  and  right-think- 
ing men  of  Great  Britain." 

The  new  lord-lieutenant  ariived  in 
Dublin  in  May,  1835,  and  almost  im- 
mediately became  popular,  as  well  by 
his  attractive  manners  as  by  his  sincere 
desire  to  i:)romote  the  welfare  of  Ire- 
laud.  Every  thing  was  done  that  could 
be  done  to  quiet  and  soothe  the  public 
mind ;  places  under  government  were 
freely  bestowed  ;  popular  leaders  were 
raised  to  ofSce ;  lucrative  positions  were 
given  to  such  men  as  Sheil,  O'Dwyer, 
O'Connell's  son  and  son-in-law,  O'Far- 
rell,  and  others ;  the  liberator  was 
offered  a  judgeship  worth  £4,000  a 
year,  and  was  entertained  by  the  lord- 
lieutenant  at  a  state  banquet ;  prisoners 
for  political  offences  were  liberally  par- 
doned ;  and,  in  short,  the  government 
was  so  free  in  its  use  of  patronage  and 
its  holding  out  expectations  of  great 
good  from  the  present  course  of  things, 
that  for  the  time  being  the  repeal  cry 
was  entirely  hushed.  But,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  the  "  experiment" 
failed  of  accomplishing  any  real  good 


for  the  mass  of  the  peoj)le ;  and  Lord 
Mulgrave,  the  popular  and  cultivated 
lord-lieutenant,  was  recalled  early  in 
1839. 

During  the  following  session  (1836) 
Mr.  Sheil  brought  forward  the  subject 
of  the  orange  lodges,  with  a  view  to 
their  suppression,  and  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining a  select  committee  to  inquire  into 
their  extent  and  tendencies ;  and  this 
was  backed  up  by  a  resolution  of  Mr. 
Hume's,  to  extend  the  inquiry  to  the 
orange  lodges  which  were  known  to  ej- 
ist  in  the  army,  which  he  alleged  were 
not  only  an  insult  to  Ireland,  but  also 
treasonable  towards  the  country.  A 
law  was  then  passed  by  parliament 
against  all  and  every  kind  of  seci'et  so- 
cieties, in  which  the  freemasons,  and 
other  social  and  friendly  brotherhoods, 
were  included,  and  which  completely 
suppressed  the  orange  system  in  Ireland 
and  in  the  army.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that,  in  1834,  an  act  had  been 
passed  for  an  extensive  reform  of  the 
municipal  corporations  of  England  and 
Wales,  founded  on  the  elective  prin- 
ciple of  the  great  reform-bill ;  which 
had  been  found,  from  experience,  to  be 
of  vast  utility  in  opening  those  exclu- 
sive bodies  to  general  competition,  and 
in  sweeping  away  an  immense  number 
of  most  gross  corruptions.  This  prin- 
ciple it  was  now  proposed  to  carry  out 
also  in  Ireland,  and  a  committee  was  ac- 
cordingly appointed  to  inquire  into  th-e 
best  mode  of  effecting  that  desirable 
object. 

The    imperial    legislature    professed 


THE  IRISH  TITHE-BILL. 


783 


itself  to  be  anxious  to  benefit,  in  any 
and  every  way  possible,  the  people  of 
Ireland.  By  the  granting  of  Catholic 
emancipation,  the  great  masses  of  the 
people,  it  was  conceived,  had  been 
placed  ou  a  political  level  with  their 
Protestant  fellow-subjects.  By  the  ex- 
tension of  municipal  reform,  they  hoped, 
by  giving  the  middle  classes  an  active 
participation  in  the  local,  as  well  as 
general,  government  of  the  country,  to 
inci'ease  their  pereonal  dignity  and  self- 
respect.  It  was  now  pi'oposed  to  re- 
lease the  lower  classes  from  the  abject 
thraldom  in  which  they  were  held,  by 
giving  them  a  title  to  relief,  in  times  of 
adversity,  upon  the  landed  and  other 
property,  by  the  introduction  of  a  judi- 
cious system  of  poor-laws;  and  thus 
save  them  from  the  degradation  of  that 
eleemosynary  relief,  upon  which,  in 
periods  of  distress,  they  had  hitherto 
solely  to  depend. 

Parliament  met  on  the  14th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1836,  when  it  was  opened  by 
the  king  in  person  ;  who,  in  the  speech 
from  the  throne,  laid  these  several 
topics  before  the  legislature.  Mr. 
O'Loghlin,  the  attorney-general,  intro- 
duced a  bill  for  the  reform  of  the  mu- 
nicipal corporations,  which  was  passed 
by  the  House ;  but  the  House  of  Lords 
having  made  numerous  amendments,  to 
which  the  lower  House  did  not  agree, 
the  bill  was  lost. 

The  Irish  Tithe-Bill  was  first  mooted 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  25th 
of  April,  1836,  by  Lord  Morpeth,  who 
trusted  that  he  should  neutralize  all 


opposition  by  moving  a  resolution,  in 
the  adoption  of  which  all  parties  miglit, 
without  at  all  compromising  themselves, 
combine.  His  resolution  was,  "That 
it  is  expedient  to  commute  the  composi- 
tion of  tithes  in  Ireland  in  a  rent-charo-e, 
payable  by  the  owners  of  estates,  and 
thus  make  a  further  provision  for  the 
better  regulation  of  ecclesiastical  dues 
and  revenues."  By  this  process  it  was 
expected  that  nearly  £100,000  Avould 
be  gained  for  other  purposes  ;  and  out 
of  this  sum  he  proposed  to  appiopriate 
£50,000  to  educational  and  other  simi- 
lar purposes.  The  bill  met  with  much 
opposition,  and  was  deferred  for  the 
present.  Meanwhile,  the  clei-gy  issued 
processes  to  collect  the  tithes,  and  were 
sustained  by  the  highest  law  authorities. 

The  Catholics  were  exasperated  at 
these  proceedings,  and  at  a  meeting 
held  in  the  Corn  Exchange,  where 
O'Connell  was  the  leading  spirit,  tithes 
were  denounced  altogether,  and  a  feel- 
ing of  intense  indignation  was  roused. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Protestants  in 
the  north  of  Ireland  made  very  great 
exertions  to  secure  and  sustain  what 
they  considered  to  be  their  rights  under 
the  constitution,  and  to  counteract  the 
designs  of  the  Catholics. 

The  year  1837  opened  with  lowering 
clouds  over  Ireland.  Neither  Catliolic 
nor  Protestant  was  satisfied ;  and  there 
was  too  much  room  for  discontent  and 
disturbance,  if  not  serious  outbreaks  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  The  sub- 
ject of  relief  to  the  poor  was  fully  and 
carefully  discussed,  based  upon  the  re- 


78-4 


REIGN  OF   WILLIAM    IV. 


port  of  Mr.  Nicliols,  who  liad  been  sent 
by  Lord  John  Kussell  to  Ireland  to  ex- 
amine into  the  actual  condition  of  the 
pool'.  Mr.  Nichols'  report  was  full,  ac- 
curate, and  clearly  arranged.  He  stated 
that  the  wages  of  the  agricultural  la- 
borers varied  fi'om  sixpence  to  twelve- 
pence  a  day  ;  the    average  was  about 

eisrht-and-a-half.      The  earnings   of   la- 
cs ^ 

borers,  on  an  average  of  the  whole  class, 
did  not  exceed  two  shillings  to  two 
shillings  and  sixpence  a  week,  for  the 
whole  year  round ;  from  which  miser- 
able income  a  man  and  his  family  were 
to  feed  and  clothe  themselves!  The 
number  of  persons  out  of  work,  and  in 
distress,  during  thirty  weeks  of  the 
year,  was  estimated  at  585,000 ;  and 
the  number  of  persons  dependent  upon 
them  for  support,  at  not  less  than 
1,800,000,— making,  in  the  whole,  2,385, 
000,  or  one-fourth  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion, who  might  be  said  to  be  depend- 
ent upon  charitable  support  for  six 
months  in  every  year ;  that  the  support 
of  the  poor  fell  exclusively  on  the  farm- 
ing and  cotter  class  ;  and  the  voluntary 
relief  afforded  by  these  he  valued  at 
near  a  million  sterling  per  annum. 

The  poor-law  of  Lord  John  Russell 
was  based  upon  Mr.  Nichols'  report. 
He  proposed  to  adopt  the  principle  of 
compulsory  rates  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor ;  but  in  order  to  render  the  relief 
efficacious,  so  that  improper  persons 
should  not  receive  the  relief  thus  de- 
vised, he  annexed  a  condition,  that  all 
who  required  relief  should  be  com- 
pelled to  enter  the  workhouse,  where 


they  would  meet  with  worse  fare  and 
work  harder  for  their  support  than 
when  they  were  working  for  any  otlier 
master  than  the  parish.  In  order  to 
insure  a  right  feeling  among  the  several 
bodies,  or  boards  of  guardians,  who 
would  have  the  immediate  direction  of 
all  the  parishes,  he  proposed  altogether 
to  exclude  clergymen,  whatever  their 
principles  might  be.  The  measure  was 
ai'gned  and  re-argued.  O'Connell  and 
others  opposed  it  strongly,  and  it  was 
laid  aside  for  that  session  on  account  of 
the  king's  death.  It  was  taken  up 
again  the  next  session,  and,  early  in  the 
year  1838,  passed  by  large  majorities. 
Money  was  granted  for  the  erection  of 
poor-houses  to  the  extent  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  pounds,  and  the  whole 
machinery  for  this  vast  effort  to  benefit 
the  poor  in  Ireland  was  soon  after 
brought  into  operation. 

A  Catholic  writer,  who  sympathizes 
with  the  labors  of  O'Connell  and  his 
fellow-workers  in  opposition  to  the 
poor-law,  asserts  that  "  this  measure 
has  proved  a  signal  failure.  The  peo- 
ple, in  most  cases,  refuse  to  pass  a  rate. 
There  is  no  money  to  be  found  by  the 
commissioners ;  and  the  consequence 
is,  the  poor  in  many  places  are  dis- 
charged upon  the  country,  and  live 
upon  the  bounty  of  the  charitable,  as 
they  formerly  did." 

Our  limits  do  not  admit  of  going  into 
details,  or  of  enlarging  upon  the  vast 
influence  and  power  exerted  by  O'Con- 
nell in  his  country's  affairs.  Suffice  it 
here    to    say,   that  for    several   years 


CLAIMS  AND  HOPES  FOR  IRELAND. 


785 


O'Connell  devoted  his  best  energies  to 
the  one  great  topic  on  which  he  had 
staked  his  future  life  and  powers,  as 
the  Liberator  of  Ii-elaud.  Repeal  was 
steadily  and  forcibly  advocated  in  par- 
liament and  out  of  it ;  O'Connell  never 
lost  sight  of  it  when  dealing  with  the 
masses,  as  well  in  England  as  in  Ire- 
land ;  Repeal  was  his  battle-cry,  and  he 
spared  no  way  or  means  to  further  its 
advance.  Associations  were  formed 
well  calculated  to  set  forward  the 
cause,  and  these  exercised  great  influ- 
ence in  Ireland  and  elsewhere  ;  and,  in 
fact,  all  through  the  reign  of  William 
IV.,  O'Connell  was  a  thorn  in  the  side 
of  the  successive  administrations,  was 
ever  busy  in  keeping  alive  the  agita- 
tion of  the  great  question,  was  wearied 
by  no  labor,  appalled  by  no  difficulties, 
discouraged  by  no  disappointments,  and 
resolute  in  persisting  to  the  end  in  press- 
ing a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  simple  justice  to  Ireland,  and  as  an 
advantage  to  both  England  and  Ireland. 
On  the  20th  of  June,  1837,  "William 
IV.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
Princess  Victoria,  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  Kent.  She  was  now  in  the  eigh- 
teenth year  of  her  age,  and  her  views 
and  feelings,  so  far  as  was  known  and 
believed,  were  liberal  and  generous. 
In  the  enthusiasm  arising  out  of  a  new 
sovereign  mounting  the  throne,  high 
hopes  were  excited  in  behalf  of  Ireland 
and  her  claims ;  and  it  was  expected 
by  many  that  now  justice,  at  least, 
would  be  rendered  to  this  portion  of 
her  majesty's  dominions. 
99 


The  new  parliament,  under  Queen 
Victoria,  met  in  November,  1837,  and 
was  composed  of  about  an  equal  num- 
ber of  whigs  and  tories.  Various  mat- 
ters relative  to  Ireland  came  before 
the  legislature,  upon  questions  con- 
nected with  the  purity  of  elections  and 
the  evident  course  of  things  in  that 
country,  dissatisfied  as  its  people  were 
with  the  rule  of  the  whig  party.  The 
abolition  of  monopolies  like  the  Bank 
of  Ireland  wa.s  called  for ;  there  was  an 
earnest  asking  for  encouragement  to 
the  Irish  fisheries ;  and,  indeed,  a  gen- 
eral fostering  of  Irish  enterprise  and 
internal  improvements  was  demanded. 

During  the  years  1838  and  1839 
O'Connell  was  much  occupied  in  seek- 
ing to  obtain  a  corporate  reform-bill 
for  Ireland.  The  attempt  to  renew  the 
charter  of  the  Bank  of  Ireland  was  de- 
feated. Ardent  and  long-continued  dis- 
cussions on  the  Irish  poor-law  were  had ; 
but  the  affairs  of  Ireland  did  not  obtain 
that  attention  they  deserved.  England 
was  in  a  state  of  great  agitation  and  ex- 
citement. The  chartist  masses,  on  the 
one  hand,  were  armed,  and  meeting  in 
bodies  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands, by  torchlight,  and  demanding  the 
"  people's  charter,"  under  denunciations 
of  the  most  fearful  kind ;  and  on  the 
other,  the  tory  party  was  indulging  in 
threatenings  and  abuse  of  the  queen, 
and  especially  of  Lord  Melbourne,  the 
prime-minister.  O'Connell's  labors,  we 
may  mention  here,  to  obtain  a  reform 
in  the  L-ish  corporations,  were  crowned 
with   success   in  1840.      The   bill   for 


7m 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


tins  purpose  was  finally  passed  by  the 
House  of  Lords,  althougli  many  of  its 
clauses  were  stricken  out,  and  it  was 
not  altogether  what  was  demanded. 
It,  however,  had  this  good  effect,  that 
it  opened  the  corporations  to  men  of 
all  religious  denominations,  and  sub- 
jected  the  taxing  powers  to  public 
scrutiny ;  but  it  provided  that  the  old 
officers  should  not  be  removed  with- 
out ample  compensation.  The  bill  went 
into  operation  in  the  year  1841.* 

Lord  Mulgrave  (now  Marquis  of 
Normanby)  having  been  recalled.  Lord 
Fortescue  was  sent,  in  1839,  to  Ireland, 
as  lord-lieutenant.  The  new  viceroy, 
with  outspoken  plainness,  declared  pub- 
licly that  no  member  of  the  Repeal 
Association  should  receive  place  or 
promotion  from  him.  This,  as  may  be 
supposed,  produced  considerable  feel- 
ing, and  the  question  of  repeal  excited 
more  and  more  attention.  The  "  Pre- 
cursor Association,"  founded  in  August, 
1838,  was  replaced  by  the  "Registra- 
tion Society,"  and  that,  in  1840,  by  the 
"  Loyal  National  Repeal  Association  of 
Ireland."  This  latter  formally  pledged 
itfeelf  never  to  dissolve  until  the  Union 
was  repealed. 

The  struggle  of  the  whigs  against 
the  tories  resulted,  in  1841,  in  the  com- 
plete discomfiture  of  the  former.  Sir 
Robert   Peel   became   the   premier   in 


September,  1841,  and  held  that  impor- 
tant position  until  184G.  O'Connell, 
after  a  busy  and  exciting  canvass,  was 
elected  lord-mayor  of  Dublin  in  1841, 
and  on  the  1st  of  November  was  duly 
installed  into  office.  It  was  a  position 
not  more  honorable  than  influential ; 
and  though  the  Liberator  nfever  lost 
sight  of  the  one  great  object  of  his  life, 
still  it  deserves  to  be  put  on  record 
that  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
office  with  acknowledged  impartiality 
and  fiiirness,  and  retired  from  his  posi- 
tion, at  the  end  of  the  year,  with  honor 
and  credit.  The  year  following  (in 
February,  1843)  he  gave  notice,  as  one 
of  the  city  aldermen,  that  he  should 
offer  a  motion  to  petition  the  House  of 
Commons  for  a  repeal  of  the  Union. 
(See  p.  751.)  The  question  was  de- 
bated on  the  1st  of  March,  when  O'Con- 
nell delivered  one  of  his  most  powerful 
and  effective  speeches,  on  a  topic  in 
which  his  whole  soul  was  engaged ;  and 
though  ably  opposed,  the  motion  to 
jjetition  for  repeal  was  carried  by  a 
large  majority.  Other  municipalities 
followed  the  example  thus  set — as  Cork, 
Waterford,  Limerick,  etc. ;  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  press  and  the  activity  of  the 
repealers,  the  question  became  the  all- 
engrossing  one  of  the  day.  Seven  hun- 
dred thousand  persons  were  enrolled 
members  of  the  Repeal  Association  in 


*  Gebald  Gsirnir,  distinguished  among  liis  coun- 
trymen as  an  author  of  superior  talent  and  force,  was 
born  in  limerick,  Decembcsr  12, 1803.  He  manifested 
very  early  a  love  for  literature  ;  and  when  he  grew  up, 
he  devoted  himself  to  it  with  unusual  zeal,  and  attained 
great  success.    He  was  the  author  of  "  The  CoUegians," 


"  The  Rivals,"  etc. ;  and  his  works  have  been  collected, 
and,  together  with  a  memoir  by  his  brother,  published 
in  New  York,  in  ten  voliunes.  QriflSn  joined  a  religious 
society,  called  The  Christian  Brothers,  in  1838  ;  but  his 
health  gave  way,  and  he  died,  December  13, 1840. 


THE  MONSTER  MEETINGS. 


787 


t.lie  year  1843,  and  there  was  paid  into 
the  treasury,  for  furthering  the  objects 
of  the  society,  not  less  than  £48,000. 

O'Counell,  though  now  sixty-eight 
years  old,  was  full  of  activity  and  en- 
ergy, and  gave  his  whole  attention  to 
the  rousing  of  the  people  to  a  full  sense 
of  their  position,  and  the  only  mode  of 
obtaining  redress.  He  resolved,  in  fur- 
therance of  his  grand  purpose,  to  call  a 
series  of  meetinf!:s  in  the  fields  and  on 
the  hill-sides,  which,  from  the  vast  num- 
bers that  gathered  at  his  call,  were 
termed  "  monster  meetings."  The  first 
was  held  at  Trim,  near  Dublin,  on  Sun- 
day, March  19,  1843,  where  twenty 
thousand  met.  Other  meetings  were 
held — at  Limerick,  April  19th  ;  at  Mul- 
lingar.  May  14th  ;  at  Cashel,  May  23d  ; 
at  Kilkenny,  June  8  th ;  at  Tara,  Au- 
gust 15th ;  and  in  many  other  parts 
of  the  country :  so  that,  between  March 
and  the  beginning  of  October,  there 
were  forty-six  of  these  immense  gath- 
erings. The  hills  and  valleys  rang  with 
the  excited  cry  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  the  people,  for  repeal  and  for 
justice  to  Ireland. 

The  government  was  evidently  in 
great  doubt  and  perplexity,  and  began 
to  be  alarmed  as  to  whereunto  all  this 
would  grow.  Sir  Kobert  Peel  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  declared  positively 
that  they  would  "  put  down"  the  Lib- 
erator and  his  fellow-workers  in  the 
repeal  agitation.  Several  regiments  of 
infantry  and  cavalry,  a  large  quantity 
of  arms  and  ammunition,  and  four  ves- 
sels of  war,  were  sent  to  Ireland,  to  be 


ready  against  the  threatened  emer- 
genc)'.  But  O'Connell  bor6  himself 
bravely  before  the  people.  "  I  am  not 
to  be  mocked,"  he  said,  "  I  belong  to 
a  nation  of  eight  millions  ;  and  let  me 
also  tell  you  that  there  is,  besides, 
more  than  a  million  of  Irishmen  in 
England.  If  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  the 
audacity  to  cause  a  contest  to  take 
place  between  the  two  countries,  we 
will  begin  no  rebellion ;  but  I  tell  him, 
from  this  spot,  that  he  dare  not  com- 
mence the  strife  against  Ireland." 

He  was  seconded  by  one  of  the 
Catholic  bishops,  with  language  even 
more  daring  and  sio^uificant.  "  1  know  " 
said  Bishop  Higgins,  of  Ardagli,  "  that, 
virtually,  you  all  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  bishops  of  Ireland  were  re- 
pealers ;  but  I  have  now  again  formally 
to  announce  to  you  that  they  have  all 
declared  themselves  as  such,  and  that 
from  shore  to  shore  we  are  all  now  re- 
pealers. I  cannot  sit  down  without 
adverting  also  to  the  means  which  that 
body  would  have,  and  would  be  deter- 
mined to  exert,  in  case  that  foolish  min- 
ister, who  presides  over  the  fated  des- 
tinies of  our  country,  would  have  dai-ed 
to  put  his  threat  into  execution.  I, 
for  one,  defy  all  the  ministers  of  Eng- 
land to  put  down  the  repeal  agitation, 
in  the  single  diocese  of  Ardagh.  If 
they  attempt,  my  friends,  to  rob  ns  of 
the  daylight,  which  is,  I  believe,  com- 
mon to  us  all,  and  prevent  us  from 
assembling  in  the  open  fields,  we  will 
retire  to  our  chapels ;  we  Avill  suspend 
all  other  instruction,  in  order  to  devote 


T88 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


all  our  time  to  teaching  the  people  to 
be  repealers,  iu  spite  of  them.  If  they 
follow  us  to  our  sanctuaries  with  their 
spies  and  myrmidons,  we  will  prepare 
our  peoj)le  for  the  scaffold,  and  be- 
queath our  wrongs  to  posterity." 

The  ministry  were  alarmed,  as  well 
they  might  be,  at  such  bold  denuncia- 
tion ;  but  they  were  none  the  less  re- 
solved to  conquer  the  difficulty.  The 
repeal  press,  especially  the  "Nation," 
roused  the  people  to  a  pitch  of  enthu- 
siasm never  before  known.  The  repeal- 
rent  swelled  from  £200  and  £300  to 
£700  iu  the  week.  "Warlike  prepara- 
tions were  pushed  forward  by  the  gov- 
ernment. A  bill  for  disarming  the 
Irish  people  was  introduced  into  par- 
liament, Avhich  was  warmly  and  ener- 
getically discussed  ;  and  Smith  O'Brien 
moved  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  Ire- 
land, and  pressed  it  so  earnestly,  that 
three  days  were  spent  in  the  debate 
upon  it.  The  government,  however, 
while  acknowledging  the  difficulty, 
steadily  adhered  to  their  determination, 
and  refused  to  yield  to  either  entreaty, 
or  argument,  or  threats  of  danger  to 
the  stability  of  the  Union. 

The  numbers  reported  as  present  at 
these  "  monster  meetings"  seem  to  be 
almost  incredible ;  at  Limerick,  110- 
000;  at  Cork,  500,000 ;  at  Clare,  700- 
000;  at  Tara,  750,000;  at  Mullagh- 
mast,  400,000.  At  this  last  meeting, 
held  October  1st,  1843,  O'Connell 
occupied  the  chair,  and  while  there 
allowed  a  deputation  of  writers  and 
artists  to  place  upon  his  head  a  cap 


made  upon  the  model  of  one  of  the  an- 
cient Irish  crowns.  An  address  was 
presented,  to  which  the  Liberator  an- 
swered, and  vowed  to  wear  this  kingly 
cap  during  his  life,  and  to  have  it  buried 
with  him  in  his  grave. 

Another  monster  meeting  was  fixed 
by  O'Connell  to  be  held  on  the  famous 
battle-field  of  Clontarf,  three  miles  from 
Dublin,  on  the  8th  of  October.  The 
government,  however,  had  come  to  the 
resolution  to  put  a  sto]^,  by  force  if 
needful,  to  any  further  gatherings  of 
the  kind.  Earl  de  Grey,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Lord  Fortescue  as  lord-lieuten- 
ant, in  December,  1841,  on  consultation 
with  the  council,  issued  a  proclamation, 
late  Saturday  afternoon,  October  7th, 
denouncing  the  proposed  meeting  as 
seditious  and  inflammatory,  and  forbid- 
ding the  assemblage  as  illegal,  and  sub- 
jecting all  present  to  prosecution. 

O'Connell  immediately  gave  notice 
that  the  meeting  would  not  be  held, 
and  all  chance  of  direct  collision  Avith 
the  authorities  was  prevented.  But 
the  government  were  not  content  with 
putting  an  end  to  these  monster  gath- 
erings. They  next  proceeded,  within 
a  week,  to  arrest  the  Liberator  and  six 
others,  on  charge  of  seditious  designs 
and  practices  in  what  had  taken  place. 
The  trial  began,  January  15,  1844,  and 
excited  profound  interest  and  concern, 
as  well  in  England  as  Ireland.  Some 
of  the  first  talent  in  the  country  were 
engaged  for  the  defence,  which  was 
very  ably  conducted  ;  but  on  the  12th 
of  Februaiy  a  verdict  of  guilty  was 


O'CONNELL'S  TRIAL.  AJ[D  ITS  RESULTS. 


Y89 


brought  ia  by  the  jury.  Sentence  was 
delayed ;  the  j  ury  were  denounced  as 
packed  and  perjured;  and  O'Conuell 
appeared  in  his  place  in  parliament, 
and  in  various  parts  of  England.  There 
was  no  lack  of  synij^athy  with  him  in 
his  peculiar  trial,  and  it  was  admitted  on 
all  hands  that  the  prosecution  to  which 
he  had  been  subjected  could  never  be 
sustained  before  the  tribunal  to  which 
it  was  to  be  carried  on  a  writ  of  error. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  1844,  O'Cou- 
nell  and  his  compeers  were  brought 
into  court  to  receive  their  sentence. 
O'Connell  was  condemned  to  be  impris- 
oned for  a  year,  and  pay  a  fine  of 
£2,000.  The  others  were  to  be  im- 
prisoned for  nine  months,  and  pay 
fines  of  £50  each.  The  appeal  to  the 
House  of  Lords  was  diligently  carried 
forward  by  the  law-agents  of  the  pris- 
oners, and,  after  much  difficulty  and 
great  cost,  came  before  that  body  in 
July.  The  argument  was  fully  gone 
into,  and  on  the  5th  of  September 
judgment  on  the  writ  of  error  was 
given.  Three  out  of  five  of  the  law- 
lords  were  in  favor  of  annuUios:  the 
whole  proceedings,  which  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  the  prisoners  were  or- 
dered to  be  discharged.  On  the  6th  of 
September  O'Connell  left  the  Eich- 
mond  Bridewell,  and  was  received  again 
to  liberty  with  the  enthusiastic  devo- 
tion of  thousands  upon  thousands. 

The  consequences  of  this  unjust  im- 
prisonment were  marked  in  their  effect 
upon  O'Connell.  He  was  never  again 
the  same  man  that  he  was  before.   The 


iron  seemed  to  have  entered  into  his 
soul ;  his  spirit  sank  within  him ;  and 
as  almost  threescore  years  and  ten  had 
passed  over  his  head,  he  was  physically 
unequal  to  the  labor  and  fatigue  of 
keeping  alive  and  directing  the  repeal 
agitation.  "On  Tara  Hill,"  says  O'- 
Brennan,  "the  15th  of  August,  1843, 
he  had  but  to  express  his  will,  and  the 
million  and  a  half  of  hearts  who  were 
true  to  him  as  were  men  to  a  leader  at 
any  time  in  the  annals  of  history,  had 
placed  him  in  a  position  that  no  foreign 
government  would  have  dared  to  lay 
hands  on  him.  On  that  day  he  was  the 
uncrowned  monarch  of  the  Irish  nation. 
We  had  followed  him  to  death  or  vic- 
tory." But  now,  a  year  subsequent  to 
that  proud  moment,  the  Liberator  was 
changed  indeed;  he  was  now  but  illy 
fitted  for  that  position  which  enthusias- 
tic myriads  expected  him  to  occupy. 

O'Connell  had  always,  amid  the  most 
fiery  of  his  denunciations,  and  the  loud- 
est cry  for  repeal  and  justice  to  L'eland, 
advocated  the  use  of  moral  force,  and 
the  seeking  redress  by  legal,  constitu- 
tional means ;  he  never  meant  to  pro- 
ceed to  open  insurrection,  or  to  enter 
upon  a  contest  of  physical  power  with 
England.  But  now,  some  of  his  follow- 
ers, members  of  the  Repeal  Association, 
becoming  restless  and  dissatisfied  with 
this  constant  talking  and  remonstrating, 
and  not  acting,  advocated  the  bringing 
matters  to  as  speedy  a  crisis  as  possible. 
The  "Young  Ireland"  party  were  for 
entering  on  the  mortal  struggle  at  the 
earliest  moment,  and  asserting  the  li- 


V90 


KEIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


IjLMty  ami  iudepeiideuce  of  Ireland  at 
the  caimou's  mouth. 

The  dissensions  in  the  Repeal  ranks, 
and  tlie  fearful  sufferings  of  the  people 
in  the  great  famine  of  1845,  1846,  as 
well  as  the  seeming  consciousness  that 
his  mission  was  now  approaching  its 
end,  weighed  down  the  veteran  Libera- 
tor, who  had  for  nearly  half  a  century 
been  battlins;  for  the  cause  of  his  native 
land.  With  failing  spirit  his  health  de- 
clined, and  he  was  ordered  by  the 
physicians  to  the  south  of  Europe. 
Early  in  1847,  he  set  out  for  Rome, 
earnestly  hoping  that  he  might  be  per- 
mitted to  die  there  ;  but,  on  reaching 
Genoa,  May  15th,  he  expired,  being  not 
quite  seventy-two  years  old. 

Various  and  contradictory  are  the  es- 
timates of  O'Connell's  character  and 
career.  By  the  one  party  he  is  reviled 
and  denounced  as  a  bigoted  tool  in  the 
hands  of  unscrupulous  men  for  the 
worst  of  purposes,  as  a  demagogue,  a 
cheat,  a  schemer  for  selfish  ends.  By 
the  other  he  is  lauded  to  the  skies  as 
the  impersonation  of  goodness,  patriot- 
ism, and  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  the 
best  interests  of  Ireland.  That  he  was 
a  truly  wonderful  man,  possessed  of 
marvellous  powers,  versatile,  brilliant, 
able  to  move  an  audience  with  incred- 
ible force,  of  bold  manlj^  presence,  ca- 


.  *  Macaulay,  in  a  speecTi  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
1845,  expressed  this  determination  on  the  part  of  Eng- 
land in  terms  worth  quoting  :  "  The  repeal  of  the  Union 
we  regard  as  fatal  to  the  empire ;  and  we  will  never 
consent  to  it ;  never,  thongh  the  country  should  he  sur- 
rounded by  dangers  as  great  as  those  which  tlireatened 
her  when  her  American  colonies,  and  France  and  Spain 


pable  of  unsurpassed  vituperation  and 
sarcasm,  witty  and  humorous,  with 
every  thing  in  fact  which  could  give  a 
man  command  over  his  fellow-men,— 
that  he  was  all  this,  hardly  admits  of 
doubt ;  and  probably  no  Irishman  ever 
lived  that  could  compare  with  him  as 
a  popular  leader,  in  whom  the  masses 
trusted  with  the  most  perfect  faith. 

But  it  may  be  questioned  whether  he 
was  altogether  wise  in  seeking  to  ob- 
tain an  end  which  can  never  be  attained 
peacefully,  which  the  English  govern- 
ment has  always  expressed  itself  deter- 
mined never  to  grant,  and  which  the 
whole  force  of  the  army  and  navy 
would  be  used  to  put  down  at  any  cost 
whatsoever.  It  was  a  waste  of  words, 
it  was  a  loss  of  time  and  energy,  to  call 
for  repeal,  as  was  done  for  so  many 
years  by  the  Repeal  Association,  under 
the  delusive  expectation  that  the  Eng- 
lish government  would  grant  it.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  O' Conn  ell  persuaded 
himself  that  persistency  in  the  course 
he  adopted,  and  the  united  cry  of  mil- 
lions, might  induce  or  compel  the  gov- 
ernment to  yield :  but  if  so,  he  erred 
greatly  in  judgment ;  for  if  there  be 
one  thing  which  is  fixed  and  certain  in 
the  policy  of  England,  it  is,  never  to 
permit  Ireland  to  become  independent.* 
If  the  green  isle  of  the  ocean  is  ever 


I 


and  Holland,  were  leagued  against  her,  and  when  the 
armed  neutrality  of  the  Baltic  disputed  her  maritime 
rights  ;  never,  tliough  another  Bonaparte  should  pitch 
his  tent  in  sight  of  Dover  castle  ;  never,  till  all  has 
been  staked  and  lost ;  never,  till  the  four  quarters  of 
the  world  have  been  convulsed  by  the  last  struggle  of  the 
great  English  people  for  their  place  among  the  nations." 


EULOGY  ON  O'CONNELL.— THE  FAMINE. 


791 


to  be  freed  from  her  connection  with 
Great  Britain,  it  can  only  be  attained 
by  force,  by  actual  resort  to  arms,  and 
by  asserting  and  maintaining  her  lib- 
erty by  the  power  of  the  sword.  This, 
of  course,  would  bo  rev^olution,  a  bloody 
revolution,  a  terrible  struggle,  a  fearful 
sacrifice  of  human  life ;  but  it  is  the 
price  which  Ireland  must  pay  if  she  in- 
sists on  independence  and  absolute  self- 
control. 

"Had  O'Conuell,"  says  Mr.  Smyth, 
in  summing  up  the  Liberator's  career, 
"bestowed  upon  the  discharge  of  his 
grave  and  far  more  salutaiy  duties,  as  a 
member  of  parliament,  a  tithe  of  the 
labor,  the  industry,  the  eloquence,  and 
the  genius  which  he  lavished  unavail- 
ingly  upon  the  Repeal  agitation,  he 
might  have  removed  fi'om  the  Irish 
system  every  inequality  and  ground  of 
complaint  under  which  his  countrymen 
have  to  suffer.  Never  Irishman  did 
more  in  his  own  time  ;  never  Irishman 
missed  the  opportunity  of  doing  so  much. 
Often  as  he  gave  proofs  of  superior  ability 
in  handling  details  and  explaining  the 
operation  of  systems,  he  failed  to  realize 
the  chai'acter  of  a  practical  politician." 

A  Catholic  writer,  who  knew  O'Con- 
nell  well,  and  whose  admiration  for  him 
has  no  bounds,  considers  him  to  have 
been  the  very  foremost  man  of  all  the 
world.  A  passage  from  his  eulogy, 
written  before  O'Connell's  death,  may 
here  be  given  :  "  As  a  husband,  he  was 
loving ;  as  a  father,  affectionate ;  as  a 
Christian,  sincei'e  ;  as  a  Catholic,  rigid ; 
as  a  man,  honest;    as   an   orator,  elo- 


quent ;  as  a  scholar,  learned ;  as  a  law- 
yer, deep ;  as  an  advocate,  effective ; 
as  a  representative,  able ;  in  the  field, 
valiant ;  in  the  senate,  wise  ;  in  council, 
deferential ;  in  debate,  overwhelming ; 
as  a  gentleman,  delicately  courteous ; 
as  a  host,  hospitable ;  as  a  guest,  enter- 
taining ;  as  a  companion,  jovial ;  as  a 
citizen,  patriotic ;  as  a  landlord,  kind  ; 
as  a  great  man,  approachable ;  as  the 
chief  magistrate  of  Dublin,  conciliatory 
and  just ;  as  the  leader  of  Ireland,  faith- 
ful, incorruptible,  unpurchasable,  and 
unlntimidated." 

Leaving,  however,  the  great  Libera- 
tor to  rest  In  peace,  we  resume  the  nar- 
rative of  events  from  1845.  It  was  a 
sad  dispensation  of  divine  Providence 
which  came  upon  Ireland  during  that 
year  and  1846.  The  potato,  which  is 
the  main  support  of  the  laboring  people 
in  Ireland,  is  subject  to  disease  at  times. 
The  origin  is  not  easy  to  explain.  For 
some  years  previously  this  mysterious 
disease — called  mildew,  murrain,  rot, 
and  pestilence — had  been  making  its 
way  all  over  Europe.  In  the  autumn 
of  1845  it  appeared  in  Ireland,  and  so 
rapid  was  its  progress,  that  often  in  a 
week's  time  it  would  destroy  a  whole 
crop,  though  promising,  just  before,  an 
abundant  harvest.  Acres  upon  acres 
were  planted  with  the  potato,  which 
became  at  once  wholly  unfit  for  food. 
Famine  in  its  most  dreadful  form,  per- 
vaded the  whole  country;  and  with 
famine  came  its  usual  attendant,  fever 
of  the  most  malignant  kind.  Hundreds 
and    thousands   were    swept    to    their 


792 


REIGN"   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


graves,  and  the  pestilence  raged  with 
fearful  effect  amongst  those  who,  more 
than  all,  were  least  able  to  guard  against 
it.  The  workhouses  were  filled  to  over- 
flow, and  the  numbers  of  the  inmates 
at  length  became  so  great,  that  the 
overcrowding  of  the  houses  became  a 
source  of  the  very  evil  which  they  had 
been  erected  partially  to  prevent.  The 
smaller  farmers  M'ere  reduced  to  ruin, 
and  those  beneath  them  were  thrown 
into  absolute  destitution.  From  the 
government  and  other  sources  relief 
was  speedily  obtained.  Provisions  were 
shipped  to  Ireland,  and  every  effort  was 
niiide  so  to  distribute  them  that  the 
suffering  people  might  obtain  the  help 
they  so  much  needed. 

Early  in  the  session  of  1845,  Sir  Rob- 
ert Peel  brought  into  parliament  a  bill, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  increase  the 
grant  annually  made  for  the  support 
of  the  Catholic  college  of  Maynooth. 
(See  p.  743.)  This  college  had  origi- 
nally been  instituted  for  the  education 
of  young  men  within  the  British  Isles 
for  the  Catholic  priesthood,  in  order  to 
save  them  from  the  necessity  to  which 
they  liad  formerly  been  subjected,  of 
repairing  to  the  Continent  for  that  tu- 
ition necessary  to  enable  them  to  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  the  ministry.  Mr. 
Pitt  conceived,  in  originally  making 
the  grant,  that  he  would  thereby  enlist 
their  sympathies  in  favor  of  their  native 
country.  The  greater  portion  of  his 
object  remained  to  be  achieved,  but  Sir 
Robert  Peel  hoped  to  effect  its  accom- 
plishment by  increasing  the  favor.     He 


accordingly  carried  a  bill  through  par- 
liament, in  the  fece  of  the  most  strenu- 
ous opposition,  and  £26,000  a  year 
were  appropriated,  out  of  the  consoli- 
dated fund,  for  the  better  sustenance 
and  payment  of  the  students  and  pro- 
fessors of  Maynooth.  Another  measure 
of  conciliation  was  introduced  and  car- 
ried through  parliament.  This  was  the 
establishment  of  three  collecfes  for  secu- 
lai-  education  in  Ireland,  for  which 
£100,000  were  granted.  One  of  these 
was  located  at  Belfast,  for  the  North  ; 
a  second  at  Cork,  for  the  South  ;  and 
a  third  at  Limerick,  for  the  West.  An 
endowment  of  £7,000  a  year  was  fixed 
for  each  ;  twelve  professors  were  ap- 
pointed for  each  college  ;  £2,000  a  year 
are  distributed  in  the  way  of  prizes ; 
and  no  religious  test  is  required  from 
professors  or  students. 

The  government  was  led  to  this  step, 
in  the  founding  the  "  Queen's  Colleges," 
by  the  success  which  had  attended  the 
establishment  of  the  National  system 
of  education  in  1831.  We  may  men- 
tion in  the  present  connection,  although 
somewhat  in  advance,  that  the  new  col- 
leges were  not  looked  upon  with  favor 
by  the  Catholic  clergy,  they  holding 
that  education  ought  not  to  be  severed 
from  religion,  but  rather  that  religion 
and  the  church  should  have  prominence 
in  all  respects.  The  pope  ere  long 
condemned  them  as  "  godless  colleges ;" 
and  at  a  national  synod  held  at  Thurles, 
August  22,  1850,  the  Irish  hierarchy 
formally  denounced  them  as  dangerous 
to  faith  and  morals,  and  stated  that  a 


EFFORTS  TO  RELIEVE  DISTRESS. 


793 


Catholic  uuiversity  would  speedily  be 
founded.  John  Henry  Newman,  a  dis- 
tinguislied  clergyman  (formerly  of  the 
Church  of  England,  now  a  Roman 
Catholic),  was  chosen  as  rector  of  the 
new  university,  which  was  opened  in 
November,  1854,  much  to  the  grat- 
ification of  those  who  did  not  ap- 
prove of  or  patronize  the  Queen's 
Colleges. 

Famine  and  pestilence  continued 
their  ravages  in  1S46.  The  poor- 
houses  were  insufficient  to  accommo- 
date the  suffering  multitudes,  and  large 
numbers  perished  of  famine,  misery, 
and  disease.  The  government  strove 
to  meet  the  emergency,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  year  not  less  than  £850,000  had 
been  expended  in  this  most  philan- 
thropic and  humane  object. 

Tiie  repeal  of  the  corn-laws  took 
place  just  at  the  close  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  premiership,  and  free-trade 
thencefortli  became  the  policy  of  Eng- 
land in  her  vast  commercial  relations 
throughout  the  -rt^orld.  A  bill  was 
brought  into  parliament  in  1846,  to 
repress  crime  and  outrage  in  Ireland  ; 
but  it  was  strongly  oj^posed  by  the 
Irish  members,  and  failed,  of  passing 
the  house.  The  constabulary  force 
was,  however,  increased  to  10,000  men, 
and  large  accessions  were  made  to  the 
military  foi-ce  in  the  country. 

Lord  John  Russell  now  came  into 
power,  and  applied  himself  diligently 
to  the  providing  measures  of  relief  for 
Ireland.  A  bill  was  introduced  for  the 
construction  of  various  public  works, 

100 


the  cost  of  which  was  to  be  defrayed 
out  of  the  consolidated  fund.  These 
works  consisted  of  the  improvement 
and  the  formation  of  roads,  the  drain- 
ing of  morasses,  and  such  works  as  the 
most  ordinary  of  the  laboring  popula- 
tion could  be  emjjloyed  in,  and  which 
would  be  apparently  useful  to  the  coun- 
try. The  plan  was  admirably  devised, 
and  skilfully  and  energetically  carried 
out,  and  was  for  some  time  very  suc- 
cessful in  alleviating  the  prevalent  dis- 
tress. Loi'd  John  obtained  the  sanction 
of  parliament  to  a  grant  for  £50,000 
for  the  most  distressed  districts — se- 
curity being  taken  upon  the  county 
rates  for  the  repayment  of  the  sum 
within  ten  years,  with  three-and-a-half 
per  cent,  interest.  His  lordship  also 
proposed,  and  obtained,  the  grant  of 
another  sum  of  equal  amount  for  the 
poorer  districts,  which  were  never  likely 
to  be  able  to  rejjay  the  loan. 

A  blight  having  again  fallen  upon 
the  potato-crop,  the  winter  of  1846-7 
was  peculiarly  severe  upon  the  poor  in 
Ireland,  and  no  words  can  adequately 
depict  the  terrible  sufferings  from  fam- 
ine and  pestilence  which  swept  over 
the  country.  Parliament  met,  January 
29th,  1847,  and  gave  immediate  atten- 
tion to  the  condition  of  Ireland.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  relieve  the  starving 
population  and  allay  the  ravages  of 
disease.  From  thirty  to  forty  steamers, 
and  fourteen  or  fifteen  sailing  vessels, 
were  constantly  employed  in  pouring 
breadstuffs  into  Ireland,  while  all  the 
medical  aid   at   the   public   command 


794 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


was  readily  I'eudered  for  the  aid  of  the 
sufferers. 

At  the  close  of  the  month  an  im- 
portant amendment  of  the  Irish  poor- 
law  Avas  passed.  The  experience  of 
the  last  two  years  had  shown  that  the 
workhouse  i>\an  did  not  succeed  in 
practice.  It  was  impossible  to  receive 
and  provide  for  the  crowds  of  suppli- 
ants for  relief  within  the  Union  build- 
ings. (See  p.  792.)  It  was  determined, 
therefore,  to  abide  by  the  old  prin- 
ciples of  relief,  but  to  grant  to  out-door 
paupers  the  help  they  needed.  Dur- 
ing the  period  that  elapsed  between 
September  and  the  spring,  not  less  than 
£2,000,000  had  been  applied  to  the  re- 
lief of  the  jieople  ;  and  the  ministry 
ventured  upon  the  further  plan,  which 
had  been  originally  sketched  by  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  of  making  the  whole  loan 
to  Ireland  £10,000,000,  and  for  this 
purpose  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
contracted  a  loan  to  the  amount  of 
£8,000,000.  Piivate  benevolence  also 
was  largely  and  liberally  exerted  in 
behalf  of  the  suffering  pooi',  and  every- 
where throuirhout  Encjland  and  Scot- 
land  subscriptions  were  made,  gene- 
rously and  freely,  and  upwards  of 
£250,000  were  collected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  buying  food  and  saving  from 
starvation  the  afflicted  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  in  Ireland,  at  this 
date. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  sad  and  gloomy 
picture  which  everywhere  met  the  eye 
of  the  beholder.  A  teeming  popula- 
tion, in  want  and  wretchedness,  without 


any  apparent  resource  ;  an  ancient  aris- 
tocracy of  landed  proprietors  in  the 
possession  of  large  estates  without  de- 
riving from  them  a  shilling  of  rent, 
whilst  millions  of  acres  of  soil  lay  in  a 
state  of  uncultivated  barrenness,  while 
its  surface  minfht  have  been  covered 
with  crops  of  waving  corn,  and  the 
strong  hands  and  brawny  arms  that 
should  have  called  them  forth  from  the 
bosom  of  the  earth  were  either  hansfins: 
down  in  listless  idleness,  or  were  en- 
gaged in  work  that  literally  produced 
nothing.  Murmuring,  distress,  doubt, 
and  death  pervaded  the  land,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  people  seemed  to  be  well- 
nigh  crushed  by  the  load  of  calamities 
which  had  fallen  upon  them. 

Among  the  various  plans  proposed 
for  the  relief  of  the  Irish  people,  there 
were  three  which  promised  the  speed- 
iest and  best  results.  These  were — 
emigration,  which  was  powerfully  advo- 
cated in  parliament  by  the  Earl  of  Lin- 
coln ;  the  reclamation  of  waste  lands ; 
and  such  a  disposition  of  the  encum- 
bered estates  as  would,  while  relieving 
their  then  proprietors  from  the  burden 
under  which  they  labored  and  by 
which  they  were  disabled,  at  the  same 
time  insure  to  the  new  owners  a  cer- 
tain and  indefeasible  title  to  their  prop- 
erty. 

Emigration,  to  which  every  encour- 
agement was  given  by  the  landlords 
and  boards  of  guardians,  became  very 
active  and  beneficial  to  the  country. 
In  1846,  the  year  of  the  great  famine, 
some  250,000  emigrated  to  the  United 


THE  GREAT  EMIGRATION. 


795 


States  aud  Canada.  The  tide  kept  on 
increasing  for  several  years ;  but  since 
1852,  when  the  number  of  emigrants 
was  190,000,  emigration  has  decreased. 
In  1858  there  were  64,000  who  left 
their  native  land.  Since  then,  as  there 
has  been  less  occasion,  so  Ireland  has 
not  found  it  needful  or  profitable  to 
part  with  any  very  large  number  of  her 
children  in  the  way  of  emigration. 
"  Every  mail  that  sped  across  the  At- 
lantic," says  a  late  writer,  speaking  of 
the  year  1850,  "brought  funds  to  pay 
the  passage  of  their  relatives,  who  had 
been  left  behind  ;  and,  in  one  instance, 
as  many  as  five  hundred  letters,  each 
of  which  contained  a  remittance  to  aid 
those  who  waited  for  a  passage  to  the 
land  of  promise,  passed  in  one  day 
through  the  post-office  at  Galway. 
Cars,  coaches,  carts  were  all  pressed 
into  the  service  to  convey  the  passen- 
gers to  the  quays  of  Cork,  Galway, 
Dublin,  aud  Liverpool ;  whence  three, 
four,  five,  and   sometimes   six   vessels 


a-day  sailed  with  their  living  cargoes 
to  the  shores  of  the  West.  Not  only 
the  poor  and  destitute,  but  the  re- 
spectable and  well-to-do  foi-mer  packed 
up  all  that  he  had,  converted  his  2:)i'op- 
erty  into  money,  and  turned  his  face, 
with  his  wife  aud  family  and  stalwart 
laborers,  towards  America.  And  this 
was  no  sudden  burst  of  enthusiasm.  It 
lasted  for  weeks,  and  months,  aud 
years,  with  increasing  fervor,  Hutil  at 
last  it  was  calculated  that  upwards  of  a 
thousand  individuals  in  a  dav  left  the 
shores  of  Ireland  for  settlements  abroad ; 
so  that,  when  the  census  of  1851  was 
computed,  it  was  found  that,  notwith- 
standing the  well-known  proportionate 
superiority  of  births  over  deaths,  the 
population  of  the  country,  through 
famine,  pestilence,  and  emigration,  had 
been  reduced  1,622,000  during  the  past 
ten  years."* 


*  The  population  of  Ireland,  according  to  tte  census, 
was,  in  1841,  8,175,224 ;  in  1851,  6,553,290 ;  in  1861, 
5,764,543. 


79G 


REIGN"   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


CHAPTER  LI. 


SillTII    o'bPJEn's   INSTJEEECTION. — MOEE   EECENT   HISTOEY   AND   PROGEESS. 


Tlie  "  Yoiiug  Ireland"  party  and  the  "  Irish  Confederation." — WiUiam  Smitli  O'Brien — His  co-workers,  Meaghei, 
Mitchell,  and  others. — The  year  1848  a  year  of  revolutions. — O'Brien  in  parliament — Goes  to  Paris — Sym- 
pathy of  the  French. — O'Brien  prosecuted  for  sedition — Jury  not  agreed — Set  at  liberty. — Mitchell  trans- 
ixirted. — Condition  of  the  country. — Affray  at  DoUy's  Brae. — Action  now  resolved  upon  by  O'Brien,  Duffy, 
O'Gorman,  etc. — Measures  of  government. — O'Brien's  movements. — March  from  Enniscorthy. — Encounter 
with  the  police  near  Ballingar — The  conflict,  and  result. — O'Brien  and  others  arrested,  tried,  and  con. 
demued. — Sent  to  Australia. — Proposal  to  abolish  lord-lieutenancy. — Eviction  of  small  farmers  and  tenant- 
rights. — Mr.  Crawford's  bills. — "  Irish  Tenant-league." — Further  attempts  at  legislative  settlement  of  the 
question. — General  face  of  the  country  improved. — Ireland's  share  in  the  Great  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park  in 
1351. — Exhibition  in  Cork  in  1853. — Earl  of  Eglintoun  lord-lieutenant. — Political  excitement. — Aggregate 
meeting  in  Dublin — Right  Rev.  Dr.  Cullen  presides — Resolutions  adopted. — Proposal  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  to  impose  the  income-tax  on  Ireland — His  statements  and  views — Two  weeks' 
debate. — Speeches  and  arguments  of  the  opposition — The  government  plan  supported  by  a  majority  of  71.- — 
The  result. — Ecclesiastical  affairs  brought  under  discussion. — Opposition  to,  and  complaints  of,  the  estab- 
lishment.— National  system  of  education — Discussion  in  parliament — Earl  Derby's  speech — Testimony  of  a 
Catholic  writer  respecting  the  schools,  the  books  used,  etc. — Mr.  Dargan's  public-spirited  efTorts  to  inaugu- 
rate the  Industrial  Exhibition  of  1853 — The  building,  contents,  etc.— Opening  of  the  Exliibition  by  Earl 
St.  Germans. — Visit  of  her  majesty  Queen  'V^ictoria  to  Ireland — lier  presence  at  the  Exhibition. — Results 
hoped  for. 


(1848—1853.) 


IN  July,  184G,  when  O'Connell's  fail- 
inar  health  had  caused  him  to 
give  up  active  efforts  of  all  kinds,  and 
when  his  son,  John  O'Connell,  had  in- 
troduced certain  peace  resolutions  into 
the  Repeal  Association,  William  Smith 
O'Brien  and  a  number  of  others  se- 
ceded, and  formally  dissolved  connec- 
tion -with  that  body.  The  -way  was 
now  opened  for  the  more  ai'dent  spirits 
of  the  "Young  Ireland"  portion  of  the 
Repealers  to  enter  -upon  a  more  ener- 

*  In  a  letter  to  O'Connell  at  that  date,  O'Brien  thus 
strongly  expresses  himself :  "  Ireland,  instead  of  taking 
her  place  as  an  integral  of  the  great  empire  which  the 


getic  course  of  action ;  and  it  ■was  de- 
termined, as  had  been  for  some  time 
contemplated,  to  form  an  "  Irish  Con- 
federation," and  to  claim  and  enforce 
the  absolute  independence  of  Ireland. 
Smith  O'Brien  took  the  lead  in  this 
movement,  for  he  was  a  man  of  educa- 
tion, farailj^,  and  fortune,  and  although 
a  Protestant,  had  become,  in  1844,  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Repeal  Asso- 
ciation.* Ardent  in  temperament,  and 
an  advocate  of  bold  and  daring  meas- 


val&r  of  her  sons  has  contributed  to  constitute,  has 
been  treated  as  a  dependent  tributary  province  ;  and  at 
this  moment,  after  forty-three  years  of  nominal  union, 


O'BRIEN  AND  HIS  FELLOW-WORKERS. 


-\)1 


ures,  be  had  distinguished  himself,  in 
parliament  especially,  and  at  public 
and  private  gatherings,  by  the  intre- 
pidity of  his  language  and  the  tremen- 
dous force  of  his  objurgations  against 
the  oppressors  of  his  native  land. 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  a  gentleman 
of  substance  of  the  County  of  Waterford, 
joined  O'Brien.  John  Mitchell  also,  a 
man  of  education  and  ability,  and  hold- 
ing a  powerful  pen,  who  edited  a  paper 
called  "The  United  Irishmen,"  gave 
the  whole  force  of  his  talents  to  the 
cause,  and  wrote  soul-stirring  addresses 
to  the  people  of  Ireland,  exhorting 
them  uot  to  agitate  for  Repeal  only, 
but  to  combine  for  the  overthrow  alto- 
gether of  the  power  of  England  in  the 
country.  Several  barristers  joined  their 
ranks,  as  did  also  T.  B.  McManus,  a 
gentleman  for  many  years  a  merchant 
in  Liverpool. 

The  year  1848,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, was  a  year  of  revolutions  in 
Europe ;  and  O'Brien  and  "  Young 
Ireland"  seem  to  have  been  aroused  to 
the  point  of  definitive,  positive  action. 
O'Brien  made  a  violent  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  threatening  to 
establish  a  republic  in  Ireland  and  to 
teach  the  English  government  a  salu- 
tary lesson.  In  the  month  of  April  he 
accompanied  a  dej)utation  from  the 
"  Irish  Confederation"  to  Paris,  to  re- 


quest aid  in  carrying  out  the  plans 
about  to  be  adopted  for  cutting  Ireland 
loose  from  all  connection  with  England. 
There  were  abundant  expressions  of 
sympathy  and  kindness  ;  but  the 
French  revolutionists,  having  their 
hands  full  with  their  own  affairs,  were 
unable  to  give  any  promise  of  dii'ect 
or  effective  assistance. 

The  open  foreshadowing  of  their  de- 
signs on  the  part  of  O'Brien  and  his 
fellow-workers,  comj^elled  the  govern- 
ment not  only  to  notice,  but  to  take 
some  action  to  meet,  the  threatened 
emergency.  Lord  Clarendon,  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  vice-royalty  of  Ire- 
land on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of.  Bes- 
borough,  instituted  proceedings,  in  May, 
1848,  for  sedition,  against  Smith 
O'Brien,  Meagher,  Doheny,  and  four  or 
five  of  the  others.  The  charffe  was 
fully  made  out,  but  the  jury  refused  to 
agree  upon  a  verdict  in  the  case  of 
O'Brien.  A  similar  result  followed  in 
that  of  Meagher  and  another  of  those 
tried  for  sedition  ;  and  the  govei'nment 
declining  to  persevere,  all  the  prisoners 
were  set  at  liberty.  Mitchell,  however, 
undeterred  by  what  had  taken  place, 
repeated  the  offence  even  more  boldly 
and  unqualifiedly  than  ever.  He  was 
accordingly  tried  and  convicted,  and 
sentenced  to  transportation  for  fourteen 
years.  ' 


the  attachments  of  the  two  nations  are  so  entirely 
alienated  from  each  other,  that  England  trusts,  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  connection,  not  to  the  aflectiou  of 

the  Irish  people,  but  to  bayonets  ■which  menace  our 

bosoms,  and  to  the  cannon  which  she  has  placed  in  all   try  and  her  patriotism.' 


our  strongholds Slowly,  reluctantly 

convinced  that  Ireland  has  nothing  to  hope  li-om  the 
sagacity,  the  justice,  or  generosity  of  England,  my 
reliance  shall  be  henceforward  placed  upon  our  couu- 


798 


REIGN  OF- QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


The  condition  of  the  country,  in  the 
midland  and  southern  portions,  was 
greatly  disturbed ;  outbreaks  and  vio- 
lations of  law  and  order  were  frequent ; 
nn-ests  became  numerous ;  the  jails 
Avere  filled  with  prisoners ;  and  a  spe- 
cial commission  was  opened  in  Limer- 
ick, Ennis,  and  Clonmel,  at  which  be- 
tween five  and  six  hundred  prisoners 
were  tried  and  sentenced  to  the  several 
grades  of  punishment  deemed  neces- 
sary, some  few  being  capitally  con- 
victed and- executed.  An  uufortunate 
affray  also  occurred,  July  12th,  between 
a  body  of  Orangemen  on  the  one  hand 
and  Ribandmen  on  the  other,  at  Dolly's 
Brae,  in  which  a  number  of  lives  were 
lost,  and  the  mutual  hatred  of  partisans 
inflamed. 

The  time  seemed  now  to  have  come 
when  the  contest  was  to  be  inaugurated, 
aud  bold  words  were  to  give  place  to 
bold  deeds.  Mr.  C.  Gavin  Duffy,  a 
gentleman  of  the  highest  respectability 
in  Ireland,  who  was  shortly  afterwards 
apprehended  for  alleged  treasonable 
practices,  and  Smith  O'Brien,  who,  with 
Mitchell,  was  afterwards  exiled  to  Aus- 
tralia, earnestly  prompted  decisive  ac- 
tion. O'Brien,  immediately  after  the 
trials  for  sedition,  went  on  a  mission  to 
the  South,  to  incite  the  people  to  rise  ; 
Mea"-her  went  to  one  part,  and  O'Gor- 
man  to  another,  for  the  same  object ; 
while  Dillon  and  others  remained  in 
Dublin  as  a  standing  committee. 

The  lord-lieutenant  now  called  for 
new  additional  powers,  and  Lord  John 
Russell  immediately  asked  parliament 


for  the  prolongation  of  the  Insurrection 
act  until  the  1st  of  March,  1849. 
Three  days  afterwards,  on  the  24th  of 
July,  his  lordship  moved  for  a  bill  to 
suspend  the  habeas  corpus  act  in  cer- 
tain districts  in  Ireland.  The  bill  was 
hurried  through  both  houses  without 
opposition,  and  was  at  once  approved 
by  the  queen. 

Tlie  preparations  which  the  govern- 
ment were  making  to  prevent  out- 
breaks probably  urged  forward  the 
present  attempt.  Meagher  and  Dillon 
hastened  down  to  Enniscorthy,  where 
O'Brien,  after  a  tour  thi-ongh  parts  of 
Tip23erary,  Limerick,  Cork,  and  Kil- 
kenny, was  stopping.  They  found  him 
there  on  the  Saturday,  aud  directly 
entered  upon  the  arrangements  neces- 
sary to  insure  an  immediate  aud  gen- 
eral rising ;  their  particular  object 
being,  in  the  first  instance,  to  re- 
lease Mitchell,  who  was  at  that  time 
lying  under  sentence  in  Dublin,  and  to 
prevent  the  trial  of  Duffy,  which  was 
soon  to  take  place.  On  Sunday, 
O'Brien  addressed  a  considerable  as- 
semblage, but  without  much  effect,  in- 
asmuch as  the  Catholic  priesthood 
rather  looked  askance  at  the  whole 
matter,  as  ill-timed,  and  not  likely  to 
meet  with  the  desired  success. 

The  Confederates  proceeded  on  Mon- 
day from  Enniscorthy,  by  Shivannon, 
Mullinahon,  and  Kilenaull,  towards 
Ballingar,  everywhere  addressing  the 
excited  population.  After  more  than 
a  week  of  inaction,  so  far  as  warlike 
proceedings  were  concerned,  it  was  de- 


O'BRIEN'S  BATTLE   WITH  THE   CONSTABULARY. 


799. 


termined  to  make  the  decisive  stroke 
without  further  delay.  They  met  a 
small  body  of  cavalry  on  the  road, 
■which,  however,  did  not  interfere  with 
their  movements.  At  a  police-station 
near  by,  there  was  a  sergeant  named 
Williams,  with  six  men  under  him. 
The  arms  of  these  men  were  demanded 
by  the  leaders;  but  Williams  shut  the 
gate  in  their  faces,  positively  refusing 
either  to  yield  the  place  or  surrender 
their  arms ;  and  the  police  were,  in  an 
hour  or  two  afterwards,  enabled  to  re- 
tire to  Cashel  without  molestation. 

General  Blakeney,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  military  in  Ireland,  caused 
a  body  of  troops,  comprising  iufantiy, 
cavaliy,  and  artillery,  to  be  in  readi- 
ness to  meet  the  rising  where  it  was 
supposed  it  would  take  place ;  but  the 
evident  determination  of  the  govern- 
ment did  not  prevent  the  attempting 
to  do  what  had  been  resolved  upon. 
On  the  19th  of  July,  1848,  Smith 
O'Brien  marched  out  of  Enniscorthy  at 
the  head  of  three  hundred  men  vari- 
ously armed,  expecting  to  be  joined  by 
the  peasantry  on  his  route.  In  this  he 
was  not  disappointed  ;  for,  by  the  time 
that  he  drew  near  to  Ballingar,  in  Tip- 
perary,  his  followers  had  increased  to 
nearly  three  thousand  iri  number. 
Most  of  them  had  fire-arms  in  their 
hands,  and  a  goodly  quantity  of  ammu- 
nition in  store.  When  within  about 
three  miles  of  that  place,  on  Boulagh- 
commou,  they  encountered  a  party  of 
between  forty  and  fifty  of  the  constab- 
ulary,   under    a    sub-inspector,   whom 


they  immediately  prepared  to  encoun- 
ter. The  only  place  of  refuge  was  a 
solitary  farm-house,  inhabited  by  the 
widow  of  a  farmer  named  McCormack, 
and  her  five  young  children,  situated 
some  three  or  four  fields  from  the  high- 
\yay.  It  was  a  substantial  structure, 
covered  with  slate,  and  surrounded  by 
a  court-yard  enclosed  by  a  wall.  This, 
Inspector  Blackburn  with  his  men  se- 
cured by  a  run,  and  immediately  barred 
the  door,  and  blockaded  the  windows 
with  the  furniture. 

O'Brien  approached  one  of  the  win- 
dows, and  demanded  the  arms  of  the 
constabulary,  which  the  inspector  de- 
clared that  he  and  his  men  would  sur- 
render only  with  their  lives.  On 
receiving  this  answer,  orders  were 
given  to  fire  upon  the  house  and  its 
occupants,  and  compel  them  to  give  up 
their  arms.  A  brisk  attack  was  imme- 
diately made,  which  was  answered 
promptly  by  a  rapid  fusilade  from  the 
police,  and  an  animated  firing  was  kept 
up  for  nearly  half  an  hour  on  both 
sides,  the  inspector  having  served  out 
two  hundred  and  thirty  rounds  of  ball- 
cartridge  to  his  men.  At  the  end  of 
that  time,  two  of  O'Brien's  men  having 
been  killed  and  several  wounded,  the 
whole  body  retired  to  a  rise  at  a  little 
distance.  At  four  o'clock  a  contingent 
of  police  arrived  to  the  relief  of  their 
comrades,  upon  which  all  those  who 
had  taken  part  in  this  attempted  rising 
dispersed,  and  the  leaders  fled  for  their 
lives. 

Several  of  the  chief  men  concerned 


800 


REIGN   OF   QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


escaped  ia  various  disguises.  A  reward 
Avas  put  upon  their  heads  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  Smith  O'Brien  was  arrested, 
August  5th,  by  a  railway  guard,  of  the 
name  of  Hulnie,  just  as  he  was  pre- 
paring to  leave  by  the  train  at  Thurles. 
Meagher,  O'Donoghue,  and  McManus 
were  also  apprehended.  On  the  21st 
of  September,  1848,  a  special  commis- 
sion was  opened  at  Clonmel  for  the 
trial  of  the  prisoners,  for  high  treason  ; 
when,  after  a  2:)atient  investigation,  Avhich 
lasted  for  four  weeks,  they  were  all 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  death,  the 
principal  eAnncing  great  coolness  and 
self-2")ossession  under  his  trying  position. 
The  sentences  were  afterwards  sever- 
ally commuted  to  transportation,  and 
O'Brien  and  his  compatriots  were  ac- 
cordingly sent  to  Australia.  O'Brien, 
we  may  mention  here,  remained  in  exile 
till  the  year  1856,  when  he  was  per- 
mitted, with  othei's,  to  return  home.* 

During  the  session  of  1850,  a  bill  was 
introduced  into  parliament  for  abolish- 
ing the  lord-lieutenancy  of  Ireland.  It 
Avas  carried  through  a  second  reading 
by  a  large  majority;  but  it  was  warmly 
opposed  by  the  Irish  members  in  the 
House.  Government,  therefore,  in  con- 
sideration of  public  feeling  on  the  sub- 
ject, abandoned  the  measure. 

The  frequency  of  the  evictions  of  the 
small  farmers  from  their  holdings,  by 
which  they  were  necessarily  divested  of 
every  portion  of  their  property,  con- 


*  According  to  the  statements  of  one  of  the  journals, 
James  Stephens,  the  Head  Centre  of  the  Fenian  Broth- 
erhood, was  engaged  with  O'Brien  in  the  insurrection 


stantly  brought  the  subject  of  tenant- 
right  before  the  public  and  under  the 
consideration  of  the  government.  For 
several  sessions,  Mr.  Sharman  Crawford 
had  introduced  bills  for  the  amendment 
of  this  grievous  evil.  It  was  monstrous, 
as  he  asserted,  that  when  a  tenant  had 
held  his  farm  for  perhaps  seven  years, 
and  had  expended  all  his  little  capital 
in  the  erection  of  farm-buildings,  drain- 
in  tr  the  land,  and  in  effectins'  other  simi- 
lar  improvements,  he  should  at  any 
moment  be  ousted  by  his  landlord,  and 
thus  be  entirely  divested  of  all  the 
little  property  that  he  held  in  the 
world.  The  equity  of  the  principle  of 
granting  compensation  for  such  invest- 
ments was  readily  allowed  by  men  of 
all  parties  in  the  house  ;  but  great  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  ascertaining 
the  limits  of  the  landlord's  and  the 
tenant's  right;  and  Mr.  Crawford's 
bill  was  felt  to  be  too  radical  in  its 
tendency  to  meet  the  temper  of  the 
House. 

In  August,  1851,  a  conference  was 
held,  by  a  number  of  gentlemen  and 
lovers  of  their  country,  in  Dublin,  to 
consider  the  insecure  condition  of  the 
tenant  farmers  of  Ireland.  "The  Irish 
Tenant  League"  was  formed,  and  a 
council  elected  to  take  measures  in 
order  to  secure  efficient  action  in  par- 
liament. A  similar  conference  was  held 
the  year  following,  and  high  hopes  were 
entertained  of  the  success  of  the  League 


of  1848.  Stephens  escaped  to  France;  but  in  after 
years  returned  to  Ireland.  His  subsequent  movements 
in  connection  with  Fenianism  we  shall  see  by  and  by. 


GENERAL  STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


801 


in  the  important  objects  it  Avas  seeking 
to  accomplish. 

The  subject  spoken  of  above,  as 
brought  forward  by  Mr.  Crawford,  was 
revived  in  the  session  of  1850-1 ;  but 
with  no  material  advantage.  In  1852, 
when  Mr.  Napier  filled  the  office  of  at- 
torney-general, under  the  Earl  of  Der- 
by's administration,  he  introduced  four 
bills ;  which,  from  the  nice  balance  of 
interests  which  their  provisions  con- 
tained, seemed  excellently  calculated 
to  accomplish  the  object  he  had  in 
view ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  Ser- 
jeant Shee  also  introduced  a  bill  for 
the  same  purpose ;  and,  as  it  appeared 
likely  that  benefit  might  arise  from  a 
partial  incorporation  of  the  several 
measures,  government  assented  to  a 
proposition  for  referring  them  all  to  a 
select  committee ;  but  they  were  not 
destined  to  proceed  any  further  at  that 
time. 

During  the  three  or  four  years  that 
had  just  elapsed,  the  face  of  Ireland  had 
undergone  a  favorable  change.  Much, 
very  much,  undoubtedly  remained  to 
be  done ;  but,  in  general,  improvement 
was  the  order  of  the  day.  Everywhere 
the  number  of  cottier  tenements  had 
been  either  reduced,  or  had  entirely  dis- 
appeared. The  system  of  squatting  had 
been  almost  totally  subdued.  Wealthy 
proprietors,  equally  skilled  in  the  com- 
mercial and  agricultural  management 
of  their  property,  had  assumed  posses- 
sion of  the  lands.  The  poor-rates  were 
diminished,  and  the  inmates  of  the 
poor-houses  were  reduced  from  thou- 
81 


sands  to  hundreds,  while  tlie  debts  of 
the  unions  were  very  largely  decreased. 
In  every  part— in  remote  Connaught, 
as  well  as  in  distressed  Munster — the 
country  assumed  an  appearance  of  in- 
creasing and  healthy  prosperity. 

In  the  Great  Exhibition  of  the  In- 
dustry of  all  Nations,  held  in  Hyde 
Park,  in  1851,  under  the  patronage  of 
the  Queen  and  Prince  Albert,  Irish 
taste,  capital,  and  skill,  in.  her  poplins, 
her  silks,  and  her  linens,  and  other  fab- 
rics, were  admirably  represented ;  and 
their  presence  in  this  hall  of  peace 
aided  in  jDromoting  the  growth  of  man- 
ufactures in  Ireland,  and  a  spirit  of  en- 
terprise and  emulation  among  the  peo- 
ple. This  was  shown  in  the  following 
year,  by  the  opening  of  an  exhibition 
of  a  similar  kind  in  the  beautifully  sit- 
uated city  of  Cork,  where  the  day  of 
its  opening  was  observed  as  a  kind  of 
jubilee  in  the  city  and  its  neighbor- 
hood. 

In  March,  1852,  the  Earl  of  Eglin- 
toun  succeeded  Lord  Clarendon  in  the 
lord-lieutenancy,  and  his  administration 
proved  to  be  in  a  high  degree  popular. 
He  was  a  nobleman  well-suited  to  the 
genius  of  the  people  over  whom  he  was 
placed.  Gallant  in  bearing,  affable 
and  agreeable  in  manner,  and  active  in 
visiting  various  parts  of  the  vice-royal- 
ty, he  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the 
friends  and  supporters  of  the  tory  gov- 
ernment. But,  there  was  nevertheless 
a  strong  feeling  of  dislike  on  the  part 
of  the  whigs,  the  Catholic  priesthood, 
and  numbers  of  the  nobility  and  gen- 


802 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


try.  This  was  evidenced  subsequently 
iu  the  elections  for  parliament,  where 
much  excitement  prevailed,  and  oppo- 
sition candidates  were  elected.* 

On  the  19th  of  August,  1852,  an  ag- 
gregate meeting  of  the  Catholics  of  the 
United  Kingdom  was  held  in  tlie  Ro- 
tunda, in  Dublin.  It  was  an  imposing 
assemblage,  attended  by  prelates,  peers, 
and  representatives  from  various  parts 
of  the  empire.  Dr.  Cullen,  the  Roman 
Catholic  archbishop,  took  the  chair, 
and  inaucrurated  the  meeting  with 
words  of  eloquence  and  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  his  native  land.  Dr.  MacHale, 
bishop  of  Tuam,  made  a  powerful  and 
patriotic  speech.  He  denounced,  in 
unmeasured  terms,  English  tyranny, 
and  the  attempts  at  proselytism  which 
had  been,  and  were  being  made,  among 
the  Catholic  youth  of  Ireland.  At  this 
meeting,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted : — 

1.  "That  we  hereby  solemnly  pledge 
ourselves  to  use  every  legitimate  means 
within  the  Constitution,  to  obtain  a 
total  repeal  of  that  act  (the  Ecclesias- 
tical Titles  Act)  which  imposes  on  the 
Catholics  of  this  empire  any  civil  or  re- 
ligious disability  whatsoevei',  or  pre- 
cludes them  from  the  enjoyment  of  a 
perfect  equality  Avith  every  other  class 
of  their  fellow-subjects. 

2.  "That  as  one  of  the  great  consti- 
tutional and  practical  means  of  carrying 
out  the  objects  of  this  meeting,  we 
pledge  ourselves  to  make  every  effort 

*  It  was  in  connection  ivitli  this  election  that  the  Six 
Mile  Bridge  affray  occurred,  ■when  the  Orangemen  and 


to  strengthen  the  hands  and  increase 
the  power  of  those  faithful  representa- 
tives, who,  in  the  last  session  of  pailia- 
ment,  so  energetically  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  formation  of  an  independ- 
ent ixirty  ill  the  legislature,  having  for 
its  object  the  maintenance  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  in  the  British  empire ; 
and  that  the  following  prelates  and 
members  of  the  legislature  be  a  com- 
mittee to  define,  with  accuracy,  the  ob- 
jects which  are  to  occupy  the  Associa- 
tion, to  frame  the  rules  and  regulations 
by  which  it  shall  be  governed,  and  to 
submit  the  same  to  the  next  general 
meeting  of  the  Association." 

An  eloquent  and  forcible  address  in 
support  of  this  movement  was  made  by 
Mr.  G.  H.  Moore,  M.  P.  for  Mayo,  and 
it  was  expected  that  results  of  no  ordi- 
nary moment  would  be  attained.  In 
consequence,  however,  of  want  of  proper 
organization  and  efficiency  in  securing 
a  regular  and  adequate  supply  of  funds, 
the  Association  languished,  and  failed 
of  accomplishing  the  object  for  which 
it  was  formed. 

The  winter  of  1852-3  passed  in  com- 
parative quiet,  although  the  govern- 
ment thought  it  necessaiy  to  keep  the 
coercion  act  in  operation  in  Ireland. 
New  proprietors  had  been  found  for 
the  encumbered  estates.  Money  was 
brought  into  the  country  by  these  men, 
and  they  used  it  discreetly,  not  only 
for  their  own  interests,  but  for  the  good 
of  the  community  at   large.     In    this 

their  opponents  engaged  in  deadly  strife,  and  a  number 
of  lives  was  lost. 


THE   INCOME-TAX   IN   IRELAND. 


803 


state  of  affairs,  Mr.  Gladstoue,  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer  iu  the  Aberdeen 
miuistry,  thought  it  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  assimilate  the  taxation  of  the 
two  countries  of  England  and  Ireland, 
and  make  them  one  iu  fiscal  regulations, 
as  they  had  been  made  one  politically 
by  the  act  of  Union.  In  bringing  for- 
wai'd  his  budget,  therefore,  on  the  18th 
of  April,  1853,  Mr.  Gladstone  submitted 
a  resolution  to  the  House  for  a  continu- 
ation of  the  income-tax  for  a  period  of 
seven  years,  and,  for  the  first  time,  pro- 
posed to  include  Ireland  in  the  sphere 
of  its  operation. 

In  the  elaborate  statement  presented 
by  the  learned  chancellor,  the  question 
as  to  the  exemption  of  Ireland  necessa- 
rily came  up.  As  Ireland,  he  argued, 
had  derived  benefit  from  the  fiscal 
changes  made  by  government,  and  as 
the  duties  which  constituted  the  ground 
of  her  exemption  had  disappeared,  he 
did  not  see  why  the  income-tax  should 
not  be  levied  in  Ireland.  He  had  pro- 
posed to  charge  Ireland  with  the  in- 
come-tax and  the  dutj^  on  spirits ;  but 
■the  government  had  come  to  the  de- 
termination to  relie\'e  her  from  the 
consolidated  annuities,  amounting  to 
£4,500,000,  which  would  cease  from 
and  after  the  29th  of  September  last, 
all  arrears  up  to  that  date  to  be  paid, 
and  all  sums  received  since  to  be  re- 
turned. 

The  proposal  to  relieve  Ireland  from 
the  charge  of  £4,500,000,  which  was 
due  to  the  consolidated  fund,  and  which 
laid  like  a  dead  weight  upon  the  na-' 


tional  energies  ever  since  the  time  of 
the  famine,  was  too  great  a  boon  not  to 
be  eagerly  sought  after  by  the  best- 
intentioned  of  the  Irish  landlords ;  the 
Irish  members  takinc'  an  increased  iu- 
terest  in  the  debate.  The  extension  of 
the  income-tax  to  Ireland  was  antici- 
pated to  produce  about  £460,000  a 
year ;  and  the  increase  of  the  duty  upon 
Irish  spirits,  from  two  shillings  and 
cightjience  to  three  shillings  and  four- 
pence  a  gallon,  to  produce  nearly 
£200,000  annually. 

The  debates  on  this  important  meas- 
ure continued  for  two  weeks,  and 
brought  out  the  best  ability  of  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Mr.  Fagan,  while  admitting  the  states- 
maulike  character  of  the  ministerial 
plan  in  general,  yet  felt  bound  to  resist 
that  part  of  it  which  subjected  Ireland 
to  the  income-tax,  as  an  equivalent  for 
the  abandonment  of  the  consolidated 
annuities.  He  protested  agninst  the 
introduction  of  these  annuities  into  the 
plan,  insisting  that  the  labor-rate,  form- 
ing part  of  the  charge,  had  been  mis- 
applied ;  and  entered  into  details,  to 
show  that  Ireland  had  derived  but  slen- 
der advantages  from  the  remission  of 
taxation  for  which  the  income-tax  was 
imposed.  He  further  contended  that 
the  imposition  of  this  tax  would  be  in- 
consistent with  the  act  of  union,  which 
stipulated  that  Ireland  should  contrib- 
ute to  the  general  taxation  only  in  a 
certain  pi'oportion,  which  had  been  al- 
ready exceeded ;  and  he  urged  the 
cruelty  of  taking  advantage  of  a  breath- 


804 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN   VICTORIA. 


ing-time,  which  Ireland  seemed  now  to 
enjoy,  to  oppress  her  with  an  income- 
tax. 

Other  Irish  members,  as  Mr.  Ma- 
giiire,  Sei-jeant  Shee,  Mr.  French,  etc., 
supported  the  views  advanced  by  Mr. 
Fagan,  and  contended  that  it  would  be 
equally  ungenerous,  unjust,  and  dishon- 
orable, to  impose  the  income-tax  upon 
Ireland.  The  government  side  of  the 
question,  however,  was  argued  and  sup- 
ported by  Mr.  Cobden,  Mr.  Disraeli, 
Serjeant  Murphy,  and  others ;  and,  on 
a  division,  there  were  found  to  be  323 
against  252,  a  majority  of  71  in  favor 
of  the  financial  measures  proposed  by 
Mr.  Gladstone. 

The  result  reached  was  an  important 
one,  whether  just  or  unjust  in  its  appli- 
cation, viz.,  the  affirming  the  principle, 
that  in  future  years  the  taxation  of  Ire- 
land should  rest  upon  the  same  basis 
as  that  Avhich  regulated  the  imposition 
of  taxes  upon  other  parts  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  A  large  portion  of  the  Irish 
gentry,  it  is  said,  approved  of  the  gov- 
ernment plan ;  and  among  the  rest, 
Maurice  O'Connell,  eldest  son  of  the 
Liberator,  and  inheritor  of  the  property 
of  Derrynane. 

Another  effort  was  made  at  this  date 
for  the  benefit  of  Ireland,  by  Mr. 
Whiteside,  who  moved  for  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill  to  facilitate  the  sale, 
partition,  and  exchange  of  lands,  by 
the  court  of  chancery  in  Ireland,  and 
the  recovery  of  moneys  secured  by 
recosrnizance.  Great  and  vexatious  de- 
lays  had  occurred  and  were  occurring, 


and  a  remedy  was  imperatively  de-. 
manded.  The  question  was  settled, 
however,  by  the  government  bringing 
in  and  carrying  a  short  bill  for  renew- 
ing the  "  Encumbered  Estates  Act"  for 
a  period  of  two  years. 

The  position  of  ecclesiastical  aftairs, 
particularly  the  Established  Church  in 
Ireland,  was  again  under  discussion  in 
the  session  of  parliament  for  1853. 
The  long-existing  and  deeply-rooted 
sense  of  injustice  done  to  the  larger 
part  of  the  population  by  the  Establish- 
ment, and  the  settled  determination  to 
bring  about  a  change  and  a  more  equi- 
table adjustment  of  mattei-s  on  this 
subject,  were  manifested  in  the  speeches 
and  arguments  of  various  members. 
Lord  John  Russell,  however,  and  others, 
opposed  any  movement  of  the  kind, 
and  when  the  question  was  taken  for 
the  appointment  of  a  select  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  ecclesiastical  reve- 
nues of  Ireland,  and  how  far  they  were 
applicable  to  the  benefit  of  the  Irish 
people,  the  motion  was  negatived  by 
2G0  to  98. 

Another  question,  of  no  little  impor- 
tance to  Ireland  and  her  true  interests, 
was  fully  discussed  at  the  present  ses- 
sion of  parliament.  We  refer  to  the 
national  system  of  education.  The  de- 
bate was  opened  in  the  House  of  Lords 
on  the  19th  of  July,  1853,  by  Lord 
Donoughraore.  The  system  of  educa- 
tion in  Ireland,  as  he  stated,  was  origin- 
ally founded  by  Lord  Stanley  (now 
Earl  of  Derby),  some  twenty  years  pre- 
viously, and  was  intended  to  be  a  sys- 


DEBATE  ON  THE  NATIONAL  EDUCATION  QUESTION. 


805 


tern  of  united  secular  and  separate  re- 
ligious instruction.  Immediately  after 
its  first  organization,  the  board  had 
commenced  the  publication  of  a  num- 
ber of  works  which  could  not  be  too 
highly  praised,  and  which  had  since 
then  not  only  been  used  in  the  schools 
under  the  board,  but  also  in  schools  in 
this  country  and  the  colonies.  No  ob- 
jection whatever  had  been  taken,  or 
could  be  taken,  to  the  system  of  secular 
education  as  carried  out  by  the  board  ; 
but  certain  objections  were  taken  by 
men  of  high  character  and  standing 
against  the  nature,  amount,  and  sub- 
stance of  the  religious  instruction.  And 
from  this,  serious  difiiculty  was  expe- 
rienced in  managing  the  religious  teach- 
ing so  as  to  give  general  satisfaction. 

The  Earl  of  Derby  also  spoke  upon 
the  subject,  and  stated  that,  from  the 
first,  it  had  been  contemplated  to 
mingle  a  certain  amount  of  religious 
with  the  secular  instruction  given  in 
the  national  schools.  In  the  report  is- 
sued by  the  commissioners  in  1844, 
they  stated  that  they  had  established  a 
number  of  schools,  which  were  attended 
by  thousands  of  children,  and  that  they 
had  succeeded  in  compiling  several 
works,  containing  a  series  of  lessons 
grounded  on  Holy  Writ,  which  were 
used  in  the  general  instruction  afforded 
in  all  the  schools.  But  in  that  year 
also,  and  in  order  to  meet  objections 
which  had  been  raised  by  various  Cath- 
olics in  the  community,  these  books 
were  not  insisted  on,  but  only  strongly 
recommended.     A  rule  also  was  adopt- 


ed, viz.,  "The  commissioners  do  not  in- 
sist on  the  Scripture-lessons  being  read 
in  any  of  the  national  schools,  nor  do 
they  allow  them  to  be  read  during  the 
time  of  secular  or  literary  instruction 
in  any  school  attended  by  children 
whose  parents  or  guardians  object  to 
their  being  so  read.  In  such  cases  the 
commissioners  prohibit  their  use,  ex- 
cepting in  the  houre  of  religious  instruc- 
tion." Earl  Derby,  in  continuing  his 
remarks,  deprecated  any  diminution  of 
religious  instruction  in  the  national 
schools.  The  whole  system,  he  said,  so 
far  as  attaining  the  great  end  in  view 
was  concerned,  depended  upon  the  mu- 
tual and  harmonious  working  of  mem- 
bers of  different  religious  denomina- 
tiojis ;  upon  the  sound  sense  exercised 
by  both  parties ;  and  upon  the  balance 
being  impartially  held  between  Prot- 
estants and  Catholics. 

A  zealous  Catholic  writer,  a  number 
of  years  ago,  expressing  not  only  his 
own,  but  also  the  sentiments  of  the 
powerful  and  ancient  church  of  which 
he  is  a  member,  remarks,  that  "  knowl- 
edge and  tyranny  are  antagonist  prin- 
ciples. They  never  can  coexist,  they 
never  have  coexisted,  in  the  same  com- 
munity of  men.  The  six-and-twenty 
letters  of  the  alphabet  are  the  powers 
which  Ireland  relies  upon,  and  in  this 
Ireland  is  supremely  right.  Let  the 
present  five  or  six  hundred  thousand 
Irish  children,  that  are  at  school,  but 
get  to  manhood  without  any  material 
check  or  civil  commotioil,  and  act  all 
the  powers  of  Europe,  though  Europe 


806 


REIGN   OF   QUEEN   VICTORIA. 


combined  in  arms  for  tbe  purpose,  could 
hold  the  Irish  nation,  for  one  day,  in 
bondage  to  any  other.  It  is  true  that 
■these  national  schools  are  supported  by 
English  money,  and  teach  English  po- 
litical principles ;  but  with  all  that, 
there  is  a  great  deal  in  what  they  teach 
that  we  must  admire.  Their  system  is 
uuifoi'm,  for  their  teachers  are  all  edu- 
cated by  superior  men,  at  the  head  or 
model  school  in  Dublin.  Their  books 
of  instruction  appear  to  be  excellent. 
Indeed,  all  their  books  are  the  vei'y 
best  in  the  English  language,  and  some 
have  been  adopted  in  the  German 
schools.  Their  general  system  of 
instruction  includes  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  agriculture, 
grammar,  geography,  geometry,  math- 
ematics, mechanics,  civil  and  natural 
history.  Scripture-lessons  (selected  and 
mutually  agreed  upon),  elocution,  sing- 
ing, linear  or  mechanical  drawing,  etc. 
]\Iental  exercise  and  instruction  are  cul- 
tivated. Not  only  do  the  masters  cat- 
echize the  scholars,  but  the  scholars 
question  and  argue  with  the  masters. 
Order  is  peculiai'ly  enforced ;  and  a 
certain  step  and  discipline  are  taught, 
in  play-hours,  entering  and  i-eturning 
from  school,  which  adapt  the  boys,  to 
a  certain  extent,  for  military  drill. 
The  commissioners  are  quite  sensitive 
to  public  opinion,  and  are  becoming 
daily  more  and  more  national.  There 
may  be  objections  to  their  syste.m ;  but 
if  there  be  any  thing  erroneous  in  their 
inculcation,  sufficient  of  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  is  abroad  to  correct  it ;  and  as 


those  children  cannot,  upon  any  other 
conditions,  obtain  this  much-desired  ed- 
ucation, it  is  better  to  let  them  learn 
to  read,  write,  and  cipher,  to  draw  and 
steji, — and  rely  upon  an  active  public 
pi'ess,  and  an  enlightened  public  opin- 
ion, to  eradicate  the  political  errors  of 
the  schoolrooms." 

One  other  matter  which  occurred  at 
this  date,  in  Ireland,  deserves  to  be  put 
on  record.  It  had  been  customary  for 
the  Eoyal  Dublin  Society  to  have  an 
exhibition  of  the  products,  natural  and 
artificial,  of  the  country,  once  iu  three 
years,  at  their  rooms  in  Merrion  Square. 
As  the  year  1853  was  the  one  in  due 
course  of  routine  for  this  display,  it  oc- 
curred to  an  individual  of  great  public 
spirit  and  liberality,  Mr.  Dargan,  to 
make  this  exhibition  one  of  national 
importance.  To  secure  the  public  char- 
acter of  the  Dublin  Exhibition,  it  was 
intrusted  to  a  committee  comprising 
the  hiirhest  and  mcist  hoHorable  names 
in  Dublin,  in  cotinection  with  that  im- 
portant body,  the  Royal  Dublin  So- 
ciety, on  whose  grounds  adjoining  Mer- 
rion Square  the  building  was  raised. 
The  building  reflected  no  small  credit 
upon  Mr.  Benson  (now  Sir  John  Ben- 
son), its  architect.  In  character  and 
design  it  differed  from  the  Crystal  Pal- 
ace in  Hyde  Park.  The  open  area  of 
the  interior,  supported  on  columns,  was 
one  point  of  resemblance ;  but  the 
whole  light  was  admitted  from  above, 
there  being  none  at  the  sides ;  and  only 
a  portion  of  the  actual  roof  was  glazed. 
Instead  of  rectangular  outlines,  broken 


VISIT   OF   THE   QUEEN   TO   IRELAND. 


80( 


by  au  arebed  transept,  Mr.  Benson's 
design  was  distributed  in  a  series  of 
long  parallel  balls  with  semicircular 
roofs,  and  oval  in  form,  tbe  central  one 
being  tbe  loftiest,  and  baving  an  ex- 
ceedingly striking  and  novel  effect.  It 
■vvas  425  feet  long,  100  feet  wide,  and 
105  feet  bigb ;  and  altogetber  was  an 
imposing  and  beautiful  ball  for  tbe 
purpose  designed  in  its  erection. 

Here  were  collected  tbe  cbief  attrac- 
tions of  tbe  exbibition — statues,  foun- 
tains, and  tropbies  of  manufacturing 
skill ;  wbile,  crowning  immense  tiers  of 
benches  raised  at  either  end,  stood  two 
large  and  powerful  organs,  for  wdiicb 
tbe  shape  and  character  of  the  ball 
seemed  well  adapted.  The  two  similar, 
but  smaller  balls,  on  either  side,  were 
325  feet  in  length,  50  feet  wide,  and 
55  feet  high.  In  these,  and  in  the  gab 
leries  adjoining  them,  tbe  various  col- 
lections of  manufactured  articles  were 
arranged  in  classified  order,  much  after 
the  manner  of  tbe  exhibition  in  Hyde 
Park.  Tbe  sides  of  the  building  were 
occupied  by  two  balls,  smaller  still  than 
those  next  tbe  main  ball.  In  one,  tbe 
machinery  in  motion  was  very  effect- 
ively provided  for  by  Mr.  Fairbairu, 
tbe  welbknown  engineer;  in  the  other, 
Mr.  John  Deane,  assistaint-secretary  to 
the  committee,  by  dint  of  great  energy, 
tact,  and  perseverance,  collected  a  most 
brilliant  display  of  paintings  in  the 
English,  Prussian,  Belgian,  Dutch,  and 
French  schools.  This  portion  of  the 
building  also  contained  a  sculpture- 
room  and,  behind  all,  accommodation 


was  provided  for  carnages,  locomotives, 
and  agricultural  implements. 

The  Dublin  Exhibition  was  officially 
opened  on  Thursday,  May  12,  1853,  by 
Earl  St.  Germans,  lord-lieutenant,  at- 
tended in  state  by  his  suite,  tbe  corpo- 
ration of  Dublin,  tbe  committee,  and 
tbe  officers  intrusted  with  charge  of  the 
Exbibition. 

Towards  the  close  of  August,  1853, 
Her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria,  resolved 
to  make  a  short  visit  to  Ireland,  and 
witness  the  result  of  tbe  Dublin  Indus- 
trial Exbibition.  Accordingly,  on  tbe 
29tb  of  that  month,  accompanied  by 
the  Prince  Consort,  and  tbe  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  Prince  Alfred,  tbe  Queen 
entered  Dublin  Bay,  in  the  royal  steam- 
yacht,  tbe  Victoria  &  Albert.  Tbe 
visit  was  an  agreeable  one,  both  to  the 
Queen  and  the  people.  She  was  re- 
ceived with  all  tbe  pomp  and  circum- 
stance which  wait  on  royal  movements, 
and  the  usual  enthusiasm  was  displayed 
wherever  her  presence  was  recognized. 
Tbe  corporation  of  Dublin  presented 
addresses  to  their  distinguished  visitors, 
duly  acknowledging  tbe  honor  con- 
ferred on  their  city,  and  expatiating  on 
the  general  improvement  of  tbe  coun- 
try. 

Her  Majesty,  in  her  reply  to  the 
corporation,  said:  "It  is  my  anxious 
desire  to  encourage  tbe  industry  of  my 
Irish  subjects,  and  promote  the  full  de- 
velopment of  tbe  great  natural  resources 
of  Ireland ;  and  I  share  in  tbe  confident 
belief  that  the  striking  display  of  beau- 
tiful productions  of  art  and  industry 


808 


REIGN   OF   QUEEN   VICTORIA. 


by  wbicli  I  am  surrounded  is  to  be  ap- 
preciated, not  on]y  as  evidence  of  suc- 
cessful genius,  but  as  a  liappy  mani- 
festation of  that  persevering  energy, 
which,  under  the  blessings  of  Divine 
Providence,  is  an  unfailing  source  of 
national  prosperity."  A  few  days  af- 
terwards the  Queen  returned  to  Eng- 


land, not  without  hope  that  her  pres- 
ence at  the  Exhibition  had  been  pro- 
ductive of  beneficial  effects.  Very 
probably  it  has  been  so ;  but  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  any  permanent  or 
lasting  good  was  or  could  be  produced, 
in  this  way,  for  a  country  suffering  as 
Ireland  has  for  so  long  a  time. 


IRELAND'S  HOPEFULNESS. 


809 


CHAPTER  LII. 

THE   FENIAN   BROTHERHOOD. IRELAND'S    PRESENT   POSITION   AND    PROSPECTS. 

HOPE  EOR  THE  FUTURE. 


Activity  and  zeal  of  the  Irisli  patriots.— The  Fenian  Brotherhood.— Origin  and  purpose  of  this  association.- Its 
scientific  organization. — First  Feniau  Congress  at  Chicago,  1863. — Second  Congress  at  Cincinnati,  January, 
1S65. — Third  Congress  in  Philadelpliia,  September,  1865. — Reorganization,  steps  talien  of  various  lands,  etc. 
— Course  of  the  British  Government. — Martial  law  proclaimed  in  Ireland. — James  Stephens,  the  Head  Centre 
of  the  whole  Brotherhood,  arrested. — His  escape  from  prison. — Visits  the  United  States. — The  Queen's  speech, 
February,  1866. — Suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act. — John  Bright's  views. — S.  MiU's  remarks. — Fenian 
invasion  of  Canada. — Mortifying  failure. — Course  pursued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. — Criticized 
by  the  Irish  patriots. — Lord  Derby's  thanks  to  the  United  States  Government. — Fenians  tried  and  condemned 
in  Canada. — McMahon  and  Lynch  sentenced  to  be  hung. — Mr.  Seward's  interposition. — Excitement  among 
the  Irish. — Stephens's  speech  at  meeting  held  at  Jones's  Wood,  New  Tork. — His  bold  announcement. — 
Opposition  to  the  Fenian  movement  by  bishops  and  priests  of  the  Catholic  Church — Extracts  from  a  Cath- 
olic paper  on  this  subject. — Meeting  of  Fenians  in  New  York,  November,  186G. — Resolution  and  appeal 
adopted. — Father  Vaughan's  spirited  review  of  "  English  misrule  in  Ireland." — The  rising  in  Ireland  reported 
as  having  been  entered  upon  at  the  close  of  November,  1860. — Spirit  and  tone  of  the  English  press. — Threats 
of  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  Fenians. — Fixed  resolve  of  the  British  Government. — Force  imder  Stephens 
in  Ireland. — Sympathy  in  various  quarters. — Warren's  address  to  Irishmen  in  America. — Extracts  from  an 
Irish  New  York  journal  on  the  position  of  aflixirs  and  the  prospects  of  success. — Condition  of  things  at  the 
close  of  1866. — Views  and  opinions  of  eminent  Irislimen  and  Englishmen  on  the  questions  at  issue. — What 
has  been  done  for  the  people's  good. — What  remains  to  be  done. — Mil  desperandum. — Ireland  must  be  free. 


(18.56— 1860.) 


TPVURING  the  last  fe-sv  years  the 
-'-^  people  of  Ireland  have  not  been 
idle,  or  foi'getful  of  the  one  great  ob- 
ject which  they  so  earnestly  desire  to 
attain — that  is,  the  entire  freedom  and 
absolute  independence  of  their  native 
land.  Encouraged  by  the  strong, 
warm-hearted  sympathies  of  those  who 
have  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
and  other  parts  of  America,  and  retain 
their  affection  for  the  Green  Isle  of  the 
Ocean,  and  also  conscious  of  the  vast 
power  of  combined,  well-organized  ef- 
forts, the  Irish  patriots  have  not  remit- 


ted their  labors  or  allowed  themselves 
to  despond  under  any  pressure  or  any 
difficulty. 

This  is  evident,  not  only  by  the  firm 
and  decided  tone  adopted  by  the  Irish, 
so  far  as  they  are  able,  at  home,  and 
fully  and  openly  abroad,  but  also  by 
the  formation  and  active  working  of 
an  association  which,  it  is  hoped  and 
expected  with  confidence,  will  materi- 
ally help  towards  establishing  the  new 
"Irish  Republic." 

This  association  is  known  by  the 
name   of  the   "Fenian   Brotherhood," 


102 


810 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


and  is  so  interesting  in  the  objects  it 
seeks  to  attain,  and  the  liigli  aspira- 
tions for  liberty  and  freedom  wliicli  it 
has  aroused,  that  it  requires  at  our 
hands  some  account  of  its  origin  and 
progress.  Our  notice  must  necessarily 
be  more  or  less  impeifect,  as  the  nature 
of  the  association  does  not  admit  of  its 
affairs  being  made  entirely  public ;  but 
having  sought,  with  much  care,  for  ac- 
curate information,  we  think  the  reader 
can  rely  upon  what  is  here  stated. 

The  members  of  the  Brotherhood  in 
Ireland  are,  of  course,  under  a  pledge 
of  secrecy,  which  has  been  so  success- 
fully preserved,  as  that  neither  the  gold 
of  the  Government  on  the  one  hand, 
nor  the  efforts  of  spies  and  traitors  on 
the  other,  have  been  able  to  break  up 
the  association  or  expose  its  members 
to  the  vengeance  of  the  ruling  author- 
ities. All  its  members  are  required  to 
be  able-bodied  men,  and  are  sworn  into 
military  service  and  secretly  drilled  as 
soldiers.  The  numerical  strength  of 
the  Fenians  in  Ireland  is  not  generally 
known,  of  course,  but  it  is  represented 
as  being  formidable,  when  compared 
with  the  numbers  which  England  and 
Scotland  could  add  to  the  British  army. 


*  "  The  Fenian  Brotherhood,  otherwise  known  aa  the 
Irish  Revolutionary  Brotberliood,  was  started  in  1857. 
It  was  the  result  of  a  compact  entered  into  by  the  late 
Michael  Doheny,  Michael  Corcoran,  myself,  and  some 
few  others  in  New  York,  with  James  Stephens  in  Ire- 
land, whither  he  had  then  recently  returned  from  Paris. 
In  America,  Michael  Doheny  was  its  real  founder. 
Never  did  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom  seem  more  hope- 
less to  the  outside  world  than  at  that  time.  Public 
opinion  was  everywhere  against  any  attempt  at  Irish 
revolutionary  action.    The  press  scoffed  at  the  idea  all 


The  material  and  resources  for  ac- 
tive warlike  operations,  when  the  right 
moment  arrives,  are,  of  necessity,  to  be 
looked  for  from  the  Brotherhood  resid- 
ing in  other  countries ;  and  it  is  the 
settled  purpose  of  those  who  have  en- 
tered upon  this  work  to  seize  the  first 
opening  which  presents  itself,  and  to 
raise  the  standard  of  revolt,  and  to 
make  Ireland  a  free  and  independent 
nation  in  the  world.  This  is  their  pur- 
pose. It  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
they  can  accomplish  it,  and  whether 
the  vigilance  and  power  of  the  English 
Government  can  be  overcome. 

It  is  within  less  than  ten  years  that 
the  Fenian  Brotherhood  has  been  or- 
ganized and  at  work  in  the  United 
States.*  The  organization  is  of  a  sci- 
entific character,  and  is  calculated  to 
promote  the  highest  efficiency  of  its 
members.  First,  there  is  a  Local  Circle 
of  not  less  than  sixty  members,  to 
whom  a  commission  is  granted  by  the 
State  Centre,  and  it  is  authorized  to 
send  a  delegate  to  the  next  Fenian 
Congress.  The  Local  Circle  elects  a 
permanent  Centre,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  State  Centre  and  Head 
Centre.      Full   reports    are    made    by 


the  world  over.  Ireland  was  everywhere  proclaimed  to 
be  thoroughly  subjugated,  and  her  people  to  bo  loyal 
to  the  British  crown,  contented,  and  even  happy.  Some 
money  was  collected,  nevertheless,  principally  from  un 
initiated  friends  of  our  cause,  by  means  of  which 
35,000  men  were  enrolled  in  Ireland  by  James  Ste- 
phens. The  sum  total  was  not  much — some  thousands 
of  dollars  in  aB  ;  but  a  little  money  will  go  a  great  way 
in  preliminary  organization  in  Ireland." — President 
O'Mahony's  Message,  January,  1866. 


THE   FENIAN   BROTHERHOOD. 


811 


these  Centres  every  mouth,  and  seut  to 
headquarters ;  aud  a  neglect  to  do  this 
for  three  months  puts  a  Circle  in  "  bad 
standing,"  and  i-enders  it  liable  to  be 
cut  off.  Every  candidate  for  admission 
has  to  be  proposed  by  one  Fenian 
brother  and  seconded  by  another,  and 
then  reported  upon  by  the  Committee 
of  Safety  of  each  Circle.  The  initia- 
tion fee  is  not  less  than  one  dollar,  and 
the  monthly  dues  average  about  fifty 
cents  for  each  member.  The  following 
declaration  is  required  of  the  newly 
elected  member:  "I  solemnly  pledge 
my  sacred  word  of  honor,  as  a  truthful 
and  honest  man,  that  I  will  labor  with 
earnest  zeal  for  the  liberation  of  Ire- 
land from  the  yoke  of  England,  and 
for  the  establishment  of  a  free  and  in- 
dependent government  on  the  Irish 
soil ;  that  I  will  implicitly  obey  the 
commands  of  my  suj^erior  officers  in  the 
Fenian  Brotherhood  in  all  things  ap- 
pertaining to  my  duties  as  a  member 
thereof;  that  I  will  faithfully  discharge 
my  duties  of  membership,  as  laid  down 
in  the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  there- 
of; that  I  will  do  my  utmost  to  pro- 
mote feelings  of  love,  harmony,  and 
kindly  forbearance  among  all  Irishmen; 
and  that  I  will  foster,  defend,  and  prop- 
agate the  aforesaid  Fenian  Brother- 
hood to  the  utmost  of  my  power."  All 
political  discussions,  except  in  relation 
to  Ireland,  and  all  religious  questions 
whatever,  are  positively  prohibited  in 
each  and  every  Circle.  Centres  of 
Circles  correspond  with  State  Centres ; 
State  Centres  with  the  Head  Centre. 


All  correspondence  with  brothers  in 
Ireland  passes  through  the  Head  Centre, 
to  whom,  with  the  Central  Council, 
are  known  the  true  names  and  ad- 
dresses of  the  "I.  R.  B.,"  or  "Irish 
Rev^olutionary  Brotherhood."  And 
when  any  member  comes  from  Ire- 
land, his  credentials  have  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Head  Centre.  The  State 
Centres  are  appointed  and  commis- 
sioned by  the  Head  Centre,  the  highest 
officer  in  the  association,  who  is  elected 
annually  by  a  general  Congress,  com- 
posed of  the  various  State  Centres  and 
one  delegate  from  each  Circle  in  good 
standing:. 

The  first  Fenian  Congress  was  held  in 
Chicago,  in  November,  1863,  and  con- 
sisted of  nearly  200  delegates.  The 
Constitution  of  the  Order  was  largely  al- 
tered, and  its  designs  were  more  boldly 
avowed.  The  second  Congress  was 
held  in  Cincinnati,  in  January,  1865, 
and  various  committees,  on  Military 
Affairs,  on  Foreign  Affairs,  on  Ways 
and  Means,  etc.,  were  appointed.  A 
Fenian  Sisterhood  was  also  established 
at  this  time,  with  promise  of  beneficial 
results.  The  membership  of  the  Order, 
it  was  reported,  had  largely  increased, 
there  being  about  380  circles  and  some 
80,000  members,  over  14,000  of  these 
latter  being  of  the  naval  and  military 
class. 

In  September,  1865,  another  Con- 
gress assembled  in  Philadelphia,  at 
which  a  new  Constitution  was  adopted, 
modelled  upon  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.     Its  design  is  to  secure 


812 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


tlie  blessings  of  liberty  to  the  Irisli  race 
in  Iieliincl,  and  it  admits  to  membership 
United  States  citizens  of  Irish  birth 
and  lineage,  and  friends  of  Ireland 
everywhere  on  tlie  American  conti- 
nent. The  Brotherhood  is  subdivided 
into  State,  District,  and  Social  Circles, 
as  previously.  The  Congress  consists 
of  a  Senate  and  House,  the  former  lim- 
ited to  fifteen  in  number,  the  latter 
composed  of  delegates  from  the  Circles, 
one  delegate  for  every  hundred  mem- 
bei's.  The  executiye  power  resides  in 
the  President,  who  is  elected  annually 
by  the  Congress,  and,  in  connection  with 
the  Senate,  arranges  treaties,  apjioints 
ambassadors,  etc.  He,  and  all  civil  offi- 
cers, are  liable  to  impeachment  for  trea- 
son, bribery,  and  other  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,  and  on  conviction  are 
expelled  from  the  Brotherhood. 

Various  steps  \vere  taken,  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Congress,  looking 
to  the  great  end  had  in  view.  Offices 
were  opened  in  New  York  and  an  issue 
of  bonds  commenced.  A  serious  diffi- 
culty which  occurred  between  the  pres- 
ident, John  O'Mahouy,  and  the  Senate, 
and  which  threatened  to  do  gi'eat  mis- 
chief, caused  some  excitement;  but  the 
difficulty  was   ultimately  settled  so  as 


*  Stephens,  on  Lis  csamination,  took  liigli  ground, 
and  denied  tlie  right  of  the  English  Governnicnt  to 
exercise  any  authoritj-  in  Ireland.  Especial  precautions 
were  taken  to  prevent  his  escape.  The  corridor  of  the 
prison  in  which  he  slept  was  kept  locked,  except 
during  the  hour  allowed  for  exercise.  This  corridor 
is  divided  from  its  continuation  in  the  other  wing  of 
the  prison  by  a  heavy,  solid  iron  door,  which  was 
kept  securely  locked.  Thrae  policemen  were  stationed 
here  on  guard.   At  the  othet  end  of  the  corridor  is  a 


not  to  interfere  with  the  main  objects 
of  the  Brotherhood. 

In  the  existing  state  of  affiiirs,  the 
British  Government  has  not  been  un- 
mindful of  the  dangers  to  its  sui^rem- 
acy,  caused  by  the  organization  and 
course  of  action  of  the  Fenian  Brother- 
hood. Troops  have  been  sent  to  Ire- 
land; the  constabulary  force  has  been 
increased,  and  various  prepai-ations  have 
been  made  to  meet  the  threatened  emer- 
gency. During  the  year  1865  martial 
law  was  proclaimed  in  some  counties, 
and  suspected  persons  were  here  and 
there  arrested  and  imprisoned.  Among 
these  was  James  Stephens,  a  man  of 
considerable  note  and  importance  in 
the  present  condition  of  Ireland,  being 
the  Head  Centre  of  the  whole  Brother- 
hood, not  only  in  his  native  land,  but 
also  elsewhere.  Stejihens,  by  the  aid 
of  comjjatriots,  escaped  from  prison, 
and,  despite  the  utmost  vigilance  of  the 
authorities,  sharpened  by  offi;rs  of  large 
rewards  for  his  arrest,  arrived  soon  af- 
ter in  France ;  thence  he  made  his  way, 
in  the  spring  of  1866,  to  the  United 
States,  to  carry  forward  the  objects  o,f 
the  Brotherhood  in  any  and  every  way 
which  might  present  itself*  Various 
steps  were  taken  with  reference  to  an 


massive  iron  door,  with  a  huge  lock,  opening  on  the 
lobby  of  a  stone  staircase,  by  which  the  ground  is 
reached.  The  door  of  Stephens's  cell  was  cased  with 
iron,  no  keyhole  inside,  and  secured  by  a  very  large 
swing  bar,  fastened  by  a  padlock  of  great  size.  Despite 
all  this  precaution,  the  doors  were  all  opened  for  Ste- 
phens, and  one  night  he  quietly  walked  out.  A  re- 
ward of  £1,000  was  offered  for  his  apprehension ;  but 
to  no  purpose. 
Of  Mr.  Stephens's  fellow-workers  in  his  revolutionary 


EMINENT   FENIAN   SUFFERERS. 


813 


iiTiiptioii  into  Canada,  in  order  to  strike 
a  blow,  wbicli  would  be  felt,  at  British 
power  iu  America,  and    ultimately  to 


movement,  the  following  -n-ere  the  principal  men  who 
fell  into  the  power  of  the  British  authorities  about  the 
same  time  that  he  did,  but  who  had  not  the  good  for- 
tune to  escape  with  him  from  the  dungeons  of  their 
enemies : 

Jeremiah  O'Donovan-Rossa,  a  gentleman  of  fair  edu- 
cation, and  of  superior  natural  talents,  though  self- 
made,  was  boi-n  in  Boss-Carberry,  iu  the  coimty  of  Cork, 
of  an  old  and  respectable,  but  latterly  reduced,  family-, 
whose  ancestors — the  O'Donovans-Rossa — were  former- 
ly owners  of  the  surrounding  territory  of  Rus-o-g  Cairhre. 
Of  all  the  imprisoned  leaders  of  the  Fenians,  there  was 
none  so  popular  as  O'Donovan-Rossa.  His  frank  and 
genial  manners  gained  him  the  good-will  of  all  who 
came  into  contact  with  him,  and  his  thorough  devoted- 
ness  and  indomitable  energy  as  a  patriot,  secured  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  his  organized  associates,  while 
his  ancient  clan  associations,  as  well  as  his  intrinsic 
good  qualities  as  a  man  and  a  friend,  had  so  endeared 
him  to  his  neighbors  in  his  native  district,  that  few 
men  in  the  south  of  Ireland  had  a  larger  personal  fol- 
lowing than  he.  He  was  somewhat  above  the  middle 
height,  muscular  and  athletic,  with  an  open  and  rather 
handsome  coimtenance.  His  first  experience  of  an 
English  prison  was  in  1858,  when  he  was  arrested  with 
several  others  for  the  Phcenis  Conspiracy  of  Skibbereen, 
but  released  on  bail,  with  his  companions,  after  several 
months'  incarceration — the  j  ury  before  which  he  was 
tried  not  having  agreed  to  a  verdict.  No  sooner  was  he 
restored  to  liberty  than  he  resumed  his  revolutionary 
labors,  and  was  the  mainspring  of  the  Fenian  move- 
ment in  West  Munster  up  to  his  removal  to  Dublin,  in 
1803,  when  he  became  manager  of  the  Irish  Peojile 
newspaper  in  that  city.  But  his  labors  were  not  con- 
fined to  his  connection  with  this  journal.  He  made 
frequent  tours  to  England  and  Scotland,  and  more  than 
once  to  the  United  States,  in  the  service  of  the  organi- 
zation. He  was  arrested  on  the  1.5th  Sept.,  1865,  with 
the  other  conductors  of  the  Irish  People.  WTien  tried, 
soon  after,  he  defended  himself.  On  being  convicted  of 
treason  felony,  he  was  sentenced  to  penal  servitude  for 
life.  He  was  the  only  civilian  amongst  his  associates 
upon  whom  so  severe  a  penalty  was  passed.  It  was 
the  meed  of  his  universal  popularity,  as  well  as  his  ac- 
tivity and  zeal  as  an  Irish  revolutionist.  He  is  now 
about  thirty -five  years  old,  and  has  a  young  and  beau- 
tiful ^^•ife  and  a  large  interesting  family. 

3d.  Charles  J.  Kickham  was  bom  thirty-four  years 
since,  in  the  town  of  Mullinahone,  near  the  northern 
base  of  Slievenamon.  He  came  of  a  respectable  stock, 
and  his  father,  John  Kickham,  was  a  wealthy  and  pa- 
triotic draper  in  his  native  town ;  besides  which  he  was 


operate  from  this  quarter  iu  favoi-  of 
efforts  at  home  for  the  fi'eedoin  of  Ire- 
land. 


extensively  engaged  in  agriculture.  Young  Kickham 
received  a  first-class  education.  His  literary  talents 
and  acquirements  were  of  a  high  order.  He  was  an 
eloquent  and  correct  prose  writer,  and  a  poet  of  no 
mean  genius.  In  '48,  though  scarcely  out  of  his  boy- 
hood, he  established  a  Young  Ireland  club  iu  his  native 
parish,  and  was  one  of  the  followers  of  Smith  O'Brien 
in  his  attempted  revolution,  from  the  consequences  of 
which  he  escaped  by  reason  of  his  youth.  When  Dr. 
Cane  started  the  Celt  in  Kilkenny,  some  time  after, 
Kickham  was  one  of  its  ablest  contributors.  He  joined 
the  Fenian  movement  in  'Gl ;  since  when,  in  company 
■\vith  Denis  D.  Mulcahy  and  a  few  other  tried  men,  he 
helped  to  sow  the  seeds  of  revolution  broadcast  over 
Tipperary.  He  attended  the  first  convention  of  the 
American  Fenians  at  Chicago,  in  *G3.  Soon  after  his 
return  to  Ireland,  he  became  one  of  the  principal  edi- 
tors of  the  Irish  People — his  connection  with  which 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  arrest,  trial,  and  cou- 
viction.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Revolutionary 
Council.  His  tastes  were  exalted  and  refined ;  his 
disposition  was  extremely  gentle  and  kindly ;  while 
in  his  devotedness  to  his  land  and  his  race,  he  was  an 
enthusiast. 

8d.  John  O'Leary  was  also  a  member  of  the  Irish 
Revolutionary  Council.  He,  too,  began  his  career  as  an 
Irish  rebel  at  a  very  early  age — having  been  arrested 
for  having  made  an  attempt  to  muster  the. peasantry 
of  Tii>perary  at  a  place  called  the  Wilderness,  near 
Clonmel,  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  Smith  O'Brien  and 
his  companions  in  durance,  during  their  trial  in  '48. 
He  was  then  a  mere  boy.  Having  been  set  at  liberty, 
after  an  imprisonment  which  lasted  several  months,  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  medical  profession 
and  to  literary  pursuits.  Though  in  relations  of  the 
closest  intimacy  with  James  Stephens,  since  the  return 
of  the  latter  to  Ireland  from  France  in  '57,  he  did  not 
become  prominently  connected  with  the  Fenian  move- 
ment tiU  his  installation  as  chief  editor  of  the  Irish  Peo- 
ple ;  nor  is  it  well  ascertained  whether  he  was  ever 
regularly  initiated  as  a  member  of  that  society.  John 
O'Leary  comes  of  an  old  and  patriotic  race,  originally 
located  in  the  west  of  the  County  of  Cork.  He  was  bom 
in  the  rising  town  of  Tipperary,  where  his  father  was 
held  in  very  great  esteem,  as  one  of  its  most  influential 
and  enterprising  merchants.  Ho  was,  in  private  life,  a 
worthy  man,  and  in  public  a  sterling  lover  of  his  coun- 
try. As  a  litterateur,  John  O'Leary  has  few  superiors. 
In  revolutionary  matters,  he  is  more  of  a  philosophic 
thinker  than  a  man  of  impulsive  action.  But  though 
his  patriotism  is  not  of  a  demonstrative  cast,  it  is  not 
the  less  determined  and  pure.    In  person  he  is  of  slight 


814 


REIGN   OF   QUEEN   VICTORIA. 


Eai-ly  in  Feljruaiy,  1866,  at  the  open- 
ing of  Parliament,  the  Queen,  in  her 
speech,  said :  "  A  consjjiracy  adverse 
alike  to  authority,  property,  and  reli- 
gion, and  disapproved  and  condemned 
alike  by  all  who  are  interested  in  their 
maintenance,  without  distinction  of 
creed  or  class,  has  unhappily  appeared 
in  Ireland.  The  constitutional  power 
of  the  ordinary  tribunals  has  been  exert- 
ed foi'  its  repression,  and  the  authority 
of  the  law  has  been  firmly  and  impai-- 
tially  vindicated."  Notwithstanding, 
however,  the  Queen's  statement  on  the 
subject  of  the  efliciency  of  the  ordinary 
processes  of  law,  the    lord  lieutenant. 


and  graceful  build,  above  the  middle  height,  and  of 
regidar,  handsome  features.  He  is  unmarried,  for- 
tunately for  himself. 

4th.  Thomas  Clarke  Luby  is  now  about  forty-two 
years  old.  Son  of  an  Anglican  clergj'man,  and  nephew 
of  one  of  the  most  learned  and  distinguished  fellows  of 
Trinity  College,  he  commenced  his  university  career  and 
■won  considerable  scholastic  distinction,  at  an  early  age. 
In  '48  he  joined  the  Toung  Ireland  party,  and  thus 
lost  the  friendship  and  patronage  of  his  uncle,  who  is 
an  extreme  loyalist.  After  the  failure  of  Smith  O'Brien, 
Luljy  joined  Fenton  Lalor,  Philip  Guy,  Joseph  Bren- 
uan,  and  others,  in  an  attempt  to  reorganize  the  party ; 
but  their  efforts  proved  abortive.  After  this,  he  be- 
came editor  of  a  patriotic  paper,  started  in  Dublin  by  a 
Mr.  Fulham.  After  the  failure  of  this  journal,  Luby 
continued  true  to  his  principles  through  very  trying 
domestic  difficulties,  notwithstanding  the  pressure 
brouglit  to  bear  upon  him  by  his  loyal  relative,  who 
urged  him  to  give  up  patriotism  and  continue  his 
studies  for  the  Irish  Bar — promising,  in  case  he  should 
comply,  to  forward  his  personal  interests  with  his 
means  and  all  the  influence  at  his  command.  Luby, 
however,  resisted  the  temptation.  He  assisted  James 
Stephens  in  founding  the  Fenian  movement  in  Ireland, 
and  was  one  of  its  most  prominent,  earnest,  and  effec- 
tive workers  up  to  the  time  of  his  arrest.  Luljy  is  a 
man  of  erudition — he  speaks  well  and  writes  well.  He 
is  married,  and  has  left  n  wife  and  interesting  young 
family  miprovided  for. 

5th.  Denis  Dowling  Mulcahy  is  a  younger  man  than 
any  of  the  preceding.     He  is  sprung  from  an  old  and 


in  the  most  earnest  terms,  insisted  uiion 
a  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  in 
Ireland,  aflirming  that  he  could  not 
hold  himself  responsible  for  the  safety 
of  the  country  unless  this  were  done. 
Parliament  acted  with  promptness  and 
decision,  and  the  necessary  bill  was 
passed,  on  the  I'Tth  of  February,  by 
both  the  Houses  of  Commons  and  of 
Lords,  and  received  the  royal  assent 
the  same  day. 

Mr.  Bright,  in  the  Commons,  pro- 
tested against  this  movement,  and  spoke 
warmly  upon  the  traditional  misgovern- 
menf  of  Ireland.  "Never,"  he  ex- 
claimed,   "  does    the    Government    act 


esteemed  stock  in  South  Tipperary.  His  father,  Denis 
Mulcahy,  was  one  of  the  stanchest  supporters  of  Dan- 
ii>l  O'ConneU  during  the  Emancipation,  Tithe  Reform, 
and  Repeal  agitations,  in  the  course  of  wliich  he  suf- 
fered severely  in  property,  through  his  devotedness  to 
what  he  considered  to  be  his  country's  best  interests. 
Mulcahy  has  received  an  excellent  education.  His 
talents  are  considerable,  and  by  his  family  influence, 
personal  popularity,  and  untiring  self-sacrificing  labors, 
he  has  spread  the  organization  widely  through  the 
counties  of  Watcrford  and  Tipperary.  He  is  a  man  of 
indomitable  courage,  towering  stature,  and  everywhere 
calculated  to  gain  a  distinguished  position  among  his 
countrymen  in  the  projected  revolution. 

The  other  principal  victims  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  this  movement  are  :  John  Haltegan,  for  a  long 
time  Centre  in  Kilkenny ;  James  O'Connor,  WUliani 
Roantree,  Michael  Moore,  Hugh  Brophy,  all  of  Dablin  ; 
John  Kenelly,  John  Lynch,  Brian  Dillon,  and  Chas.  U. 
O'Connell,  of  Cork ;  C.  Keano,  of  Skibbereen  ;  Michael 
O'Regan,  of  New  York,  U.  S.  ;  and  Patrick  O'Leary 
(surnamed  the  Pagan),  of  New  York  also.  The  latter 
was  the  first  Fenian  convict.  The  spreading  of  the 
organization  in  the  British  army  was  his  special  voca- 
tion. His  success  therein  was  most  extraordinary.  He 
had  sworn  in  over  three  thousand  British  soldiers  as 
citizens  of  the  Irish  Republic  before  he  met  with  the 
traitor  who  procured  his  arrest  and  conviction.  Pat- 
rick O'Leary  is,  on  the  whole,  a  most  remarkable  and 
original  character.  Hia  real  name  was  not  discov- 
ered by  the  enemy  at  the  time  of  his  trial  and  convic- 
tion. 


FENIAN   INVASION   OF  CANADA. 


815 


with  energy  and  promptness  towards 
Ireland,  excej^t  upon  a  measure  of  re- 
pression or  coercion.  I  have  sat  here 
throucjh  several  administrations.  Sii" 
Eobert  Peel,  Lord  Aberdeen,  Lord 
Palmerston,  Earl  Russell,  have  all  sat 
at  the  head  of  the  Government,  and 
the  conduct  of  every  administration 
towards  Ireland  has  been  utterly  de- 
void of  statesmanship."  At  the  same 
time,  Mr.  Bright  said  that  he  would 
not  oppose  a  measure  which  the  Gov- 
ernment deemed  essential  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  public  peace.  Mr.  John 
Stuart  Mill,  also,  while  the  subject  was 
before  the  House,  added  his  testimony 
to  that  of  Mr.  Bright,  and  dwelt  forci- 
bly upon  the  injustice  with  which  Ire- 
land has  been  and  is  uniformly  treated. 
In  the  United  States  there  was  a 
strong  disposition,  in  the  spring  of 
1866,  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  Feni- 
ans, to  make  an  irruption  into  Canada, 
as  we  have  above  noted.  Mr.  Ste- 
phens, it  appears,  was  not  favorably 
inclined  towards  this  undertaking,  and 
exerted  his  influence  to  prevent  it,  and 
to  turn  all  the  energies  of  Irish  patriots 
in  the  direction  of  Ireland,  and  the  sup- 
plying funds  and  arms  for  those  who 
were  about  to  fight  the  battle  with 
English  tyranny  on  their  native  soil. 
The  Canadian  scheme  was  not,  how- 
ever, abandoned.  At  the  beginning  of 
summer  parties  of  the  Fenians  rendez- 
voused at  several  spots  on  the  frontier, 
principally  at  Buffalo  in  New  York, 
and  St.  Albans  in  Vermont.  On  the 
1st  of  June  a  considerable  body  crossed 


the  border  at  Buffalo,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  overthrowing,  if  possible,  the 
British  Government  in  Canada.  Sev- 
eral skirmishes  occurred  with  the  Ca- 
nadian troops  and  volunteei-s ;  and 
whether  it  were  owing  to  want  of 
proper  drill  and  organization,  or  to 
some  other  cause,  the  Fenians  were 
worsted  decidedly,  and  the  irruption 
proved  to  be  a  failure.  Many  of  the 
Fenians,  on  recrossiug  into  the  United 
States,  were  made  prisoners  by  the 
public  authorities. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1866,  President 
Johnson  issued  a  proclamation,  de- 
nouncing the  Fenian  enterprise  as  a 
high  misdemeanor,  directing  the  author- 
ities to  arrest  all  concerned  in  it,  and 
instructing  General  Meade  to  use  the 
national  forces,  if  necessary,  to  prevent 
any  invasion  from  the  United  States 
into  her  majesty's  dominions.  No  sup- 
plies or  arms  were  allowed  to  pass  to 
those  in  Canada,  and  most  of  those  who 
had  gone  upon  this  expedition  made 
their  way  back.  Another  crossing  was 
made,  a  few  days  later,  near  St.  Al- 
bans, Vermont,  but  without  any  suc- 
cess or  profit  to  the  Fenian  cause.  The 
Canadian  Government  arrested  and 
held  to  bail  the  leaders  and  officers  of 
the  expedition ;  but  the  privates  were 
released  and  sent  back  into  the  United 
States. 

The  course  of  action  taken  by  the 
direction  of  President  Johnson  was 
sharply  criticized  as  unfriendly  in  the 
extreme,  and  wanting  in  sympathy  for 
the  struggles   of   Irish    patriots  after 


816 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


independence  and  freedom ;  and  it  was 
avowed  that  the  least  the  American 
Government  could  do,  in  such  a  case, 
and  wLere  so  high  and  sacred  interests 
were  at  stake,  Avas  to  remain  neutral, 
and  allow  the  Fenians  free  space  for  an 
irruption  into  the  British  provinces, 
and  the  striking  a  'blow  which  would 
materially  aid  in  the  disenthral nient  of 
Ireland.  On  the  other  hand,  the  new 
prime-minister.  Lord  Derby,  expressed, 
early  in  July,  the  profound  thanks  of 
her  majesty's  government  for  the 
prompt  and  efficient  action  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  "  Not- 
withstanding," were  his  lordship's 
words,  "the  latitude  which  is  given  in 
the  United  States  to  all  expressions  of 
public  feeling,  and  to  any  thing  short 
of  actual  violation  of  laws,  yet,  as  soon 
as  the  law  Avas  plainly  about  to  be  vio- 
lated, vigorous  and  decided  measures, 
as  I  acknowledge  with  the  utmost 
gratitude,  were  taken  by  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  to  i^revent 
a  violation  of  their  own  laws,  and  the 
rights  of  friendly  States,  by  a  lawless 
band  of  marauders." 

By  direction  of  the  home  govern- 
ment, the  Fenian  prisoners  in  Canada, 
captured  during  the  irruption  just 
spoken  of,  were  tried,  convicted,  and 
sentenced  to  death  by  the  court  held 
at  Toronto.  Among  these  were  R.  B. 
Lynch,  j^rofessedly  a  newspaper  corre- 
spondent, but,  according  to  testimony 
adduced  on  the  trial,  acting  as  a  col- 
onel of  the  Fenian  troops ;  and  John 
McMahon,    a    Catholic    priest,    whose 


plea  was  that  he  was  compelled  by  the 
Fenians  to  remain  with  them  and  ad- 
minister the  rites  of  the  Church  to  the 
wounded,  although  he  had  not  gone  to 
Canada  for  any  purpose  of  acting  with 
the  Fenians.  Both  Lynch  and  McMa- 
hon were  found  guilty,  and  sentenced 
to  be  hung  on  the  13th  of  December. 
The  American  secretary  of  state,  Mr. 
Seward,  interposed  in  behalf  of  these 
mm,  and  asked  for  a  record  of  the 
trial  and  a  suspension  of  the  sentence. 
He  urged  upon  the  British  minister  at 
Washington  that,  as  the  offences  were 
purely  of  a  political  character,  there 
ought  to  be  great  leniency  shown  to- 
wards the  prisoners,  and  a  spirit  of 
forgiveness  manifested.  The  secretary, 
also,  with  a  slight  touch  of  sarcasm, 
added  that  hia  suggestion  was  "  made 
with  freedom  and  earnestness,  because 
the  same  opinions  were  proposed  to  us 
by  all  the  governments  and  publicists 
of  Europe,  and  by  none  of  them  with 
greater  frankness  and  kindness  than  by 
the  government  and  statesmen  of  Great 
Britain."* 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  result  of 
these  trials  caused  no  little  excitement 
among:  the  Fenian  Brotherhood  and 
the  Irish  people  generally  in  the  Uni- 
ted States.  A  fresh  impulse  seemed  to 
be  given  to  the  cause,  and  a  profounder 
and  stronger  feeling  to  be  aroused  in 
behalf  of  struggling  Ireland.  Ou  Sun- 
day, the  28th  of  October,  1866,  a  very 
large  meeting  of  the  Fenians  was  held 

*Tlie  sentences  in  these  cases  were  subsequently 
commuted  to  imprisonment  for  twenty  years. 


THE   TRIESTHOOD    OX   FEXIAXISM. 


81' 


at  Jones's  Woods,  near  the  city  of  New 
York.  Mr.  Stephens,  the  Chief  Organ- 
izer and  Head  Centre  of  the  Irish  Re- 
puVjlic,  made  a  speech  of  considerable 
length  and  importance.  As  we  have 
before  stated  (see  p.  815),  Stephens  was 
not  in  favor  of  invading  Canada;  on 
the  present  occasion,  he  denounced  the 
movement  as  a  sort  of  filibustering 
affair,  and  aflBrmed  that  if,  last  year, 
the  Fenians  in  Ireland  had  only  had  a 
few  thousand  more  i-ifl.es  at  one  par- 
ticular jioint,  the  whole  Island  would 
have  been  theirs  in  ten  days,  and  every 
English  soldier  on  Irish  soil  would 
have  been  dead  or  captive.  Among 
other  things,  he  stated  that  the  Fenian 
army  in  L'eland  numbered  fifty  thou- 
sand men,  as  well  trained,  drilled,  and 
equipped  as  any  in  the  world.  With  a 
degree  of  candor  unusual  in  such  mat- 
ters, Stephens  named  the  very  time 
when  the  rising  was  to  take  place.  "  I 
do  not  say,"  were  his  words,  "  that 
there  will  be  fighting  in  Ireland  before 
tie  13th  day  of  December;  but  there 
will  be  before  the  1st  of  January,  1867, 
witli  as  fair  prospect  of  success  as 
ever  was  known,  and  I  shall  be  there 
in  the  midst  of  my  countrymen."  In 
the  same  connection,  he  alluded  (in 
terms  of  disapproval)  to  the  opposition 
of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  regard  to  the 
Fenian  movements ;  and,  while  reiterat- 
inar  that  the  contest  of  arms  was  certain 
to  begin  speedily,  he  begged  his  audi- 
tors to  mark  every  man  who  ridiculed 
or  attempted  to  cry  down  the  cause  of 
Ireland,  and  remember  him  forever. 

lOS 


The  fact  spoken  of  above  l)y  Mi-. 
Stephens  is  worthy  of  note,  and,  how- 
ever it  may  be  accounted  for,  it  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  the  Fenian 
movement,  at  home  and  abroad,  was 
looked  ujDon  with  disfavor  by  the 
bishops  and  priests  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  We  quote,  in  illustration, 
from  an  English  Catholic  paper  (of 
October,  1865)  several  paragraphs, 
which  show  the  grounds  taken  by  the 
hierarchy,  and  the  reasons  which  in- 
fluenced their  action : 

"The  Fenian  Brotherhood  is,  at  the 
present  moment,  a  great  fact  in  the 
history  of  Ireland.  It  exists  there, 
and  cannot  be  ignored.  Day  by  day 
the  Irish  papers  give  us  accounts  of 
Fenian  meetings,  of  the  gathering  to- 
gether of  large  bodies  of  men,  who  are 
mustered  and  drilled  with  the  reculari- 
ty  and  precision  of  a  well-organized 
army.  How  many  there  may  be  in 
America  associated  in  the  same  society 
it  is  hard  to  say ;  but,  if  the  reports  of 
the  papers  are  correct,  there  mnst  be  in 
Ireland  at  least  thirty  thousand;  and 
these  men,  we  firmly  believe,  would, 
to-morrow,  shed  the  last  drop  of  their 
blood  for  their  fatherland.  Now,  what 
is  the  end  and  object  of  this  society? 
Simply  the  liberation  of  Ireland  (so, 
at  least,  the  members  tell  us)  from  the 
yoke  of  England.  So  far  so  good ;  and 
so  far  we  heartily  sympathize  with  our 
fellow-countrymen,  and  desire,  as  earn- 
estly as  any  of  them,  the  freedom  of 
Old  Erin.  With,  heart  and  soul  we 
would  join  in  the  great  work  of  deliv- 


818 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


erins:  Catholic  Ireland  from  tlie  doiui- 
nation  of  Protestant  England.  But,  is 
the  work  to  be  done  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  Fenian  Brother- 
hood? Can  the  work  jjossibly  be  done 
through  them  and  hy  tJiem  ?  We  think 
not^  and  there  are  many  reasons  that 
lead  us  to  this  conclusion. 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  movement 
has  been  generally  discountenanced  by 
the  clergy,  and  invariably  denounced 
by  the  bishops.  For  what  reason? 
Is  it  that  the  bishops  and  clergy  of 
Ireland  do  not  love  their  native  land  ? 
Is  it  that  they  do  not  desire  that  which 
would  be  most  beneficial  to  their  flocks? 
Are  they  in  the  pay  of  England ;  and 
is  it  that  they  fear  to  lose,  by  the 
change  of  foreign  domination  for  inde- 
pendent home  government  ?  We  ask 
these  questions  simjily  because  certain 
papers,  influencing  a  large  circle  of 
readers,  make  such  charges  against  the 
episcopate  and  clergy  of  Ireland ;  and 
to  each  of  these  questions  we  return  a 
positive  and  unqualified  negative. 

"  But  a  short  time  ago  we  saw  how 
the  clergy  of  Poland  worked  and 
strove,  and  even  fought  for  the  free- 
dom of  their  native  land.  There  was 
a  prospect — and  a  hopeful  one— of  suc- 
cess. They  thought  that  France  was 
with  them,  and  hoj^ed  for  the  sympa- 
thy of  England.  They  were  disap- 
pointed; and  the  noble  effort,  the  he- 
roic struggle,  failed  through  want  of 
means,  and  through  lack  of  sympathy. 
But  the  priests  were  Avith  the  people ; 
with   them   they  lived,   suffered,    and 


died.  The  sympathy  of  every  Catho- 
lic heart  Avas  with  the  Poles,  and  we 
all  know  how  deep  an  interest  the 
Holy  Father  took  in  their  welfare — • 
how,  for  them,  he  has  braved  and 
scorned  the  disj^leasure  of  the  mighty 
Czai-.  How,  then,  does  it  happen  that, 
whereas  in  Poland  the  Church  blessed 
and  favored  the  uprising  for  liberty,  it 
is  now,  in  Ireland,  opposed  to  such  an 
attempt?  The  question  requires  two 
answers — the  one  from  the  Church  as 
such,  the  other  from  the  Church  in  Ire- 
land. 

"It  seems  that  Feuianism  is  a  secret 
society — that  is,  its  members  take  an 
oath  to  obey  an  unknown  authority, 
and  to  follow  out,  in  detail,  every  order 
issued  by  that  authority.  We  read 
that  in  Limerick  a  man  was  requested 
'  to  take  an  oath,  binding  him  to  obey 
the  rules  laid  down  by  the  heads  of 
the  association  in  the  United  States.' 
What  were  these  rules  ?  He  was, 
thei'efore,  called  upon  to  take  an  oath 
without  knowing  the  obligations  that 
oath  involved.  Such  an  oath  is  rash, 
and  is,  therefore,  forbidden  by  the  law 
of  God  and  by  God's  Church.  If, 
therefore,  the  oath  of  obedience  to  an 
unknown  authority,  and  the  oath  to 
follow  unknown  rules,  be  a  necessary 
preliminary  to  the  initiation  into  the 
Fenian  Brotherhood,  the  Church  must, 
necessarily,  condemn  such  a  society. 
The  bishops  and  clergy  of  Ireland  -may 
condemn,  and  do  condemn  it  on  this 
ground;  but  they  have  other  reasons 
which  can  only  be  manifest  to  those 


MEETING  IN   NEW   YORK. 


819 


who  know  Ireland  well.  They  are  not, 
we  may  be  well  assured,  wanting  in 
love  of  their  country  and  their  flocks. 
Who  knows  better  than  they  do  all 
the  afflictions,  and  griefs,  and  oppres- 
sion of  one  and  the  other  ?  And  who 
can  sympathize  more  deeply  than  they 
do  with  Ireland  and  the  Irish  ?  It  can- 
not be,  therefore,  from  want  of  sympa- 
thy in  the  good  cause  that  they  do  not 
approve  of  the  Fenian  organization. 
They  condemn  it  because  of  the  oath 
which  the  Church  cannot,  and  will  not, 
allow;  and  they  disapprove  of  it  be- 
cause they  see  that,  instead  of  freeing 
Ireland  from  misery,  it  is  likely  to 
plunge  her  still  more  deeply  into  the 
mire.  The  Irish  clergy  are  a  body  of 
men  who  love  their  country,  and  who 
love,  with  a  father-like  love,  their 
flocks ;  and  any  thing  that  would  bene- 
fit their  fatherland  and  spiritual  chil- 
dren would  receive,  not  merely  their 
approbation,  but  their  co-operation. 
They  would  work  for  it  unto  death; 
and,  if  they  now  oppose  this  move- 
ment, depend  upon  it,  it  is  simply  be- 
cause they  know  that  it  can  result  in 
no  good.  They  know,  that  the  prom- 
ises that  come  so  freely  from  America 
will  never  be  fulfilled;  that  men  who 
have  made  a  home  in  the  far-oif  land 
will  never  return  to  fight  for  the  coun- 
try they  have  abandoned.  They  know, 
too,  that  were  every  man  in  Ireland  to 
go  to  the  battle-field,  they  could  not 
oflFer  any  eflfectual  opposition  to  the 
power  of  England.  They  know  that 
there  is  no  dependence  upon  America, 


and  they  know  that  without  such  aid 
it  would  be  madness  for  Ireland  to 
think  of  rising  against  England.  They 
know  well  what  loss  of  life,  what 
misery  and  desolation,  an  unsuccessful 
uprising  would  involve ;  and  so,  loving 
their  children,  they  prudently  and 
wisely  oppose  it.  And  so  they  are 
said  to  be  unpatriotic,  and  accused  of 
being  in  the  pay  of  England. 

"  Oh,  listen  to  your  priest !  He 
knows  you;  he  loves  you — he  loves 
our  dear  country.  And  any  thing  that 
tends  to  break  that  close  and  affec- 
tionate union  that  has  ever  existed  in 
Ireland,  between  priest  and  people, 
cannot  be  good.  The  priest  knows 
and  loves  his  country  and  his  people, 
and  must  apjDrove  of  that  which  is  for 
the  benefit  of  both.  If  the  clergy  of 
Ireland  condemn  Fenianism,  it  merely 
shows  that  they  know  it  to  be  of  no 
advantage  either  to  the  country  or  the 
people." 

A  few  weeks  after  the  meeting  at 
Jones's  Woods,  there  was  a  gathering 
of  the  Centres  and  Delegates  of  the 
Brotherhood  of  New  York  and  vicin- 
ity. It  was  held  at  the  Apollo  Rooms, 
New  Yoi'k,  on  Sunday  evening,  No- 
vember 19th,  and  the  following  resolu- 
tion and  accompanying  Appeal  were 
unanimously  adopted : — 

'■'■  Besolved,  That  the  Centre  of  each 
Circle  of  the  F.  B.  in  New  York,  Brook- 
lyn, Jersey  City,  and  vicinity,  be  in- 
structed to  send  a  committee  of  their 
ablest  and  prominent  members  to  each 
house  in  the  localities  in  which  its  Cir- 


820 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


clcs  may  be  situated,  and  solicit  from 
every  Irishmaw,  and  the  lovers  of  liber- 
ty of  all  nationalities,  arms,  munitions, 
and  money  in  aid  of  the  revolution 
about  to  be  inaugurated  in  Ireland,  and 
that  the  names  of  those  subscribing  for 
the  purposes  referred  to,  and  those 
who,  being  Irishmen,  may  refuse  to 
contribute,  be  written  in  a  book  of 
record,  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose  in 
the  Central  Office,  ISTo.  19  Chatham 
street,  for  future  reference,  and  that 
the  views  of  this  meeting  may  be 
placed  before  the  world  by  an  appeal 
to  be  published  herewith. 

THE   APPEAL, 

To  the  Men  of  Irish  Birth  and  all  Lovers  of  Re- 
publican  Institutions  everywhere  : 

"  CoUNTKYMElSr,  FrIENDS,  AND  BROTH- 
ERS : — Every  item  of  information  reach- 
ing us  from  Ireland  proves  it  to  be  cer- 
tain, beyond  all  question,  that  our  coun- 
trymen at  home  are  determined  on  war 
— war  to  the  knife,  and  that  this  very 
year.  The  final  struggle  of  our  peoj^le 
with  the  foreigner  will  be  soon  inaugu- 
rated ;  the  oppressed  will  meet  the  op- 
pressor foot  to  foot,  to  battle  for  the 
very  existence  of  our  race  and  of  our 
nationality.  The  issue  is  patent.  Either 
we  must  succeed  in  this  our  final  strusr- 
gle,  and  take  our  place  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  or  be  defeated — to 
be  scattered  broadcast,  as  a  people  de- 
spised, pointed  at  only  with  the  finger 
of  scorn,  and  ready  to  do  battle  for 
every  country  but  our  own.  To  the 
Irishmen  of  America  such  an  eventual- 


ity cannot  fail  to  suggest  the  profound- 
est  emotions.  The  degradations  to 
which  his  kindred  have  been  subjected 
for  centuries — the  sacrifices  of  a  peo- 
ple o&ered  as  a  holocaust  at  the  shrine 
of  despotism ;  the  many  miseries  en- 
tailed by  foreign  domination — are  to 
be  washed  away  in  the  blood  of  the 
enemy,  or  live  a  perpetual  curse  in  our 
defeat.  The  wrongs  of  the  past  must 
be  righted  by  the  manhood  of  the 
present.  A  nation  which '  will  not 
make  sacrifices  is  unworthy  of  freedom. 
That  is  a  blessing  which  cannot  be  too 
highly  prized  by  any  people ;  it  is  one 
of  the  holiest  gifts  which  God  can  be- 
stow on  man.  And  what  greater  sacri- 
fice can  be  required  of  a  people  to  gain 
that  blessing,  than  that  of  life  and 
every  thing  they  hold  most  dear?  Our 
countrymen  being  resolved  to  fight 
against  an  old,  an  intolerant  enemy,  to 
wipe  out  the  stigma  of  slavery,  they 
risk  life,  property,  all,  on  the  struggle. 
It  will  be  to  the  eternal  credit  or  dis- 
grace of  their  kindred  in  America,  if 
this  struggle  be  a  glorious  or  disastrous 
one — if  Ireland  be  a  land  crowned 
by  the  laurels  of  a  victorious  army,  or 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  an  immense 
wilderness  and  charnel-house.  Should 
revolution  in  Ireland  end  in  defeat, 
should  the  land,  be  saturated  with  the 
blood  of  freedom's  martyrs  shed  in 
vain,  let  those  in  America  who  could, 
but  would  not,  aid.  in  the  freedom  of 
their  native  land,  bear  the  humiliation 
and  shame.  That  the  lukewarm  and 
skeptical  may  no  longer  have  an  ex- 


FATHER  VAUGHAN'S  ADDRESS. 


821 


cuse  for  not  giving  that  assistance  to 
their  compatriots  at  home  which  is  ex- 
pected from  them,  we  deem  it  our  duty 
to  place  our  views  before  the  world. 
Advocates  of  universal  liberty,  but  es- 
pecially of  liberty  in  Ireland,  we  have  re- 
solved to  do  all  in  our  power  to  sustain 
those  of  our  kindred  who  keep  garrison 
at  home.  That  the  struggle,  now  so 
imminent,  may  be  short  and  effective, 
we  appeal  to  all  our  kindred  in  Ameri- 
ca, men  and  women,  and  to  the  lovers 
of  freedom  everywhere,  to  give  what 
our  brothers  require.  That  no  one 
claiming  to  have  Irish  blood  in  his 
veins  may  have  any  longer  an  excuse 
for  not  contributing  in  proportion  to 
his  means,  a  committee  of  gentlemen, 
properly  accredited,  will  call  upon  all 
from  whom  aid  is  expected.  That  a 
permanent  record  of  all  those  who  will 
do  their  duty  to  Ireland  at  so  impor- 
tant a  crisis  as  this  may  be  kept  for 
future  purposes,  as  well  as  those  who  by 
their  non-action  wish  it  to  be  recorded 
as  their  opinion  that  our  race  at  last  is 
conquered,  the  committees  instructed 
to  collect  arms,  war  material,  and 
money,  for  the  use  of  the  Irish  repub- 
lican army,  will  hand  in  their  lists 
weekly,  at  the  Central  Office,  19  Chat- 
ham street,  in  this  city.  In  the  name 
of  liberty,  justice,  and  humanity,  we 
appeal  to  all,  on  behalf  of  a  suffering 
but  noble-minded  people,  to  subscribe 
liberally,  and  at  once." 

The  determined  spirit  of  the  Fenian 
Brotherhood,  and  of  all  lovers  of  Irish 


freedom,  in  the  United  States,  to  go 
forward  at  all  hazards  with  their  under- 
taking, to  engage  in  active  hostilities  in 
Ireland  asjainst  the  Bi'itish  Government 
and  authorities,  and  to  secure  the  inde- 
pendence and  nationality  of  the  Green 
Isle  of  the  Ocean,  Avas  further  roused 
by  an  eloquent  and  scathing  review  of 
"  English  Misrule  in  Ireland,"  from  Fa- 
ther Vaughan,  of  County  Clai'e.  This 
reverend  gentleman  delivered  a  lecture 
on  the  above  topic  at  Cooper  Institute, 
New  York,  on  the  evening  of  Novem- 
ber 21st,  1866.  We  give,  from  one  of 
the  journals  of  the  day,  the  report  of 
his  earnest  setting  forth  of  the  wrousrs 
done  to  his  native  land  by  the  foreigner 
and  oppressor  in  the  past  as  well  as 
the  present. 

A  large  audience  was  gathered,  to 
whom  Father  Vaughan  said,  that  "it 
afforded  him  great  delight  to  meet  and 
address,  on  the  present  occasion,  so  nu- 
merous and  respectable  a  body  of  his 
countrymen.  It  convinced  him  that 
they  still  regarded  their  native  land 
with  earnest  and  deep-seated  devotion. 
The  very  fact  that  they  were  able  to 
assemble  together  in  such  respectable 
numbera,  likewise  assured  him  that  the 
purpose  of  England  in  driving  theni 
out  had  been  defeated.  Eno^land  had 
hoped  that,  exiled  to  this  country,  they 
would  soon  become  absorbed  in  the 
elements  around  them — that  they  would 
cease  to  be  Irish — and,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  cease  to  be  an  object  of  terror 
or  annoyance.  He  saw  with  pleasure, 
however,  that  in  this  country  they  had 


822 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


preserved  their  nationality,  and  that 
tliey  were  still  Irish  to  the  heart's  core; 
that  they  were  a  powerful  element  in 
their  adopted  land,  and  were  still  a  just 
cause  of  fear  to  the  robber-Saxon.  The 
time  might  come,  and  he  hoped  would 
soon  come,  when,  as  they  had  been 
driven  out  with  a  veugeance,  they 
would  go  back  with  a  vengeance.  (Up- 
roarious applause,  and  cheers  for  Ste- 
phens). 

"It  had  always  caused  him  pain  to 
behold  a  fine  race,  such  as  that  they  be- 
longed to,  burned  and  bi'anded  like  the 
first  murderer,  Cain,  and  driven  forth  to 
wander  like  vagabonds  over  the  earth. 
If  the  soil  of  Ireland  were  barren  and 
the  climate  unnatural,  then  indeed  he 
mio;ht  reconcile  himself  to  the  exodus 
and  banishment  of  such  a  people ;  but 
taking  into  account  the  fertility  of  the 
island,  the  physical  endurance  and  in- 
dustrial energy  of  the  inhabitants,  their 
banishment  from  their  native  land 
must  be  a  source  of  deep  and  bitter 
regret  to  every  Irishman. 

"The  Irish  people  would  have  been 
prosperous  at  home,  if  just  and  good 
government  had  permitted  them  to 
have  a  fair  field  for  the  development  of 
their  energies.  In  this  country,  in 
every  branch  of  civil  and  commercial 
life,  Irishmen  excelled  all  other  races  of 
people.  There  was  no  more  fertile- 
land  under  the  sun  than  Ireland.  If  it 
were  compared  with  any  equal  portion 
of  this  country,  it  would  be  found  that 
it  far  excelled  it  in  fertility.  And  yet, 
although    here     the    people    obtained 


with  ease  an  ample  subsistence,  the 
people  of  Ireland  were  steeped  in  the 
deepest  poverty  and  clad  in  rags.  The 
reason  of  the  difterence  was  plain. 
Ireland  was  an  oppressed  and  enslaved 
land.  The  whole  rule  of  England  in 
Ireland,  from  the  first  invasion  of  the 
robber-murderer  Saxon  to  the  present 
time,  had  been  one  of  misrule.  The 
evils  with  which  the  Irish  people  had 
been  cursed  by  the  English  rule  were 
as  numerous  as  the  evils  contained  in 
Pandora's  box.  He  would  notice  first 
the  misrule  of  English  legislation. 

"  There  was  nothing  that  stamped  its 
moral  grandeur  u^Don  a  people  like  the 
laws  that  governed  it.  If  the  laws 
were  mild  and  just  and  merciful,  then 
the  people  reflected  faithfully  their 
beneficent  character.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  laws  were  cruel  and  unjust, 
their  malignant  influence  also  imprint- 
ed itself  in  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
ancient  laws  of  Ireland,  before  the 
Saxon  planted  his  foot  upon  her  soil, 
were  eminently  wise  and  just.  They 
enforced  the  practice  of  hospitality,  the 
cultivation  of  music,  poetry,  and  litera- 
ture, and  exhibited  a  jealous  regard  for 
the  security  of  property  and  the  honor 
of  women.  To  such  a  degree  was  the 
popular  mind  of  Ireland  dignified  and 
elevated  by  the  enforcement  of  these 
wise  laws,  that  when  St.  Patrick  came 
to  Ireland  and  appeared  before  its  sen- 
ators, and  presented  to  them  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  they  immediately  recognized 
the  truth  of  his  teachings,  and  in  an  in- 
credibly short  sjiace  of  time  the  whole 


FATHER  VAUGHAN   ON  ENGLISH  MISRULE. 


823 


island  was  converted.  But  since  Eng- 
land had  usurped  dominion  over  Ire- 
land, tliat  unhappy  country  had  been 
cursed  with  the  vilest  code  of  laws  that 
ever  disgraced  a  human  government. 
There  were  three  things  which  just 
laws  would  ever  guard  with  jealous 
care — the  security  of  life,  of  property, 
and  of  female  honor.  The  Ens-lish  had 
never  given  them  laws  securing  either. 

"Father  Vausrhan  then  read  an  ex- 
tract  from  an  address  to  Pope  John 
XXII.,  appealing  to  him  for  protection 
against  the  merciless  oppression  of 
their  Saxon  masters.  The  address  de- 
picted vividly  the  terrible  condition  of 
the  country  at  that  time,  and  stated 
that  it  was  a  doctrine  then  universally 
accepted  by  Englishmen,  and  one  which 
had  even  been  taught  from  the  pulpit 
by  English  ecclesiastics,  that  it  was  no 
crime  to  kill  an  Irishman. 

"  Father  Vaughan  continued  by  say- 
ing, that  a  trial  had  actually  taken 
place  in  which  two  Englishmen,  con- 
victed of  having  committed  a  rape, 
were  released  because  the  victim  was 
only  an  Irishwoman.  Any  Englishman 
could  legally  drive  away  an  Irishman 
from  his  land  and  settle  on  it  himself. 
It  was  a  crime  to  have  any  commercial 
relations  with  Irishmen.  It  was  hi2;h 
treason  to  marry  an  Irishwoman  or  to 
employ  an  Irish  nurse.  So  terrible 
were  the  sufferings  of  the  Irish  people 
under  this  state  of  things,  that  they 
offered  a  thousand  marks — a  very  large 
sum  in  those  days — to  be  admitted  to 
the  rights  of  English  citizenship,  but 


wei'e  refused  equal  justice  even  on 
those  terms.  And  when  at  last,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.,  the  poor  Irish 
people  began  to  leave  the  country,  a 
law  was  enacted  prohibiting  "  the  fur- 
ther departure  of  the  Irish  enemy." 
In  the  course  of  centuries  these  unnatu- 
ral laws  have  been,  to  a  certain  extent, 
modified,  as  civilization  and  enlighten- 
ment have  advanced  :  but,  thoug^h  not 
enforced,  many  of  them  may  yet  be 
found  unrepealed  on  the  English  stat- 
ute books. 

"  You  may  think  it  bad  taste  in  me, 
perhaps,  to  be  reviving  these  barbar- 
ous outrages  upon  justice  and  humani- 
ty ;  but  at  the  present  hour  there  is  a 
code  of  law  regulating  the  lives  and 
liberties  of  the  Irish  people,  and  im- 
posed by  English  misrule,  as  iniquitous 
and  cruel  as  ever  disgraced  the  annals 
of  manhood. 

"The  revei'end  lecturer  here  ex- 
plained the  present  law  of  ejectment, 
which  he  stated  had  swept  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  thousand  fi^milies, 
comprising  two  millions  of  people,  out 
of  Ireland,  from  the  year  1846  to  the 
present  time.  That  was  a  fair  illustra- 
tion of  the  monstrous,  revolting,  and 
diabolical  character  of  English  rule  in 
Ireland.  Under  such  circumstances  it 
Avas  the  duty  of  every  Irishman  to  com- 
bine and  revolt  ao;ainst  such  infamous 
legislation.  It  was  wonderful  to  re- 
mark the  slight  effect  centuries  of  wick-  • 
edly  unjust  and  cruel  government  had 
produced  on  the  Irish  character.  He 
believed  that  none  but  the  Celtic  race 


824 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


could  liave  withstood  sucli  witbering 
iofluences  for  so  long  a  period.  It  was 
only  owing  to  the  tenacity  of  the  Cel- 
tic nature,  that  they  possessed  at  the 
present  time  a  greater  amount  of  pub- 
lic and  private  virtue  than  any  other 
people.  Let  them  take,  for  instance, 
the  Irishwoman — in  single  life  as  pure 
as  the  driven  snow;  in  married  life, 
like  Caesar's  wife,  above  suspicion.  Let 
them  take,  again,  the  Irish  character 
for  generosity.  It  was  considered  a 
crime  in  Ireland  for  a  man  to  dine  with 
his  doors  closed.  Then,  again,  let  them 
take  the  fact  that  the  Irishmen  in  this 
country,  in  1862,  transmitted  to  friends 
in  the  old  country  the  enormous  sum 
of  £300,000.  What  volumes  that  fact 
spoke  for  their  sense  of  filial  duty! 
And,  in  the  recent  struggle  between 
the  Noi'tk  and  the  South,  the  Irishmen 
had  nobly  vindicated  the  strength  of 
their  devotion  to  their  adopted  land. 
He  hoped,  before  God,  that  they  would 
soon  give  as  unmistakable  proof  in 
their  own  country  of  their  love  of 
libei'ty.     (Immense  applause.) 

"  Father  Vaughan  then  gave  a  sketch 
of  the  famines  whick  have  so  frequent- 
ly desolated  Ireland,  and  referred,  par- 
ticularly to  that  of  '47  and  '48,  of 
Avhick  he  was  himself  an  eye-witness. 
He  said  that  the  frequent  recurrence  of 
these  famines  was  an  irrefutable  proof 
of  British  misrule ;  and,  so  long  as  the 
English  despotism  remained  dominant 
in  Ireland,  famines  would  occur  every 
eight  or  ten  years.  In  1862  there  had 
been  great  distress  in  Connaught,  and 


that  section  of  the  country.  Sir  Rob- 
ert Peel,  then  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land, made  a  journey  to  examine  into 
the  condition  of  afiairs.  Instead  of 
telling  the  truth,  as  he  had  seen  it,  he 
openly  denied  in  the  British  Parliament 
that  there  was  any  suffering  among  the 
people,  and  mocked  at  their  sufferings. 
(Hisses.)  If  that  man  had  insulted 
the  people  of  any  other  country  in  that 
manner,  they  would  have  stabbed  him 
to  the  heart.  When  Charlotte  Corday 
stabbed  Marat,  she  did  not  rid  man- 
kind of  a  greater  monster  than  he. 
(Applause.)  He  (the  speaker)  de- 
clared before  God,  angels,  and  men, 
that  such  a  state  of  thinojs  as  now  ex- 
ists  in  Ireland  is  revolting  to  human 
nature,  and  a  blasphemy  against  God. 
Every  worthy  impulse  of  the  human 
heart,  every  good  instinct  planted  by 
God  in  the  mind  of  man,  impelled 
him  to  direct  all  his  energies  to  remove 
so  deplorable  a  condition  of  affairs  at 
once — (applause) — ^^to  remove  the  cause 
of  it,  and  to  rise  up  like  men  and 
crush  out  the  infamous  rule  that  had 
brought  such  calamities  upon  mankind. 
(Ti'emendous  cheering.) 

"  The  reverend  lecturer  closed  with 
an  expression  of  his  firm  belief  that 
the  Irish  people,  if  united,  were  in  a 
position  to  secure  their  independence 
and  freedom." 

Direct  news,  at  the  close  of  Novem- 
ber, 1866,  so  far  as  it  could  be  learned 
through  the  press,  seemed  to  point 
clearly  to  the  fact  that  the  outbreak 
was  actually  entered  upon ;  and  there 


BITTERNESS  AND  FEARS  OF  ENGLAND. 


825 


■was  intense  excitement  in  England  at 
the  prospect.  Additional  troops  were 
ordered  to  Ireland;  the  Government 
exerted  itself  in  every  way  to  meet  the 
emergency ;  and  the  tone  of  the  press, 
and  of  the  English  authorities  and  peo- 
ple, was  bitter  and  severe  in  the  ex- 
treme. The  London  Times,  in  a  vio- 
lent article,  said  that  the  rebellion 
"must  be  stamped  out  with  an  iron 
heel;"  and  the  journals  throughout 
Great  Britain  echoed  the  sentiments  of 
the  Times,  and  urged  the  putting  down, 
in  the  most  effectual  manner,  every 
attempt  to  sever  Ireland  from  its  pres- 
ent subjection  to  the  British  Crown. 

The  Government,  however,  was  con- 
siderably embarrassed  in  its  plans  and 
operation  by  a  knowledge  of  the  fact 
that  the  Fenian  organization  was  large- 
ly numerous  in  England  as  well  as  in 
Ireland ;  and  it  was  found  necessary  to 
proceed  with  caution  and  prudent  re- 
gard for  the  feelings  of  the  thousands 
of  Irishmen  in  various  parts  of  Eng- 
land. It  was  not  deemed  expedient  to 
deprive  Liverpool  and  other  important 
places  of  their  garrisons,  or  weaken 
their  military  strength ;  for  the  Fenians 
threatened,  if  the  "  stamj^ing  out"  pro- 
cess was  inaugurated,  to  resort  to  re- 
taliation on  British  soil  of  such  a  kind 
as  would  be  swift  and  effective.  At 
the  same  time  there  was  no  halting  in 
regard  to  the  settled  purpose,  which 
we  have  noted  on  a  previous  page 
(p.  V90),  that  there  should' never  be 
permitted  to  be  a  dismemberment  of 
the  empire  at  any  time,  or  under  any 

101 


circumstances,  so  long  as  England  could 
prevent  it;  and  it  was  determined  to 
bring  to  bear  the  entire  military  and 
naval  force  of  the  country  to  put  down 
any  insurrection,  or  any  change  of  the 
relation  which  existed  since  the  Union 
between  the  several  portions  of  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

Stephens,  the  "C.  O.  L  R,"  that  is, 
"Chief  Organizer  of  the  Irish  Repub- 
lic," claimed  that  there  were  250,000 
men  on  Irish  soil,  and  some  70,000  in 
England,  on  whom  he  could  implicitly 
rely.  Of  these,  in  Ireland,  he  asserted 
that  50,000  were  thoroughly  drilled 
soldiers,  and  under  the  command  of 
officers  who  had  served  and  gained 
experience  in  the  American  army. 
With  such  a  force,  and  with  the 
expected  supplies  and  increase  of 
men  from  the  United  States  and  else- 
where, Stephens  was  confident  of  suc- 
cess in  hemcr  able  to  drive  out  the 
oppressor,  and  place  Ireland  upon  a 
footing  of  equality  with  any  nation  in 
the  woi'ld.  Conscious  of  the  strensrth 
of  the  Fenian  organization,  and  its 
thorough  discipline  and  efficiency,  and 
assured  that  all  the  wealth  of  England 
could  not  buy  the  secrets  of  the  Broth- 
erhood, or  corrupt  its  members,  Ste- 
phens and  his  compatriots  pushed  for- 
ward their  movements  with  zeal  and 
energy.  They  were  greatly  encouraged 
so  to  do  by  the  hearty  sympathy  of 
members  in  America,  by  large  subscrip- 
tions of  money,  and  by  the  enlistment 
of  many  of  those  who  had  served  in 


826 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


tlae  United  States  army,  and  were 
ready  to  go  to  Ireland  at  a  moment's 
warning.  Frequent  addresses,  too,  and 
publications  of  various  descrij^tious, 
kept  alive  the  spirit  and  enterprise  of 
the  Fenians  in  America.  Mr.  "Warren, 
an  officer  in  the  military  organization 
of  the  Brotherhood,  issued  a  war  mani- 
festo at  New  York,  November  30th, 
1866,  addressed  to  "Irishmen,  Brothers, 
and  Lovers  of  Universal  Liberty."  Ac- 
knowledging that  the  invasion  of  Cana- 
da had  not  resulted  in  any  benefit  to 
the  cause,  Mr.  Warren  concluded  his 
address  in  the  following  terms: — 

"  Let  us  look  at  this  matter  dispas- 
sionately as  the  crisis  requires.  We 
have  hitherto  advanced  in  theory. 
Now  is  the  time  to  be  practical.  All 
the  arms  and  munitions  held  by  both 
sections  of  the  Brotherhood  on  this 
continent,  obtained  by  means  of  the 
contributions  of  our  devoted  people, 
are  necessary  for  the  Irish  army. 
What  right  have  men  who  are  merely 
the  custodians  of  them  to  withhold 
them  now?  Let  there  be  no  mistake 
about  it ;  the  man  or  men  who  are  the 
cause  of  depriving  our  compatriots  of 
the  means  intended  for  them  are  trifling 
with  their  lives.  Is  there  a  man  in 
America  prepared  to  undertake  that 
terrible  responsibility?  I  much  fear 
it.  Why  will  not  an  indignant  people 
rise  up  in  their  majesty,  forgetting  the 
past,  and  seeing  in  the  distance  their 
brothers  appealing  to  them  for  arms, 
dear  to  them  as  their  heart's  blood, 
and  not  insist  that  material  collected 


for  Irish  purposes  be  used  for  these 
purposes  alone.  The  curse  of  Cain  was 
not  half  so  black  or  heavy  as  that 
which  <*will  follow  every  man  who, 
through  his  official  position,  refuses  the 
privilege  of  arming  his  countrymen  to 
meet  the  foe.  He  and  his  posterity 
deserve  to  be  pointed  at  with  the  finger 
of  scorn ;  and  whether  victory  or  de- 
feat be  the  result  of  our  efforts,  the 
leaders  here  who  counsel  non-co-opera- 
tion deserve  to  be  branded  with  eter- 
nal infamy.  Irishmen  in  America,  the 
tocsin  of  war  is  about  being  sounded. 
Our  compatriots  are  about  taking  the 
field.  In  God's  name,  then,  unite. 
Rally  round  them  as  one  man.  Pur- 
chase arms  for  those  who  want  them. 
Let  not  the  unnecessary  blood  spilled, 
which  exertion  on  your  part  could 
have  saved,  rise  up  in  judgment  against 
you  like  an  accusing  demon.  I  feel 
that  the  moment  is  pregnant  for  good 
or  evil  to  our  country.  Let  him  who 
doubts  ray  sincerity  come  with  me  to 
prove  it  on  the  green  hills  of  Ireland." 
^  One  of  the  Irish  papers  of  the  same 
date,  published  in  New  York,  used 
language  of  similar  import,  and  spoke 
in  tones  of  the  most  earnest  encourage- 
ment as  to  the  present  and  the  future. 
"The  crisis  to  which  the  great  effort 
now  near  culmination  has  been  made  is 
approaching,  and  very  nigh.  The  sky 
will  ere  long  be  aglare  Avith  rockets 
signalizing  the  movement  of  men — 
Irishmen — which  will,  we  devotedly 
hope,  give  liberty  to  the  home  of  our 
birth. '  Gone  and  outgoing  are  those 


IRELAND'S   STRENGTH   FOR   THE   CONTEST. 


827 


whose  liberty  and  whose  lives  are 
staked  upon  the 'great  attempt.  Shall 
not  all  partisanship,  all  jealousy  and 
personal  pique,  where  any  may  exist, 
be  now  laid  aside,  and  one  calmly-con- 
sidered, hopeful,  but  determined  and 
sustained  effort,  be  made  to  aid  and 
succor  the  'men  in  the  gap'  in  ways 
which  you  will  understand  ?" 

The  same  journal,  in  an  editorial 
of  considerable  length,  discussed  the 
position  of  affairs,  and  the  ability  of 
England  to  put  down  the  revolt  in  Ire- 
land, in  language  which  displayed  the 
utmost  assurance  of  final  success  to  the 
cause  it  was  advocating.  "  As  regards 
the  entire  world — subjected  to  the 
maritime  despotism  of  England,  placed 
in  the  alternative  of  ceasinsc  all  com- 
mercial  competition  with  that  power,  or 
of  crushing  the  workingnian,  according 
to  her  example,  beneath  the  grindstone 
of  capital,  to  exti-act  both  work  and 
vice  from  him  at  a  cheap  rate — it  will 
utter  a  long  sigh  of  joy  on  the  day 
when  that  power  will  disappear  from 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  leaving  no 
void  and  bearing  away  no  regret.  On 
that  day  public  conscience  will  be  de- 
livered of  a  great  weight. 

"What  are  the  forces  in  presence? 
On  the  one  hand,  the  secret  organiza- 
tion of  Ireland  comprises  200,000  men, 
who  are  organized  and  have  taken  the 
oath,  out  of  whom  50,000,  who  are 
skilled  in  the  use  of  arms,  and  are 
armed,  will  form  the  first  band,  the 
first  risino;.  These  are  insisrnificant  men, 
peasants,  barefooted  men  for  the  most 


part,  it  is  true ;  l>ut  the  sans-culottes  of 
Valray  and  Jemmajipes,  Avho  made  the 
best  armies  in  Europe  recoil,  were  not 
very  well  shod.  They  had  to  avenge 
the  same  offence,  to  defend  the  same 
cause  as  the  Irish.  They  fought  for 
liberty  and  their  country,  as  the  Irish 
will  soon  fight  also;  victory  smiled 
then  upon  the  republicans  of  France, 
as  it  will  smile  to-morrow  upon  the  re- 
publicans of  Ireland.  What  can  Eng- 
land oppose  to  this  army  of  patriots, 
determined  to  vanquish  or  perish? 
20,000  men,  mercenary  troops.  We 
all  know  how  recruiting  is  done  in 
England.  If  these  20,000  men  are  not 
sufiicient,  England  can,  by  stripping 
the  rest  of  her  kingdom  of  troops, 
send,  in  two  or  three  weeks,  about 
fifteen  thousand  more  men.  Will  she 
dare  do  this  in  the  presence  of  the 
revolution  about  to  break  out?  Did 
she  dare  do  it,  the  fact  of  being  re- 
duced to  that  step  would  prove  the 
strength  of  the  insurrection.  The  fact 
of  sending  re-enforcements  at  so  critical 
a  moment,  will  make  the  force  of  Ire- 
land morally  and  materially  tenfold. 
On  the  day  when  the  hatred  piled  up 
against  England  sees  a  gleam  of  suc- 
cess in  vengeance,  it  will  rush  forth  to 
take  part  in  the  hounds'  fee.  We  ad- 
mit that,  these  second  re-enforcements 
not  being  sufficient,  new  ones  may  be 
necessary.  By  recalling  her  forces  from 
the  Mediterranean  and  the  Atlantic, 
England  can,  in  the  space  of  three 
months,  bring  20,000  more  men  upon 
the  Irish  soil ;  but  in  order  to  do  this> 


828 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


two  things  must  be  admitted :  the  first, 
that  the  uaval  power  of  England  should 
have  received  no  injury  in  her  ports; 
the  second,  that  she  can,  without  dan- 
ger, leave  her  colonies  to  themselves. 
A  last  resource  remains  to  her — she 
can,  in  the  space  of  six  months,  bring 
25,000  men  from  India.  To  any  man 
accustomed  to  matters  of  war,  it  is  easy 
to  see  the  strategical  danger  to  which 
the  English  army  is  exposed.  While 
she  would  be  receiving  her  re-enforce- 
ments in  detachments,  the  insurrec- 
tion, concentrated,  acts  by  masses, 
having  for  it  the  entire  country, 
its  resources  and  its  sympathies.  In 
a  rich  and  hilly  country  like  Ireland 
this  is  no  small  advantage.  When 
every  stone,  every  tree,  every  hedge 
shelters  an  enemy  and  sends  forth 
death — when  un  entire  nation  is  re- 
solved to  vanquish  or  to  die,  to  have 
the  natal  soil  or  to  leave  it  to  none,  to 
make  the  vacuum  of  death  around  the 
stranger — something  else  is  wanted  be- 
sides re-enforceraents  of  15,000  men, 
spread  over  weeks  or  months  of  dis- 


tance, to  crush  or  annihilate  it;  for  as 
to  submission  or  subjugation,  there  is 
no  question  of  it  this  time.  It  is  a  duel 
to  the  death. 

"  Ireland  has  in  her  behalf  the  unde- 
niable right  to  existence ;  she  has  for 
her  a  race  of  men  especially  warlike ; 
she  has  for  her  a  rich  soil,  fitted  for  in- 
surrection. Divided  in  America,  she  is 
united  in  Europe ;  and  what  has  been 
wanting  to  her  up  to  this  day — organ- 
ization, which  permits  unity  in  action 
— is  no  longer  wanting  now.  We  be- 
lieve and  hope  in  her  resurrection  and 
approaching  triumph." 

While  these  pages  are  going  through 
the  press,  the  revolution  has  actually 
begun.  Minor  risings  have  taken  place 
in  various  parts  of  Ireland ;  the  great 
English  arsenal  at  Chester  had  well 
nigh  fallen  into  Fenian  hands ;  English 
troops  are  pouring  into  Ireland,  and 
hurrying  from  point  to  point.  It  is  too 
soon  for  the  pen  of  History  to  begin  to 
chronicle  these  movements.  They  will 
form  a  new  chapter  in  the  History  of 
Ireland. 


HOW  ENGLAND  HAS  TREATED  HIELAND. 


829 


CHAPTER    LIII. 


GENERAL   EEVIEW. 


IN  drawing  to  its  close  our  resume 
of  the  history  of  this  long-suffsring 
country,  during  its  chequered,  and  in 
great  measure  unhappy  career  since  it 
became  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  we  feel  that  it  is  well  nigh 
impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  theme, 
'  and  say  truly  and  rightly  what  ought 
to  be  said  on  such  a  subject.  "  Con- 
template Ireland,"  said  the  eloquent 
Charles  Phillips,  in  a  speech  made  at 
Liverpool  a  number  of  years  ago ;  "  con- 
template Ireland  during  any  period  of 
England's  rule,  and  what  a  picture  does 
she  exhibit !  Behold  her  created  in  all 
the  prodigality  of  nature ;  with  a  soil 
that  anticipates  the  husbandman's  de- 
sire ;  with  harbors  courting  the  com- 
merce of  the  world ;  with  rivers  capa- 
ble of  the  most  effective  navigation ; 
with  the  ore  of  every  metal  struggling 
through  her  surface ;  with  a  people 
brave,  generous,  and  intellectual,  liter- 
ally forcing  their  way  through  the  dis- 
abilities of  their  own  country  into  the 
highest  stations  of  every  other,  and 
well  rewarding  the  policy  that  pro- 
motes them,  by  achievements  the  most 
heroic,  and  allegiance  without  a  blem- 
ish. How  have  the  successive  govern- 
ments of  England  demeaned  themselves 


to  a  nation  offering  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  moral  and  political  advantages  ? 
.  .  .  .  For  ages  upon  ages,  inven- 
tion has  fatigued  itself  with  expedients 
for  irritation.  As  I  have  read  with 
horror  in  the  progress  of  my  legal 
studies,  the  homicide  of  a  '  mere  Irish- 
man' was  considered  justifiable  ;  and, 
his  ignorance  being  the  origin  of  all  his 
crimes,  his  education  was  prohibited 
ly  act  of  pai'liament ! — the  people  were 
w^orm-eaten  by  the  odious  vermin  which 
a  church  and  state  adultery  had 
spawned  ;  a  bad  heart  and  brainless 
head  were  the  fangs  by  which  every 
foreign  adventurer  and  domestic  traitor 
fastened  upon  office ;  the  proj^erty  of 
the  native  was  but  an  invitation  to 
plunder,  and  his  non-acquiescence  the 
signal  for  confiscation ;  religion  itself 
was  made  the  odious  pretence  for  every 
persecution,  and  the  fires  of  hell  were 
alternately  lighted  with  the  cross,  and 
quenched  in  the  blood  of  its  defence- 
less followers.  I  speak  of  times  that 
are  passed ;  but  can  their  recollections, 
can  their  consequences,  be  so  readily 
eradicated  ?  Why,  however,  should  I 
refer  to  periods  that  are  so  distant? 
Behold,  at  this  instant,  five  millions  of 
her  people  disqualified  on  account  of 


830 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


their  faith,  and  that  by  a  country  pro- 
fessing freedom  !  and  that  under  a  gov- 
ernment calling  itself  Christian  !  You 
(when  I  say  you,  of  course  I  mean  not 
the  high-minded  people  of  England, 
but  the  men  who  misgovern  us  both) 
seem  to  have  taken  out  a  roving  com- 
mission in  search  of  grievances  abroad, 
whilst  you  overlook  the  calamities  at 
your  own  door,  and  of  your  own  inflic- 
tion. You  traverse  the  ocean  to  eman- 
cipate the  African  :  you  cross  the  line 
to  convert  the  Hindoo;  you  hurl  your 
thunder  against  the  savage  Algeriue ; 
but  your  own  brethren  at  home,  Avho 
speak  the  same  tongue,  acknowledge 
the  same  king,  and  kneel  to  the  same 
God,  cannot  get  one  visit  from  your 
itinerant  Immanity.'''' 

Very  possibly,  had  the  eloquent  ad- 
vocate been  speaking  now,  he  would 
have  expressed  himself  somewhat  dif- 
ferently, and  dealt  less  severe  and  bit- 
ter reproaches  upon  his  opponents  and 
the  misrule  of  his  native  land.  But  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  Phillips  is  right 
in  the  main  ;  Ireland  has  suffered, 
grievously  suffered,  from  the  injustice, 
the  ignorance,  and  the  fears  of  Eng- 
land ;  Ireland  does  not  occupy  the  po- 
sition among  the  nations  of  the  civil- 
ized world  to  which  she  has  a  right  to 
aspire  ;  and  wherever  we  lay  the  fault, 
whoever  is  justly  to  blame  for  such  a 
state  of  things,  it  is  undoubtedly  true, 
that  the  Irish  people,  as  a  people,  have 
not  advanced  in  the  ratio  that  they 
ought,  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the 
progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  in  educa- 


tion, in  development  of  their  national 
resources  and  strength,  and  in  a  united 
nationality  of  feeling  and  action.  As 
illustrating  this  latter  statement,  we 
quote  some  admirable  remarks  of 
Thomas  Davis,  that  patriot,  scholar, 
and  true  Irishman,  of  whose  career,  un- 
happily too  brief,  we  have  spoken  on  a 
previous  page  (see  page  771).  They 
are  worthy  the  thoughtful  considera 
tion  of  every  lover  of  his  native  land 
and  her  true  interests  : 

" '  Educate,  that  you  may  be  free.' 
We  are  most  anxious  to  get  the  quiet, 
strong-minded  people  who  are  scattered 
through  the  country  to  see  the  force  of 
this  great  truth  ;  and  we  therefore  ask 
them  to  listen  soberly  to  us  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  when  they  have  done  so,  to 
think  and  talk  again  and  again  over 
what  we  say. 

"  If  Ireland  had  all  the  elements  of  a 
nation,  she  might,  and  surely  would,  at 
once  assume  the  forms  of  one,  and  pro- 
claim her  independence.  Wherein  does 
she  now  differ  from  Prussia?  She  has 
a  strong  and  compact  territory,  girt  by 
the  sea ;  Prussia's  lands  are  open  and 
flat,  and  flung  loosely  through  Europe, 
without  mountain  or  river,  breed  or 
tongue,  to  bound  them.  Ireland  has  a 
military  population  equal  to  the  re- 
cruitment of,  and  a  produce  able  to 
pay,  a  first-rate  array.  Her  harbors, 
her  soil,  and  her  fisheries,  are  not  sur- 
passed in  Europe. 

"  Wherein,  we  ask  again,  does  Ire- 
land now  differ  from  Prussia  ?  Why 
can  Prussia  wave  her  flag  among  the 


FATHER  VAUGHAN  ON  ENGLISH  MISRULE. 


831 


proudest  in  Europe,  while  Ireland  is  a 
farm  ?  It  is  not  in  tlie  name  of  a  king- 
dom, nor  in  the  formalities  of  inde- 
pendence. We  could  assume  them 
to-morrow — we  could  assume  them 
with  better  warrants  from  history  and 
nature  than  Prussia  holds  ;  but  the  re- 
sult of  such  assumption  would  per- 
chance be  a  miserable  defeat.  The 
difference  is  in  Knowledge.  Were  the 
offices  of  Prussia  abolished  to-morrow ; 
her  colleges  and  schools  levelled ;  hei' 
troops  disarmed  and  disbanded,  she 
would  within  six  months  regain  her 
whole  civil  and  military  institutions. 
Ireland  has  been  struggliug  for  years, 
and  may  have  to  struggle  many  more, 
to  acquire  liberty  to  form  institutions. 

"  Whence  is  the  difference  ?  Knowl- 
edge ! 

"The  Prussians  could,  at  a  week's 
notice,  have  their  central  offices  at  full 
work  in  any  village  in  the  kingdom,  so 
exactly  known ,  are  their  statistics,  and 
so  general  is  official  skill.  Minds  make 
administration  —  all  the  desks,  and 
ledgers,  and  powers  of  Downing  street 
or  the  Castle  would  be  handed  in  vain 

to    the   ignorants   of any  untaught 

district  in  Ireland.  The  Prussians 
could  open  their  collegiate  classes  and 
their  professional  and  elementary 
schools  as  fast  as  the  order  therefor, 
from  any  authority  recognized  by  the 
people,  reached  town  after  town — Ave 
can  hardly  in  ten  years  get  a  few 
schools  open  for  our  people,  craving  for 
knowledge  as  they  are.  The  Prussians 
could  re-arm  their  glorious  militia  in  a 


month,  and  reorganize  it  in  three  days; 
for  the  mechanical  arts  are  very  gen- 
erally known,  military  science  is  famil- 
iar to  most  of  the  wealthier  men,  discip- 
line and  a  soldier's  skill  are  universal. 
If  we  had  been  offered  arms  to  defend 
Ireland  by  Lord  Heytesbury,  as  the 
Volunteers  tvere  by  Lord  Buckingham- 
shire, we  would  have  had  to  seek  for 
officers  and  drill-sergeants  —  though 
probably  we  could  more  rapidly  ad- 
vance in  arms  than  any  thing  else,  from 
the  military  taste  and  aptness  for  war 
of  the  Irish  people. 

"  Would  it  not  be  better  for  us  to  be 
like  the  Prussians  than  as  we  are — bet- 
ter to  have  religious  squabbles  un- 
known, education  universal,  the  people 
fed,  and  clad,  and  housed,  and  inde- 
pendent, as  becomes  men  ;  the  armj^ 
patriotic  and  strong  ;  the  public  offices 
ably  administered  ;  the  nation  honored 
and  powerful  ?  Are  not  these  to  be 
desired  and  sought  by  Protestant  and 
Catholic  ?  Are  not  these  things  to  he 
done,  if  we  are  good  and  brave  men  ? 
And  is  it  not  plain,  from  what  we  have 
said,  that  the  reason  for  our  not  being 
all  that  Prussia  is,  and  something  more, 
is  ignorance — want  of  civil,  military,  and 
e^eneral  knowledsre  amonsrst  all  classes? 

"  This  ignorance  has  not  been  our 
fault,  but  our  misfortune.  It  was  the 
interest  of  our  ruler  to  keep  us  igno- 
rant, that  we  micjht  be  weak:  and  she 
did  so — first,  by  laws  prohibiting  edu- 
cation ;  then,  by  refusing  any  provision 
for  it ;  next,  by  perverting  it  into  an 
engine  of  bigotry  ;  and  now,  by  giving 


83: 


REIGN   OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


it  in  a  stunted,  partial,  anti-national  way. 
Practice  is  the  great  teacher,  and  the 
possession  of  independence  is  the  natural 
and  best  way  for  a  people  to  learn  all 
that  pertains  to  freedom  and  haj)piness. 
Our  greatest  voluntary  eiforts,  aided 
by  the  amjjlest  provincial  institutions, 
would  teach  us  less  in  a  century  than 
we  would  learn  in  five  years  of  liberty. 

"  In  insisting  on  education,  we  do  not 
arsjue  against  the  value  of  immediate 
independence.  That  would  he  our  hest 
teacher.  An  Irish  Government  and  a 
national  ambition  would  be  to  our 
minds  as  soft  rains  and  rich  sun  to  a 
growing  crop.  But  we  insist  on  edu- 
cation for  the  people,  whether  they  get 
it  from  the  government  or  give  it  to 
themselves,  as  a  round-about,  and  yet 
the  only  means,  of  getting  strength 
enough  to  gain  freedom. 

"  Do  our  readers  understand  this  ? 
Is  what  we  have  said  clear  to  you^ 
reader !— whether  you  are  a  shopkeeper 
or  a  lawyer,  a  fiirmer  or  a  doctor  ?  If 
not,  read  it  over  again,  for  it  is  your 
own  fault  if  it  be  not  clear.  If  you 
now  know  our  meaning,  you  must  feel 
that  it  is  your  duty  to  your  family  and 
to  yourself,  to  your  country  and  to 
God,  to  act  upon  it ;  to  go  and  remove 
some  of  tliat  ignorance  which  makes 
you  and  your  neighbors  weak,  and 
therefore  makes  Ireland  a  poor  pi-ov- 
inc-e.  All  of  us  have  much  to  learn, 
but  some  of  us  have  much  to  teach. 
To  those,  who,  from  superior  energy 
and  ability,  can  teach  the  peo^^le,  we 
now  address,  ourselves. 


"  There  are  various  ways  in  which 
service  can  be  done  by  the  more,  for 
the  less  educated.  They  have  other 
duties,  often  pointed  out  by  us.  They 
can  sustain  and  advance  the  different 
societies  for  promoting  agriculture, 
manufactures,  art,  and  literature,  in 
Dublin  and  the  countrj^  They  can  set 
on  foot,  and  guide  the  establishment  of 
TemjDerance  Bands  and  Mechanics'  In- 
stitutes, and  Mutual  Instruction  Socie- 
ties. They  can  give  advice  and  facili- 
ties for  improvement  to  young  men  of 
promise ;  and  they  can  make  their  cir- 
cles studious,  refined,  and  ambitious. 
The  cheapness  of  books  is  now  such, 
that  even  poverty  is  no  excuse  for  igno- 
rance— that  ignorance  which  prostrates 
us  before  England.  We  must  help 
ourselves,  and  therefore  we  must  edu- 
cate ourselves." 

The  catalogue  of  the  wrongs  done  to 
Ireland,  and  of  the  injustice,  tyranny, 
and  oppression  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment, is  too  long,  too  humiliating,  too 
heart-breaking,  to  be  given  in  the  few 
closing  pages  of  the  present  volume. 
To  some  small  extent,  we  have  pointed 
out  the  cruelty  and  relentless  severity  of 
the  government  towards  the  people  and 
institutions  of  Ireland ;  but  the  story  is 
one  which  the  reader  may  study  to  his 
profit,  in  the  writings  and  various  pro- 
ductions of  the  patriots  and  statesmen 
who  have  put  on  record  the  indubita- 
ble evidence  of  what  Ireland  has  en- 
dured in  past  years.  "  Want  of  confi- 
dence in  England,  in  her  statesmen, 
and  in  her  laws,"  says  Mr.  Smyth,  a 


LORD   BROUGHAM  ON  IRISH  WRONGS. 


83S 


candid  writer  and  observer,  "  lies  at  tlie 
root  of  the  trouble  with  Ireland.  "We 
have  no  hold  upon  the  affections,  and 
but  a  doubtful  hold  upon  the  interests 
of  the  Irish  people.  They  receive  our 
best  professions  with  incredulity,  be- 
cause they  see  in  the  institutions  we 
have  given  them  the  real  proofs  of  our 
designs.  By  them  we  are  judged  and 
condemned.  Thus  is  the  mass  of  the 
population  driven  to  lock  up  their  true 
feelings  and  strongest  thoughts  in  the 
sanctuary  of  their  own  bosoms,  and  to 
make  the  study  of  their  minds  a  mys- 
tery to  the  stranger.  The  laws  by 
which  we  propose  to  bind  them  are 
too  often  made  upon  the  open  declara- 
tion of  sentiments  delivered  in  a  high 
state  of  excitement  and  fermentation. 
Their  inmost  thoughts,  their  true  par- 
tialities, their  natural  tendency  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  homely  affections, 
and  the  more  generous  aspirations  of 
humanity ;  these  are  themes  and  points 
of  consideration  upon  which  we  seldom 
act,  until  our  inattention  and  careless- 
ness have  been  turned  to  a  desperate 
account  by  the  arts  of  discontent  and 
the  impatience  of  unmitigated  distress. 
These  are  left  to  convulse  the  sphere  of 
society,  until  a  thunderstorm  breaks 
out,  which,  after  alarming  the  empire 
for  a  brief  interval,  passes  quickly 
away,  and  shows  the  number  of  the 
disaffected  to  have  been  small,  and 
their  powers  of  mischief  insignificant. 
Security  reappears,  and  with  it  indiffer- 
ence. "VVe  relapse  into  our  old  state  of 
feeling — meaning  well,  and  doing  little 


more  than  throwing  away  money  upon 
palliatives,  which  are  administered  like 
the  quack  doctor's  pills — if  one  box 
don't  cure,  try  the  second.  Thus,  mil- 
lion is  given  after  million,  and  no  good 
is  done.  Now,  the  money  is  to  pay 
arrears  of  tithes  to  the  parsons ;  now, 
to  feed  the  starving  poor ;  now,  to  save 
the  broken  landlords ;  but  still  the  cry 
is  always  the  same,  '  Help,  instant  help, 
or  we  perish!'  How  repeatedly  has 
not  this  happened ;  how  often  has  not 
the  opportunity  been  offered ;  but  when 
has  advantage  been  taken  of  it?  The 
evils  that  imperatively  call  for  redress, 
the  grievances  that  truly  require  to  be 
assuaged,  are  well  known ;  they  are 
indisputable.  But  there  is,  unfortu- 
nately, room  to  fear  that,  confident  in 
there  being  nothing  _  substantially  for- 
midable in  the  reclamations  of  Irish 
suffering,  the  old  sores  will  be  left  to 
fester  anew;  the  standing  inequalities 
will  remain  uncorrected ;  and  the  field 
for  the  display  of  indignant  patriotism, 
disturbances,  and  rebellion,  will  be  left 
as  open  and  as  rank  as  ever." 

Lord  Brougham,  some  years  ago,  gave 
utterance  to  some  strongly-worded  sen- 
timents on  the  misrule  and  oppression 
exercised  by  England  over  the  Irish 
people,  esjjecially  in  regard  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice.  "Ireland,  with 
a  territory  of  immense  extent,  with  a 
soil  of  almost  unrivalled  fertility,  with 
a  climate  more  genial  than  our  own, 
with  a  vast  population  of  strong-built, 
hardy  laborers,  men  suited  alike  to  fill 
up  the  ranks  of  our  armies  in  war,  or 


834 


REIGN  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


for  employment  at  home  in  the  works 
of  agriculture  or  manufactures — Ire- 
land, with  all  these  blessings,  which 
Providence  has  so  profusely  showered 
in  her  lap,  has  been  under  our  steward- 
ship for  the  last  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years;  but  our  solicitude  for 
her  has  appeared  only  in  those  hours 
of  danger  when  we  apprehended  the 
possibility  of  her  joining  our  enemies, 
or  when,  having  no  enemy  abroad  to 
contend  with,  she  raised  her  standard, 
perhaps,  in  despair,  and  we  trembled 
for  our  own  existence !  It  cannot  be 
denied,  that  the  sole  object  of  England 
has  been  to  render  Ireland  a  safe  neigh- 
bor. We  have  been  stewards  over  her 
for  this  long  period  of  time.  I  repeat, 
that  we  shall  one  day  have  to  give  an 
account  of  our  stewardship — a  black 
account  it  will  be,  but  it  must  be  forth- 
coming. What  have  we  done  for  the 
country  which  we  are  bound  to  aid,  to 
protect,  and  to  cherish  1  In  our  hands 
her  population  seems  a  curse  to  her 
rather  than  a  blessing ;  they  are  starv- 
ing in  the  midst  of  plenty.  In  Eng- 
land justice  is  delayed,  but,  thank 
heaven,  it  can  never  be  sold.  In  Ire- 
land it  is  sold  to  the  rich,  refused  to 
the  poor,  and  delayed  to  all.  It  is  in 
vain  to  disguise  the  fact ;  it  is  in  vain 
to  shun  the  disclosure  of  the  truth. 
We  stand,  as  regards  Ireland,  on  the 
brink  of  a  precipice  !  I  am  backed  in 
what  I  say  by  the  spirit  of  the  wisest 
laws,  by  the  opinions  of  the  most  fa- 
mous men  in  former  ages.  If  I  err,  I 
err  in   company  with  the   best  judg- 


ments of  our  own  time ;  I  err  with  the 
common  sense  of  the  whole  world,  with 
the  very  decrees  of  Providence  to  sup- 
port me.  We  are  driving  six  millions 
of  people  to  despair^  to  madness!  The 
greatest  mockery  of  all,  the  most  intol- 
erable insult,  the  course  of  peculiar 
exasperation,  against  which  I  chiefly 
caution  the  House,  is  the  undertaking 
to  cure  the  distress  under  which  she 
labors  by  any  thing  in  the  shape  of 
new  penal  enactments.  It  is  in  tliese 
enactments  alone  that  tve  have  ever 
shown  our  liberality  to  Ireland!  She 
has  received  penal  laws  from  the  hands 
of  England  almost  as  plentifully  as  she 
has  received  blessings  from  the  hands 
of  Providence  !  What  have  these  laws 
done  ?  Checked  her  turbulence,  but 
not  stifled  it.  The  grievance  remain- 
ing perpetual,  the  complaint  can  only 
be  postponed.  We  may  load  her  with 
chains,  but  in  doing  so  we  shall  not 
better  her  condition.  By  coercion  we 
may  goad  her  on  to  fury ;  but  by  coer- 
cion we  shall  never  break  her  spirit. 
She  will  rise  up  and  break  the  fetters 
we  impose,  and  arm  herself  for  deadly 
violence  with  the  fragments." 

But  there  is  no  need  of  painting  the 
picture  in  colors  too  dark  and  repul- 
sive. There  is  no  need  of  exagger- 
ation, or  a  long  array  of  words  in 
speaking  of  Ireland  and  her  wrongs. 
They  are  patent  to  the  world.  They 
are  known  wherever  Ireland  has  been 
heard  of.  Nevertheless,  it  would  be 
folly  to  ignore  or  make  light  of  what 
has  transpired  in  years  that  are  past 


GOOD   HOPE  IN  THE  FTJTUIIE. 


835 


Something,  it  is  certain,  has  been  done 
for  Ireland  during  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century,  or  rather  Irishmen  have 
done  something,  have  done  much,  for 
themselves  in  that  period;  yet  there 
remains  much  more  to  be  done,  before 
Ireland  reaches  that  level  she  is  so 
earnest  and  so  anxious  in  seeking  to 
attain.  As  her  own  writers  tell  her, 
there  is  a  great  deal  to  learn  and  un- 
learn. Ignorance  is  to  be  rooted  out. 
The  evils  of  caste  are  to  be  banished. 
Irishmen  have  got  to  crush  down  the 
spirit  of  discord,  and  the  dissensions 
arising  out  of  bigotry,  intolerance,  and 
mutual  hatreds.  The  gentry  and  own- 
ers of  large  estates  must  live  at  home, 
and  bestow  both  their  money  and  their 
time  and  their  labors  for  the  general 
good.  A  man  must  be  esteemed  for 
his  principles  and  conduct,  and  not  for 
his  blood  simply,  or  his  means  of  living, 
or  the  extent  of  his  income.  "  A  nation," 
says  an  ardent  Irish  patriot,  "  never  can 
be  thoroughly  united  but  on  one  prin- 
ciple, that  of  EQTJAXITT  of  right  and 
privilege;  any  other  principle  is  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  God  and  the  law 
of  nature,  and  will  lead  the  people  who 
adopt  it  into  strife  and  slavery.  Let 
those  children  who  are  now  at  school 
rise  superior  to  their  fathers,  form  a 
pure  and  powerful  public  opinion, 
which  will  coerce  the  gentry,  exalt  the 
people,  and  render  local  tyranny  or 
foreign  domination  as  insupportable  in 
their  land  as  a  venomous  reptile." 

However  much  remains  to  be  done, 
we    are    confident    that   not    a    little 


has  already  been  accomplished,  and 
that,  too,  in  a  right  direction,  for  Ire- 
land's good  and  the  elevation  of  her 
people.  An  Irish  gentleman,  recently 
returned  from  Australia  after  many 
years'  absence,  was  entertained  at  a 
banquet  at  Thurles,  and,  among  other 
things,  made  some  remarks  which  are 
worth  quoting,  in  illustrating  the  fact 
of  Ireland's  advance,  in  various  re- 
spects, in  late  years : 

"When  a  man  returned  to  Ireland, 
after  a  long  absence,  a  natural  question 
was,  'Do  you  see  any  change  in  the 
country  ?  Do  you  see  very  marked 
improvement  in  its  condition?'  He  an- 
swered at  once,  'I  do.'  He  saw  the 
agricultural  condition  of  the  country 
was  better  than  when  he  left  it.  He 
saw  the  improved  price  for  labor  mak- 
ing a  very  considerable  difference  in  the 
condition  of  the  laboring  population. 
He  saw  railways  opened,  and  an  excel- 
lent system  of  roads,  which  were  a 
great  improvement  upon  what  existed 
when  he  was  there  before.  And  he 
saw,  what  was  peculiarly  pleasing,  that 
Ireland  had  been  complimented  by 
politicians  on  every  side  because  in  the 
matter  of  ordinary  crime  her  calendar 
was  almost  a  blank.  He  had  also 
marked  a  noted  development  in  ecclesi- 
astical architecture  in  this  country — 
the  united  zeal  of  the  people  and  their 
pastors  building  magnificent  churches, 
that  were  strong  proofs  of  the  sincerity 
of  religious  conviction  of  those  who 
worshipped  in  them.  In  social  mat- 
ters, too,  he  saw  marked  progress;  for 


836 


EEIGN  OP  QUEEN  VICTOEIA. 


now  men  of  every  shade  of  opinion, 
religious  and  political,  could  come  to- 
gether to  promote  a  common  object — 
could  sit  at  the  same  board — an  occur- 
rence not  to  be  witnessed  in  former 
times.  But,  while  he  observed  un- 
doubted imj^rovement  in  the  condition 
of  Ireland,  he  also  saw  that  her  pro- 
gress had  not  been  in  proportion  to 
that  of  other  countries — such  as  Eng- 
land. This  he  attributed  to  the  vast 
development  of  manufacturing  power 
in  the  latter  country  compared  with 
the  different  state  of  things  in  Ireland. 
Absenteeism  was  a  great  bane.  If  the 
absentees  lived  at  home,  lived  within 
their  incomes,  and  employed  the  sur- 
plus in  efforts  to  develop  the  resources 
of  the  country,  he  had  no  doubt  Ire- 
land would  rival  England." 

Let  Ireland,  then,  be  true  to  herself 
and  her  mission  in  the  world.  Let  her 
persevere  in  seeking  to  obtain  her  un- 
doubted rights  and  privileges  among 
men.  Let  her  be  steady,  calm,  judi- 
cious, just,  and  generous;  and  let  her 
people  strive  to  emulate  one  another  in 
deeds  of  patriotism  and  unselfish  love 


for  their  native  land.  There  is  good 
hope  for  the  future,  and  the  day  must 
dawn  when  Ireland  shall  be  free  !  J^il 
des2)erandum. 

As  one  of  her  poets  has  said — 

"  Strange  that  a  noble,  generous  land, 
Enabling  others  to  withstand 
The  foreign  warrior's  fierce  command. 

Should  not  itself  bo  free  1 
Strange  that  a  warrior,  bold  and  brave. 
Should  o"er  the  foe  his  banner  wave, 

Tet  reap  no  fruit  from  victory ! 
No  matter  what  the  bar  to  fame, 
Nor  how  disqualified  the  claim, — 
Erin  has  sent  her  warriors  bright 
To  win  the  laurels  of  the  fight ; 

From  him,  the  chief  and  champion  bold,* 
Down  to  the  simple  peasant  name 
Whose  whole  nobility  is  fame, 
He  who  on  Barossa's  height 
Stopped  the  eagle  in  its  flight.f 

And  spurned  its  crest  of  gold ; 
From  that  to  bloody  Waterloo, 
Where  Irishmen  were  plenty,  too. 
No,  not  a  trophy  of  the  day 
Which  Erin  did  not  bear  away  I 

*  *  *  * 

But,  Erin,  you  never  had  mourned  the  sight. 

Had  you  brandished  your  spear  in  your  own  good  fight  1 

Had  you  boldly  stood  on  your  mountain  crag. 

And  waved  o'er  the  valley  your  own  green  flag. 

Soon,  soon  should  the  stranger  have  found  his  grave 

Beneath  the  wild  foam  of  your  ocean  wave." 


*  The  Duko  of  Wellington. 

f  Sergeant  Masterson,  a  native  of  Roscommon. 


APPENDIX. 


As  interestins:  and  valuable  for  refer- 
ence,  and  as  affording  some  lielp  tow- 
ards a  correct  knowledge  of  Ireland, 
as  slie  is,  we  subjoin  some  statistical 
information,  gathered  from  the  latest 
official  documents  within  reach. 

1.  Population  of  Ireland  : 

In  1841 8,175,224 

In  1851 6,553,291 

In  1861 5,764,543 

Of  these  there  are  at  the  present 
date  (1864)  : 

Eoman  Catholics 4,490,583 

Established  Church 687,661 

Presbyterians 528,992 

2.  Marriages,  births,  deaths,  1864  : 

Marriages 27,376 

Births  136,643 

Deaths..- 94,075 

3.  Emigration  (decreased  since  1852) : 

In  1852 190,000 

In  1858 64,000 

4.  Poor  relief  in  Ireland  : 

In  1848  (year  of  the  famine)  . . .  2,000,000 

In  1851 209,187 

In  1858 183,000 

In  1863 65,847 

5.  Ireland  is  represented  in  the  Imperial  Parlia- 

ment by  4  spiritual,  28  temporal  (=  32) 
peers,  and  105  commoners. 


The  House  of  Lords  consists  of  465  mem- 
bers ;  the  House  of  Commons  consists  of 
658  members. 

6.  National  schools,  1864  : 

Schools  in  operation 6,263 

Scholars  on  the  roll  during  the 

year 870,401 

Average  number  on  the  roll 575,486 

Average  attendance 315,108 

Of  the  children  in  the  National  Schools  82 
per  cent,  are  Catholics,  18  per  cent,  are 
Protestants.  The  amount  expended  by 
grant  for  public  education  is  £Z25,bS3. 

7.  Amount  of  land  (in  acres)  under  crop,  in 

1863,  was  : 

Of  wheat 264,766 

Of  oats 1,948,986 

Of  barley 171,238 

Of  rye 8,624 

Of  beans  and  peas 15,148 

Of  potatoes 1,022,293 

Land  under  grass 9,658,885 

Woods  and  plantations 317,661 

Bog  and  waste  land 4,357,575 

There  was  also  reported  a  very  large  increase 
in  the  flax  crop,  and  a  promise  of  consid- 
erable increase  in  live  stock. 

8.  Exports  from  Ireland  to  Great  Britain,  in 

1862,  were  : 

Oxen  and  cows 387,161 

Calves 41,868 

Sheep 538,631 

Swine 364,634 


838 


APPENDIX. 


Of  wheat  and  wheat  flour  (qrs.)        92,345 

Of  oats  and  oat-meal "       1,247,926 

Of  home-made  spirits (gals.)  1,037,734 


9.  Number  of  miles  of  railway  in  Ireland,  in 
1863,  was  1,600. 

Passengers  carried 10,412,210 

Merchandise  carried.. .  .(tons)     1,473,138 
Coal  and  other  min'ls  carried  "  246,016 

Live  stock  carried 1,606,937 

Total  receipts  were £1,446,092 


10.  The  net  revenue  of  Ireland,  in  1862,  paid 

into  the  exchequer £7,856,157 

Customs 2,274,000 

Excise 2,758,000 

Stamps 573,040 

Income  tax 672,780 

Miscellaneous  sources 382,186 

Balance  on  Land  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year 1,181,510 

Balance  at  the  end  of  the  year.    1,120,386 
Expenditure,  chiefly  for  interest 

on  funded  debt,  grants,  etc. .    6,736,282 


i 


INDEX. 


A. 

PASE 

Abercrombie,  Sir  Ralph,  appointed  to  command 
of  the  troops  in  Ireland  ;  censures  the  con- 
duct of  the  militarj',  and  retires  from  the 

command 681 

Adrian  IV.,  an  Englishman,  elected  Pope 188 

His  bull  to  Henry  II 189 

Diiferent  views  of  the  bull 190 

Aengus,  King  of  Munster  ;  his  baptism 68 

Killed  in  battle,  as  also  his  Queen,  Eithne . .     72 

Families  descended  from 73 

Afifane,  battle  of,  1565,  between  the  Earls  of  Or- 

mond  and  Desmond 359 

Agriculture  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  Ireland .  .     54 

Aileach,  ancient  fortress  of,  near  Derry 79 

Destroyed  by  Murtough  O'Brien 149 

Albinus,  his  celebrated  reply 99 

Alcuin,  his  efforts  to  revive  learning 99 

Allen,  Archbishop,  murder  of 337 

Allen,  hill  of,  great  battle  fought  at,  A.D.  773 113 

American  colonies  revolt,  Irish  sympathy  with, 

1775 653,  653 

AmlafiT,  the  Danish  ruler,  in  Ireland 119 

Anglo-Norman    Invasion,    time    of   Henry    II., 

1168 170-180 

Adventurers,  their  names,  and  family  rela- 
tions (note) , 207 

Anne  begins  to  reign  (1702) 030 

Penal  laws  enforced 633 

Her  death  (1714) 634 

Annessley  Case,  Ulegal  decision  of  England 635 

Ara,  McLeod  of,  arrives  at  Lough  Foyle  with 

troops  for  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell 418 

Aran,  the  lona  of  Ireland 75 

Architecture  of  the  early  Christian  Irish 109 

Ardrigh,  office  of,  and  title  described 51 

Arklow,  battle  of,  1798 695 

Armagh,  synod  of 179 

Riots  amongst  the  troop^at,  1806 743 

Arrests,  various.  Colonel  Talbot  and  others 564 

Assembly  of  Tara  (Feis  Teavrach),  B.  C.  1317 28 

Athboy,  meeting  of  the  clergy  and  chieftains  at. .  169 


FAOB 

Athenry,  great  battle  of,  King  Felim  slain 258 

Athlone,  stone  bridge  and  castle  built  1310-1211..  226 
First  siege  of,  by  the  Williamites ;  they  with- 
draw on  the  approach  of  Sarsfield 593 

Second  siege  of;  a  few  intrepid  Irishmen 
break  doivn  the  bridge,  most  of  them  be- 
ing kUled 603-604 

The  Wmiamites  cross  the  river  by  a  ford . .  606 
Attacotti,  their  insurrection ;   all  the  kings  and 
nobles  invited  by  them  to  a  great  feast  at 
Magh  Cro,  County  Qalway,  where  they 
were  massacred  to  a  man  by  the  Attacotti    35 

Aughrim,  battle  of 607 

Attempts  to  force  the  pass  of  Urraghree  at  .  608 

Battle  almost  won  by  the  Irish 609 

St.  Ruth  killed  ;  the  battle  lost 611 

Details  of  battle 613 

Losses  on  both  sides 613 

Augsburg,  league  of 573 


B. 

Bagnal,  Sir  Henry,  killed  at  the  battle  of  TeUow 

Ford,  on  the  Blackwater 437 

Ballyclinch  Bridge,  on  the  Lagan  Eivcr,  that  di- 
vides Louth  and  Slonaghan,  celebrated 
for  the  meeting  of  Tyrone  and  Essex  (1599)  434 

Ballymore  Castle,  County  Westmeath,  siege  of. .  603 

Ballyronan,  County  KUdare,  battle  between  Hugh 

Allen  and  the  Leinstermen  at '. . .  112 

Btillyshannon  besieged  by  Sir  Conyers  Clifford ; 
the  castle  defended  by  Crawford  with  80 
men,  until  relieved  by  O'Donnell  and  his 
troops 433 

Bantry  Bay,  French  expedition  to  (1795) 676 

Barrington,  Sir  Jonah,  pleads  for  the   Sheares 

Brothers .687 

Belagh  Mughna,  County  Kildare,  battle  of 123 

Benna  Boirche,  in  the  Moume  Mountains,  County 

Down,  battle  of 311 

Bede's  description  of  the  Irish  Monks  (note) 95 


INDEX. 


Bel-atha-Briosgaeth,  tlie  ford  of  biscuits,  battle  of  415 

Bellingham,  Sir  Edward,  Lord  Deputy 343 

Benburb,  battle  of,  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  defeats  the 

Scots  and  English  with  great  slaughter..  513 

Results  of  the  victory 514 

Berkley,  Lord  John,  appointed  Viceroy 5C1 

Bermingham,  Earl  of  Louth,  murdered 266 

Pierce,  invites  the  chiefs  of  Offaly  to  dinner, 

and  basely  murders  them 251 

Bermingham  Tower,  origin  of  the  name 267 

Bingham,  Sir  Richard,  his  cruelty  in  Connaught .  400 
Defeats  the  Scots  at  Ballina ;  they  are  all  slain  401 

His  death 439 

Bishops,  Protestant,  some  account  of  the  first  in 

Ireland  (note) 353 

Intervention  solicited  of  the 543 

Black  Death,  the  plague  of  (note) 273 

Black  Monday,  origin  of 224 

Blackwater,  great  battle  of  the,  between  Hugh 
O'Neill  and  Marshal  Bagnal ;  the  English 
defeated  with  great  loss,  and  their  com- 
mander slain 427 

Blood's  Plot 558 

Bobbio,  Monastery  of,  in  the  Apennines,  founded 

by  St.  Columbanus 90 

Bond,  Oliver,  arrest  of;  also  the  Leinster  dele- 
gates, with  Dr.  W.  J.  McNeven,  Henry 

Jackson,  and  J.  Sweetman C82 

Borough,  Deputy  Lord  Thomas,  his  death 433 

Boruwa,  or  Leinster  cow  tribute,  established  A.D. 
106,  by  Tuathal  Tcachtar,  and  exacted 
during  the  reign  of  forty  succeeding  mon- 

archs 36 

Boulter,  Primate 638 

Boyle,  Sir  Bichard,  the  great  Earl  of  Cork ;  his 

character,  &c.  (note) 

Boyne,  battle  of  the  (1G90) 585-590 

Bran  Dubh,  curious  stratagem  of 83 

Defeated  at  the  battle  of  Slaibhre,  and  killed     84 

Breas,  first  king  of  the  Tuatha  dc  Dananns 14 

Brehon  Laws  defined 49 

Bresail  Bodivo,  great  mortality  of  kine  in  reign  of    31 
Brian  Borumha  (Boru)  avenges  the  death  of  his 

brother  Mahon 129 

Makes  war  against  Malachy  H 129 

Assumes  the  sovereignty 131 

The  glory  of  his  reign 134 

Introduces  surnames  (note) 133 

Prepares  for  war  against  the  Danes 135 

His  address  to  his  army 138 

Fights  the  battle  of  Clontarf  on  Good  Fri- 
day (1014) ;  defeats  the  Danes  with  great 
slaughter 139 


Brian  Borumha  kUled  in  his  tent  by  Brodar  the 
Dane,  who  is  seized,  eviscerated,  and  torn 

to  pieces  by  Brian's  people 139, 140 

Burial  of,  with  his  son  Morough,  in  the 

Cathedral  of  Armagh 141 

Brigid,  St.,  of  Kildare,  the  Mary  of  Ireland 76 

Browne,  Archbishop,  his  efforts  to  propagate  the 

Reformation 333 

His  enmity  to  Lord  Gray 335 

His  deposition 346 

Bruce,  Edward,  lands  at  Qlendun  River,  near 
Larne,  on  the  coast  of  Antrim,  with  6,000 

men  (1316) 250 

Crosses  the  Bann  at  Coleraine,  and  defeats 

the  English  army  at  Connor 257 

Proclaimed  king 257 

Killed  at  the  battle  of  Faughard,  near  Dun- 

dalk  (1318) 263 

Bruce,  Robert,  takes  Carrickfergus  castle  (1316)  .  259 
Crosses  the  Boyne  with  20,000  troops  (1317).  200 
Reaches  Limerick,  his  army  weakened  and 

decimated ;  returns  to  Scotland 263 

Buidhe  Chonnaill,  a  terrible  distemper,  first  visita- 
tion of 78 

Second  visitation  of,  and  total  eclipse  of  the  sun    85 

Bull  of  Adrian  IV.  (note) 189 

of  Alexander  III 190 

Bunratty,  siege  of. 511 

Seized  by  Lord  Muskerry  and  theNur^io. . .  511 
Burke,  William,  or  De  Burgo  (better  known  as 

William  Fitz  Adelem) 230 

Marched  to  Roscommon 221 

Character  and  death  of 223 

Burke,  Richard,  called  the  great  Earl  of  Con- 
naught,  obtains  Connaught  from  Henry 

III 330 

His  death 237 

Burke,  Richard  (Red  Earl  of  Ulster),  his   ped- 
igree (note) 247 

Confined  in  the  Castle  of  Ley 249 

Arrested  in  Dublin 260 

Burke,  Theobald,  of  the  Ships 422 

Burke,  Ulick-na-geeann,  created  first  Earl  of  Clan- 

rickard 340 

Ulick  and  William,  his  sons ;  their  rebellion  368 
Burke,  William,  the  Dun,  Earl  of  Ulster,  mur- 
dered  267 

Burke,  Edmund,  his  description  of  the  resiUt  of 

the  war  in  1C91  (note.) 624 

Butler,  James,  first  Earl  of  Ormond 2G6 

James,  Marquis  of  Ormond,  his  cruelty  to 

CathoUcs 487-503 

Genealogy  of  family  of  (note) 488 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Butler,  James,  pedigree  of  (note) 491 

Appointed  Lord-Lieutenant 501 

His  perfidy  fills  the  country  with  indigna- 
tion   519 

Musters  an  army  and  takes  the  field 528 

Defeated  near  the  ruined  castle  of  Bagobrath  529 
Denounced  as  unworthy  of  the  people's  con- 
fidence  .' 543 

Sails  for  St.  Malo,  in  France 544 

Returns,  and  parliament  votes  to  him,  being 

now  (1661)  Duke  of  Ormond,  £30,000 556 

Removed  from  office 561 

Restored  (1677) 562 

o. 

Cahirs,  or  Caishal,  stone  enclosures  supposed  to 

have  been  built  by  the  Firboigs 55 

Callaghan,  of  Cashel,  renowned  for  heroism 123 

Cambrensis,  Qiraldus,  comes   to   Ireland   with 

John 212 

Camden,  Lord,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland 677 

Carbry  Oinncait,  King,  surnamed  the  Cat-headed.  35 
Czirbrys,  the  three,  great  families  descended  from  39 
Carbry  Riada  (of  the  long  wrist),  from  whom  are 

descended  the  Dalriads  of  County  Antrim    39 

Tribe  of  this  name  in  Scotland 39 

Carew,  Sir  George,  takes  the  castle  of  Qlin,  and 

massacres  the  garrison 439 

Oarrickfergus  Castle,  County  Antrim,  surrenders 

to  King  John  (1210) 225 

Besieged  by  Bruce's  army  (1315) 259 

Carrigadrohid  Castle,  on  the  River  Lee,  besieged 

by  Cromwell's  army 541 

Carrigafoyle  (Carrig-au-phxiill)  Castle,  besieged 

and  captured 385 

CarrigogonneU  Castle,  taken  by  the  Lord  Deputy, 

and  O'Briens  Bridge  destroyed  (1536) 330 

Cashel,  Synod  of,  as  convened  by  Henry  II.  (1172)  187 
Sacked,  and  the  people  butchered  by  Inchi- 

quin's  army 521 

Castide,  Henry,  his  account  of  the  Irish,  and  of 

their  warfare,  &c 281 

Castlebar,  the  French  defeat  the  English  at,  in 

1798 702 

Castlehaven,  liOrd,  defeats  the  English  at  Mon- 

asterevan 501 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  his  proposed  increase  of  Re- 

gium  Donum 712 

Commits  suicide 762 

Cathach,  a  portion  of  the  Psalms,  translated  by  St. 

ColumbkUle ;  the  metallic  box  in  which 

was  preserved 311 


PAOB 

Cathair  Mor,  the  several  families  descended  from    39 

Cathal  Carragh,  slain  in  battle 221 

Cathal  Crovderg,  his  various  wars 221 

Dies  in  the  habit  of  a  gray  Friar,  at  Knock- 

moy 229 

Cathaldus,  St.,  a  native  of  Munster 97 

Catholics,  persecuted  by  Sir  Oliver  St.  John 464 

Unfair  treatment  of,  by  Bishop  Bulkeley. . .  .  468 
Terrible  massacre  of,  on  Island  Magee,  near 

Carrickfergus 482 

Their  state  after  the  treaty  of  Limerick  ....  624 

Dissensions  among 651 

Relief  Bill,  in  favor  of 673 

Petition  of 737 

Various  clauses  of 740 

Debate  and  action  on 741 

Veto  of 748 

Condemned  by  Catholic  Bishops 749 

Great  meeting  of,  in  the  Rotunda,  Dublin . .  802 
Cavan,  battle  of,  and  burning  of  the  town  (note) . .  582 
Celsus,  St.,  his  death  at  Ardpatrick,  Co.  Limerick.  155 

Celt,  a  word  of  classic  origin 25 

Celts,  the  weapons  so  called 55 

Confederates,  cessation  of  arms  with  the 503 

Infringment  of  cessation  with 504 

Charlemont  Fort,  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  obtains  pos- 
session of 478 

Surrendered  to  the  Waiiamites 583 

Charles  I.,  his  desire  for  peace 505 

Beheaded  at  Whitehall 526 

Charles  n.,  his  restoration 555 

Death  of 567 

Charter  Schools,  establishment  of 640 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  his  policy 641 

Chess,  a  favorite  game  with  the  Irish 57 

Chichester,  Sir  John,  cut  off  with  three  companies 

of  troops  by  Sorley  Boy  McDonnell 424 

Chieftains,  Irish,  their  attending  the  parliament. .  397 

Christians,  early  Irish,  doctrines  of  the 107 

Irish,  before  St.  Patrick 59 

Their  Bishops,  churches,  and  schools 74 

Antiquities  of 102 

Chronology,  ancient  annals  defective  in 22 

Church  ofiices,  hereditary  in  Ireland 105 

Primitive  church  in  Ireland,  in  respect  to  . .     87 

Cimbaeth,  reign  of 59 

Civilization  of  the  pagan  Irish 46 

Claims,  Court  of,  established 554 

Clane,  Synod  of,  in  Kildare 167 

Clctnrlcktird  (see  Burke) 

Clarendon,  Lord,  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  . . .  617 
Clemens,  account  of  his  having  wisdom  to  sell ...  99 
Clififord,  Sir  Conyers,  marches  against  O'Donnell  423 


^. 


INDEX. 


Clifford,  Sir  Conyers,  killed  at  the  Curliew  Mount- 
ains    433 

Clomnacnoise,  plundered  in  A.D.  934 124 

Chnrcli  robbed 155 

Plundered  by  the  English  (1553) 345 

Meeting  of  the  Bishops  of 540 

Clonmel,  siege  of  by,  and  surrender  to,  Cromwell .  541 
Clontarf,  battle  of,  and  defeat  of  the  Danes  (1014).  138 

Monster  meeting  prevented  at 788 

Clontibert,  battle  of,  and  defeat  of  the  English  by 

Hugh  O'Neill 419 

CoUas,   the   three,  slay    Carbry   Liffechar,  -who 

reigned  for  thirty  years 43 

Coloony  Castle,  O'Connor  besieged  in 433 

Colman,  St.,  at  the  Synod  of  Whitby 94 

Eetires  to  Innisbofin  ;  and  death  of 95 

Columbanus,  St.,  his  mission  abroad 89 

Founds  Bobbio 90 

His  letter  to  Pope  Boniface,  and  death 91 

Columbkille,  his  early  life  (his  pedigree  in  note). .     79 
Founds  Doire-Chalgaigh  (Derry)  and  lona. .     80 

His  mission  to  the  Picts,  and  success 80 

Dispute  with  King  Diarmaid,  and  battle  of 

Cooldrevny 81 

At  Convention  of  Drumceat :  his  death. ...     83 
Comhorbas  and  Herenachs,  church  officers,  so 

called 106 

Commercial  Relations  Bill 667 

Conall  Gulban,  race  of,  and  death 73 

Conary  the  Second,  father  of  the  three  Carbrys. . .     39 
Confederate  Catholics,  The,  hold  a  meeting  on 

the  hiU  of  Crofty 486 

Besiege  and  take  Limerick 493 

Their  various  successes 499 

Ormond's  reluctance  to  treat  with 501 

Division  among 509 

Bound  together  by  oath 518 

Make  ratifications  of  peace  with  Ormond . . .  525 
Confiscation  of  Ulster,  The,  projected  by  Eliza- 
beth   370 

Desmond's  attainder 398 

Of  Ulster,  by  James  1 4C0 

By  the  CromweUians 548 

Note  relating  to,  from  Leland 558 

By  the  "Williamites 625 

Congal  Caecb,  brings  foreign  auxiliaries  to  Ire- 
land ;  slain  in  the  battle  of  Moyrath,  Co. 

Down 84 

Connaught,  desolating  war  in,  and  invasion  of,  by 

the  English 230 

The  wars  of  the  O'Connors  in,  and  how  famine 

results 231 

Internal  revolt  of  the  O'Connors  of 233 


Connaught,  invaded  by  De  Burgo  and  plundered. .  234 

Eising  of  the  young  men  of 238 

Great  disaffection  among  the  chieftains  of. .  422 

Connor,  Bruce's  victory  at 257 

Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  families  descended 

from  (note) 37 

Divides  Ireland  with  Eugene 38 

Fights  the  battle  of  Magh  Leana 38 

Killed  by  Tibraid  Tirach,  King  of  Ulster ...     39 

Convention,  national,  meets  in  the  Rotunda GC5 

FaUnre  of  the  Reform  BUI  at  the 066 

Cooldrevny,  battle  of 81 

Coote,    Sir  Charles,    massacres    the   people   of 

Wicklow 484 

Created  Earl  of  Mountrath 554 

Cork  surrenders  to  the  Williamites 599 

Cormac  Ulfadba,  his  abdication  and  death 41 

Author  of  a  book  called  "  The  Institutions  of 
a  Prince;"  "Psalter  of  Tara"  written  in 

the  reign  of 41 

Cormac  MacCuilennan,  fights  the  battle  of  Moy- 

Lena 131 

Killed  at  the  battle  of  Belagh  Mughna,  Co. 

Kildare 122 

Cormac's  Chapel,  on  the  Rock  of  Cashel 158 

Cornelius  the  Blessed,  interesting  character  of 

(note) 201 

Comwallis,  Lord,  appointed  to  the  government  of 

Ireland 699 

His  dislike  to  hold  office 700 

Council  of  Lateran,  Irish  Bishops  at 309 

Cranogues,  described  as  a  stockaded  island  in  a 

a  lake 56 

Crawford,  Sharman,  his  Tenant  Rights  Bill 800 

Creadran  Kille  (near  Sligo),  battle  of,  O'Dohnell 

defeats  the  English 239 

Creevan  Nianair,  the  hundred  and  eleventh  mon- 
arch of  Ireland 33 

Crofts,  Iiord  Deputy,  defeated  by  the  Scots  at 

Rathlin 343 

Crofty,  meeting  of  the  confederates  on  the  hill  of.  486 
Crom  Cruach,  the  idol  which  stood  on  the  plain 

of  Magh  Slecht,  County  Cavan 27 

Destroyed 67 

Cromlechs,  supposed  to  be  sepulchresof  the  ancients    57 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  lands  in  Ireland 530 

Besieges  Drogheda,  and  causes  a  terrible 

massacre 531 

Takes  Wexford,  where  two  hundred  women 

are  massacred  (note) 536 

Besieges  Kilkenny  and  Clonmel 541 

Returns  to  England 543 

Proclaimed  Lord  Protector :  his  death 553 


INDEX. 


TAGE 

Cuan  O'Lochan,  a  learned  layman 143 

Culdees,  The,  their  doctrine  defended 104 

Cur  lieu  Mountains,  tattle  of  the  (English  defeated 

by  O'Donnell) 433 

Curran,  John  Philpot,  defends  Hamilton  Rowan.  C73 
Attends  the  great  Catholic  dinner  in  Dublin 

(1811) 753 

Curry,  Dr.,  bis  parentage,  short  memoir  of,  in 

note 643 

Cuthbert,   St.,  the  celebrated  Bishop  of  Lindis- 

farne 97 

D. 

Dalcassiaus,  heroic  conduct  of  the,  on  returning 

from  the  battle  of  Clontarf 141 

Danes  first  visit  Ireland 114 

Their  various  names 115 

Armagh  city  burned,  and  900  monks  mas- 
sacred at  Bangor,  in  one  day,  by  the 116 

Turgesius  lands  with  large  forces  of  the. . . .  117 
Malachy  kills  Turgesius    and    defeats  his 

army 118 

Defeated  at  Derry  by  Niall  Caille 118 

At  Lough  Foyle 130 

Repeatedly  defeated  at  Glen  Mama,  &c 130 

Make  another  attempt  to  gain  a  footing  in 

Ireland 149 

Cut  off  by  the  Ulidians,  in  County  Down . .  150 
Defeated  by  a  decisive  battle  at  Clontarf.  .  .  .  138 
Dathy,  last  pagan  king  of  Ireland,  killed  by  light- 
ning at  the  Alps 45 

Davells,  Henry,  murder  of 381 

Davia,  Thomas,  (bom  at  Mallow,  1814) 771 

Death  of,  1845 773 

De  Braose,  William,  cruel  treatment  of  his  family 

by  King  John  (note) 333 

De  Burgo.    (See  Burke.) 

Declaration  of  Constitutional  rights 657 

De  Clare,  Thomas,  treachery  and  barbarity  of  . .  345 

De  Cogan,  Milo,  his  death 310 

De  Courcy,   Sir  John,  invades  Ulster ;    appro- 
priates the  prophecies  of  St.  Columbkille .  305 

His  plundering  depredations 311, 312 

His  downfall  and  capture  at  Downpatrick ; 

and  fate 323 

"  Defective  Titles,"  Commission  of,  for  Connaught  469 

Defenders,  The,  their  origin 669 

DeLacy,  Hugh,  his  great  power 310 

Killed  by  a  young  man  named  O'Meyey  . . .  214 
De  Mountmaurice,  Hervey,  his  feud  with  Ray- 
mond Le  Gros 196 

Becomes  a  monk  at  Canterbury 211 


PAGS 

De  Prendergast,   Maurice,  honorable    trait   of 

(note) 184 

Derry,  rebuilt  by  Docwra 441 

Closing  of  the  gates  of. 573 

Siege  of  (Dec.  7, 1688)..'. 575 

Lundy  escapes  from,  and  Walker  made  Gov- 
ernor of 576 

Terrible  privations  of  the  besieged 577 

Siege  of,  raised  (1688) 578 

Eccentric  Bishop  of 665 

De  Rosen,  General,  harsh  conduct  of,  at  the  siege         . 

of  Derry 577 

Dervorgil,  the  fair  and  unfaithful  wife  of  O'Rourke  164 
Desmond,  Maurice  Fitz  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  his 

feud  with  Lord  Arnold  Le  Poer  and  others.  266 

Created  Earl  of 267 

Thomas,  eighth  earl  of,  executed 301 

James,  Earl  of,  his  ambition  and  treasonable 

correspondence 333 

Submits  to  Sentleger 388 

Gerald,  the  Great  Earl  of,  imprisoned  by 

Sidney 363 

Discountenances  the  insurgents ....  379 

Joins  the  rebellion 384 

His  wretched  condition 894 

Murdered  in  the  woods 395 

His  character 396 

The  Sugaue  Earl  of,  his  rebellion 430 

Attempt  to  capture  him 439 

Hisfate 443 

James,  son  of  Gerald,  Earl  of,  his  mission  to 

Ireland  and  early  death 440 

(See  Fitzgerald.) 

De  Vere,  Robert,  Duke  of  Ireland 279 

Diamond,  battle  of  the,  County  Armagh 677 

Diarmaid,  last  king  who  resided  at  Tara 79 

Dicuil,  St 97 

Division  of  Ireland  by  Heremon 20 

Docwra,  Sir  Henry,  his  expedition  to  Lough  Foyle  441 
Donegal,  Monastery  of,  besieged  by  Hugh  O'Don- 
nell    444 

Dongal,  one  of  the  most  learned  Irishmen  of  his 

time 100 

Donough  O'Brien  asserts  his  claim  to  the  throne 

of  Ireland ;  dies  at  Rome 147 

Drapier's  Letters,  Dean  Swift's 637 

Drogheda  besieged  by  Cromwell 531 

Five  days'  slaughter  of  the  inhabitants  of. .  532 

Dromceat,  Convention  of 83 

Drury,  Sir  William,  death  of 382 

Duan  Eireannach,  or  Poem  of  Ireland,  by 
Maelmura  of  Othain  (now  Fahan,  County 
Donegal) 18 


INDEX. 


Duignan,  a  distinguished  historian,  wlio  died  1420.  292 

Dublin,  besieged  by  the  Anglo-Normans 177 

Taken  and  governed  by  Milo  De  Cogan 178 

Granted  to  the  citizens  of  Bristol,  and  Hugh 

de  Lacy  made  Governor 194 

St.Patrick's  C'athedral,built  by  Bishop  Comyu 

(1190) 218 

Confederate  army  before  city  of. 517 

Surrendered  by  Ormond  to  the  parliament- 
arians    518 

Lord  Maguire's  conspiracy  to  seize  the  Castle 

*  of 476 

Synod  of,  held  by  Cardinal  Vivian 205 

Dunbolg,  battle  of,  great  stratagem  of  the  King 

of  Leinster 83 

Dunboy,  siege  of,  courageously  defended 450 

Fall  of,  and  terrible  massacre 451 

DuncanBOn,  Fort  of,  surrenders  to  the  Cromwel- 

lians 543 

Duudalk,  Schomberg  encamps  near 581 

Duugan  Hill,  disastrous  battle  at 519 

Dungannon  Castle  taken,  and  the  country  pil- 
laged by  the  deputy  Lord  Gray 333 

Convention  of  Dungannon 658 

Dunluce  Castle,  history  of  (note) 495 

Dunseverick  Castle,  Roiachty  killed  by  lightning 

at,  B.  C.  1034 28 


Early  Christian  sirchitecture  of  the  Irish 109 

Early  Inhabitants  of  Ireland,  ethnological  theo- 
ries about 24 

Eclipses  mentioned  in  early  L'ish  annals '23 

Ecclesiastical  affairs 

Cadhla  O'Dufij^,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  at  Cong, 

death  of. 237 

Edgecombe,  Sir  Richard 306,  307 

Edward  I.,  surnamed  Longshanks,  ascends  the 

throne  1273 243 

Edward  II.,  Ms  reign  begins 353 

Edward  III.,  limit  of  the  power  of  the  Anglo- 
Irish  Barons  in  his  reign 270 

Edward  IV.,  accession  of 299 

Edward  V.,  short  reign  of 301 

Edward  VI.,  proclaimed  king 341 

Eglinton,  Earl  of.  Lord  Lieutenant a  .  801 

Eire,  Banba,  and  Fodhia,  three  sisters  who  have 

given  their  names  to  Ireland 15 

EUzabeth  began  to  reign  (1558),  died  (1003).  .349-3.54 
Emania,  Palace  of,  foundation  of,  and  occupation 
by  the  kings  of  Ulster  for  855  years ;   the 

resort  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights 80 

Destruction  of,  by  the  three  CoUas 43 


English    defeated    near    Carrick-on-Shannon    by 

Hugh  O'Connor 341 

Defeated  in  Ulida,  and    in    several   other 

engagements 245-247 

Titles  conferred  on  O'NeUl,  O'Donuell,  and 

other  chieftains 339 

Emancipation  Bill  in  Parliament  (1813) 757 

Emigration  in  1858  (04,000  leave  Ireland) 795 

Emmet,  Robert,  birth  and  education 714 

Returns  from  Paris  to  Dublin 715 

Provisional  Government  address,  and  various 

arrangements  of. 718-737 

Outbreak   in  Dublin ;  his  participation   in, 

and  capture,  trial,  and  defence 729 

Eloquent  speech  of,  when  sentenced 731 

Execution  of,  September  20th,  1803 733 

Enniscorthy,  battle  of 693 

Enniskillen,  besieged  by  O'Donnell 414 

Eochy,  or  Achy,  father  of  Jfeve,  Queen  of  Con- 
naught,  divides  Ireland  into  five  provinces, 

and  appoints  over  each  a  king 31 

Eochy  O'Flynn,  a  poet  of  merit,  died  (984) 144 

Eoghan  Mor,  of  the  race  of  Hcber  Finn 37 

Ancestry  of,  described  (note) 40 

Eoghan,  son  of  Nial,  family  of 73 

Eric,  Law  of,  described .- 53 

Essex,  Walter  Devereux,  Earl  of,  attempts  the 

Plantation  of  Ulster 369 

Murders  Brian  O'NeUl 371 

Essex,  Earl  of,  Queen  Elizabeth's  favorite,  lands 

in  Ireland 431 

Defeated  at  the  Pass  of  Plumes  by  Owny 

O'More 433 

Disastrouscampaignof.againsttheQeraldines  433 
His  conference  with  O'Neill  at  Anaghclart 

Bridge,  on  the  Lagan 434 

Returns  to  England,  and  execution 435 

Exhibition  in  Dublin 806 

Explanation,  the  Act  of 558 


Famine,  mothers  devour  their  children  in  the  (1317)  263 
Great  distress  by  the  potato  blight 791 

Continued  in  1840  and  1847 793 

Fomorians,  strongholds  of  demolished  on  Tory 

Island 10 

Faradach  Finnfeachtnach,  or  the  Righteous  (son 

of  Creevan) 36 

Fay,  Edmond,  the  Adventurer 343 

Farrell  O'Daly,  Ollav  of  Corcomroe 393 

Farrell  O'Gara,  patron  of  the  "Four  Masters" 

(note) 396 

Farrell,  Gen.,  of  O'Neill's  army,  assists  Waterford  538 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Parrell,  real  name  of  Thurot,  disembarks  with  a 

French  fleet  at  Carrickfergus,  17G0 646 

Pels  of  Tara,  a  triennial  assembly  convened  by 

Olav  Fola,  B.  C.  1317 28 

Felim,  King  of  Munster,  his  aggressions 118 

Fenians,  origin  of 17 

Fenian  Brotherhood,  organization  of 810 

Constitution  and  By-Laws  of 811 

Philadelphia  Convention 813 

Head-Centre  Stephens  escapes  from  prison. .  813 

Trial  and  conviction  of  the  leaders 813 

Invade  Canada,  and  results 815 

Trial  and  sentence  of  the  Fenians  there. ...  816 
■    Great  meeting  in  Jones'  Wood,  New  York. .  817 

Opinion  of  the  Catholic  Clergy 818 

Their  appeal  to  Irishmen  in  the  United  States  820 

Lecture  of  Father  Vaughan 831-833 

He  describes  the  famine  of  '47  and  '48  834 

Bitterness  and  fears  of  England 835 

Estimated  force  of  organized  Fenians 827 

Speech  of  Charles  Phillips  on  England's  mis- 
rule   ; 838,  829 

Thomas  Davis,  his  remarks  on  education. . .  830 

Fethard,  surrendered  to  Cromwell 539 

Fiacre,  St 96 

Fiacha  Sravtinne, .slain  by  the  Tliree  CoUas 43 

Finnachta  Fleadhach,  remits  the  Borumean  tribute    86 

Finn  MacCuail  and  his  Clanna  Baiscne 43 

Fiaana  Eirion,  The 40 

Their  disloyalty  and  extinction 43 

Fidh  Aengussa,  Synod  of 151 

Firboigs,  first  settlement  of 11 

Eochy,  their  king,  slaia  near  Sligo 13 

Their  monuments 35 

Beturn  of,  to  Ireland  (note) 31 

Fire-arms  first  used  in  Ireland,  1487 306 

Fitton,  Sir  Edward,  President  of  Connaught 367 

His  rigor  and  insolence 368 

Eemoved  from  ofEce 369 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward,  arrest  of,  in  Dublin . .  683 

His  courageous  defence  and  death 684,  685 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice,  lands  at  Wexford 175 

Fights  the  battle  of  Crcdran  Kille  against 

Godfrey  O'Donnell,  and  death 239 

Fitzgerald,  John  Fitz  Thomas,  feud  of,  with  Dc 

Vesey 249 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Thomas  (Silken  Thomas),  re- 
bellion of. 327 

Arrested,  with  his  five  uncles,  who  are  all 

executed  in  London 330 

Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  carried  by  his  aunt  to  Manus 

O'Donnell  of  Donegal 331 

Escapes  from  Lough  Swilly  to  Rome  (note) .  336 


FAGS 

Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  returns  from  exile  with  his 

brother  Edward 347 

Fitzgerald  (John  of  Desmond),  goes  to  England.  363 

Joins  the  Spaniards. 380 

Slays  DaveHs 381 

Succeeds  to  the  command  of  the  insurgents.  383 

Gains  the  battle  of  Gort-na-Tiobrad 383 

Fights  the  battle  of  Monasteranena 383 

His  adventures  (note) 388 

Death 395 

Fitzgerald,  Walter  Riavagh  (note) 417 

Desmond  and  Kildare,  Earls  of. 

Fitz-Maurice,  Sir  James,  his  warlike  character. .  363 

Takes  Kilmallock 3G7 

His  submission 369 

Applies  for  aid  to  the  Pope 378 

Lands  at  Smerwick 379 

Killed  at  Barrington  Bridge,  Co.  Limerick . .  381 

Fitz-Stephen,  Robert,  lands  at  Bannow 172 

Besieged  in  Carrig  Castle 183 

Eestored  to  liberty  by  Henry  II 186 

Fitz- William,  Sir  William,  carries  off  John  Oge 

O'Doherty 406 

Fitz- William,  his  liberal  government 674 

His  recall,  and  grief  of  the  Irish 675 

Flann,  Mainistreach,  chronicler  and  bard,  died 

1056 144 

Flann,  surnamed  Sinna,  Chief  of  the  Southern  Hy 

Nialls 121 

Fleetwood,    made    Commander-iu-Chief   in    Ire- 
land   553 

Flight  of  the  Earls  from  Lough  Swilly,  County 

Donegal 459 

Flood,  Henry,  his  views  of  English  policy 660 

Fomorians,  their  origin  a  matter  of  speculation 

(note) 10 

Fort  Del  Ore,  massacre  of  the  garrison  of. 389 

Fosterage,  custom  of,  explained 53 

Foure,  in  Westmeath,  reported  Irish  meeting  at. .  337 

Pox,  death  of  (1806) 743 

French  emissaries  in  Ireland 344 

Rumored  invasion  of  the  (1744) 641 

Land  at  Carrickfergus  (1760) 646 

at  Bantry  Bay  (1796) 676 

at  KiUala  (1798) 701 

Defeat  the  English  at  Castlebar .\....  703 

At  Ballinamuck 708 

Engagement  with  a  British  squadron  off 

Lough  Swilly,  County  Donegal 705 

Fridolin,  St.,  the  traveller 99 

Frigidian,  St.,  Bishop  of  Lucca 96 

Froissart's  account  of  the  Irish 281 

Pursey,  St.,  founds  a  monastery  in  England 97 


INDEX. 


a. 

PAGS 

Gadelians,  wanderings  of 17 

Gaedhuil  Glas,  the  origin  of  the  word  Gael 17 

Gall  or  Gallus,  St.,  died  (G43) 91 

Galway,  noble  conduct  of  a  jury 470 

Surrendered  to  Ludlow 547 

Besieged  by  Ginkle 014 

Gavelkind,  custom  of. 50 

Gaveston,  Pierce 232 

Gavra,  battle  of 43 

General  Assembly  at  Kells 490 

George  I.,  proclaimed  king  (1714) 634 

George  11.,  accession  of  (1727) 639 

George  III.  begins  to  reign  (1760) C47 

His  insanity 070 

Death  of,  after  a  reign  of  nearly  60  years. . .  7G1 

George  IV.  visits  Ireland 702 

Death  of  (1830) 778 

Geraldines.    (See    Fitzgerald,    Desmond,    and 

Kildare.) 
Gilla-na-neev  O'Heerin,  his  topographical  poem  292 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  describes  the  state  of  Ire- 
land   193 

Giolla  Keevin,  bard  and  annalist,  died  (1073). . . .  144 

Glamorgan,  Sari  of,  his  mission 508 

Arrested  by  order  of  Ormond 509 

Glenmalure,  battle  of,  defeat  of  Lord  Grey 886 

Glenmamaj  County  Wicklow,  battle  of 130 

Glen  Castle,  on  the  Shannon,  taken 439 

Gort-na-Tiobrad,  battle  of ;  defeat  of  the  English  383 

Graces,  the,  privileges  promised  by  Charles  1 407 

Grattan,  Henry,  his  eloquence  (note) 657 

Advocates  the  cause  of  the  Irish 061 

Appointed  to  present  the  Catholic  jjetition. .  743 

His  power  and  ability  in  the  Commons 753 

He  and  Lord  Donaghmore  press  the  claims 

of  the  Catholics 760 

Gray,  Lord  Leonard,  takes  Silken  Thomas  to 

London 329 

Destroys  O'Brien's  Bridge 330 

Continues  a  Catholic 334 

Executed  on  Tower  Hill,  London 336 

Grey,  Arthur  (Lord  De  Wilton),  defeated  in  Glen- 
malure    386 

Orders  massacre  of  Fort  Del  Ore 389 

llis  cruelty  and  recall 393 

H. 

Habeas  Corpus  Act  suspended 735 

Harvey,  Bagenal,  chosen  general 693 

Execution  of 097 


PAGE 

Hearts  of  Steel  Boys,  their  actions 049 

of  Oak  Boys,  their  actions 049 

Henry  n.  promises  aid  toDermot  MacMurrough.  170 

His  aversion  to  Strongbow 170 

Lands  in  Ireland 185 

Receives  submission  of  certain  Irish  princes.  180 
Grants  the  principality  of  Leinster  to  Strong- 
bow 193 

His  son  John  proclaimed  King  of  Ireland, 
and  sanctioned  by  Pope  Alexander  HI. 

(1177) 300 

Death  of,  in  France  (1189) 315 

Henry  III.,  accession  of 228 

Henry  IV.  begins  to  reign 286 

Henry  V.  crowned  (1413) 289 

Henry  VI.  proclaimed  king  when  only  an  infant 

(1423) 293 

Henry  VU.  crowned  king  (1485) 303 

Henry  VIH.  ascends  the  throne  (1509) 315 

Herenachs,  office  of. 100 

Heremon  and  Heber's  Division  of  Ireland 20 

Higgins,  murder  of  Father 488 

Heche,  Admiral,  leaves  Brest  for  Ireland  with  43 

ships 676 

Holt,  Joseph,  head  of  the  AVicklow  insurgents  . .  095 
Holy  Wells,  as  memorials  of  the  primitive  saints.  110 
Houses  of  the  ancients  composed  of  wicker  work  .     55 
Howard,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Surrey,  Lord  Lieuten- 
ant   318 

His  policy 319 

Returns  to  England 320 

Hugh  Ainmire  killed  in  battle  of  Dunbolg,  Co. 

"Wicklow 83 

Hugh   Finnliath  defeats    the  Danes    at   Lough 

Foyle 120 

Hugh  Oirdnigh,  his  reign  of  twenty-five  years 117 

I. 

Iceland,  Irish  missionaries  in 100 

Inchiquin,   Murrough,  Viscount,   truce  with  Or- 
mond   523 

Besieges  and  takes  Drogheda 538 

Dies  a  Catholic  (note) 544 

Income  Tax  in  Ireland 803 

Innocents,  law  of  the 95 

Inhabitants,  Primitive,  of  Ireland 8 

Insurrection  of  1798,  breaks  out  iu  Kildare 089 

Finally  extinguished 699 

Intercourse  between  Ireland  and  England 150 

Ireland,  different  names  of  (note) 73 

Ancient  inhabitants  of,  various  theories  about  24 

Deplorable  state  of  (1567) 303 


INDEX. 


PAOE 

Ireland,  Deceptive  policy  towards,  by  England 709 

Famine  and  potato  blight 764 

State  of  education  in 765 

Estimated  population  of 795 

Ireton,  General,  takes  Limerick,  and  death 516 

Irial,  surnamed  Faidh  (or  the  Prophet),  son  of 

Heremon 26 

Irish  missions  and  schools 103 

History  and  character  of Ill 

Kings,  piety  of 113 

Spain  assists  the,  their  power  abroad  (note).  474 

Humanity  of  the  clergy 489 

Brigades  leave  for  France 631 

Causes  of  discontent  among  the 473 

Writers  of  the  17th  century 568 

Island  Magee,  Massacre  of 482 

Ith,  voyages  of,  lands  in  Ireland,  and  death 18 

J. 

Jackson,  Rev.  W.,  his  mission 674 

Trial  and  suicide 675 

James  I.,  his  confiscations 460 

Persecutes  the  Catholics 461 

His  rapacity 465 

Death  of 466 

James  II.,  liis  accession,  unbounded  joy  of  the 

Catholics 569 

Disarms  the  Protestant  militia 570 

Flies  to  France  from  England 573 

Comes  to  Ireland,  and  marches  to  Deny. . .  .  575 

Holds  a  parliament  in  Dublin 579 

His  army  leaves  Derry,  and  siege  raised. . . .  578 

Defeated  at  Newton  Butler 580 

Marches  to  Dundalk 584 

Defeated  at  the  Boyne 591 

Retreats  to  Dublin,  and  escapes  to  France. .  593 

Death  of,  at  St.  Germains 630 

John,  made  King  of  Ireland  (1177) 206 

Lands  in  Ireland,  his  insolence  and  recall.312,213 

Carrickfergus  taken  from  De  Lacy's  people .  325 

Submission  to  the  Pope ■ 225 

John  Sootus  Erigena,  his  learning  and  opinions. .  101 

K. 

Kells,  S\-nod  of,  in  1152  (300  clergy  present) 162 

1143 490 

Eildare,  Garrett  or  Gerald,  Fitzgerald,  Earl  of  804 

Espouses  the  cause  of  Simnel 304 

Imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London 310 

Pardoned 310 

Gains  battle  of  Knocktow 313 

Death  of 316 


PAGE 

Kildare,  Garrett  Oge,  his  first  exploits 317 

Returns  from  England 321 

Restored  to  power 321 

Reckless  conduct  of 324 

Imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  and  death  of 327 

(See  Fitzgerald.) 

Eildimo,  massacre  of  women  and  children  at 390 

Kilgarvan,  near  Kenmare,  battle  of ...  240 

Eillian,  St.,  the  Apostle  of  Franconia 97 

Kilkenny,  statute  and  Parliament  of. 274 

Synod  of,  and  formation  of  the  Confederate 

Catholic  League 491 

Confederation  of. 497 

Surrender  of,  to  Cromwell 540 

The  Nuncio  enters  the  old  Cathedral  of  St. 

Canice,  in  state  robes 508 

Eilmashoge,  the  Irish  defeated  by  the  Danes  at. .  123 

Eilleda,  French  land  at,  and  take  Ballina 701 

Eil warden.  Lord,  stabbed  in  Dublin 728 

Eincora,  Brian  Boru's  palace 132 

Einel-Connell,  or  race  of  Conall  (the  O'Donnells) .     73 

Kinel-O wen,  or  race  of  Hy  Niall  (the  O'Neills) 72 

Einsale,  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  at 444 

BatUe  of  (1601) 447 

King  James  lands  at 574 

Surrendered  to  Marlborough 600 

Enockavoe,  or  Enockto^  battle  of 313 

Enockmoy,  abbey  of  (note) 216 

Enocknaclashy,  battle  of 546 

Enocknanoa,  battle  of 521 

Kyteler,  Alice,  suspected  of  witchcraft  (note). . . .  264 

• 

L. 

Laegnaire,  Eing,  his  hostility  to  St.  Patrick 66 

Death  of,  by  lightning 71 

Lamhfhada,  IjUgh,  succeeds  Nuadbat  as  King  of 

Ireland 14 

Land,  tenure  of,  described 51 

Lancastar,  Duke  of,  in  Ireland  (1407) 287 

Lateran,  Council  of  (1179) 209 

Lavchomart,  The  (portentous  signs,  so  called). . . .  114 
Lavry  Longseaoh,  or  Lowry  of  the  Ships,  reigns 

19  years 30 

Laws,  atrocious,  enacted  by  Henry  TI.,  against  the 

Irish 303 

Learning,  after  the  Danish  ware,  in  Ireland 143 

Irish  described    as    skilled  in   philosophy, 

painting,  and  music 144 

Leath  Cuinn,  and  Leath  Mogha,  division  of 38 

Leger,   St.,    Sir  William,    Lord    President ;   he 

slaughters  women  and  children 488 

Legislators  of  the  ancient  Irish 53 


10 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Leinster,  wholesale  spoliation  in 465 

Ijeiz  and  OSaly,  annexation  of 346 

Ijia  Fail,  The,  or  Stone  of  Destiny,  described 14 

Sent  to  Scotland 73 

Taken  to  England  ;  and  is  now  in  West- 
minster Abbey 15 

Limerick,  taken  by  Raymond  le  Gros 198 

Burned  by  Donnell  More  O'Brien 204 

Capt  ured  by  Ireton ,  the  parliamentary  general  54G 
Siege    of,   by  William's    army ;   Sarsfield's 

brave  defence  of 50G,  597 

Siege  raised,  the  Williamite  army  retreats. .  598 

Second  siege  of  (capitulates  to  Ginkle) 619 

Articles  of  (note) 630 

Irish  soldiers  at,  volunteer  into  the  French 

army 621 

Treaty  of,  violated  (after  events  described  by 

the  great  Edmund  Burke,  note) 024 

Lindisfarne,  founded  by  St.  Aidan 92 

Ijismore,  council  of 192 

Livinus,  St.,  suffered  martyrdom  in  Flanders  ....     96 
liOrraine,  Suke  of,  his  negotiations  with  the  Irish  545 

Lucas,  Charles,  effects  of  the  speeches  of 645 

Lucy,  Sir  Anthony,  his  severity 267 

Ludlo^  commander-in-chief  . . .' 547 

Throws  up  his  command 553 

Lundy,  Governor  of  Derry,  escapes  in  disgrace.  576 
Luttrell,  Henry,  his  treason  (note) 616 

M. 

MacCarthy,  Cormac,  King  of  Munster 155 

McCracken,  Henry,  commands  at  the  battle  of 

Antrim,  1798 697 

Retires  to  Slemmish  MountaJji,  and  is  subse- 
quently captured  and  executed 697 

MacDonnell,  Alexander,  or  Colkitto,  his  bravery 

at  Dungan  Hill 519 

Killed  after  the  battle  of  Knocknanos  (see, 

also,  note) 522 

MacDonnell,  Sorley  Boy,  chief  over  the  Scots  of 

Clannaboy 370 

Macha  Mongroe,  her  heroic  conduct ;  founds  the 

palace  of  Emania 30 

MacLiag,  bard,  secretary  to  Brian  Borumha 144 

Macliag,  Giolla  (St.  Gelasias),his  death 201 

MacMahon,  Heber,  the  warlike  Bishop  of  Clogher.  540 
Defeated  near  Letterkenny,  and  Bhamefully 

hanged  by  Coote 542 

MacMahon,  Hugh  Roe  (of  Monaghon),  his  unfair 

trial  and  execution 406 

MacMahon,  Brien,  gains  an  important  victory  in 

Oriel  over  the  English 272 


PAGB 

MacMurrough,  Art,  attack  on  the  stronghold  of.  283 

Interview  with  Richard  II 284 

Gains  a  victory  over  the  English  at  Wexford  289 

Supposed  to  be  poisoned  at  New  Eoss 291 

MacMurrough,    Murrough,   King    of  Leinster, 

slain 247 

MacMurrough,  Dermot,  the  infamous  King  of 
Leinster  who  betrayed  Ireland  into  the 

hands  of  the  Saxon 159 

Carries  off  Dervorgil 164 

Detested  by  all ;  he  flies  to  England 169 

Solicits  aid  from  Henry  II 170 

Secures  the  assistance  of  Earl  Strongbow  . .  171 

Returns  to  Ireland 171 

His  brutality 173 

His  death  at  Ferns  (1171) 179 

MacMurrough,  Donough,  son  of  Art 294 

MacPherson  tries  to  rob  Ireland  of  Ossian ;  his 

literary  forgeries  exposed 43 

Macroom,  battle  of 541 

Maeve,  Queen  of  Connaught,  lier  expedition  to 

Ulster 31 

Killed  (A.D.  70),  when  over  100  years  of  age, 
by  the  son  of  Connor,  in  revenge  for  the 

death  of  his  father 32 

Magh  Oro,  terrible  Massacre  at,  by  the  Atticotti. .     35 

Magh  Leana,  battle  of 88 

Magnus,  King  of  Norway,  his  expedition  to  Ire- 
land    150 

Maguire,  Hugh,  great  single  combat  with  Sent- 

leger,  and  death 436 

Mahon,   brother  of  Brian  Borumha;  his  heroic 

deeds  against  the  Danes 128 

Treacherously  murdered 129 

Malachy,  St.,  his  early  education  ;  elected  Bishop  156 
of  Connor,  and  Archbishop  of  Armagh ....  157 

Solicits  paliiums  from  the  Pope 160 

His  death  at  Clairvaux 161 

Malachy  I.,    King   of   Ireland,    destroys   Turge- 

siuB 118,  119 

Malachy  II.,  defeats  the  Danes  near  Tara 129 

His  wars  irith  Brian  ;  besieges  the  Danes  in 

Dublin 130 

His  deposition 135 

Alleged  treachery  of,  at  Clontarf 136 

His  death 143 

Malby,  Sir  Nicholas 383 

Mananan  MacLir,  legend  of 15 

Mwgaret,  Queen  of  OfTaly,  her  banquet  to  the 

learned  (note) 299 

Marianus  Scotus 145 

Marshall,  Richard,  Sari,  his  tragical  end 235 

Mary  crowned  queen,  1553 ;  death  oi,  1558.  •  ..«345  349 


INDEX. 


11 


Massacres.   (See  Magh  Cro,  MuUaghmast,  Fort- 
del  Ore,  Kildimo,  &c.) 
Mathew,  Rev.  Theobald,  liis  great  perseverance 

in  tlie  cause  of  temperance 775 

Gives  the  pledge  to  many  thousands 775 

Good  results  of  his  endeavors 776 

Maynooth,  siege  of 328 

Grant  to  the  College,  of  £26,000  out  of  the 

'     consolidated  fund 792 

Mellifont  Abbey,  founded  by  St.  Malachy 161 

Great  Synod  of 165 

;^Uesians,  -wanderings  of 16-18 

Lands  in  Ireland 19 

Their  kings 26 

Milo  de  Cogan  slain  by  MacTire,  at  Waterford. . .  210 

Moin  Mor,  terrible  battle  of 163 

Molua,  St 96 

Molyneuz,  his  famous  "Ireland's  case  stated" 628 

IMonasteranena,  battle  of 383 

Monasteries  early  introduced  into  Ireland 87 

Foundation  of! 219 

Priories  (note) 227 

Convents  (note) 251 

Monastic  Schools,  Aran  the  lona  of  Ireland,  Clon- 

macnoise,  &c 75 

Monasticism,  early  Irish ;  its  moral  good 88 

Money,  base  coin  of  James  II.  (note) 680 

Coined  by  the  Confederates  (1642) 498 

Mongfinn,  or  the  Fair-haired,  of  the  race  of  Heber  ; 

her  crimes 43 

Monks  of  the  Middle  Ages,  reference  to 145 

Monroe,  General,  lands  at  Carrickfergns  (1642) . .  490 

Plunders  Ulster 510 

Defeated  by  O'Neill,  at  the  battle  of  Benbnrb  513 
Monster  Meetings  (O'Connell's),  at  Trim,  Lim- 
erick, Mullingar,  Kilkenny,  &c.  (1843) 787 

Monuments  of  the  Early  Races 25 

Morann  the  Just,  famous  collar  of 36 

Morough,  son  of  Brian  Boru,  his  great  valor ;  killed 

at  Clontarf 138 

Mountjoy,  Sir  Charles  Blount,  Lord,  appointed 

Viceroy 436 

Defeats  the  Spaniards  at  Kinsale 447 

Receives  O'Neill's  submission 454 

.  Returns  to  England 456 

Moume  Abbey,  in  Muskerry,  battle  of 820 

Moycullen  (or  the  Plain  of  Ullin),  battle  of 15 

Moyra,  or  Magh  Rath,  County  Down,  six  days' 

battle  of 84 

Moyturey  (near  the  shore  of  Lough  Corrib),  the 

Firbolgs  defeated  in  the  battle  of 12 

Moore,  Thomas  (poet),  his  birth  (1779),  Tvritings, 

and  death  (1852) 770,  771 


PACE 

Muirkertach,  his  circuit  of  Ireland,  and  return  to 
Aileach  two  years  afterwards  ;  is  slain  in 
battle  in  Louth,  by  Blacaire,  the  Dane. . . .  124 
Muircheartach  MacSarca,  first  Christian  mon- 
arch of  Ireland 77 

Mullamast,  horrible  massacre  of 376 

Munro,  of  Lisburn,  commands  the  United  Irish-  W^ 

men  at  Ballynahinch  (1798) 698 

Defeated,  seized,  tried,  and  executed 699 

Munster,  revolt  of ;  unison  of  the  confederates  in .  429 
Mur-Ollavan,  a  rath  on  Tara,  built  by  OUav  Fola     29 
Murphy,  Rev.  Father,  commands  the  United 
Irishmen  at  Oulart  Hill ;  defeats  the  roy- 
alists    693 

Killed  at  the  battle  of  New  Ross 695 

Music,  instrumental,  and  songs  of  the  Ancient  Irish    57 

N. 

Napper  Tandy  attempts  to  get  up  a  National 

Congress 667 

Tried  and  banished 701 

National  School  System  of  Education 804,  805 

Naval    engagement  of   Turlough  O'Conor    and 

Murtough  O'Loughlin 165 

Nemedius  comes  to  Ireland  with  a  colony  from 

the  Euxine  Sea 10 

Is  cut  off  with  2,000  followers,  by  pestilence . .     10 

New  Ross,  walling  of  (note) 241 

Besieged  by  Ormond 500 

Besieged  by  Cromwell 537 

Battle  of,  in  "98  ;  defeat  of  the  English 695 

Newtown  Butler,  battle  of;  defeat  of  the  Jac- 
obites   580 

Nial  Glun  Dubh,  his  chivalry  and  death 123 

Nial  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  his  early  expeditions 

to  Britain  and  Gaul 44,  45 

Families  descended  from  (note) 45 

Nicholas  Sheehy,  Rev.  Father,  hanged  at  Clon- 

mel 649 

Niul  and  his  descendants 17 

Nuadhat  of  the  silver  hand,  slain  by  Balor  of  the 

Fomorians,  at  the  battle  of  Moyturey  ....  13 
Nuncio,  the,  rejects  the  truce  with  Inchiquin  ....  523 
Nugent,  Lord,  of  Delvin,  taken  by  O'Conor  Faly.  323 
Nugent,  attempting  to  assassinate  the  sugane  Earl ; 

is  captured  and  sentenced 438 


O'Brien's  Bridge,  destroyed  by  Lord  Leonard  Gray  330 
O'Brien,  Conor,  King  of  Munster,  defeats  Tur- 
lough O'Conor 158 

Died  at  Killaloe  (1142) 159 


12 


INDEX. 


O'Brien,  Conor,  Earl  of  Thomond,  flies  to  France.  307 

O'Brien,  Sonnell  More,  burns  Limerick 203 

Death  of 217 

O'Brien,  Murrough.    (See  Inchiquin.) 
O'Brien,  Murtough,  King  of  Monster,  demolisLes 

Aileach 149 

His  death 1.54 

O'Brien,  Turlough,  defeats  his  imcle  Donough. . .  147 

Treacherously  blinded ;  death  of 148 

O'Brien,  Turlough,  slain  in  single  combat  with 

DeBurgo 341 

O'Brien,  Murrough,  died  (1551) 347 

O'Brien,   Smith,   T.  F.  Meagher,  M.  Doheny, 
T.  B.  McManus,  John  Mitohel,  C.  G. 
DuflFy,  and  O'Donoghue  (Confederates). .   797 
Battle  with  the  constabulary  at  Widow  Mc- 

Cormack's 799 

His  arrest  at  Thurles;  transported  to  Aus- 
tralia       80 

O'Byrne,  Fiagh  MaoHugh,  betrayed  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  slain 433 

Ocha,  battle  of  (483  or  483) 73 

O'Olery,  of  Tirconnell,  poet  and  historian,  died. . .  293 
O'Clery,   Fearfeasa    (O'Donnell's    poet),   at  the 

battle  of  Yellow  Ford 437 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  makes  a  spirited  address  in  fa- 
vor of  repeal  of  the  Union 751 

Monster  Meetings  called  by,  and  powerful 

speech  in  Dublin 758 

More  Meetings  ;  his  great  influence 759 

Forcible  language  used  in  a  speech  by  (note)  706 
Elected  to  a  seat  in  Parliament  for  Clare  . . .  707 
Refused  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  ;  his 

speech  at  the  Bar 708 

His  triumphant  procession  from  Ennis  to 

Dublin 769 

Position  and  influence  in  Parliament 777 

His  arrest  with  seven  co-workers 778 

Release  and  popularity 779 

Details  the  persecution  of   the  tyrannical 

Saxon 781 

Seeks  a  corporate  Reform  BUI 785 

A  motion  for  repeal  of  the  Union 786 

Is  made  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  (1841) 786 

More  Monster  Meetings 787 

Proposed  Meeting  at  Clontarf  prevented  . . .  788 

Again  arrested  and  sentenced 789 

Discharged  and  set  at  liberty 789 

Death  of,  at  Genoa,  May  15th,  1847 790 

Eulogy  on,  by  various  ■miters 791 

O'Connell,  John,  and  the  Repeal  Association 790 

O'Conor,  Arthur,  arrested  at  Margate 683 

O'Oonor,  Cahir  Roe,  executed  in  Dublin 343 


FAOB 

O'Conor,  Cathal  (surnamed  Orovderg)  and  Cathal 

Carragh,  their  wars 320 

O'Conor,  Charles,  of  Belanagar 644 

O'Conor,  Calvagh,  chief  of  Offaly 250 

O'Conor  (Conor  Moimoy),  plunders  KUlaloe ....  313 

Just  punishment  and  death 210 

O'Conor,  Dermot,  betrays  the  Geraldines 439 

The  traitor  beheaded 441 

O'Conor,  Faly  and  Maurice  O'Conor,  murdered 

by  the  English 251 

O'Conor,  Felim,  king,  slain  in  the  battle  of  Ath- 

enry 258 

O'Conor,  Felim,  his  betrayal  and  escape 236' 

His  death 341 

O'Conor,  Hugh,  son  of  Crovderg,  his  revenge  on 

the  English 233 

Slain  by  an  Englishman 233 

O'Conor,  Hugh,  defeats  the  English,  death  of..  241-244 
O'Conor,  Roderic,   succeeds   as  King    of   Con- 
naught  165 

His  activity .• 106 

Crowned  in  Dublin 168 

Convenes  a  meeting  of  Irish  princes  at  Tara  174 

Beheads  "  the  three  royal  hostages" 179 

Besieges  Dublin 183 

Death  of  (aged  82)  in  Cong  Abbey 318 

O'Conor,  Rory,  King  of  Counaught,  death  of. 154 

O'Conor,   Rory   (son  of  Turlough),   dies  after  a 

reign  of  16  years 278 

O'Conor,  of  Oflaly,  defeats  the  English  (1385) 279 

O'Conor,  Turlough,  King  of  Conuaught 154 

His  harsh  treatment  of  his  sons 159 

Fights  a  maiine  battle  off  Innishowen 105 

His  death 165 

Octennial  Bill 651 

O'Daly,    Dominic,    historian  of   the  Geraldines 

(note) 396 

O'Daly,  Farrell,  distinguished  historian,  Ollav  of 

Corcomroe,  died 293 

O'Daly,  Murray,  the  poet  of  Lissadill,  in  Sligo . .  226 
O'Devany,  Conor,  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor, 

basely  hanged  and  quartered 461 

O'Doherty,  Sir  Cahir,  takes  Culmore  and  Derry 
from  the  English ;  his  death  caused  by  a 

stray  shot 460 

O'Donnell,  Balldearg,  lands  in  Lreland  from  Spain  614 

Vindication  of  (note) 610 

O'Donnell,  Calvagh,  rebels  against  his  father; 

defeated  in  battle  at  BaUybofey 343 

O'Donnell,  Con,  defeated  in  the  pass  of  BaUagh- 

boy,  CurUeu  Mountains,  by  MacDermot. .  311 
O'Donnell,  Donnell  More,  died  among  the  monks 

at  Assaroe 237 


INDEX. 


13 


FAGE 

O'Donnell,  Godfrey,  wounded  at  tLe  battle  of 
Credran  Kille,  near  Sligo ;  encounters 
Maurice  Fitzgerald,  and  mortally  wounds 
Mm;  his  battle  at  Conwal,  near  Letter- 
kennr,  •n-itli  Brian  O'Neill ;  in  the  moment 

of  victory  he  expires 239 

O'Donnell,    Hugh    Oge,  taken  jirisoner  by  his 

brother  Con 311 

O'Donnell,  Hugh  Roe,  King  of  Tirconnell,  marches 

into  Tyrone 313 

Death  of,  aged  78 ;  and  44th  of  his  reign  over 

Tirconnell 314 

O'Donnell,  Hugh,  becomes  a  monk ;  death  of,  in 

Inis  Saimer,  River  Erne 269 

O'Donnell,  Hugh  Roe,  ally  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  en- 
trapped on  board  a  ship  in  Lough  Swilly, 
and  thence  carried  prisoner  to  Dublin. . . .  404 

First  escape,  and  recapture 409 

Second  escape  with  two  sons  of  Shane  O'Neill, 
and  safe  arrival  at  his  father's  castle,  in 

Ballyshannon 410 

Makes  a  hostile  incursion  on  the  lands  of 

Turlough  Luinagh 411 

Chastises  O'Conor  Sligo 422 

Defeats  the  English  at  Ballaghboy,  Curlieu 

Mountains 433 

Purchases  the  Castle  of  Ballymote 430 

Attacks  Doewra,  at  Lough  Foyle 443 

Storms  an  English  garrison  in  Donegal 443 

Joins  the  Spaniards  at  Kinsalc 445 

Goes  to  Spain,  and  dies 459 

His  attainder 464 

O'Donnell,  Rory,  created  Earl  of  Tirconnell 45G 

His  flight  to  Eome 459 

Offaly,  murder  of  the  chiefs  of 251 

Annexation  of 346 

O'Parrell,  Donnell,  King  of  Leinster,  at  the  battle 

of  aontarf. 140 

O'Farrell,  Melaghlin,  slain 276 

O'Ftirrell,  Richard,  Colonel,  defends  a  pass  at  the 

battle  of  Benburb 513 

O'Farrell,  chiefs  of  Annaly 312 

O'Farrell  Bane,  and  O'Parrell  Boy,  of  Longford  363 

Ogham,  Craove,  described 15 

Inscriptions  found  in  the  Cave  of  Dunloe 

(note) 48 

O'Hartagan,  Kenneth,  poet  of  Leath  Cuinn,  died 

(975^ 144 

OilioU  Molt,  reigned  twenty  years ;  slain  in  the 

battle  of  Ocha 73 

Oilioll  Olum,  King  of  Munster,  seven  sons  of; 

slain  in  the  battle  of  Magh  Mucrive 39 

Oisin,  the  warrior  and  poet,  son  of  Finn  MacCuail .     43 


PAGE 

O'Kane,  chief  of  Dungannon  and  Glengiven  Cas- 
tle   , 411 

Ollav  Fola,  establishes  the  triennial  assembly ....     29 

O'Lochan,  Cuan,  chronicler  and  bard 1 44 

O'Loughlin,  Donnell,  of  Aileach,  enters  the  Co- 
lumbian Jlonastcry,  Dorry ;  death  of 154 

O'Loughlin,  Murtough,  his  right  to  be  monarch 

of  Ireland  ;  slain 168 

O'Loughrane,  Patrick,  priest,  basely  hanged  ....  463 
O'Malley,  Grace,  character  of,  described  (note) . . .  423 
O'More,  Owny,  captures  the  Biirl  of  Ormond.. . . .  437 

Killed 439 

O'More,  Richard,  at  the  liill  of  Crofty,  in  Meath  .  486 
O'More,  Rory  Oge,  invades  the  Pale ;  burns  Naas .  374 

Killed,  30th  June,  1578 375 

O'Neill,  Art,  and  Hugh  O'Donnell  make  peace 

at  Ardstraw -bridge 317 

Defeated  at  Knockavoe,  near  Strabane,  by 

O'Donnell 331 

O'Neill,  Brian,  murdered  by  the  Earl  of  Essex . . .  371 
O'Neill,  Brian,  recovers  Tyrone  from  MacLaughlin  233 
Defeated  by  Godfrey  O'Donnell  on  the  river 

Swilly. 239 

Killed  in  a  battle  with  the  English,  at  Down- 

patrick 240 

O'Neill,  Donnell,  son  of  Muirkertagh 129 

O'Neill,  Donnell,  King,  deposed 248 

O'Neill,  Donnell,  King  of  Ulster,  his  memorial  to 

the  Pope 255 

O'Neill,  Perdoragh,  or  Matthew ;  his  parentage 

(note) ?43 

Murdered 34'^ 

O'Neill,  Hugh,  the  great  Earl  of  Tyrone,  his  first 

visit  to  England 403 

His  second  visit  to  England 407 

His  romantic  marriage  with  Bagnal's  sister.  410 
He  privately  drills  men  and  prepares  arms  .  416 
Seizes  the  fort  of  the  Blackwater ;  burns 

Dungannon  and  his  own  house 418 

Defeats  the  Enghsh  at  Clontibert ;  kills  Sea- 
grave  in  single  combat 419 

Rejects  terms  of  peace,  except  liberal 424 

Besieges  the  Fort  on  the  Blackwater 425 

Gains  the  victory  of  the  Yellow  Ford. .  .437,  438 

Confers  with  Essex  at  BaUyclinch 435 

Expedition  to  Munster 436 

Plot  to  murder  him 443 

Marches  to  join  the  Spaniards 446 

Defeated  at  Eansale 447 

Submission ;  sham  plot  to  inveigle  him  .^4,  458 

His  flight  to  Rome,  and  attainder .'459,  464 

O'Neill,  Owen,  crowned  at  Tullahogue,  as  chief  of 

the  Kinel-Owen 294 


14 


INDEX. 


O'Neill,  Owen  Roe,  comes  to  Ireland ;  lands  at 

Doe  Castle 494 

Receives  command  of  the  Confederate  army.  495 

Defeats  Jlonroe  at  Benburb 512 

His  death  at  Cloughoughter,  County  Cavan .  537 
O'Neill,   Shane   (John   the   Proud),   son   of   Con 

O'NeUl 343 

Defeated  at  Balleeghan,  near  Raphoe,  by  Cal- 

vagh  O'DonneU 349 

Sir   Henry  Sidney  stands  sponsor  for  Ms 

child 351 

Carries  ofiT  Calvagh  O'DonneU  and  his  wife, 
generally  called  the  Countess  of  Argyle. .  355 

Defeats  the  English  at  Armagh 35G 

Visits  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  his  reception 357 

Defeats  the  Scots  at  Glenflesk,  near  Bally- 
castle 358 

He  is  terribly  defeated  by  Hugh  O'DonneU, 

at  Ardnagary,  near  Letterkenny  .    360 

Murdered  by  Scots  of  the  Clann  Donnell  at 

Cushendun 3G1 

O'Neill,  Sir  Phelim,  proclamation  of 479 

Takes  the  field  with  30,000  men  : 480 

Executed 551 

O'Neill,  Nial,  comes  from  Spain 476 

O'Neill,  Niall  More,  a  house  built  at  Emania  by, 

for  the  OUavs  andpoets 385 

O'Neill,  Turlough  Luineach,  elected  chief;  sub- 
mits to  the  lord  deputy 3G4 

Harassed  by  Hugh  Roe  O'DonneU ;  he  flees 

to  O'Kane's  castle,  Qlengiveen 412 

Besieged  in  the  castle  of  Strabane 413 

Death  of 419 

O'Neill,  Lord,  kiUed  at  the  battle  of  Antrim  (1798)  697 

Orange  Lodges  first  cstabUshed  (1795),  note 669 

Suppressed ;  Shiel's  Bill 783 

Orde,  Secretary,  nine  propositions  of 667 

Orraond.     (See  Butler.) 

Orr,  'William,  trial  and  execution  of;  the  origin  of 

the  watchword,  "  Remember  Orr" 680 

Ornaments  of  gold  still  preserved 57 

O'Rourke,  Tiernan,  murdered  by  Hugh  de  Lacy. .  195 
O'Sullevan  Beare,  Donnell,  liis  castle  of  Dunboy 

taken 450 

His  extraordinary  retreat  to  Leitrim 453 

O'Sullevan  Bezire,  Philip,  author  of  the  Historias 
CathoUosB  Iberniae  Compendium,  in  Spain 

(note) 453 

O'TooIo,  St.  Laurence,  or  Lorcan,  his  parentage.   167 

Attempt  to  kill  him  (note) 199 

Death  of,  at  Augum,  on  the  borders  of  Nor- 
mandy   209 

O'TooIes,  The,  their  ancient  territory  (note) 167 


Palatinates  of  Kerry  and  Tipperary  created 260 

Palatines,  The,  colonies  in  Ireland  of  (note) 633 

Pale,  The,  its  extent  and  limits  (note) 28G 

Northern  Irish  encouraged  by  the  State  of 

(1G41) r  484 

Palladius,  St.,  sent  to,  and  mission  of,  in  Ireland . .     60 

Paparo,  John,  Cardinal,  arrives  in  Ireland 103 

Parliament,  Irish,  under  Henry  VIII 338 

Under  Elizabeth 352,  365,  397 

Under  Charles  II 556 

Under  James  II 578 

Deprived  of  its  independence 636 

Its  declaration  of  rights  (1783) 660 

Its  corruption  and  extinction 663,  708 

Parliamentary  Robes,  Irish  chiefs  apply  for  (note)  338 
Parthalon,  leader  of  the  first  inhabitants,  arrives 

in  Ireland  300  years  after  the  Flood 8 

Paschal  question 93 

Pass  of  Plumes  (Bearnana-g  Cleti),  defeat  of  the 

English  at  the 433 

Patrick,  St.,  opinions  about  his  birth-place Gl 

Supposed  to  have  introduced  "  alphabets". .     47 

His  bondage  and  escape 63 

Lands  at  Inver  De C4 

Visits  Milcho,  near  Slie ve  Mis,  Co.  Antrim .     64 

Visits  Slane ;  converts  Ere,  son  of  Dego 65 

Visits  the  Royal  Rath  of  Tara  on  Easter 

Sunday 65 

Various  journeyings  ;  visit  to  Connaught.  .66,  67 
Fasted,  during  Lent,  on  Cruach  Patrick,  Co. 

Mayo G7 

Converts  King  Amalgaidh's  seven  sons,  to- 
gether with  twelve  thousand  people 67 

Baptizes  King  Aengus 68 

His  death  at  Saul,  Coimty  Down 09 

Pembroke,  Richard,  Earl  of, betrayed  and  killed.  335 

Penal  La^ws,  enactment  of  the  (note) 637 

Of  Queen  Anne's  reign 033,  033 

Continued  down  to  1803 711 

Pension  List,  abuses  of  the 649 

Peep  O'Day  Boys,  origin  of. 669 

Perceval,  Mr.,  assassination  of 755 

Perrott,  Sir  John 308,  397,  400,  405 

Persecution  of  the  Catholic  Clergy 380 

Referred  to  (see  note,  413) 461 

Against  the  Irish  Catholics 550,  563 

Pestilence,  called  the  Black  Death,  fearful  rav- 
ages of  (note) 273 

Another  pestilence  caUed  the  "  King's  Game"  273 
Picts,  origin  of ;  visit  Ireland  before  settling  in  Scot- 
land      21 


INDEX. 


15 


PAGE 

Piety  of  Irish  kings  ;  pilgrimage  of  Beg  Boirche, 

King  of  XJlidia,  and  others 113 

Pilltown,  great  battle  of,  between  the  Earl  of  Or- 

mond  and  Earl  of  Desmond 299 

Pitt,  William,  government  of 734 

Plague  (Buidhe  Chonnaill),  first  visitation  of. 78 

Second  visitation  of. 85 

Carries  off  700  Priests  in  the  discharge  of 

their  duties 297 

Plantation  of  Ulster  first  projected  (369) ;  realized  460 
See  Confiscations. 

Plunkett,  Archbishop,  arrest  of  (note) 565 

Hanged  and  quartered  at  Tybum 567 

Popery,  bill  to  prevent  the  further  growth  of .  630 

Popish  Plot,  The,  so  called 562 

Portentous  Signs,  pUlars  of  fire,  dragons  in  the 

air 114 

Presidents,  Lord,  creation  of ;  Fitton  made  first 

President  of  Connaught 367 

Preston,  Colonel,  arrival  of;  he  joins  the  Confed- 
erates   - 496 

Proclamations  agaij  "  ''^olics 465 

Priests  to  be  I  563 

Of  the  Lords  / 483 

Prosperous,  town  <  oy  the  insurgents. .  689 

Priests,  terrible  maSb..  in  Cashel,  by  Inchi- 

quin 531 

Proselytism,  unfair  dealing  of,  towards  Catliolics .  640 

Poets  and  Poetry  of  the  pre-Christian  Bards 58 

Of  the  present  century,  Moore,  Davis.  &C..769-774 
Poetic  Miracles,  supposed  to  be  performed  by  NiaU 

O'Higgin,  &c 390 

Pope,  The,  sends  presents  to  the  Earl  of  Tyrone. .  437 

Poynings,  Sir  Edward,  his  Act 308,  309 

Poor  Law  Bill  passed  (1838) 784 

Psalter  of  Tara,  instituted  in  the  reign  of  Cormac 

Ulfadha 41 

Psalter  of  Cashel,  in  the  Bodleian  Library 299 

Q 

Quigley,  or  Coigley,  Rev.  Father,  falsely  con- 
victed   683 

R. 

Raths,  circular  earthen  mounds  with  double  and 
triple  circles,  built  for  defence  by  the  Mi- 
lesians       55 

Rathhugh,  in  Westmeath,  great  meeting  of  chief- 
tains at 120 

Rathmine.<!,  battle  of,  defeat  of  Ormond 539 

Ra3rmond  le  Gros  lands  near  Waterford 170 

Returns  disgusted  to  Wales 196 


FAGS 

Raymond  le  Gros  invited  by  Strongbow  to  return  197 
His  nuptials  with  Basilia,  Strongbow's  sis- 
ter   198 

Captures  Limerick 198 

Fitz  Adelm's  jealousy  of  him 303 

Reform  Bill,  passed  4th  June,  1833 780 

Regency  QuesUon,  The  (1788) 670 

Relics  of  St.  Patrick^  supposed  translation  of . . . .  314 

Religion  of  the  pagan  Irish 48 

Great  Synod  convened  at  Aengus's  Grove, 
near  HUl  of  Uisneach,  Westmeath,  at- 
tended by  50  Bishops  and  300  Priests,  and 

by  King  Murtough  O'Brien 151 

Remonstrance  of  the  Barons  to  Edward  HI 371 

Of  Donnell  O'Neill,  King  of  Ulster,  and  other 

Irish  Princes,  to  Pope  John  XXII 355 

Of  the  Lords  of  the  Pale 463 

Of  Peter  Walsh,  a  Franciscan  Friar 559 

Repeal  Question,  debate  on 781 

Strong  declarations  against,  by  the  Parlia^ 

ment 787 

Restoration,  The,  of  Charles  II 555 

Richard  II.  lands  at  Waterford 380 

Recalled  and  returns 283 

Right  Boys,  their  acts  of  intimidation 668 

Rinuccini,  the  Pope's  Nuncio,  lands  in  Ireland  with 

large  stores  of  ammunition 507 

Enters  St.  Canice  Cathedral,   Kilkenny,  in 

procession 508 

His  determined  conduct  in  behalf  of  the  Irish 

Confederates 510 

Sits  in  state,  and  argues  the  cause  of  the  Con- 
federation    517 

Embarks  at  Galway  and  returns  to  Rome. . .  526 
Romans,  a  projected  invasion  of  Ireland  by  the  .  .  34 
Ross.     (See  New  Ross.) 

Roche,  Rev.  Philip,  chosen  to  command  the  in- 
surgents    095 

Roiachty  killed  by  lightning  at  Dunseverick,  near 

the  Giant's  Causeway,  B.C.  1024 38 

Ross,  Bishop  of,  his  heroic  self-devotion 541 

Rotunda,  conveiition  of  the  volunteers  at 665 

Round  Towers,  Dr.  Petrie's  theory  referred  to,  on .  109 
Rowan,  Archibald  Hamilton,  his  trial  and  con- 
viction ;  his  escape 673,  674 

Rumann,  The  Poet ;  the  Book  of  Ballymote  calls 

liim  the  Virgil  of  Ireland 113 

Russell,  Sir  William,  Lord  Deputy,  besieges  the 

Castle  of  Ballinacor 417 

s. 

»  Sacramental  Test,"  The 631 

Sacrileges,  church  burning,  &c 268 


16 


INDEX. 


Saints'  Beds  and  Holy  Wells,  St.  Patrick's  pur- 

gatoiy 110 

Saunders,  Dr.,  the  Pope's  Legate,  death  of  in  woods 

of  Clai  nglass 301 

Sarsfield,  Patrick,  general,  retires  to  Athlone . . .  580 
Destroys  the  English  artillery  at  Ballyncety.  595 

Created  Earl  of  Lucan 601 

Some  account  of  his  family  (note) 601 

Saxon,  The,  early  invasion  of  (note) 86 

Scarampi,  Father,  comes  with  arms  and  money . .  502 

Schismatic  proceedings  in  Ireland  (1537) 333 

Schomberg,  Duke,  lands  at  Bangor,  Co.  Down.  .  .  581 
Marches  to  Dundalk,  killed  at  the  Boyne . .  .  589 
Sclioolman,  Remarkable,  John  Scotus  Erigena. . .  101 
Scotus,  John  Duns,  of  Ulster,  called  the  subtle 

Doctor  (note) 264 

Scots,  name  of,  not  known  before  the  second  or 

third  century 24 

Son  of  Sorley  Boy,  a  Scot,  is  hanged  by  Sir 

John  Perrott 308 

A  number  of  Highlanders  land  in  Inishowen  400 
Two  thousand  cut  off  at  Ballina,  by  Bing- 
ham      401 

More  land  in  Ireland  with  Lord  Leven 496 

Rebels  against  England  1715  (634),  of  1745  .  641 
Scotland,  the  kingdom   of,  founded  bt  a  colony 

from  Ireland 73 

Scotia,  an  ancient  name  of  Ireland 73 

ScuUabogue  Barn,  jnassacrc  of 094 

Seanchus  Mor,  fragments  of  the,  in  manuscript 

in  Trinity  College 71 

Sedulius,  St.,  the  younger,  97  ;  the  elder 98 

Sentleger  conciliates  the  Irish 337 

Resumes  the  government 338 

Recalled 342 

Finally  recalled  to  England 348 

Sentleger,  Sir  Warham,  his  single  combat  with 

Hugh  Maguire 436 

Septs,  list  of  independent  Irish  (note) 319 

Sepulchral  Mounds  of  New  Grange  and  Dowth 

described 56 

Settlement,  The  Act  of. 556 

Sheares,  Henry  and  John,  betrayal  and  execution  686 
Sheehy,  Father  Nicholas,  unfair  trial  and  execu- 
tion    649 

Shrule,  battle  of,  between  the  Burkes  and  the  Earl 

of  Clanricarde 367 

Slaibre,  battle  of;  Bran  Dubh  defeated 83 

Sidney,  Sir  Henry,  lands  at  Carrickfergus 364 

Returns  ;  marches  to  Connaught 371-373 

Silver  Coins  struck  at  the  works  of  Airget  Ross. .     28 

Simnel,  Lambert,  arrives  in  Dublin 304 

His  actions 305 


PAGB 

Social  Progress,  early 28 

Southern  Garrisons  revolt  to  Cromwell 537,  538 

Spanish  Expeditions  land  at  Smerwick 379,  387 

Mentioned  at  389,  404,  406,  421,  437,  442. 
Capitulate  after  the  battle  of  Kinsalc. . .  .444-454 

Spenser  (the  poet's)  account  of  Ireland  (note) 393 

Stone,  George,  primate,  his  unscrupulous  dealings  643 
Strabane  burned,  and  the  castle  besieged,  by  Hugh 

Roe  O'Donuell 412 

Strafford,  'Viscovnt  'Wentworth,  Earl  of,  ap- 
pointed Lord  Lieutenant 408 

Duplicity  of 469 

Confiscation  of  estates  in  Connaught  by 470 

Sends  a  Catholic  army  to  England 471 

His  impeachment ;  beheaded 472 

Strongbow  proclaimed  King  of  Leinster 180 

His  difficulties  ;  returns  to  England 181,  lS4r 

Leads  an  army  to  Offaly ;  recalled 195,  106 

Sent  back  as  Viceroy,  with  grant  of  Water- 
ford 100 

Defeated  at  Thurles  with  great  loss 197 

Death  of,  203  ;  interred  in  Christ's  Church, 

Dublin 202,  203 

St.  Ruth,  General,  arrives 601 

Killed  at  Aughrim 611 

Stukley,  Thomas  (note) 378 

Subdivision  of  Territory 469 

Subsidies  of  the  Irish  to  Charles  1 467 

"  Summer  of  slight  acquaintance" 295 

Sumptuary  Laws 28 

Surnames,  institution  of;  definition  of  O  and  Mac 

(note) ; 133 

Surrey,  Earl  of,  demolishes  the  castles  of  O'More  318 

He  returns  to  England 320 

Sussex,  Earl  of,  leads  an  army  against  the  Scots 
of  the  Route  ;  plunders  Armagh,  348  ;  goes 
to  Lough  Foyle,  350  ;    hires  Nele  Gray 

to  assassinate  Shane  O'Neill 356 

His  recall  from  Ireland 359 

Swift,   Dean,   his  exertions    in   behalf   of   Irish 

manufactures 037 

Spy  System 679 

T. 

Tail-tean,  the  fair  of,  and  public  games 14 

Battle  of;  the  three  kings  of  the  Tutha-de- 

Dananus  are  slain 19 

Talbot,  Archbishop,  imprisonment  and  death  . . .  563 

Talbot,  Colonel  Richard,  Earl  of  Tirconnell 501 

Arrested  and  suffered  to  go  into  exile 504 

Returns,  and  is  sworn  Lord  Lieutenant 370 

Becomes  unpopular 508 


INDEX,                                                              17 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Sends  a  messenger  to  King  James 615 

Tyrrell,  Captain,  cuts  off  to  one  man  1,000  Eng- 

Death of,  in  Limerick G17 

lish,  commanded  by  young  Barnwell,  at 

Talbot,  Sir  John  (Lord  Fumival),  Lord  Justice. . .  290 

Tyrrell's  Pass  (note) 423 

Tanistry,  law  of,  explained 50 

Tara,  triennial  assembly  of,  called  Feis  Teavrach..     28 

u. 

Tara,  rath  of,  constructed  hy  Ollav  Fola,  called  from 

him  Mur-OUavan 29 

Uflford,  Sir  Ralph,  Lord  Justice  ;  his  harsh  rule. .  271 
Ugaine  Mor,  Ugony  the  Great,  his  division  of 

Palace  of,  abandoned  by  the  Irish  kings.  ...     79 

Its  ancient  remains  identified  by  Dr.  Petiie 
(note) 70 

Battle  of,  1798,  the  insurgents  defeated 691 

Tain-bo-Cuailgne,  or  cattle-spoil  of  Cooley 32 

Teagusc-na-Ri,  or  the  institutions  of  a  Prince. ...     41 

Ireland 30 

Ulster,  plantation  of,  by  James  1 400,  461 

Ulster,  Earl  of,  starved  in  the  Green  Castle,  Inish- 

owen 267 

Union,  how  carried 707,  708 

Union,  repeal  of  the,  great  meeting  for 751 

United  Irishmen  first  established 671 

Supposed  to  be  500,000  men  enrolled 678 

Suppressed  and  persecuted GSO 

University  of   DubUu  founded  by  Archbishop 

Termon  Lands,  description  of 107 

Theobald-na-Lung.     (See  Burke.) 
Thurot  (the  real  name  O'Farrell)  sails  from  Dun- 
kirk   646 

Takes  Carrickfergus,  1760 ;  killed 647 

Tiernmas  first  establishes  idol  worship  in  Ireland    27 

Bicknor  in  1320  (note) 264 

Usher,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  1624  (note) 463 

Teltown,  near  the  Blackwater,  in  Meath,  games. 

&c 14 

V. 

Raises  up  tlie  idol  Crom  Cruach  on  the  Plain 
of  Adoration  ;  reigned  77  years 27 

Victoria  ascends  the  throne  (1837) 785 

Visits  Dublin 807 

Her  return  to  England 808 

Vinegar  Hill,  battle  of 696 

Tighemach,  the  annalist,  who  wrote  the  annals  of 
Ireland  from  B.C.  305  to  A.D.  1088,  when 

he  died , 144 

Timolin  taken  by  Ormond,  and  the  garrison  butch- 
ered   500 

Tiptoft,  John,  Earl  of  Worcester,  his  death 301 

Tirconnell.    (See  O'Donnell  and  Talbot.) 
Tipperary,  disturbed  state  of;  various  outbreaks.  713 

Virgillius,  St.,  au  Irishman,  his  learning 98 

Vivian,  Cardinal,  Synod  in  Dublin  held  by 205 

Volunteers,  40,000  enroUed  in  Ulster 656,  657 

Convention  of  delegates  at  Dungannon.  .058,  659 
Hold  a  meeting  in  Lisburn  and  Dublin.  .064,  665 

Tithe  Bill,  Irish,  by  Lord  Morpeth  (183C) 783 

Titles,  English,  conferred  on  Irish  chiefs 339 

w. 

Tone,  Theobald  Wolfe,  leaves  for  France ;  returns  676 

Warbeck,  Perkin,  at  Cork  (1492) 308 

Tried  and  banished 701 

Returns  (1497) 310 

Waterford  besieged  by  Strongbow 176 

Fought  in  the  French  ship  Hoclie,  off  Lough 

SwiUy 704 

By  Cromwell ;  he  raises  the  siege 538 

Captured  and  sentenced ;  his  death 705 

Synod  of,  convened  by  the  Nuncio 515 

Tory  Island,  great  battle  of 10 

Waucop,  R.,  Society  of  Jesus  introduced  into  Ire- 
land by  (note) 344 

Townshend,  Lord,  lord-lieutenant,  his  adminis- 

tration in  Ireland  (1767) 650 

Weapons,  ancient  Irish,  described 53 

Treaty  ot  liimerick,  civil  irticlcs     f 620 

Wentworth,  Viscount.    (See  StraflFord.) 

Of  peace  between  Ormond  and  the  Confed- 

Wellington appointed  premier 767 

erates  525 

Wexford  besieged  by  Robert  Fitz  Stephen 172 

Trim,  conference  with  Confederation  at 501 

Taken  by  Cromwell ;  terrible  massacre  (note)  536 

Tuatha  de  Dananns,  Dr.  O'Donovan  (note)  12, 13, 14,  15 

Evacuated  by  the  militia 693 

Their  knowledge  as  artificers,  &c 24,  25 

Whiskey,  first  notice  of  in  Ireland  (note) 288 

Turgesius,  his  cruelties  and  death 118 

Whiteboys,  or  Levellers 647,  648 

Tumulus,  opened  May,  1838,  in  the  Phcenis  Park, 

Dublin  . 57 

Whitby,  conference  of. 94 

William  ni.  lands  at  Torbay 572 

Invited  to  the  throne  ;  proclaimed 573 

Tuathal  Teachtar,  133  battles  against  the  Atta- 

cotti  fought  by 36 

Lands  at  Carrickfergus,  County  Antrim 583 

■    1 

18 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

William  HI.  gains  the  battle  of  the  Boyne 590 

Besieges  Limericlc 590 

Returns  to  England 598 

His  death  (1703) 630 

William  IV.  ascends  the  throne  (1830) 778 

Died  (1837) 783 

Windsor,  treaty  of,  between  Henry  II.  and  Rod- 
eric  OConor 200 

Witchcraft  punished  with  death  (note) 264 


Wood's  halfpence,  "  Drapier's  Letters." 037 

Woollen,  manufactures  of, in  Ireland  restricted. . .  560 
Entirely  destroyed ^ . . .  629 


Y. 

Yellow  Ford,  battle  of;  defeat  of  the  English. . .  427 
Youghal,  burned  bv  the  Earl  of  Desmond 384 


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